Hey ya’ll! I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. Let’s go ahead and pick up from where we left at on Friday. You guys ready? Just a FYI this will be a long entry… My pregnancy was for the most part was enjoyable. I was blessed to not have morning sickness with vomiting. I was nauseous for the most part up until my second trimester. I don’t know about you all, but I absolutely loathe the feeling of having to throw up. Whenever I would feel that I would immediately reach for my anti-nausea medicine. Lol! Outside of that I felt good up until I got admitted to the hospital. PSA here: First time moms PLEASE listen to your body. Do NOT let anyone tell you it’s "normal" to feel this or that. You know your body better than anyone else, and you know what is normal for you. You have to be own health care advocate… okay… PSA over. Like I said the pregnancy was progressing well up until about 24 weeks. At 24 weeks I went in for my anatomy scan to make sure that Beans had developed correctly. We had already found out her sex at 19 weeks and had a gender reveal with the family. Any who, it was noted that Beans was growing small. Developmentally she was doing great. She had two hands, ten fingers, two feet, ten toes, a strong heart beat, etc. But she was a little on the small side for her gestational age. Because of that I had to come back in four week for a growth check. When I came back she grew but not at the rate she should have. Matter of fact her percentile group went down and she was officially classified as being growth restricted. Needless, to say my pregnancy became high risk. At the time we did not know why she was growth restricted. Due to the her being growth restricted I was required to come in weekly for Doppler studies and monthly growth checks. I will be honest this was not the worst thing, because I got to see my sweet angel every week. But it was a bit much because I was also at the point where I had to come to the my OB every two weeks. Well, things got interesting around the 28 week mark of my pregnancy. First, there was a random spike in my blood pressure. It was first thought that the spike was due to my weight gain. At the time that made sense because my pressure was excellent, but once my weight jumped up my pressure did too. So, I had to lose weight. I know… a pregnant woman being told to lose weight. Let me say that is the hardest thing to do. Lol! But I tried to lose weight to see if that would help with my blood pressure. Second, my sugar test came back boarder line. Like I literally passed by a point. Oh did I mention that I failed the one hour test and that I barely passed the three hour test? Right. Okay. So I was really trying to work on my weight. The last thing I wanted to deal with gestational diabetes. Third, I thought I had carpal tunnel in BOTH of my hands. Now, I am not sure if you can really get in both hands, but I think it is very possible. In my case that was not it, but again I did not know it was fluid in hands. I also had a lot swelling in my lower extremities. This is pretty normal in pregnancy. Especially in the third trimester. I was not necessarily concerned because it was the summer time and I live in the South. Plus the swelling always went down overnight. It was not until two days before my baby shower in Atlanta that things were taking a serious turn in my pregnancy. The Thursday before my shower I went to get my hair done. I was eating some watermelon and all of sudden this burning sensation hit me in my chest. It was like heartburn times 10! My stylist had to rush to finish my hair because I was bent over in pain. I was sweating, nauseous and in pain. I lived 30 minutes from the salon, and it felt like the longest drive ever. I finally called the doctor on call and told her what was going on. The doctor on call told me it was more than likely heartburn. I told her I did not believe this was heartburn, and that I was sorry that I could not explain what exactly I was feeling. All I knew was that I was hurting and was starting to get scared. She told me to take some Tylenol and call back in an hour. That upset me to my core! Please go back to my PSA to understand why. Hind sight is 20/20 and I should have went into labor and delivery to get checked. Ya’ll I was in pain for 5 HOURS! The pain finally stopped and went away. Friday came and it was like nothing ever happened the day before. We headed to Atlanta on Friday and the rest of the weekend went well. My baby shower went great on that Saturday. However, looking back at the pictures the storm was brewing regarding my health. I was puffy all over. You could press my cankles and leave an indention. You would think I would have called the doctor then after that but I honestly just thought I was fat. Lol!
On the following Monday evening things started to go downhill. It started with the "heartburn" again at around nine in the evening. Then once that cleared up at about one in the morning, I got the worst headache. I never had a headache like this before in my life. Nothing I did or take helped my headache. I called out of work at and waited for my OB’s office to open. Once her office opened I had my husband call to see what we needed to do. We were told to wait an hour, take a Tylenol and rest. In exactly an hour he called back and I was told to come in the office. As I was waiting for my husband and sister to get dressed, I remember my vision starting to blur. My headache felt like it was getting stronger and I was growing scared by the minute. The rest of what happened was blur. I remember getting to the office and seeing on the blood pressure monitor the top number being 180. Needless I was not going home and I was going to be delivering my sweet baby girl. I was diagnosed with having HELLP syndrome (click here to learn more). A severe form of preeclampsia. In my case I had a rapid onset of preeclampsia that turned into HELLP. I thank God I got to the hospital in time. I was rushed to labor and deliver, and once I was stabled my doctor told me that on Wednesday I was going to be induced. I had a birth plan but I knew in my heart that things were not going to go according to my plan. I did not want to be induced. I was induced. I did not want an epidural. I had an epidural. I did not want pitocin. I had piticion. I did not want a c-section. But after being in labor for over 24 hours with no progress, I had a c-section.
On June 25 (7 weeks exactly from my due date) I gave birth to my beautiful daughter. She came out with a lot of personality. Lol! She is my tiny little fighter. She was 3 pounds and 6 ounces. So tiny… So sweet… So beautiful… Love her! She spent three weeks in NICU. She did excellent while in there. Everyday she got stronger and stronger. It was like she knew she had to get strong for me.
t was so hard on me while she was in the hospital. I would cry off and on. Just being away from her was hard me. Additionally, the fact that my birth did not go the way I wanted it to go. Thinking about it now makes it a little sad. But we have really bonded over these past four months. She motivates me to do my best and to give my best. Well, that is my story. I tried to shorten as much as I could. 🙂 Feel free to share your birth story with me. I would love to hear it!
Recent Comments