(reposted)
So it's Saturday night, December 10, 2005, and I just found out I am
pregnant. I'm pretty much sitting on the couch, staring at Doug with
this silly grin on my face. I'm more excited and happier than I've ever
been in my life, yet scared out of my mind at the same time.
Doug says, "Now don't go telling the whole world until we go to the doctor."
Um, right.
Church
was the next morning. The first person I see is my friend Kim...she
was 6 weeks pregnant with her second child (turned out to be second AND
third child, but we didn't know that then). She knew we were trying.
She was standing right in front of me as I walked through the door, and I
just looked at her, and tipped my head to go into an empty classroom.
She just dropped her jaw and said, "NO WAY!!!" She totally knew before I
said a word.
I just couldn't keep this ear to ear grin off my
face...I didn't even have to tell many people, they just guessed by the
way I was acting. People also said that they had never before seen Doug
walk so tall.
Ended up that after church a bunch of people were
taking the pastor and his wife out for lunch, so most of my church
friends were all in one spot. Of course the whole world knew before
noon. : ) I couldn't help myself!
Then we called my best friend
Linda, and my mom and dad...my sisters, my brother in California...I
called the doctor on Monday, and was shocked that they didn't want to
see me until January 10, when I would be six weeks along. I assumed
they would want to see me right away.
So I went on the 10th, and
we heard the heartbeat. Oh.My.Gosh. What an amazing thing. I just
could NOT believe it. I also had an ultrasound. They would be doing
lots and lots of these, which was awesome, because I got to see the baby
grow month by month. I could have done a small baby book just with
ultrasound pictures! (We never did get the 3-D one though...too
expensive... plus we had SO many regular ones, we felt like we knew what
he looked like anyway!)
I had gone off the CellCept in June...I
remember going to Bible study once in March, and having 3 showers in
April. By the last shower, I could no longer speak clearly. The girls
writing down who gave me what couldn't understand a word I said. I was
exhausted. From the beginning of April on, I pretty much did nothing
but go to the doctor. My favorite uncle was in the hospital, and I only
made it up to see him once. He ended up passing away, and I didn't make
it to the funeral. I got to the funeral home, but I looked and felt
awful. I wished I could have done so much more for my Aunt. I felt
horrible. Love you Aunt Dee....Miss you Uncle Gordy!
At my 18
week ultrasound, we found out what we were having....a boy!!! I was SO
SO happy. I knew I was only going to do this one time around, and I
wanted so badly for Doug to have a boy. YAY! We had names picked out
already: Olivia Michelle if it was a girl, and Jacob Douglas (Jacob for
Doug's grandpa, and Douglas well, for Doug!). Jacob was VERY
cooperative during the ultrasound. Buns up, legs wide open....already
an exhibitionist! At the 22 weeks ultrasound, we could see his cheeks!
I kid you not! Jacob had the biggest chubby cheeks I had ever seen.
Precious!!!
The pregnancy really went amazingly well all things
considering. My blood sugar stayed fantastic, my blood pressure was
good, and I only gained 17 pounds. THAT was a miracle. I was SURE I
would gain 100 at least. Nope. SEVENTEEN. My metabolism went through
the roof! My favortie thing to eat was strawberries. I would eat a
bowlful a day. I also loved cheese crackers.
I only threw up one time, and that was at 7 months.
We ate mainly venison (before we started raising beef), and I LOVED it. However, while I was pregnant, I couldn't eat it.
Even
though my sense of smell was hampered by the trach, I had a bionic
nose. Eww. One of my LEAST favorite things about being pregnant.
My biggest fear was that Jacob would be born with transient neonatal myasthenia gravis. Bascially
that means he would temporarily have MG until his maternal antibodies
went away. We met with a neonatologist, and were told that the chances
of Jacob having it were 1 in 7. I went online and looked up whatever I
could. The average stay in the NICU for a baby with neonatal MG was
about 18 days. This was one of the main reasons I didn't want to try to
have my own child. It was terrifying thinking that Jacob would have to
deal with what I did, but only being a tiny baby. The only thing that
kept me sane was knowing he would fully recover, and never have to deal
with it again. I was still scared to death.
We were going to try
to have a natural delivery, but I had doubts the whole time about being
strong enough to push. I couldn't imagine.
My midwife was
extremely conscientious about me, preparing for every possibility. If I
DID have to have a C-section, it would be in the main OR, not the labor
and delivery ward. I had to get an ET (endo tracheal) tube for my
trach, thinking that if I had to have a C-section, they would have to
take out my trach, put the ET tube in, blow up the cuff and put me on a
vent during the procedure because I couldn't breathe laying flat when I
WASN'T pregnant!! That part scared me silly, but there wasn't much I
could do about it. Just pray and trust.
Finally August rolled
around. I was due the 21st, but we decided to induce on the 14th. We
had to be at the hospital at like 6 or 7 in the morning. Ug. The
Friday before, at the doctor, they used Cytotek to gradually start
things going. I kind of cramped all weekend, went in to the hospital
Saturday (the 12th) for another dose, stayed home Sunday, and then
checked in to the hospital on Monday.
And then.......
If you missed Part One Click HERE
If you missed Part Two Click HERE
Fighting this disease called Myasthenia Gravis (MG) with a little humor, some good friends, and a lot of help from Above.
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