Pregnancy...definitely not for the weak.

Let me just start this blog by saying, I have no clue how it has been so long since I have written (I really need to start getting on here more).

As most of you all know, I am expecting. Now that I am less than 4-5 weeks away from delivering, I guess it’s time to write about it (It’s never too late right?).

To backtrack a little (Okay, maybe a lot)….

This pregnancy didn’t happen over night or as easily as everyone thinks it did. My husband and I (well myself really not him) do not have a good history with the baby making anatomy part of the body. I have had a definite one miscarriage, possible two, within our relationship (within the last year or so really). And a few weeks before conceiving my soon to be born daughter, I remember sitting in the doctor’s office with my husband being told there is a very high possibility of not conceiving, or at least not doing so without a struggle (I was about to begin testing for Endometriosis and have a very bad history of ovarian cysts and way too much pain in my ovary to even explain).

We had become one of those couples that were tracking ovulation trying to get pregnant. After the previous mentioned doctor’s appointment, I decided I was done stressing. For the first month in a while, I didn’t track anything. I stopped stressing and just enjoyed time with my husband (I mean hey we were newlyweds after all!) This month, the very first month that I stopped trying, was the month we became pregnant!

To say we were excited would definitely be an understatement. Shocked would be an even bigger understatement. But none the less, we were beyond overwhelmed with joy. I called my OB office right away (I already had one because my gynecologist for the last 4 years would just be my OB). Of course they wanted to get me in right away and already from that phone call they were considering me high risk (read previous blog post about my history with blood pressure).

I was one of the blessed ones who got an ultrasound at 8 and half weeks and saw my baby’s healthy heart rate on that ultrasound screen. My life would never be the same from that moment on… 💗

We were referred to a high risk OB in Orlando right there for my ultrasounds the rest of the pregnancy to monitor the baby closely to make sure my issues with chronic hypertension weren’t affecting the baby at all. Being high risk has its pros and cons. I am truly blessed to get to see my baby so much. We had ultrasounds every 4 weeks (at most). I was blessed enough to find out the sex  of the baby at only 14 weeks or so thanks to all the ultrasounds and the fact that they are all level 2 ultrasounds.  And now that I am at the end, the ultrasounds are way closer together and I go to the doctors twice a week to hear her heartbeat and get monitored. Yes its awesome knowing she is doing great, but I couldn’t begin to tell you the amount of doctors I’ve met and the amount of tests I’ve done...

So now back to the lovely joys of this pregnancy…

From the very beginning I had issues. If you could name it as a pregnancy symptom or something that is supposedly common in pregnancy then I have gotten it. From the beginning, before even announcing I was pregnant I ended up in the hospital in tons of pain. It ended up I had two infections plus they saw the cyst on my ovary (at the time we thought this was the normal cyst every pregnant woman gets that eventually goes away after the placenta fully forms after the first trimester).  At about 9 weeks or so, was when my morning sickness fully kicked in. Let me tell you, I don’t know why they call it morning sickness. I got sick anytime and all the time. Morning, afternoon or night. And it didn’t stop at the first trimester like everyone told me it would either. For me it stopped at about 25 weeks or so (well past the halfway point of the pregnancy!)

I had the typical other symptoms as well, that didn’t bother me so much (like the constipation, stuffy nose so I couldn’t breathe at night, dizziness, etc). I would learn those would become minor issues!

I remember at about 14 weeks, the day after we had our first high risk ultrasound and found out little miss was in fact a little miss, I got into a pretty bad car accident. Some idiot ran a stop sign and flew into me speeding and then left the scene. The front end of my car was totaled. At the time I didn’t care about the pain I was in, I just remember wanting to get the baby checked. So after what seemed like an extremely long ambulance ride (a whole twenty minutes), then waiting, then xrays (very limited because I wouldn’t let them do many!) , I finally was getting taken to ultrasound. Due to the fact that I was in a neck collar I really couldn’t see the screen, but the tech reassured me the baby was moving fine and had a strong heartbeat and looked great! Huge sigh of relief. The pain really didn’t matter to me then at all. So I was finally discharged a few hours later with everything pretty intact. The hardest part was having my morning sickness for the next two weeks in a knee immobilizer and a shoulder sling. I obviously didn’t get to the toilet very fast and quite seldom missed. …

A few weeks after this I ended up in the ER again. I was having extreme pain in my lower abdomen. After many tests, we determined it was that original cyst on my ovary again as well as uterus and back spasms. The cyst didn’t go away like it does in most pregnancies. Well the doctors reassured me that the cyst wouldn’t cause any problems with the pregnancy or I or the baby at all (remember this sentence!) and after I deliver we would look into removing it and looking at it (they said it looked abnormal)….

So it seems like I’m finally catching a break… A few weeks go by with nothing severe happening (the usual round ligament pains, backaches and headaches but nothing I couldn’t handle).
Well about a month ago (at about 31-32 weeks I guess) my bad luck changed again. I would end up in the ER about 4 times in one month!

The first of these trips was again due to severe lower abdomen pain. When I called the doctor, he said it didn’t seem like contractions but to come in for monitoring if I wanted. Well I was stubborn and insisted I didn’t need to go to the ER at 9:00 at night just for monitoring and that I would just sleep it off.  Well the next morning when I woke up, the pain was ten times worse. So guess who was going in for some monitoring. Yup! Me.  So that trip I ended up being diagnosed with two infections and was told that I was having some contractions! (The infections caused me start showing signs of preterm labor). Again I was monitored for a few hours, released on medicine and we thought all was well…

Almost exactly a week later, I wake up in the morning to get ready for work and I realize I’m covered in blood! This was not something that any female wants to see at over 8 months pregnant. So of course I go to the ER to get checked out. Well after every test known to man, we determine I’m not in labor and the blood was not from my cervix. It was from that lovely ovarian cyst again! (yeah that one they said would not cause me any problems!) Apparently the pressure of my growing baby girl was causing the cyst to leak or to rupture or something like that. Basically I was discharged knowing there was nothing they could do about it (they could not surgically remove it without getting the baby out of the way first. Because she was not in any distress at all this was not the recommended method!)…

So about another week goes by… at this point my Braxton hicks had begun to turn to real contractions (they were sporadic though so dr wasn’t worried) and the cyst remained causing me pain. There were nights I would cry myself to sleep or dread having to get out of bed because switching positions at all caused the worst pain. Well Sunday morning, February 9, comes and I wake up sick as hell. ( I will always remember this day since it was my one year wedding anniversary!). All of a sudden I was having severe vomiting again, diarrhea, severe dizziness, bad pain and woke up swollen as a blimp (the swelling was pretty obvious because I really hadn’t put much weight on besides belly at this point thanks to those 25 weeks or so of morning sickness). Well on the discharge instructions I had previously gotten, I was told to be aware of these signs because they could possibly be preterm labor signs. Well when I called the on call doctor they wanted me to come in for testing right away to rule out Preeclampsia (again due to my lovely blood pressure issues). Fortunately for me, all tests came back great and I was just diagnosed with a stomach virus! So I spent my one year wedding anniversary in bed (or the bathroom) luckily my husband stuck by my side the whole day!

So again another week goes by…

It is a Wednesday morning (a week ago to be exact), and I was at work feeling somewhat decent. I bent over to pick up a towel off the ground and next thing you know I was falling to the ground. I managed to grab a grab bar on my way down (I work in a rehab hospital) so I didn’t land too hard but all I remember was being extremely dizzy and feeling weak. I managed to get myself back down to the gym and a coworker gets my manager for me. At this point I’m in emotional breakdown mode because I was still so dizzy, kept feeling like I was going to faint, but worst of all, I hadn’t felt the baby move this whole time.  My coworkers get a hold of my mom to come get me (I obviously couldn’t drive).  So I end back in the hospital for more monitoring. They warned me that after trauma (falls) they would monitor the baby for a couple hours. Well right away they got her heart rate on the monitor which was such a relief to hear! And I would say probably about 10 minutes later or so I finally felt her moving (for those that have experienced feeling my active baby or any active baby for that matter, know that that ten minutes felt like forever!) Thank goodness she was looking great on the monitor. The nurse came in however and told me I was having contractions so they would need to monitor me longer. They weren’t sporadic like before though, they were actually a few minutes apart and pretty regular. Well after tons of water, and tons of relaxing, we realized it was just uterine irritability causing me to have contractions. So again I was released. (Oh and the dizziness and fall was caused by orthostatic hypertension).

So here it is a week later, I still get contractions if I do too much, and they are slowly getting more painful. I still am having dizziness issues. And I am still in lots of pain from that lovely cyst. I can’t really be up for more than an hour without feeling contractions or without my blood pressure going high.  Luckily, again one of the pros of being high risk, I go in twice a week for a NST for the baby (noninvasive stress test) and even though I feel miserable and am ready to be done, I am blessed to see baby girl is doing great.

So as of right now, she is still breeched (go figure). I have an ultrasound on the 4^th of March. I will be over 36 weeks at that point. The doctors have decided I will be induced two weeks early due to my history of hypertension and the fact that I am on blood pressure pills. (This is assuming I make it that long without her coming!) So based off the ultrasound on the 4^th (whether she is still breeched or not) we will decide what to schedule from there! It is crazy to know, my baby will be here in about 3 weeks though! Ahhh.

Anyways, yes, long rant over! As miserable as this experience has been for me, (And trust me I hate saying that knowing how bad we wanted this and knowing how many women may never get to experience it), I honestly wouldn’t trade it for the world. There is no greater feeling then feeling your baby move inside of you (and oh is she an active one). Because I get so many ultrasounds, I have seen her grow quite often from a little bean looking thing to what now looks like a real baby (and a cute one at that!) some of the amazing things I've experienced have been awesome baby showers, feeling her move so much, maternity photos, the support of my husband and our relationship only growing stronger from this, and being able to use "nesting" as an excuse for my OCD To set up an awesome nursery for my daughter! 

A lot of people have already asked me if I would go through this again. There are days I want to say no. But I am realistic and know that every pregnancy is different. And honestly, God willing that we are able to conceive another miracle, at this point I am sure I would go through it again!

I will end on this note. As much as a miracle and a blessing that it is, pregnancy is definitely not for the weak. And also don’t Google anything!

That being said, I can’t wait to meet my baby girl in just a few more short weeks. 💗