Birth
Stories & More
Part IV –
Torpedo!
September 1, 2009, Yahoo chatting with
my cyber bff Lizzy, she tells me I should take a pregnancy test. LOL!!!! Yeah…right.
“Lizzy, I’m definitely NOT pregnant. There’s probably like a 2% chance of that”. I was only 2 days ‘late’, and really, with
all the stress I was under, and we TRIED to be careful, there was really no
way. Besides all that, just a couple weeks ago, Eli had his 2nd
febrile seizure, which was combined with ALTE (apparent life threatening event).
Here’s what happened…
It was around 7pm and Eli (15 months) was
fatigued a bit early. So I went ahead and laid him down to sleep in the
pack-n-play which was right next to the couch. I sat on the couch next to the
pack and play while he got into his comfy position, on belly and butt in the
air. Within SECONDS I hear him struggle to breathe and I jump up and pick him
up! His body was lifeless and limp, mouth and nose clogged with vomit. Instinctually
I used my fingers to clear his passage ways as FAST as I possibly could so he
could breathe, and simultaneously I was on the phone with a 911 operator. God
only knows how I was able to grab Eli, hold him in my lap, grab my phone, dial
911, and use my free hand to clear vomit from nose and mouth. Within seconds I was
able to hear Eli breathing again, thank GOD! Emergency crews were on their way
as I sat on the floor still holding a semi limp, but a little more alert little
Eli. I called the karate studio where Danny was having his Tae Kwon Do class
for him to come home ASAP.
We did the ER visit, and it was
confirmed it was another febrile seizure. But it wasn’t until following up with
the pediatrician the next morning, it was more than that. He had suffered ALTE
and was told he could of died from this had I of not reacted immediately to
clear his passage ways. I almost completely lost it right there in the exam
room, I don’t know how I didn’t fall to pieces hearing my precious baby boy
could have DIED had I not did what I did, right when I did it. It NEVER occurred to me while I was slinging
vomit from his nose and mouth onto the floor around us that his life was in
danger. I give all credit to God giving me the instincts I had that evening.
God saved my baby boy, not me. I was
merely the ‘tool’ God used for His amazing grace!
So as you see, there was NO WAY I could
possibly be pregnant. The stress of this horrifying experience lasted a long
time. There is no way conception could have happened with this level of stress,
cuz NOTHING is more stressful than the fear of your child dying suddenly when
you think he’s falling to sleep safely.
So back to September 1st and
my online Yahoo chatting, Lizzy finally convinced me to go ahead and test.
Besides, I did have a left over pregnancy test upstairs. What’s the harm? And
it would prove I’m right and end this silly conversation. I went upstairs and took
the test, and OMG! Two very clear lines appeared very quickly. PREGNANT!! I
cried, and cried, not tears of joy, but tears of sadness! I was NOT ready for
this! To mark this “special” time, I went ahead and took a picture of my
positive HPT, and wrote down the time, 10:20am.
And then I sent the picture via text message to Danny at work. He responded with, who’s test is that? Haha!!
He was of course just a shocked as I was! The next morning, I told Danny that I allowed
myself a day of ‘sadness, but “it is what it is” and I can’t change that. So for
that day, I’m forced myself to look at this as a good thing, and found reasons
to celebrate. He did the same. And
really, it wasn’t but maybe a few days later we both were starting to see the
good in this. And we heard from A LOT of parent’s how they loved having their
kids close in age, and that we would in fact be okay. Sure, this pregnancy
happened a good full year before we ‘planned’ to try for another, but it’s
okay. We did plan on another, it was just happening a year before we wanted.
I started to ‘show’ VERY quickly this
time, and was all belly for a while. Sticking straight out! In fact, the bigger
I got, the pointier and more “torpedo” shaped I became. I mean really, I could
have poked a child’s eye out with this pointy protruding belly! Oh, and the stretch
marks were horrible! I really thought I was going to pop! This pregnancy had A
LOT less drama than with Eli. Sure, I had nausea the entire 9 months, and had
swelling. But overall, not near the level of discomfort as last time. I never
did efface or dilate. Only 1 episode of false labor 4 days before my schedule
c-section.
One noteworthy week though was week 19,
when I had my mid-pregnancy ultrasound. I just KNEW I was having a girl this
time! I carried the total opposite from last pregnancy, and food cravings and aversions
were totally different too. So when I hear the ultrasound tech say, “It’s a
boy!” I just fell apart! A boy?? I had my heart set on a girl!! This was going
to be our last baby, and I had always wanted 1 boy, 1 girl. I was devastated! I cried for HOURS over
this! But had to do what I did at the start of this pregnancy, I had to force
myself to see the good in this. And it didn’t take too long again; I began to
see the good in having 2 boys close in age.
Picking a name for Noah was actually
quite easy. I was lying on the couch one day, when Eli came over to me and
said, “Noah” and he kept saying it. I thought to myself, wow, that’s a great
name! Noah was another biblical name, and one with great meaning. I quickly
fell in love with the name. Several
weeks later, Eli was saying “Noah” again, but then finally got out the words he
was trying to say all this time. “No Way”!
Of course then he started saying, “No way Noah”. LOL! But oh well, our minds were already made up
and family had already been told. Our baby was to be named Noah. J
Fast forward to May 1, 2010; Danny, Eli and I were out in the yard playing. Well, Danny and Eli were playing. I was standing there big as house enjoying the nice outdoor weather. Then I started to feel some very real contractions. Tightness and pain radiating from my back to my belly. I let quite a few of these contractions happen before I finally said something to Danny. We all went inside; as I told Danny I felt I needed to rest because these contractions were getting a bit uncomfortable.
He quickly got pillows and instructed I
put my feet up and DO NOT MOVE! He got me water to drink and said, “Do not do
ANYTHING! Don’t even go to the bathroom!”
By this point I am laughing because clearly he was freaking out and not ready for this. Three hours later, around 9pm, the contractions had stopped. It
was in fact false labor. Which I was pretty sure it was false as the
contractions were not regular. Even though they felt very real, I just knew it
was not time. Poor Danny though didn’t feel the same. Haha! The next morning,
he went to church with Eli while I stayed home. Yes, he still wanted me sitting
with my feet up doing NOTHING. And at that point I was thinking, geez, I should
of claimed false labor weeks ago! LOL! Anyway, nothing exciting happened between May
1st and delivery day. In Part
V, we welcome baby Noah to our family!
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