Pregnancy and Birth Story
I thought it was time to bring back more “life” to this blog. I mostly have been sharing running related life events because that’s really all that went on in my life. However, now, I have the new title of Mom so I wanted to share our pregnancy and birth story. We also are in the process of building a house. We definitely have some exciting things going on. I tend to start back blogging to share a journey and well there are a few to catch up on.
- Pregnancy Journey
- New Mom Journey
- House Journey
- Postpartum Running Journey
So let’s get started on the pregnancy and birth story!
Pregnancy
Honestly, I was pretty “off the grid” for most of my pregnancy. The first half of my pregnancy I was still working a job within COVID world and thankfully was able to adjust my hours from 4-10’s back to 5-8’s. My first trimester I was just exhausted and couldn’t keep up with the long work days.
In March I was able to go back to my job as a health coach for the employees and got to keep my 7-3:30pm shift which was amazing. My pregnancy was very uneventful for the 1st and 2nd trimester. I was blessed to have an easy pregnancy, for the most part. I didn’t have any morning sickness or any crazy side effects other than exhaustion and acid reflux/heartburn.
I “popped” around week 20 and just got bigger and bigger. The weather got warmer and the swelling began.
Week 28/29 I was diagnosed with Gestational Hypertension as I continued to get high blood pressure readings in the doctors office. One visit I had protein in my urine and received the diagnosis of Preeclampsia. Even though all my blood pressures at home were normal, we had been told we would be having an induction at 37 weeks.
Also, if you don’t know, once there is concern with blood pressures, you end up going to the doctor a lot more. I had appointments 2x/week. I did a non-stress test on one day of the week and then a biophysical profile the second appointment of the week. I also had blood drawn 1x/week.
Week 33 I had a doctor’s appointment and we were sent to the hospital for monitoring due to a high blood pressure. They were going to do a re-check but the doctor ended up coming in and just sending us.
My blood pressures in the hospital were all normal, but they went ahead and gave me a steroid shot and kept me overnight to administer the second dose the next day. It was the last chance they could do the steroid shot before I hit 34 weeks in case she had to come earlier. Since both days I had normal blood pressure readings, I was discharged to go home.
I ended up starting to check my blood pressure every 3-4 hours throughout the day from this point forward. I also stopped doing my 1 mile walks and always had my legs propped up during my workday.
With how big and uncomfortable I was, I honestly wasn’t upset about getting to be with our little girl early. As long as we both could be healthy and go home that way. Plus, our induction date put her arriving around our 1st wedding anniversary and that was just a sign it was meant to be.
I made it until week 36 before I was given my badges of honor (belly stretch marks.) She was really pulling me down and trying to bust out at this point. I wasn’t doing a lot of standing HA!
Birth Story
Our induction was scheduled for 10pm on Friday, July 2nd at week 37. Her original due date was Saturday, July 24th. Anyone that knows us, knows that 10pm is awfully late for us. Especially since being pregnant I had been going to bed between 7-9pm every night. I worked that Friday then went home and we both attempted naps and ate dinner. After sitting around we decided to go ahead and head to the hospital. We arrived around 9:45pm.
We got to our room which was a shared room and thankfully I didn’t have to share it during my time there! Once paperwork was filled out, the lab came and took my blood and I was hooked up to the blood pressure cuff for monitoring.
Between midnight and 1:30am they started the cytotec to start ripening my cervix, as obviously I was nowhere near ready for birth. I was already having contractions and the cytotec increased these.
I couldn’t really sleep because my contractions were happening pretty regularly and not the most comfortable.
Later in the morning around 6am, I was checked and only at 1cm dilated. They wanted to slow down my contractions at this point as I wasn’t really progressing.
We ordered some breakfast from the cafeteria and continued to wait. I had the smallest bagel and cream cheese, bacon, cereal and juice. I didn’t realize at the time that this would be my last meal. I was instructed to call the nurse after I had eaten and they would start the Pitocin.
Around 9am the Pitocin was administered and like I said, I wasn’t aware that once they did this, you could not eat.
Here comes the fun.
2pm I felt like baby K kicked the crap out of me and there was a pop then the water gushed out of me in the bed. I turned to Zach and said “I think my water just broke or I peed the bed.”
He went out to grab a nurse and said “We think her water just broke.” They looked at him like he was crazy considering I had only been at a 1cm dilation this entire time. But my nurse knew I had just gone to the bathroom so it more than likely wasn’t pee.
They tested the fluid and it was in fact, amniotic. The doctor was called and my contractions were very intense and uncomfortable at this point. I asked to get pain medication through my IV until the epidural was ready to be placed.
I have never been high in my entire life. Even during surgeries, I have come out feeling fine and never “loopy.” Well this was definitely an entertaining hour for me. It didn’t take away the pain from the contractions, but made me feel as though the pain was happening in a dream and not in reality. I had to have my eyes closed the entire time because everything was swirling and too overwhelming for me.
Around 3pm I was taken to the birthing room (much nicer room!)
I had the sweetest and best nurse because she helped me through the epidural placement and moved my hair out of the way as he was taping right over it.
From here, it was smooth sailing. I am so glad I received the epidural because I couldn’t imagine going through the contractions for 8 more hours.
My nurse checked me right before 7pm before shift change and I was only dilated to about 2cm. She said it was probably going to be tomorrow when our baby would be coming.
Around 9pm I had the peanut ball given to me to use and things moved quickly from here. I went from 2cm-8cm in no time. They said we are having the baby tonight.
Around 10:30-10:45 I felt like it was probably time, but I knew the doctor was coming at 11, so I continued to wait to make sure. We did a final check and it was indeed time to push.
The nurse asked me if I had gone to any classes or read anything about labor and I said nope! She said they will tell me when to push and to just push like you were going to the bathroom. I said I will just follow their instructions and give it my best!
Fireworks were going off outside the window and our doctor’s phone kept ringing. She apologized and I said “no worries, it’s like theme music.” Even though I had the epidural, I still could feel the pressure to know when to push. Pushing is exhausting. I am so thankful I only had to push for 30 minutes. You do three pushes back to back and I was pushing so hard that I felt like my head was going to explode. I just know my forehead vein was sticking out HA!
11:33pm Baby K was born!!
(Photo is clearly the next day when she was cleaned up!) I did have a second degree tear and was stitched up while they took Baby K. I told them to go ahead and do the tests and measurements they needed to because I just felt out of it at this point and didn’t even comprehend I just gave birth.
Now remember when I told you I had no idea at 8am that was my last meal? Well it definitely came back to haunt me after birth. When they took me to go to the bathroom afterwards, my epidural was still wearing off and when I sat down on the toilet, I almost fell off. I was light headed, hot and sweaty, and feeling like I was going to faint.
I asked for some juice to be brought to me saying I probably had low blood sugar. They had me sniff smelling salts and it took me back to the Mizzou days before a big lift and the guys pumped themselves up with these prior (HA!)
Once I was taken back to my bed, I put my fan on me, ate two packages of pb crackers and drank two juices and started feeling better.
I was able to have better control of my legs at this point and used the assisted walking chair to make my way to the bathroom.
From here we were moved to a new room where we would be for the next day. Tests were done on Baby K throughout the early morning (2am.)
The whole time, I just couldn’t believe it. I felt so blessed and at the same time, couldn’t believe that was my baby. You still feel pregnant and I was in a decent amount of discomfort, especially any time I had to get up to use the bathroom.
Zach had to do the diaper changes and most of the holding because I couldn’t get up to get her very easily.
We had a full day of monitoring and tests with different staff in and out of the room. Tried to get some rest most of the day and then we didn’t get discharged until Sunday afternoon.
Our family visited throughout that week and I continued to be out of commission mostly and experiencing a lot of things I was not warned about (Ex: engorgement and milk coming in!) But we will save all that for another post!
This will wrap up the pregnancy and birth story post. Thankfully all went well and we were able to come home together as a family!
