Just Jess: Cain's Pregnancy

Cain's Pregnancy

This is a collection of blog posts about my pregnancy with Cain. It catalogs us finding out, the beginning, the complication and cerclage story and after. I have yet to write the birth story for the blog. I may just copy it from Facebook.

Pregnancy Story Part 1:The Beginning
Jav and I have been together for quite awhile now. over 5 years is you do not count the split we had for a few months in 2006. we got back together right at the end of 2006 and in may of 2007 we found out I was pregnant. We were both scared to death (Jav more so than myself) and were not really ready to take this on. Well, I ended up having a miscarriage. The doctor said that it was a chemical pregnancy, in other words, I found out way to early, and it ended really before it began. I think it worked out for the best.

Fast forward to 2008. Jav and I are still happily together, infact for the first time ever he asked me to move in. So we are living together (including his brother Bobby) and We are getting closer. 2008 is a big year in a sad way because this is the year that we lost my Grandma Sam. Well for awhile Jav had been saying here and there how it would be cool to have a baby and that I would be a good mom and how he thought that we would make a good parenting team. So one day I asked him straight if he wanted to have a baby. He said yes. So this was basically the planning of Cain to come :)

In October, I had a missed period, which was nothing new for me, being as irregular as I am, but this time I had symptoms from the first time I was pregnant. The extreme tiredness. So I went and bought a home pregnancy test and took it, and got a negative. "oh well" I thought, "we'll keep trying". well a few days later the tiredness seemed to be getting worse so I decided to take another test since the box comes with three. On October 18th 2008 I found out I was pregnant. Jav had already gone to work, So I called Nicole because I could not contain my excitement. We talked for a long while and she told me to go to the birth center, that they would give me a free pregnancy test and the paper work I needed to get approved for AHCCCS. When Jav came home for lunch, I showed him the test. We were so excited!! I culd not wait to get this all going. That Monday, I went down to the birth center and they gave me a test. They estimated my due date at May 25th 2009 and gave me the paper work needed. I got an appointment set up with them and had to play the waiting game all the way to November!
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pregnancy story part 2: First Doctor's Appointment
So after all the waiting for my first appointment, and believe me, it seemed to take for ever, came around on November 20th. We got to do all the paper work (well, I got to do it) and then we met with the midwife. I was going to The Birth and Women's Helath Center and we were considering delivering there too. So when we met with the midwife she asked a bunch of questions, and afterwards we tried to get the heartbeat with the doppler. We were not able to pick it up and that made me kind of nervous. The midwife, after feeling my abdomen said that it was nothing to worry about. I was supposed to be 13 weeks pregnant based of my LMP (Last Menstral Period) but the midwife said that i was more like 8 to 10 weeks based on the size of my uterus. They had me do a pap and some blood work and they got what days worked best for me so that they could get me set up with a sonogram to date my pregnancy. So we left that appointment looking forward to getting a sonogram done. I had already told everyone on my side that I was pregnant but Jav kept holding out. I think he was nervous that I was going to miscarry like I did the last time. I was being optimistic. Everything was looking good so far so I thought that this time was going to be better than the last time. After all this time it was planned and not a surprise. We were happy about this. We wanted it. and here it was :)
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Pregnancy Story Part 3: First Sonogram
So my first sonogram was to date my pregnancy. We set it for December 4th because it was a Thursday and Jav had Thursdays off. I had to work but they gave me the time off to go to the sonogram. I came and picked up Jav and we headed off to Obstetrix. This was to date my pregnancy because we were not so sure what the due date was. I was supposed to be 15 weeks according to my last period, but the Midwife said that my uterus did not feel that big. So when we got to Obstetrix I had to fill out all the paper work and stuff and then we had to sit and wait for awhile. Apparently Obstetrix was a high risk practice contracted with the hospital, but it was also where lots of local doctors sent their patients to get sonograms. I would learn all about this later.So when we finally got called back we went back with the lady and she got us all set up in a room, and then the sonogram was under way!! we saw our little baby doing little flips in my tummy, it was the coolest thing!! she measured the baby and took some pics for us, and then we got to hear its heartbeat!! We hadnt been able to with the doppler yet, so this was the first time. I think at that moment is when it became real to the both of us. I got all teary-eyed and Jav was laughing and saying " How cool". We left with a revised due date from May 25th to June 28th. A five week difference!! We also left with some cute sonogram pics!

My sweet first sono pics!

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Pregnancy Story Part 4: Smooth Sailing
So after the first sonogram there was not much to report. I had an easy first half of my pregnancy. I was tired all the time but I didn't have much other symptoms. I did not have the morning sickness, sore boobs or any of that. It was alot easier than I expected it to be. I continued to work and go to school. I went to my doctors appointments once a month. Jav went with me when he could. They finally found the heartbeat on the doppler so we got to listen to the baby's heart beat at the appointments. I quit smoking as well. I didn't mention it in a previous post, but I quit smoking just before going to the sonogram, in November. I didn't go back to smoking either, That makes it a year this month that I have now been a non smoker. So we went on with the appointments and everything was fine. I was asked to come in early to do the glucose test. Being a heavier patient, they wanted to test me early. So I went in to take the one hour, and of course failed it. Does anyone pass the one hour? I've never heard of it. Anyhow, so I had to go back for the 3 hour. I had to take some time off of work for it and I went on a Tuesday. December 3rd. I took my schoolwork with me so that I had something to keep me occupied. This time the stuff was not as good, it was more sweet (I liked the stuff the first time around, I had the orange.) So I had my blood drawn, drank the stuff and then sat there for three hours and had my arm poked every how on the hour. I used to have good viend in my arm, but after this pregnancy, I think they are collapsed lol. So I finished up and they told me that I could call in a couple of days to find out the results. I left and headed off to work. When I got to work I used the bathroom, and something unsusal happened. **this is where my disclaimer comes into effect** I didn't think anything of it but I had a large amount of clear discharge. Like on huge glob. I thought it looked like snot. I had heard that it was normal to have an increase in discharge in pregnancy so I just thought that this was finally starting to happen to me. I went about my day like nothing happened. This brings us up to the 3rd. Two days away from the big anatomy scan! and consequently the worst day of my whole pregnancy.
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Pregnancy Story Part 5: 19 week anatomy scan and a Cerclage
So February 5th was the big day for my anatomy scan. I was going by myself that day, because Jav had to work, he had gotten a new position at work and could not miss any time do to being in training. We had decided to not find out the sex of the baby anyhow so all he really was going to be missing was seeing the baby on the screen. My appt was scheduled for 215 so I left work at about 140 and went to obstetrix. I actually got in pretty quick being back in the sonogram room at 220. The teach, Becca, started my scan and took her time measuring the baby. When it came time for her to take a look at that area she asked if I wanted to know the sex and I told her no, so she told me to look away so there were no accidents. After she finished there she was scanning around, and she said that she found something she did not like and asked if she could do a vaginal ultrasound. I agreed so she left the room so that I could get undressed. When she came back she started the scan and she said that what she was seeing was not good. She told me that my cervix was really short and had already begun to dilate. She wanted to go get the doctor to talk to me and she said that I should call my work to tell them that I would not be back that day. I was freaking out. I knew that I was not supposed to be dilating that early so I started crying and was really scared. I called my work and I started explaining to Susan what was going on and she was relaying to Eileen. Susan said "so what does this mean?" and Eileen in the background snapped "It means she is not coming back today". She was mad that I would not be back. I was hurt, because here I am scared and not knowing what was going on and my work is mad cause I cant come back. That made it even worse. So the tech comes back and takes me to the Doctor's office. The doctor explained to me that I was 1cm dilated already and that my cervix was measuring 1.1 cm in length (which is really short). She explained that I had two options at that point. One of the options was to go home and do bedrest and hope that the baby stayed put until it was supposed to come. The other option she gave me was to get a Cerclage, She explained that a cerclage was a procedure where they are basically stitching your cervix shut. She did explain that of course there were risks with this procedure, like possibly rupturing the amniotic sac or infection that would cause the baby to come anyway. She also explained that this was not a gaurantee that the baby would not come early but it was an attempt and that it does work sometimes. This was so hard for me, because Jav was not with me, I was forced to make quick and possibly life saving decisions for our baby all by myself. I was so scared. I decided to get the cerclage. So the doctor found someone to take me over to the hospital (obstetrix is contracted with the hospital to provide high risk care, so they are on the hospital grounds) andthe whole time we were walking over there the lady kept saying "I wish I had a wheel chair for you, you should not be walking!" which was freaking me out even more, she was making it sound like my baby was going to fall out right there (Which I later find out just how serious it could be). They admitted me through triage rather than making me go through the front of the hospital and got me changed into a gown and put me in a bed. They put an iv in my arm and they drew blood and made me give a urine sample and they had me wait becasue they were also going to make me have an amniocentisis but the doctor had to do that. So as I was sitting in the room by myself waiting for the doc to come in, I called my mom and told her what was going on, and I called Jav's brother and toldhim to please bring Jav as soon as Jav got off work, and explained to him what was going on. I called my work back to tell them what was going on and this time Eileen was alot more understanding. After that I watched TV until the doctor came in with the sonogram machine to do the amnio. Her and a nurse were going to so it so they iodined my belly and they started looking for a spot to stick the needle. The doctor poked it to make sure the baby wouldn't move, so of course it did. We went through this about three ti8mes before she was able to get the needle in to get the fluid she needed. She sent the fluid off for testing because they could not do a cerclage if there was an infection in there. She said it did not look infected though. She showed it to me and said that if it were infected most the time it would be cloudy and mine was nice and clear. So after that I was left alone til people came. I watched TV, but not really hearing it or anything. I spent alot of time looking at my sonogram pictures and hoping that this procedure would work for me. Finally Jav and Babby got there around 5ish and I filled Jav in on everything and he said that he agreed with my choices. So we mostly sat around, the boys talking about things and me just listening. My mom showed up after awhile. Bobby went out to meet his dad and step mom, we were supposed to have dinner with them that night, and when Jav told them what was going on and cancelled they decided to come. On the way back in, Bobby ran into Jess, She is an old friend of Jav's and is a nurse at the hospital. So she took over being my nurse which was nice, because She told jav everything we needed to know. She did say that I was more than likely going to have to be on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy, even with the cerclage. So that was another thing I started to worry about. My bills and such. What the hell was I going to do?!? So we all sat around everyone talking, I mostly just listening. I wasnt in much of a talking mood, and so I just sat there. Finally around 830 or 9ish they moved me to labor and delivery where I met with the guy that was going to give me the epidural for the procedure. around 10 is when they came and got me and took me to an OR. Once in there they gave me the epidural, and then they got to work. Michael, the epidural guy, stayed there and talked with me throughout the procedure, and I listened to my ipod. It took a little longer than expected because they had a hard time plaing it, but eventually got it. So when we were done, they took me back to the L&D room to recover. I was there til about 1 am when they moved me to the anti partum unit. I didnt get that much sleep that night because of the catheter, andwoke up the next morning to the nurse checking my vitals. I asked her to take the catheter out and she said that they couldnt yet but she would ask. It came out around 9 am and then I was taken to get another TVU to see how the cerclage was holding. It had given me a little more length and closed me up so I was not dilated anymore. I got more sonogram pictures which I liked. They kept me in the hospital til saturday afternoon and then sent me home with instructions to stay in bed at least until my next TVU a week away. So I went home and started my bedrest journey.
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Pregnancy Story part 6: Not doing a whole lot. Literally.
I figured since I haven't done one of these in a while it would be a good idea to do one now. after getting the cerclage I was sent home on bed rest for a week and then I had to go back to get a CL (cervical length) check and they would determine from there where the bed rest would go. Well, the week of bed rest went by pretty fast. When friday came around Jav took me to my appointment so that I had some support. We got in the room and they did the sonogram, and they said that my cervix was back down to a 1.2. She said that she also thought that I was contracting so I was sent over to the hospital to be monitored. I, of course started freaking out again and Jav was trying to calm me down. I got put into a triage room and they hooked me up to a contraction and heart monitor. Luckily Jess was there that day so she was our nurse again. Dr. Miller was the Doctor that was attending that night and he came in and started talking about how we are almost to 24 weeks, but at 24 weeks that does not mean we will get to take a baby home that is just the gestation they try to save them. He said that ideally they wanted me to make it to 28 weeks, but even then there are complications. He started talking about doing a second cerclage and left Jav and I to talk about it. Jav and I decided that we would not want to do a second cerclage (at this point I didnt know all I do now about Incompetent Cervix or else I would have definitely said go ahead on a second) After two hours of monitoring, which I only had two contractions that they think were caused by the sonogram (all my CL checks were internal sonograms) I was sent home on bed rest until further notice. I wont bore you with the details of 16 weeks of bed rest. I will tell you that I spent 95% of my time on line and the other 5% reading, playing DS, watching movies, sleeping, or sneaking out for car rides. A couple of times I had Jav take me to my work cause I missed the kids. I would always leave there a mess. Crying and everything. I missed them so much. Much much more than I thought I would. I never realized how attached I got to them. There were lots of tests in between, I had to re-take the 3 hour glucose test (the birth center made me take it early cause I was overweight)I had to do a 24 hour urine catch cause of high blood pressure.I had to do an echocardiogram? to make sure my heart rate was fine. It had been high at a few of my doc appointments, but I am pretty sure lots of laying around with no activity had something to do with that. As we neared the end, my amniotic fluid was too high so they started making me do twice weekly Non-Stress Tests (NST's). I guess because high amniotic fluid was a sign of gestational diabetes and my glucose numbers coming back a bit on the high side (the never outright said that I had GD they said I had Glucose Intolerence in pregnancy) they made me start doing the NST's and they were going to schedule me for a diet class. This took them months to do. Finally in the beginning in May they got me set up for it. I was scheduled to take it May 26th at 3 pm. This would be my last day as a pregnant woman.