Life As I Know It: Journey to Motherhood

Not sure what is going on but I’ve been in a weird mood lately. It’s probably because it’s that time of the month for me but who knows. I’ve been feeling reflective and really nostalgic lately. While it’s fresh on my mind, I wanted to record my journey to motherhood.

Trey and I had always known that we wanted children. The minute my sister had her two beautiful children and the immediate and deep love I felt for my niece and nephew made me crave for that even deeper love and connection with my own child. Randomly, I went to Trey and said I think I’m going to stop taking the pills and he was on board. Granted, I assumed that it would take about 6 months to actually get pregnant. A little over a month later, Madison was conceived. Of course I had no idea because I wasn’t expecting it to happen so soon. I remember Trey and I went to dinner where you get to bring your own wine and we were meeting some friends. Before our friends got there, I looked at Trey and said that I was late but I was ALWAYS late before I started the pill and that I was probably not pregnant and proceeded to pour myself another glass of wine. Haha

A few more weeks passed and I started peeing CONSTANTLY and had the sneaking suspicion that I was probably pregnant. Told Trey and we went and got a pregnancy test. I peed on the first one and it was positive. I decided to take a second one (after chugging water) and it was negative. Trey told me to get another one that just said pregnant or not pregnant instead of the two lines. So I got the digital one and it said not pregnant. We were so sad. Well, I read up on taking these tests and read how you are not supposed to drink water before you take on because it dilutes that hcg level. The next Saturday morning, without telling Trey, I peed on the stick and it said PREGNANT. I was in shock! Of course, I immediately call my sister (still get crap about the fact that my sister knew before Trey) and told her and she was so excited. She noticed my lack of enthusiasm and I told her because I was just shocked – literally shocked. I had been off birth control for only 2 months!! Then I got to go wake Trey up at 7 in the morning (which seems so late these days) and he was soooo happy and gave me a big hug. I made an appointment with my OB for Monday to confirm and she confirmed it. Called Trey with the news and he came home with a dozen beautiful red roses (that are now sitting in Madison’s room).

I'm PREGNANT!!!

My beautiful red roses

The roses in the vase that I painted myself

I had a fairly good and normal pregnancy. Definitely had scares but scares that were normal. My first trimester I felt sick but I was able to function. Got physically sick when I tried to brush my tongue, so I didn’t brush my tongue for awhile (yeah, I grossed myself out). Then at 18 weeks I went in for a blood test. The nurse that I saw was brand new. She takes me in the room and says she needs to draw some blood. I didn’t think anything of it. She pokes me, does get the vein and then starts moving the needle inside to try and poke it while I start whining. She then says I might have to go to a clinic because she can’t get the vein. The main nurse comes in, closes the door and apologizes for the incompetent nurse (that was the last time I saw that nurse at the dr.’s office – I’m assuming she got canned). Anyway, the head nurse gets the blood and then asks if the other nurse explained what the blood was for. Of course she hadn’t. She goes on to tell me it’s for the Quad Test which tests for birth defects. I had initially decided to not do it but since they already took my blood, I figured I would go for it. A week later, on a Friday, I get the phone call that told me I had tested positive for Downs Syndrome and that I wouldn’t be able to get the 4D Ultrasound until Tuesday!!! It was absolutely awful!! Trey and I worried and cried and researched. We felt a bit better after the research because we read that these tests are just a numbers game. They could have my due date off by a couple days and that could contribute to a positive reading. Anyway, we got the ultrasound and it was absolutely the most terrifying and amazing experience. It was an hour long ultrasound but we saw EVERYTHING! The nurse measured every body part (toes, legs, fingers, arms, head, back) and there was not one DS marker. We also found out that Madison was a girl! We decided not to do the amniocentesis because that can cause a miscarriage and I would love Madison no matter how she came out. The rest of the pregnancy carried on just fine. Had the usually symptoms…peeing at night, every night, the pain in my pelvis, the waddling and the extreme hunger (especially the last 3 weeks)! I remember looking the mirror and just thinking that my stomach was MASSIVE!! However, I only gained a total of 30 pounds and the doctor said I was probably going to have an average sized baby.

At Disney - 2nd Trimester - Madison had a BLAST! :)

A picture from my hour long 4D ultrasound

My cupcakes telling everyone that she was a she!

March 28, 2011. Trey, my mom and I got to Baptist Memorial at 6:30. I was already 3 centimeters dilated and completely effaced. The nurse actually told me that I was already having contractions. Anyway, they started the inducement process at 7:30 and the waiting game started. It was boring just sitting with Trey and my mom. Then my sister came and I was SOOO happy! Then my best friend, Lauren, also came and helped pass the time with me. The nurse had told me earlier that I should probably wait to feel some contractions before getting the epidural so I knew what the discomfort felt like for when the delivery happened. So I waited for them to come and OH, did they come. It was AWFUL!!! I felt so bad but Trey was trying to be so sweet and was rubbing my stomach in an effort to comfort me and I just screamed at him that that was NOT making me feel better. I saw my sister’s eyes open wide and I knew that I had gone a little crazy. The doctor finally came and I got my epidural and it was AMAZING!! I can’t believe how fast it worked. So we waited some more. Trey’s whole family ended up showing up at the hospital. Supposedly they took up the whole waiting room. J Finally, at 4:45 my OB kicks everyone out of the room, checks me, tells me we’re going to do a practice push (the whole time Trey is playing Plants vs. Zombies on the iPad) and after two practice pushes, it’s game time. Trey throws the iPad down, runs to my side and I push for about an hour. I pushed with everything I had and she just wouldn’t come out! Things got snipped, pulled and prodded and Madison entered the world at 5:48, weighing in at 9.2 lbs. They put her on my chest and the first thing that ran through my head was “does she have downs?” I HATE that that was my first thought – damn you Quad test! However, she was absolutely beautiful and perfect and so darn chunky! They took her from me and cleaned and swaddled her. While they were doing this, I heard water running and I asked if that was Madison peeing. The dr. matter-of-factly told me no, that it was me bleeding. For the next hour, the dr. worked on me because my uterus was exhausted and wouldn’t clamp down on the bleeding and I was bleeding out. After an hour, everything was fine. I was completely wiped out and drugged up and had to be checked to see if I would need a blood transfusion (I didn’t – thank goodness). Trey was amazing in the room. Very sweet and supportive. Went through the whole labor like a champ. However, when the dr. was working on me, the nurse asked Trey if he wanted to hold Madison and he asked me if I wanted him to stay or go with Madison. I asked him to stay because I was scared and he put his head to my head and I could tell he was having a cold sweat and then he manned up and announced that he was going to faint. The nurse sat him down on the couch and giving him a sniffing thing that woke him up. He said he got nervous when he watched the dr. get so frustrated with my uterus. Anyway – everything turned out just fine.