Since Hubby & I were both older when we got married—he
was 31 and I was almost 28—we started trying to get pregnant right away. At
first when I didn’t, we were fine with it as he had changed jobs and we moved
to another state. I enjoyed getting to travel with him to his conferences.
Getting to spend time together and learn more about each other was wonderful
and neither of us regret that time at all. However, after a year I began to
wonder and worry a little. I had a physical and the doctor told me to keep
trying a few more months and if nothing had happened she’d refer me to an OB. Well
we were busy, and I admit I was a little annoyed with something she said, and before
we knew another year had passed. I called my doctor for the referral and was
given an appointment at a clinic in the city about 45 minutes away. This
appointment was two weeks after my 30th birthday.
Here’s what I wrote at the time about my feelings on this.
February 16, 2010
My doctor’s nurse called today to say
that they are setting me up with an appointment 45 minutes away. I was kind
of taken aback, since I thought the plan was to go to an OB here in town to
check some things out and then see if we needed to progress to a specialist.
Guess she decided it had been long enough and we go straight to the specialist.
Not really sure how I feel about this. I know people who have gone through this
and I guess I’m still not sure if I’m ready for all the tests and things that
we will have to go thru. Doctor’s are not my favorite people and I get really
nervous around them. Hubby is going to go with me to this first appointment. That
will be a great help I am sure.
After some tests it was discovered that I have a couple
conditions that make getting pregnant difficult, including a thyroid condition.
However with medication most women are able to conceive within 6 months of
finding the right medicine and dosage. It ended up taking six months to find
the right medicine and dosage that would work. Three months later I got
pregnant!! J
I remember taking the test and then going downstairs to
take my thyroid medicine and being sure the test was going to be negative.
There had been so many times where I thought I was but the test was always
negative. (Also, that month it we weren’t sure if the medicine worked as we
hadn’t gotten the positive results earlier in the month like previous months.)
I walked around the main floor of our house praying about it and asking God to
help us with the disappointment and help us get pregnant nest month. Then I
went upstairs to the spare bath and checked the test. It was POSITIVE! J I went in and woke my
husband, telling him we were going to have a baby. His response was “What! Let
me see that.” He had figured it would be negative too. Since it was Sunday we
got ready for Church. He had such a smile and joyous expression on his face I
wonder what people thought. If anyone guessed they never told us. J
The next day I called my doctor, but since we were
having a blizzard they arranged for me to have the blood work to confirm the pregnancy
done here in town. A few days later I had the first ultrasound. It was amazing
to hear the heartbeat and see the tiny little baby growing inside me. After
another ultrasound two weeks later I was referred to an OB here in town.
I had a pretty easy pregnancy. I didn’t have morning
sickness. For many years I had suffered from headaches and migraines. Since
starting the thyroid medication they had decreased 75%. During my pregnancy
they decreased to less than one a month. My backaches, which I’d also had for
years, went away until the seventh month and then were only bad for a week or
so. My doctor told me I was boring!
My due date came and went—she wasn’t ready to come. At
40 weeks and 5 days (it was a Thursday), I had an appointment and a non-stress
test. My doctor said that things were fine and we should just keep waiting as
he didn’t think I was a good candidate for inducing. I would need to come back
the next week for non-stress tests on Monday & Thursday, and we’d see where
things were then. That evening as Hubby & I were watching a DVD I started
having contractions. I didn’t pay much attention at first, but after a couple
hours we started timing them. At about 5-6 minutes apart we called and were
told to go in. By the time we got to the hospital, which was about 15 minutes
away, they were 4 minutes apart…then they slowed way down. A couple hours later
my water broke. By 8 am the next day I was only a 3.5 and they discovered
meconium. I was told that if she wasn’t born by the next morning, I’d have to
have a c section. It was my doctor’s day to be out of town so one of his
partners was covering for him. She offered to give me Pitocin, but we decided
to wait. I really didn’t want an epidural and was trying to go without one. (I
was worried that I’d have problems with my back later as that can be a side
effect.) After a couple more hours and no progress we decided to get the Pitocin.
They gave it to me at half the normal rate as I was still trying to avoid an
epidural. About 3 hours later I got a shot for pain. That helped some, but I
was still progressing slowly. About 7:30 that night I got another shot. This
time it didn’t really help at all. By 9 pm I was still barely a 7 and very
tired. Did I mention that Thursday morning I had woken up at 2 am and not gone
back to sleep except for a 30 minute nap Thursday afternoon??? So by now I’d been awake for the majority of
the last 41 hours. Anyway, we gave in and asked for the epidural. It was an
hour later that it kicked in, and an hour after that I was told that I was
almost a 10. There was just a little more to thin out. So just after midnight
Saturday morning I started pushing. Princess got a little stuck and ended up
with a slight case of shoulder dystocia, but made her arrival at 1:13 am on
September 17, 2001!!
While they were finishing up with me, Hubby watched them
weigh and measure Princess and called my mom as she had told us to call at any
time. (We hadn’t told anyone that we were in labor—yes, I’m still getting grief
about that from my family.) After a few minutes he gave me the phone. I was
also handed my baby girl. A few minutes later Hubby told me that he was going
to go home and get some sleep. After I finished my phone call, I asked the
nurse if Hubby had gotten to hold Princess.
She said that she didn’t think so and she would make sure to let the
next nurse know that he got to hold her first thing! Hubby later told me that
he was halfway home before he realized he hadn’t held here and that he spent
most of the drive home worried that I would drop her or fall with her. Then
telling himself that the nurse was there and that they wouldn’t let either of
us get hurt. J
I admit it was very special when he got to hold her the
next morning. He sat down on the bed and I put her in his arms. It was just us,
so a really special moment. I took a picture so we’d remember. A couple weeks
ago we showed Princess that picture and told her that that was the first time
Daddy held her. She was excited about Daddy in the picture but not sure about
that baby! J
So, my pregnancy was easy but my labor was hard. It was
30 hours long on very little sleep. Really hoping that doesn’t happen again!
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