Topics I'll Write About

My new job is to write about issues dealing with pregnancy and being a new mommy. Before I get into writing about certain topics within these two subjects, I thought I'd give you some background about my pregnancy & motherhood so that it makes sense as to why I'll be choosing certain topics in the future.

I became pregnant for the first time on Friday, August 17 or Saturday, August 18, 2007 when I was twenty-seven years old. EXACTLY eight months later on Friday, April 18, 2008 when I was twenty-eight years old, I gave birth to a son that I will refer to here as L.J, at 10:30 AM. He was 37 weeks gestation and weighed 7 lbs, 13.7 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

Despite missing out on those last three weeks, my pregnancy seemed long! I am not one of those women who loved being pregnant; I'd never felt worse in my life! My entire first and half of the second trimester were consumed with all-day sickness. I'm talking 24-7 nausea that resulted in about a dozen trips to the toilet (really not that many considering how awful I felt). I basically spent two months in bed.

Despite the second trimester usually being the favorite for women, it wasn't for me. I was ecstatic my nausea went away and I suddenly had a D-cup chest, haha, but then I developed INCREDIBLE back pain. That basically made up for the 24-7 nausea, as I was now in pain all day and night (and so my sleep was very disruptive). I had other discomforts as well, but finally it seemed that by the third trimester my body was actually starting to adjust!!! The entire month of March was excellent--my best by far, as I can't think of a single complaint.

However, after the first week of April my stomach started KILLING me. L.J. had been growing rapidly (his original due date was May 13th but my doctor changed it to May 9th because his size kept going past the charts to even May 2nd and then "sometime the end of April"). I am 5.2-and-a-half and gained 42 pounds (despite eating normally) so this was very hard on my body.

I began experiencing braxton hicks (false/practice contractions) during those last two weeks and could hardly walk. I didn't think I could survive another month--L.J. would have been 10 lbs full-term. Thankfully, it wasn't necessary, as my water broke while I was sleeping--as in GUSHED out (which, despite what they portray on television, is not typical) and it kept gushing out for the next hour (I had more than average amniotic fluid--you can read the cause in my post titled I'm almost 4 cm dilated).

To prepare for childbirth I had done a lot of reading and realized that the way it's viewed in society is not the way it has to be (the screaming women, the awful pain, the desperation for drugs, the life-threatening situations, etc.) In fact, not being relaxed and positive, as well as getting the epidural and other interventions (pitocin, etc.), typically make labor longer and more painful. (All doctors will agree to this.) I'd been in enough pain for eight months--I wanted to avoid anything else that I could!!! So, thanks to reading HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method I was able to have an AWESOME labor experience. It was the best day of my life!

From the time my contractions first began to when I became fully dilated was only three hours! According to experts, the average labor for a first time mom is 12-16 hours. But because I was in the best mood ever and completely relaxed (practicing the HypnoBirthing techniques), my body worked naturally to easily move L.J. down the birth canal. He was expected to arrive minutes later, as the average time for pushing for a first time mom is 15 minutes to 2 hours. Since my labor was progressing much quicker-than-average, the nurses thought certainly I was closer to the 15 minutes.

Nope. It was discovered that L.J. was face up and I had a small pelvis. So, I ended up pushing for FOUR additional hours. If not for the HypnoBirthing techniques, there's no way I could have done this (the majority of people in my situation end up in a c-section)--but because of HypnoBirthing, the pain was never more than I could handle.

After two hours of the pushing phase my doctor did recommend the epidural to relax my pelvis so that she could keep her hand inside me (she'd stuck her entire hand up earlier to turn him but he'd turned back--that hurt like he**) or else a c-section was going to need to occur in order to prevent L.J. from smothering. Since my baby was my first priority and why I was doing HypnoBirthing at all (it's what's best for them), I agreed--but otherwise my experience was very positive and natural. . .so I am a huge fan of HypnoBirthing! (My entire total labor time of 7-8 hrs was still fast, considering the average for a small pelvis & posterior baby is THIRTY HOURS! That's the great thing about HB, even if you run into complications or have to change your birth plan, your experience will still turn out better than if you weren't prepared w/ HB! I still consider my labor to have been easy and I'm really glad I was able to be 100% present in an experience that my body was designed for.)

Due to the long pushing phase, when L.J. came out he wasn't breathing, but never once did anyone in the room act alarmed (like they do on television). Everyone was so calm and positive and confident. L.J.'s heart rate had been healthy during my labor and, sure enough, he began breathing on his own soon after.

Unfortunately, he did develop jaundice (50% of newborns develop this and 75% of premies; L.J.'s level was in the emergency range of 21) and so we spent the next week in & out of the hospital where he was in an incubator and then at home under bili lights.

Otherwise, he has been a healthy and very happy baby! Motherhood has been the absolute best time of my life, I've never been happier, never felt better, and it hasn't been at all as hard as I thought it'd be. I LOVE spending my days with my son and learning each day how to be a mom--what to do, what not to do, etc. He's my little buddy!

Needless to say, it was devastating to learn when he was two months old that he's going to need surgery by the time he is nine months old to fuse a brachial cleft fistula (a genetic trait from my husband's side of the family which caused a hole in his neck). He is a strong boy, though, almost 16 lbs. already at less than three months, so I know we will all get through it okay.

I hope to meet other women out there who have gone through similar situations: rough pregnancies, wonderful HypnoBirthing labors, small pelvis', posterior babies, scary situations you've had with your baby, wonderful situations you've had with your baby--as well as anything else regarding motherhood!