My blog has been quiet for months. I apologize for that and will try to get it back on track. Several things have been keeping me from writing. First, I have a writer’s block. I have it very badly. Ever since I unexpectedly became pregnant last year, my mind has been blocked and was overly focused on growing a person. Now my mind seems to be blocked and overly focused on raising that little person. I am certain less sleep is also contributing to the slow down in writing.
Second, I had to step away from loss work during the pregnancy. I stepped farther away during this pregnancy than the last pregnancy. Part of it was just the pure sensitivity of the issue but the other part was I did not have the energy. My body was literally so focused on growing the baby I had no energy. Being three months postpartum, the energy is slowly returning.
The third reason, is that the pregnancy was extremely hard. It wasn’t just hard physically, it was hard emotionally. I don’t think I truly believed I would be bringing a baby home. I was pregnant in my 40’s and the risks were so much higher. My body fought the pregnancy. I was very sick in the beginning but the pregnancy was also very unexpected. All of my previous pregnancies had been planned. This pregnancy came out of nowhere.
I have never experienced an unplanned pregnancy and I did not expect to carry some of the feelings I was having. I won’t go into detail on those feelings in this post but I will say that the genuine excitement many women have during pregnancy was not there. When I was nauseated and couldn’t eat, I blamed the baby. She was so strong to put up with all the thoughts and feelings I was having. She grew despite the feelings and I am glad and so blessed that she continued to grow.
This was my third pregnancy after a loss. I have five children but only three are here with me on earth. No matter how many pregnancies you have, I think that pregnancy after a loss is still very difficult. The worries and concerns are still there. I know that with this pregnancy, I felt “right” from the very beginning. I felt like she was “protected.” Maybe that was because of all the details that surrounded her conception (I will write about that later) or maybe I was naïve but I only felt anxious and nervous a few times during the pregnancy, instead of the entire pregnancy.
The times I worried, made sense. I also purposefully postponed some ultrasounds because they almost always made me anxious so postponing them during this pregnancy really helped to reduce that anxiety. I had two in the first trimester instead of one every week and I only had two because during the first one, while a positive ultrasound, the baby was measuring a whole week behind. I had a brief thought that this was similar to Gus’s pregnancy so I thought the baby would also die but she obviously didn’t.
The 20 week ultrasound was fine although I kept having thoughts that something was wrong with her heart. There wasn’t anything to base that on, other than I had a client during that time who terminated because of a heart condition with their baby and then several posts on Facebook showed people who had babies with heart conditions. This was a big factor in me stepping away from loss work while I was pregnant, more so than I had in past pregnancies. Those were the only times I really felt anxious or nervous about the baby. Oh, except this one time where the baby wasn’t moving.
I wanted her to be born at 37 weeks to prevent stillbirth. That was something that made me anxious and nervous, but not the pregnancy. I just wanted her out. I wanted her safe in my arms where I felt like I had more “control” over her surviving. It’s silly to think that I have more control. I don’t have any control, but getting her out was important.
Induction scared me too but that’s only because of my work and the stories that people tell. Ultimately, my doctor would not schedule an induction earlier than 39 weeks. I was scheduled for induction at 39 weeks merely because I am advanced maternal age but even my doctor didn’t rush that. She was open to me waiting even longer. I couldn’t. I needed her out as soon as I could get her out. Knowing that they wouldn’t schedule an earlier induction, prompted me to have my due date adjusted.
At the first ultrasound, the baby measured a week behind but I knew my dates. I knew when she was conceived. I had charts showing this so even if she was a week behind, technically, I should be correct. All babies gestate at a different rate and implantation can certainly affect the gestation and growth but I wanted my due date to reflect the conception period. After much debate and several conversations with my doctor and the maternal fetal medicine specialist, I was allowed to change my due date. I was given two options, one based on last menstrual period, and the other number was in between.
As much as I wanted to take the earlier date, I knew that I ovulated a week later than the average woman so I went with the date in between. Although my entire pregnancy I felt she would be born on May 25th, my induction was scheduled for May 22nd. She wasn’t born on either of those dates.
I will share my labor story later as well. It’s a pretty amazing one and I loved every minute of my induction. Yes, I just said I LOVED my induction. Inductions can be horrific or they can be great. Just keep an open mind (which is what I focused on most).
As I progess over the next months as a mother to three living children, I will write more and share more about my pregnancy and birth of my first living girl. It’s been a ride for sure and one thing I really want to address is the difference in pregnancies from becoming pregnant after trying to be pregnant to becoming pregnant when you didn’t want to be pregnant; an unexpected pregnancy. I had no idea there was a difference in feelings and I was shocked at the thoughts I had. I have a newfound respect for women who have had unintended/unexpected/surprise/oops pregnancies.
For now, keep checking back! I have other posts written that I haven’t shared but I wanted to get this out there in case you forgot about me. I haven’t forgotten about you!