I was so lucky with each of my pregnancies to never have bad morning sickness. As long as I kept food in my stomach, I felt pretty good. I did have heartburn pretty bad with you, Kayla, but according to the old wives' tales that just meant you were going to have lots of hair...
Emotionally, I was on a roller coaster the nine months I carried you. I was thrilled at being pregnant again, yet frightened that I would lose this baby also. I don't think I ever relaxed. I think I sort of made an agreement with myself that if I carried this baby full term, I would not try again. And if I lost this baby, I would not try again.
Even though I didn't have any pregnancy-related sickness during those months, I was ill much of the time. I had a severe sinus infection for about 6 weeks. My OB doctor would not prescribe anything and kept telling me to take over- the- counter medicines "for as long as necessary." I felt terrible. Poor little Blake went to a sitter nearly full time, because I couldn't get out of bed for very long. Finally, I decided that 6 weeks worth of over- the- counter medicines couldn't be good for me or the baby, so I went to our family doctor. After telling me I was huge (He was the only man who could get away with that) he prescribed a mild antibiotic that was "perfectly safe for the baby; otherwise I wouldn't be giving it to you." I started feeling better in 36 hours. One more reason I was not thrilled with my OB doctor, and I totally missed my first doctor. See, with Blake I had gone to our family doctor; a rare thing now to opt for a family doctor over an obstetrician, but it is what I wanted. After being assured that I was very low risk, this brand new family doctor took me on as a patient; because he was one of just a few in the area that delivered babies. Let me tell you, I was treated like a queen in that office. When you are one of maybe 12 pregnant patients, they practically roll out the red carpet when you walk in the door. I got very spoiled with the extra attention, the phone calls where I actually spoke to the doctor himself, and the friendliness of the whole staff. By the time I had you, Kayla, our doctor had stopped delivering babies and so I had to become one of the thousands of women seen by one of the few OB doctors in our town. But I was very fortunate to have gone through my first pregnancy with the doctor I had chosen first, and I tried to focus on that.
I was now with a practice of 3 doctors and they alternated each visit; but mostly I saw just the nurse. They never really learned my name. When I signed in at each visit, I had to sign in with a number. I used to tell Daddy that I was uterus number 4178. When I asked a question, I got the same answer "It's part of being pregnant." Luckily, when I asked a question of our family doctor when I was pregnant with Blake, he would roll his stool over to me, look me in the eye and EXPLAIN why things were happening the way they were. So I didn't have many questions this time around, thanks to my first doctor who kept me very informed.
After I got over the sinus infection, I felt pretty good for awhile, until you decided to pitch a tent on my bladder. I swear you lived RIGHT ON TOP of my bladder for 3 months. I could not walk the lenght of the mall without having to find a bathroom RIGHT NOW!!!!
Then when I was two weeks from my due date, I had a severe hemipalegic migraine. At least we assume that's what it was. I had symptoms of a stroke. I lost vision in my left eye. The left side of my face went numb, my left arm and leg began tingling and going numb off and on. My speech became slurred, and my thoughts became muddled. I did not remember my son's name. I kept saying Daddy had been at church, not work. When Daddy came home to take me to the doctor, I signed in and misspelled my name, wrote my address and phone number wrong, and of course could not remember my uterus number at all. Looking back, these doctors should have instantly called in a neurologist, but they didn't. They simply admitted me to the hospital and under diagnosis wrote "tingling in hands." All these symptoms lasted a few hours and, surprisingly there was very little pain in my head. A nurse tried to make me take 2 tylenol with codeine and I begged and pleaded "no, the pain's not that bad; it's not good for the baby." I remember a lengthy discussion with this nurse. We finally compromised and I took one. For the record, when you were a few months old, I had another severe migraine like that. I called our wonderful family doctor and he got me into a neurologist THE NEXT DAY. I see that doctor 1 or 2 times a year and that's where the medication comes from that I keep in my purse to prevent/stop one of those headaches.
That whole experience left me physically drained and emotionally wrung out. At the doctor's office, two days later, one of the OB's said "I think for some reason your body has just had it. We need to plan a c-section for Monday" This was Wednesday. I was disappointed to be having another c-section, but was ready to have this baby. Before we left the office, the doctor told Daddy that since I was slightly anemic, she wanted me to eat as much iron as possible for the next several days. Then she said "Sunday for lunch, I want her to eat a big plate of shrimp." Aha! I had a medical order to eat at Red Lobster before my c-section. Then she asked what questions or concerns I had and I asked one thing of her, "With my first c-section, they kept the drape up and I didn't like that. I want to be more connected with the delivery. Can you lower the drape before you deliver the baby?" And she said "I always do."
As an aside, we had decided not to find out if you were a boy or a girl. But after the first ultra-sound, I really kept thinking I wanted to know; even though I was certain you would be a boy and we would name you Nathan James. But when I requested the second utrasound I was told that was only done if there was a problem. Luckily that wasn't the case, but I was suddenly very serious about knowing the sex of this baby. I really thought I'd lose my mind if I didn't know. Remember this when I get to the moment you were born.....
The night before my c-secion I prayed for peace so that I could sleep well. And low and behold I slept...well...like a baby. Interestingly our family doctor was at the hospital making rounds when we got there; so he sat and visited with us for a while before I went into the operating room. I was also thrilled to see that I had the same anesthesiologist that I'd had with Blake. I am not ashamed to say I fell in love with him when Blake was born. It's ok. Daddy knows. Not only did Dr. Wonderful make the contractions stop when he administered my spinal block before my unexpected c-section, but he had the sweetest, gentlest voice in the world. He kept his face right by my ear and talked to me like a golf announcer - real low and calm. I would not know that man if I saw him on the street because of his surgical garb, but I love him. I really do.
Anyway, after what seemed like forever with all the hubub of the operating room, they let Daddy come in. That's when I knew it was almost time. Almost time for my baby. And then I heard the words I'll never forget. I heard the doctor say "Lower the drape." I started shaking. I was trembling with excitement. These weren't the baby shakes I got AFTER Blake was born, or the ones I'd get after this baby. These were tremors of joy. I was so excited to meet you, I was shivering as though I was freezing.
AND THEN THERE WAS YOU. The doctor brought you out of me and straight up to my face and I thought I could tell it was a girl, but I wasn't positive because of the way she was holding you. Then she kind of turned you a little and said "It's a girl."
And I became a blubbering idiot. I said four words...over and over again "Oh, it's a girl....Oh, it's a girl...oh, it's a girl..." Dr. Wonderful said "Do you happen to have a boy at home...?"
And Daddy wiped the tears from my cheek and said "You have your daughter, Honey. You have your Kayla Beth." And then he said "She really looks like you." I was so glad at that moment that I had not had the 2nd ultrasound. The joy and excitement of finding out right then that I had a daughter was well worth the wait.
Of course our family doctor had been informed that he'd be getting a new patient that day. I've heard that a pediatrician has 24 hours to see a newborn in the hospital after he/she is born. Well, our doctor called the hospital on his own and asked if I had delivered yet and when he was told yes he said "Tell Heidi I'm on my way." He arrived FIFTEEN MINUTES after you were born. I do not know what that did to his schedule that day, but it was just one more thing that made me thrilled to have him caring for our family, which was now four instead of three.
On the day you were born, I had a list of things I'd be teaching you. I had no idea the things you would teach me along the way.....
More Later....
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