My Story: Part 4 – Ignoring the signs

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

After a healthy pregnancy with less morning sickness, no IV’s, no miscarriages between the last 2 pregnancies and making it into the 3rd trimester, I was feeling pretty good about things.  I figured since I had taken the hormones with baby #2 and began my “healthy” eating diet and was able to get pregnant with no miscarriages between, I was out of the woods.  My secret had been found.  I remember telling a friend that I just felt so lucky to have found the answer.

(My 2nd baby girl playing happily)

At about 7 1/2 to 8 months I noticed there were not a lot of fetal movements.  The baby however was moving when I would push against my abdomen and although there was not a lot of other movement – I assumed all was good.  At my 8 1/2 month appointment my Doctor was concerned with the size of the baby.  I could tell that for sure this one was smaller – I was mostly comfortable and breathing normally did not feel like a challenge.  I kept telling him that I knew this one was smaller, but my other two had been so large (8 lbs 9 oz and 9 lbs 1 oz) that maybe this one was just more averaged sized.  He also found that the baby was breached.  He asked the general questions and I didn’t say much about the movements because I figured since the baby moved when I pushed, things were fine.  *Note to self – don’t think you know what you’re talking about when you don’t!

Because the baby was breached (again we didn’t know what we were having – we loved the excitement of finding out during birth) he asked me to meet him at the hospital for aversion (turning the baby into the appropriate birthing position).  Both of my girls had come almost 2 weeks late, so at this point we were thinking it would still be another 4 weeks until the baby was born.  He also wanted to keep me in the hospital for some monitoring – first to make sure the baby handled the aversion well -but also to check on size since he was still worried about that.

On a little side-note here I just want to add that I come from a family that is VERY natural health oriented.  I love how my mom has taught me to learn what I can do for myself to avoid getting sick as often as possible.  My husband comes from a very opposite family – his dad is a pediatrician and my husband is currently in medical school to become a doctor himself.  I personally believe that mixing these two pools of knowledge can be the best possible outcome – and that taking an active roll in your physical well being by using supplements, healthy diet and exercise are very valuable and overlooked often.  I also think that when something abnormal is going on – a visit to the doctor can be the best possible solution.

So when we found our baby was breached, my first reaction was to find out what I could do naturally before I went in for aversion.  On another side-note – I also believe in guidance from God in our daily lives.  Although my first instinct was to treat the breach through “natural” means I had an overwhelming feeling NOT to mess with it and to keep my appointment at the hospital for the aversion.

So we went to the hospital.  I got a babysitter for 2 hours, assuring her I would be home.  We arrived at the hospital at 8 am.  My ob performed the aversion.  It was the absolute oddest feeling I had ever experienced.  Using both hands he moved the baby up out of the birth canal, and very slowly turned until in the right position and then moved back down.  Think of moving an oblong ball inside of a balloon filled with wet sand.  The suction feeling was intense and I could see the outline of the little body through my belly.  WEIRD!

(The Girlies – the beginning of my pregnancy)

After the aversion, my doctor was convinced more than ever that things were not normal.  He had had his hands very firmly around the baby and it felt too small.  He began asking more and more questions about the movements.  When I admitted that they only time I had felt the baby move for about 2 weeks was when I pushed against it his concern heightened.  At that point, it did not seem that the baby was doing well from the aversion – there had been no movement since and the heart-rate was well below normal and not coming back up.  He “buzzed” the baby (sends a sound wave through the belly of the mom – which felt like a strong tingly vibration) – to which the baby barely responded.  The “normal” result would have been to see the baby move in every direction rather dramatically.  It was decided – I would be induced then and there.

Over the next few hours it became evident of why I had felt the need to have the aversion done at the hospital.  Both the baby’s heart rate and mine were very low – I was put on oxygen and moved from side to side to try and increase the amount of oxygen getting to the baby.  The water – when it broke – was bloody.  I asked to have the monitor turned off because the sound of the baby’s heart rate dropping at points to what seemed like a near stop and the alarms that kept going off were putting me in a bit of a panic.  My ob was amazing.  He checked in and did adjustments regularly – I found out later from a nurse that he never left more than 5 minutes from my room the entire time I was in labor – which most likely saved me from a c-section.  At 8 pm our little “peanut” was born… another girl.  She was 6 lbs – about 3 pounds less than her older sisters!  Granted she was born a good 3 weeks earlier than they were.  The placenta had several large chunks missing.  My ob “swept” out my uterus with his hand – I can tell ya THAT is an odd feeling!

There were no major complications once she was born – although she had jaundice and was released to go home with a light bed and wasn’t to be taken out for anything aside from feeding and her weight dropped to 5 lbs.

When she was two weeks old I began hemorrhaging.  I was admitted back into the hospital – 1 small piece of the placenta was still stuck to the top of my uterus.  I received a D&C and was sent home again.

I am amazed at how well everything turned out. I am sitting here watching my little girl (now 4 1/2 years old) munching on a cookie and making the cutest faces at me.  I am so grateful at how her birth experience turned out when there were moments that one decision could have ended with a completely different result.  They believed my placenta had not been working at full capacity during the later part of the pregnancy – resulting in the lower body weight and limited movements.  If she had not been breached, I probably never would have gone in for the aversion where my doctor became completely convinced that she needed to be born then.  Had I gone another 3 weeks, it was likely that my placenta could have torn / disintegrated more than it had at birth resulting in the death of possibly both her and I.                                                          (The sister trio meets)

At this point it would be easy to say we were done – we’ve experienced a miracle and we have 3 children.  I have more fun with my girls than should be allowed, and I think they sometimes forget I’m their mother – not another sister.  I am so happy to have the girls I have.  No, I will not be upset or angry if I can’t have more children.  But I also feel a drive to keep our family growing.

After our 3rd baby girls birth (about 4 1/2 years ago) – my body has just never been the same.  Getting pregnant is now a challenge and we haven’t been successful in having a pregnancy last long enough for the baby to make it.  This week I would have been due on Wednesday had our last baby lived to full term.  The losses now seem harder than they were at the beginning.  I think then I felt I could just “get pregnant again”, but now I feel how I think I would feel if I were to loose one of my girls.  It has been heartbreaking.  It has also been therapeutic to share the struggles I’ve gone through to get my girls here – realizing that all 3 are a miracle.  I have learned some interesting things about health and reasons why people miscarry since my last daughter was born.  I’ll share that in the next post.  Over the past few years I have met so many women who have struggled with fertility far beyond what I have experienced – and I have watched some of those same women finally achieve motherhood through health treatments, In Vitro and adoption.  There are so many ways to overcome this challenge!, and I am on a mission to find which direction is right for me.

I was so grateful to find our recent giveaway for the 5K “Footsteps for Fertility“.  I am so happy for the couple that will be able to receive In Vitro.  If it ends up being you, please let us know!  I would love to hear someone’s success story!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 , Part 7

Loving every moment with my girls… Last Week’s “Summer Facial Day”