The 3rd baby story

So, I’m thinking I must have had a premonission when I posted my last blog post because I ended up having the baby 4 days later. Today would have been the day that I had Carly so I’m going to take the opportunity to journal her birth story.

I was feeling absolutely miserable and on Saturday (the 6^th) I ended up starting to feel sick on top of the pregnancy. The boys were also sick so we pretty much stayed in bed all day. The next day, Sunday, was not better at all. We were all still sick. I lay in bed all day. I started to worry about what I was going to do about work on Tuesday. I thought, there is no way I can work! I can barely even function. And my mandatory on call shift was that Sunday night. We had been very full so I was worried they would call me to work it and I didn’t know what I was going to do. Luckily, they were able to pull a nurse from another floor so I was in the clear that way. My throat started to hurt and when I look in the mirror with a flashlight, I had a big ole white patch. Lovely! My mom encouraged me to go to instacare but I had instacare haha so I decided I would just wait til Monday. 

With everything going on, I was completely overwhelmed. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to fulfill any of my responsibilities that week and I just felt awful. Trav’s brother, Dustin came over and helped Travis give me a blessing. The blessing didn’t say I would have the baby early or anything like that but a few hours later, I started to feel what I was pretty sure were contractions. But it was different than with Coleman so I wasn’t sure what to think. I checked my blood pressure and it was high. I also had a throbbing headache (which I attributed more to being sick than anything). I called the on call nurse for the OB’s office and explained the situation. She recommended that we go to the hospital, just to be assessed and make sure everything was ok. We called Trav’s mom (my parents are now out of town on a cruise), and she came over to watch the boys. By the time this all happened and we went to the hospital, we ended up checking in right after midnight. They hooked me up to the monitors, and I was definitely having regular contractions. Good! I’m not crazy haha My blood pressure was high but acceptable. But then the nurse checked my cervix and I was not dilated at all! Sigh… well, may as well just go home now. She said she would call the on call doctor and see what they thought. So we waited. I was fully expecting to be sent home. Although I wondered if I would just have to deal with have regular contractions because that was going to really suck!

After probably 20 min, the nurse came in and said “we are having a baby tonight!” The on call doctor didn’t see any point in medically stopping the contractions since it was a repeat c section and I was past 37 weeks so she wanted to just have the baby. I was overcome with different emotions. Relieved that it was all going to be over soon. Scared of another c section (I don’t know why this scares me but it did haha). Nervous because my parents weren’t going to be there. It was just kinda rough!

The anesthesiologist came in shortly to get an epidural going. That went fine but then they gave me reglan, which makes me shake really bad and feel crazy. Apparently this is common but I HATE it! But I just tried to go to my happy place as time passed. We had to wait a few hours to do the c section because the doctor was running from hospital to hospital doing emergency surgeries. Although I didn’t love waiting, I was glad that my situation wasn’t an emergency.

The time finally came and they took me to the OR. The c section was quick but Carly was taken to the NICU. It reminded me a lot of Chance’s birth. I was so out of it and tired, I just kind of laid there. When it was over, they took me back to my room and prepared me to go to the NICU so that I could see Carly. But then they brought her to us from the NICU! She was doing so well that they were able to bring her back to us right before we went to mother baby. It was neat to be able to hold her and experience that moment together. Again, it was very much like Chance’s birth, since he went to the NICU and we had to wait a while to hold him.  I got to hold her as they wheeled us to the mother baby floor, which was kind of fun. It was so early in the morning that no one was around or anything so we just got to enjoy Carly for a while until Trav had to leave to take care of the boys. 

It's baby time! Almost....

Well this pregnancy is coming to a close and I couldn’t be more anxious! Today I am 36 weeks, 5 days. I officially have a c section scheduled for the 22^nd. I have 4 more shifts at work. My leave of absence paperwork is turned in. I have pretty much bought everything we need (and more).

This has been my most difficult pregnancy, and that’s saying something because the boys were no walk in the park! I’ve been more sick, and I still gag and throw up occasionally. Which typically causes blood vessels in my face to burst so I get a nice red freckled look for the rest of the day. My weight gain is about where it was with the boys (45-50 lb). I was anticipating a lot more so I’m actually happy about that. I have been way more active this pregnancy, thanks to having 2 crazy boys, having a stressful job, and wearing a fitbit. I’m carrying this one much lower than the boys. Also, she’s now “dropped” so it’s even worse.

So, when I went into the doctor for my normal check up, my blood pressure was high. So I gave a urine sample and of course, there was protein in it. So now we’ve started the work up for preeclampsia. It doesn’t surprise me too much, my hands and feet are typically sore from swelling, and I’m exhausted. The doctor decided to “let it slide” because I have a way to check my blood pressure at home. So far it’s been acceptable. I guess we will see what my appointment next week brings. Part of me just wants to have this baby but my parents and inlaws will all be out of town next week so that makes me nervous. I’m hoping we can hold off til the 13^th when people are back home to help with the boys.

So, for now, I’m basically on bed rest and wishing for time to go by faster. But really I’m just hoping for a healthy baby, however things work out.