So in this post, I asked for my readers to give me subjects to blog about.And the all too fabulous Keight had a question that I think will make for some extra good blogging. In her words, here is the question:
"how did your two pregnancies/deliveries differ? did you know their sexes beforehand? did you predict your own delivery dates? i would just plain love to hear your birth stories"
Dear Keight,
Brace yourself. It's not a pretty story to tell. But I got two beautiful kids out of the deal. And I said I would answer anything. So here goes with "Revenge of the Pregnancy Part I" and it's sequel "Wow, really, I thought 2nd pregnancies were supposed to be easier".
And to go ahead and answer the easy parts of your question- No I did not predict my own delivery dates and yes I knew the sex of my kids at 20 weeks gestation each time (I can't handle surprises!)
Love, Lori
The Story of Haley (now 9)-For this one I will take you back to 1996. I was told by a gynocologist that there was a good chance I would never have kids. At this point, I was in high school and frankly the idea of never having kids thrilled me. I mean who would wanted to have to birth and take care of another human being- duh. And the medical part of this is that I had fibroids and endometriosis. They made for the worst cramps and junk ever. So that fact that little growths already in my uterus sucked, I certainly didn't want to have a child growing in there ever.
And then I went to college and met the man of my dreams. The fabulous Evan. And we dated and got married in a total of two years. And he knew all along that he was getting himself into what could be a kidless marriage. But we were in love and kids weren't really at the forefront of our thoughts at that point.
So flash foward to 1999. Evan had been out of school for about a year. I was a junior. And being that I was married, I had gone on birth control pills just in case. So I marched myself to the Student Health Center and saw the very cool and hip gyno because I needed some refills and the dreaded "annual checkup" was needed. So I went through the hellish exam. And at the end of hell, the gyno told me that everything looked pretty good (that's odd to me that someone can say that about that part of a woman) and that she thought birth control had made a difference in my uterus. And we kept talking for a while and she said she felt comfortable that I would be able to have a baby. But she said it might take a while- likes years maybe.
So like any good wife, I went home and told the hubs the news. And somehow, in our minds, this all meant it was time to start the baby making. And so I stopped taking the pill and well- I was pregnant. After one month of trying. And I should mention that at this point in our lives, we were living with Evan's parents-waiting for our tiny little first house in Senoia to be built.
And now to the pregnancy part- with the exception of having the flu at 12 weeks, my pregnancy was great until 30 weeks. And then the bottom fell out- literally!
My body decided it didn't want to be pregnant anymore and I went into labor. It happened in the middle of birthing classes at Southern Regional. We were sitting there in a room full of pregnant women and their spouses. All of the sudden, my body tightened up and I became very uncomfortable. So I waddled to the front of the class, looked at the nurse who was teaching the class and said, "I don't feel good". She put her hand on my belly, said I was having intense contractions and admitted me to Southern Regional.
And the next 7 days are a blur. I was placed on Magnesium Sulfate and kept sedated with Stadol. I have little to no recollection of the next several days. That's where Evan would have to fill you in. But I know it was hell.
So then I was sent home on complete bedrest. And I sat and I sat and I sat. And throw in there the occasional run to the hospital for more drugs to keep the baby in.
I did manage to attend a wedding during bedrest that was a bad idea as I'm pretty sure I contracted the whole time and I freaked a bunch of people out.
And at 36 weeks, I was taken off bedrest. And the contractions stopped coming so regularly. And at 37 weeks I was still pregnant.
Until July 2nd at about 12:30 in the morning when I knew Haley was ready to be here. So we drove 45 minutes to the hospital. Walked the halls for 2 hours and were told that we probably should just go home because I wasn't progressing. I was 2 cm. and they could not admit me into L/D until I was showing progression.
SO the sweet nurse that had to give me the bad news gave me a prescription sleep pill and told me to go home and drink some wine and go to bed. Wuh?? Drink wine during pregnancy? She said yep- it would relax my body. And as much as I love wine, I did not take her advice for fear that I would have a baby with three legs.
But I did take the sleeping pill and boy was it a good one. As soon as we got home after 3 hours at the hospital and 45 minutes in the car, I was out.
So Evan and I got into bed to have a nice long sleep at around 6am. Me because of a sleeping pill and him out of pure exhaustion.
And as soon as we were both dead to the world, a raging gush of fluid came from my you-know-where. That's right- my water broke. And I don't mean it felt like I had peed on myself. It was so violent that Evan got wet across the bed. Craziest thing ever- I swear.
And we entered panic mode. Which meant we got into the car exactly as we were. Me in a pair of Evan's boxers, a t-shirt and no bra. And I had not bothered to pack a bag. So I looked super cute. And once my water broke, I have never and will never feel as much pain as I did. I pretty much screamed all the way to the hospital. And I screamed at all of the people at the hospital. And I was just downright unpleasant.
Until the epidural. Which was the best thing ever. Mine worked so well that I could not feel anything from my neck down. And I did not feel a thing for 2 days as a matter of fact.
And then she was born at 12:15 in the afternoon. A beautiful, perfect 7 pound big-headed baby. And my life was changed forever. Because at 22 years old, I was now Mommy.
So yeah, it was not the easiest time getting Haley into this world. But so worth every moment of pain. And I love that girl dearly. More than I could ever imagine I would.
The End
So if you think this story is kinda crazy, stany tuned for Part 2- Britton. Shuh! That will be a good read!
No comments:
Post a Comment