My pregnancy had been going smooth
and I had been feeling great. However, my doctor was concerned because of slow
weight gain and that I was measuring three weeks behind where I should be at my 36-week
appointment. Because of this, my doctor decided to get a growth scan to make
sure baby was growing OK. R and I went to the ultrasound thinking everything
would be fine and we’d go to work afterwards. During the ultrasound my
heart began racing when I saw the baby's head measuring in the 40th
percentile and abdomen 15th percentile, estimated to weigh
only 5 pounds 3 ounces at this time. This is called asymmetric growth and
typically means that the placenta is no longer functioning as well as it
should. The ultrasound technician told us she didn’t want us to leave until she
talked to a physician and I overheard the doctor say “bed rest”. How on earth
am I going to go on bed rest?? I have to work! That is honestly the first thing
that crossed my mind, I feel bad about that now. Since my doctor wasn’t at the
clinic where my ultrasound was, R and I had to drive to go see my doctor and
she confirmed what I thought, that she wanted me to quit working and go on bed
rest to help the perfusion of the baby from the placenta. I agreed as she said
this was the best thing for the baby, how could I argue with that? She told me
she wanted me to get to 39 weeks so that the baby could grow a bit before he
was born and so we scheduled an induction.
R's mom, offered to come take care of me and help around the house while I was on
bed rest. It didn’t even cross my mind at first that I may need more help but
let me tell you, she made life much better once she came. I felt like my
stomach was in knots those entire two and a half weeks. All I could think about
was how much the baby was moving and praying that he was going to be OK. I was
trying to stay positive but inside felt that at any moment I could break down. In
my profession, I know all too well what things CAN happen. It is a curse to
know too much sometimes. C and I spent a lot of time on our iPads playing
Monopoly and Scrabble and just enjoying each other’s company, which was
distracting (in a good way). I know I was not in my most fun mood and was very
tired during that time. C, I love you so much for coming and taking care of
Ryan, baby and me those weeks! I feel very fortunate to have such an amazing
inherited family along with my own that supports us so much.
Each day of
bed rest passed uneventfully and baby boy passed every non-stress test and
biophysical profile, which was reassuring. Though some of us thought I might go
into labor on my own, it never happened. My induction date came and I was ready to go in to have the baby! I
had to go in the night before the induction to get some medicine to prepare my
body for labor, as this was my first baby. I slept well that night
because they monitored the baby all night and as the nurses kept telling me he
was “very happy” (good heart rate) which was reassuring.
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| Last pregnancy photo - 39 weeks |
The next morning at 6 am after only
four hours of sleep the nurses woke me up to start getting the medicine to
start labor. My mom had driven to Kansas City the night before and got to the
hospital about 9 that morning and I was SO thankful to have her there. You are never
too old to need your mom. She even braided my hair! The morning passed slowly.
I was having contractions but they were not painful, just uncomfortable, but
they were not changing my cervix. My doctor came to check on me about 1:30 in
the afternoon and decided it was time to break my water. I knew there was no
turning back at that point so I was excited that this was actually going to
happen. Holy cow did that get things moving very quickly after that!
The contractions got closer
together and progressively more painful. I would describe the pain as a violent
twisting of the lower abdomen that radiates to your back and literally stops
you from breathing or thinking about anything else but getting through the
pain. It was different than I thought, though. I’m not sure why but I was
trying to hold off on getting the epidural for a while. I told my mom I wanted
to know what it felt like to be in real labor, stupid I know. However, I only
lasted 1.5 hours of what I thought was “real” labor before I decided to get the
epidural. I had gone from 2 cm to 5 cm in those 1.5 hours of time so things
were moving quickly. I was amazed at how incredibly supportive Ryan was through
the whole thing. He is not a medical person so I thought he would be less
involved than he was. He even stayed in the room and supported me when I was
getting my epidural. I have to admit that was probably traumatizing to him, I
was getting the labor shakes, having contractions every minute and a half, and
getting a large needle into my spine. After that he looked pale and excused
himself for some fresh air! Poor guy, I was feeling SO much better at that
point though.
Things were much calmer after that,
I felt my mom and Ryan relax and I was able to rest. Unfortunately, around 6:00
pm I slowly started feeling contractions on my left side again, the epidural was
wearing out. They brought the anesthesiologist back to give me more medicine
but that did no good. Wow, did those contractions hurt! When my nurse told me
that I was probably going to push this baby out without a working epidural I
was terrified. The pain was so bad and I couldn’t imagine trying to push at the
same time. However, I somehow garnered the strength to push through the contractions with the sole goal of seeing
and holding my baby boy. Things were moving so quickly once I started pushing that the
nurses were concerned my doctor wasn’t going to make it for the delivery. I
think my mom and Ryan were concerned my nurse was going to deliver the baby. I
didn’t care at that point who delivered the baby as long as he came soon!
Surprisingly, pushing eased the pain of the contractions. At our birthing
class, our instructor told us that for each contraction, the first and second
pushes get the baby moving but the third push gets the baby OUT! For my fellow
high school basketball teammates, guess what I was thinking about? Running
Streaks!! These were sprints we used to run during basketball practice and the
third streak was always the most difficult but we all ran the hardest during
that one, hence why it came to my mind.
Apparently it worked because I pushed
only 17 minutes and at 7:22 pm, J R came screaming into this World a
healthy 6 pounds 8 ounces, 19 inches long, with Apgar scores of 8 and 9. I cannot describe the flood of emotions the moment I
saw him for the first time. All I could think about was how he was handsome like
his Daddy. My heart was exploding with love for my little boy and my husband. I
could not stop crying tears of joy. The anxiety and relief was pouring out of me! I think I knew how much I would love J but I
did not know how overwhelming that love would be. It is definitely a
moment I will never forget. He is the most beautiful baby (of course I think that)! Even looking at him now at two weeks old I cannot
help but get choked up about how beautiful and what an amazing miracle he is. I don’t know how we got so lucky to be blessed with such a wonderful
Gift, but I am forever grateful. God is good!
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| J R, after his 1st bath |
