Pregnancy and Birth

( This was written right after Jade was born. Sorry it took me so long to post it. )

I can't believe it has been 7 months since I announced that we were going to be welcoming a little one into our home. I remember thinking that April was so far away, but it came so fast! My pregnancy was relatively uneventful. I only had nausea a couple of weeks at the beginning and nothing so bad that I threw up so I was extremely grateful for that. In fact every time I went to my doctors appointments, the nurse and the doctor would both comment on how I was their easiest patient and they hoped I would stay that way. I hoped for the same thing, but sadly my luck ran out at about 36 weeks. At my 36 week appointment my blood pressure started to climb. It wasn't high enough to really be a concern, but then I started having persistent headaches and by the end of the week my ankles and legs had swollen to almost double their size. When I went for my 37 week appointment my blood pressure had gotten even higher and they were not liking the fact that I was having headaches and swelling so much. For the next two days I had to go to the hospital and have non-stress tests done and I also had to do a 24 hour urine text (which is so not fun). This was to see if I had pre-eclampsia because all of my symptoms pointed to that.While doing the non-stress tests everything looked really good and my blood pressure had gone down to a fairly normal level, but the headaches and swelling continued and when I went in for my 38 week appointment my blood pressure was high again. That day my doctor decided it would be best if we got our little girl here sooner rather than later. He felt that it was important we get her here before my condition got worse which could cause a lot of problems for the baby so I left the doctors office that day knowing that my little girl would be here the next day.

I can tell you I wasn't very happy about having to be induced. I really would have rather gone into labor on my own, but I also completely trusted my doctor and if he felt that it would be better for me and my baby to get here then that is what I would do. On the morning of April 18th we arrived at the hospital at 9:30am to get things started. I had already started progressing well on my own so the doctor and nurses felt like she would be here in the early evening. They started me on pitocin about an hour later and I started having contractions. Now at this point the pain really wasn't that bad at all and I was thinking to myself that maybe I didn't need the epidural, but I didn't realize how much worse the pain was going to get. At about 11:30am the doctor came in and broke my water and then the contractions started getting worse. I seriously can't even describe the excruciating pain I was in. I never thought it would be that bad. I asked for the epidural not long after that, but it took them forever to get my platelet count so I had to wait an hour or so before I could get the epi. The epidural is like one of the best things ever invented in my mind. After I got it I was able to relax and sleep for a little bit until things started to go wrong. With the help of the pitocin I started progressing extremely fast and the baby was not liking it. Her heart rate started to fall with every contraction I had so they stopped the pitocin and gave me a shot to stop my contractions. They wanted to give the baby time to rest and relax before we started up again. About an hour later they turned the pitocin back on but was giving me the lowest dosage they could so that the baby would tolerate it better. For the next hour or so she was doing fine, but not great so they turned the pitocin off. They decided to just let me contract on my own and hopefully I was far enough along that I would progress on my own. When they turned the pitocin off I was dilated to an 8 1/2 so they expected me to get to a 10 in the next hour or so. About three hours later I was still at an 8 1/2 and her heart rate started dropping dramatically and taking way too long to come back up again. Next thing I know I have like four different nurses in my room trying to get her heart rate up and then my doctor walked in. He told me that her heart rate was way too low and that we were going to have to do an emergency C section. The minute I heard him say C section I started bawling. I so did not want to have major surgery and I was terrified that there was something really wrong with my baby. So I started bawling and Sol, well he just froze. He was just staring at me with this terrified look on his face which I have to say didn't help me feel any better about having a C section.

Getting wheeled into the OR was kind of surreal. I had not planned or prepared for this so I had no idea what to expect and I was terrified. They did all the prepping they needed and then just as they were about to cut me open Sol walked in. I was so terrified that I would have to be by myself the whole time and I did not want that. As they were working I was just praying constantly that she would cry when she came out and that she would be healthy. I don't know how long it really took, but it felt like forever. The first thing the doctor said as she was coming out was "look at all that hair" and then she let out a wail. I have never felt so relieved in all my life. Hearing that cry was the best sound I have ever heard and of course I started bawling. I couldn't see her yet, but Sol could and he was beaming. I don't think I have ever seen him look so happy. Once they got her cleaned up a little they brought over to me so I could see her. She was beautiful and she immediately stopped crying when I started talking to her, which obviously made me feel amazing! Worst part of the whole thing thought was the fact that I still couldn't move because they were stitching me up so I couldn't touch her and I had to wait like an hour before I got to see her again and hold her for the first time. Here is our Jade Elizabeth Frazier!

We were in the hospital for about 3 1/2 days, which was long enough. The recovery from the C-section was hard, but not as bad as I expected it to be. The worst part of the whole recovery really didn't have anything to do with the C-section. The day we got home from the hospital I started to feel sick and for the next four to five days I had the stomach flu. That first week home was the hardest of my life because not only was I recovering from major surgery and the flu, but I had to take care of my daughter as well. Thankfully I had Sol for a couple days and then my mom was able to come stay with me for a couple days. I know I would not have recovered as fast as I did if it weren't for them. I really hope and pray that I don't have to go through the recovery process again with the flu. It was horrible and frankly made me really depressed. It didn't last too long though and I was able to get the hang of things on my own.

Being a mom is amazing! I am so grateful for this opportunity to be Jade's mother. She is the greatest blessing our lives. It was a long hard road to get to this point, but I wouldn't trade any of the trials we went through to get here because it taught us so much and I know we appreciate Jade so much more than if it would have been easy for us to have her. I'm so excited to watch her learn and grow!