Getting Pregnant
I was pregnant with Edmund March 2022. I had suffered a miscarriage in January, so I was hesitant to share my pregnancy with the world. Our family and close friends knew but I didn't go public with it until I was about five months along.
2022 was full of travel for my little family. I wanted to see the Tulip festival in Utah, so we went in April. I was feeling pretty good at this point no morning sickness and just grateful to be growing a sweet baby again. Our summer was filled with t-ball games for Allan and play dates at the splash pad trying to stay cool in the Vegas heat. We celebrated our daughter's third birthday, with a trip to Sea World. We made the five-hour drive to San Diego, and I was so excited for Diana to see the ocean for the first time! She didn't like it, and spent most of the time stranded on our blanket not wanting to touch the "dirty sand". By this time, it was getting hard for me to try to hide my pregnancy anymore. I was feeling secure and ready to share our happy news with everyone. I was about five months pregnant.
In September we flew to Texas to visit my grandpa. We knew he wasn't doing well, and we wanted to spend time with him. We stayed with my sister and her family in Granger Texas. We took a day trip to San Antonio to see the Alamo and walked along the River Walk. There we all were, four adults and five kids walking around downtown San Antonio in the September heat. The word walk is a bit of an over statement for me, I more like waddled in my short overalls feeling pretty fatigued but determined to keep up.
I had been feeling extra tired for over a month now but I couldn’t figure out where my fatigue was coming from. I chopped it up to being busy with my two other kids and never really having time to rest. When we visited my grandpa, he told me he was also feeling fatigued and that he was taking iron to help him feel better and that’s when it clicked. I ordered an iron supplement right away and after three days was already feeling much better.
After we got back home to Las Vegas my grandpa passed away. The next day, Allan had his T-ball playoff game. His team was called the Angels. Allan hit three balls that night, better than he had done all season, helping lead his team to victory and a chance to play in the championship game. I really felt my grandpa‘s presence at the game that night, almost like they had won just for him.
Birth
It was November 24, 2022 Thanksgiving Day. My family had decided to drive out to Pahrump to spend Thanksgiving with my aunt. I was 40 weeks pregnant and I wanted to go in order to distract myself. Pahrump is about 45 minutes away from Las Vegas and my husband, Ryan was uncomfortable with being so far from home when I was so big pregnant. I thought about making a Thanksgiving dinner just for our little family, but for the very first time we decided to go out to eat for Thanksgiving. We ended up at a restaurant in Downtown Summerlin, which is an outdoor mall area. We enjoyed our food and I remember loving the ice cream that I got for dessert. It had the most delicious maraschino cherries on top. I wanted to walk around the mall after dinner and see the giant Christmas tree. I was determined to walk this baby out. once we got home, we got the kids cozy in bed and then I took a shower and fell into bed myself.
I remember, waking up about 3am because I had to pee. I stood up thinking "man I'm so tired I just want to go back to sleep, I'll pee really fast so I can get back in bed." As I walked the very short distance to our bathroom, I started to feel something running down my leg. Again, I thought, "I can't believe I'm peeing myself right now!" I sat down on the toilet, and that's when the first contraction hit me. Of course, now I realize it was my water that broke and was running down my leg, but I just didn't make the connection at the time.
Now, I am usually in denial about my labors at first. I'm always trying to convince myself that "no, I'm not in labor right now, it will definitely stop in a minute." But, reality set in pretty quickly when I started to walk back to the bed, but had to lean on our bathroom counter and breathe through a contraction. Ryan sat up in bed and asked, “are you OK?” “I’m fine. I’m fine.” I said waving him off. Ryan looked at me and said, “you don’t look fine, you’re leaning over.” I took a couple of calming breaths and then another contraction came. I guess I wasn’t going back to sleep after all. Another contraction rolled over me and that’s when I realize that these were coming hard and fast. I immediately had to work through each contraction, breathing through them and finding my rhythm. I called my midwife and she listened as I worked through a contraction. She said she would send the tub tech over to set up the birth pool and that she would be there shortly. Relieved that my birth team was on their way, I went back to working through my contractions. I sat on the toilet, my favorite place to labor, resting my head on Ryan’s stomach.
Jillian, the woman setting up the tub got there first. she began filling up the tub in our kitchen although I didn’t really notice this. My Midwife’s assistant Lexi came into the bathroom where I was still sitting on the toilet. She had the Doppler and began to listen to my baby’s heartbeat; I could tell there was something amiss when she left and went to get Sherry my midwife. Sherry came in and also listened to the baby’s heartbeat. We moved to the living room and Sherry asked if she could do a cervical check. This was another red flag for me because I knew Sherry would never ask to do a check unless it was absolutely necessary. She did the check, and I was 7 cm dilated. When I asked what was going on Sherry told me she had heard some late decelerations in the baby's heartbeat. I knew this meant cord compression and could possibly be dangerous for the baby. I knew we weren’t in immediate danger, and this was just something we needed to keep our eye on, so I change my position and begin laboring again, I knew I needed to get him out quickly, so I decided to try and do a few pushes this felt pretty good. By this time, the pool was ready, so I got in, was 5:11 in the morning. I labored in the tub for a few minutes, allowing another contraction to wash over me.
As a doula, I give my clients advice all the time. Something I tell every woman is that when it comes to pushing, we often hold ourselves back. Afraid to push through that wall in order to get to the other side. In that moment, I could feel myself doing just that, holding back afraid of using my power to push through the wall in order to get to the other side and hold my baby. It’s in these moments that every woman giving birth needs to find her inner strength and break through the wall In order to get to her baby.
At 5:34am I faced my fear and pushed through the wall and Edmund was born. My first contraction started at 3 AM and our baby boy was in my arms at 5:34am. Two and a half hours, this was my fastest birth yet! I leaned my head on the back of the tub took a breath and said "that was really, really hard". I also felt, relief wash over me knowing that my job was done. My baby was here and he was safe. The placenta came out easily, and once we cut and clamped the cord, we walked back to our bedroom where I took a quick shower and got cozy in bed. My birth team did all the newborn assessments while I munched on peanut butter toast and strawberries. I was so excited for Allan and Diana to wake up and walk into our room and see their baby brother, and what a sweet moment it was.
Postpartum
This postpartum journey was rocky for me. Looking back on it, I think my body was having a hard time recovering from being pregnant for so long. I was pregnant with Edmund for nine months, of course, but I was also pregnant with William, the baby boy we lost at twenty weeks, before that. So, I was basically pregnant for a whole year! I ended up with thrush that was very painful. I also had an irritating yeast infection. My hands started itching too, I knew this was a sign of liver stress so I started taking handfuls of supplements and drinking teas daily to try and strengthen my liver, and immune system. Man, that first month was tough but, once my body started to heal I felt so much better.
Christmas was so much fun that year! Being a family of five was absolutely wonderful. The season was filled with the magic of seeing all three of our children together. We were so blessed to have Edmund come into our lives when he did. His presence in our family has given us more love to share, more moments to savor, and more chaos to work through as we grow.
Want to read more birth stories? Check out Allan's Hospital Birth Story and Diana's Home Birth Story. Want to stay in the loop and never miss another blog post?
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