Birth Story: Sophia (Pregnancy)

Since Sophia's birthday was just yesterday I thought I would share her birth story.

We decided in October of 2003 that we wanted another baby, Aidan was almost 2 and we were working through her issues finally, so we felt it was the right time. Months went by and nothing, we were beginning to think we would be resigned to having only the two children. We hadn't told anyone other than K and her husband who were having similar issues. Finally after over a year of trying and then just not preventing, I was pregnant. 4mths later K was pregnant, which I was so glad for her I felt guilty being pregnant when she wasn't when she wanted a new baby just as much as I did. We are pretty sure it was the stress from recruiting duty that prevented both of us from getting pregnant. Especially since the last few months before I got pregnant Kale got a new boss who was so much more family oriented. There were fewer and fewer late nights, some nights he was able to be home for dinner, unheard of with the previous boss. He was usually home relatively early on Saturdays and our family life almost was normal again.

I found out I was pregnant in February of 2005. At the time it wasn't uncommon for me to miss my period so I didn't even bother taking a pregnancy test when I missed my period in January. We had gone to Sears to get the girls pictures taken for Valentine's Day and the teenager working was really doing a horrible job. I was getting so very irritated and finally stormed out with my family in tow without purchasing any of the pictures or even finishing the session. The next day I realized I hadn't had my period in a couple of months and decided to take a test. The first test the lines were so faint I almost didn't believe it. Kale was home at the time and we were so very happy to finally be pregnant. I was excited, but I was worried about K's reaction. I knew she would be happy for me, but sad she was not. My husband made a very insensitive comment that hurt her feelings, as soon as I relayed the comment I was instantly sorry I had even repeated it out loud. He apologized profusely, but I am not sure she forgave him until after she was pregnant herself.

When I picked an OB/GYN I thought I would like a woman doctor. My previous two pregnancies were with mixed practice facilities. I didn't research her at all (even though K insisted I should) and toward the end of my pregnancy I really wished I had. For my first appointment I was relieved that she and her nurse were both a bit overweight, made me feel less self conscious. Her nurse was so very sweet and remembered not only my name, but the names of the girls. But I would grow to hate my doctor by the birth of Sophia.

At my first ultrasound she said I placenta previa, but she never said anything that I should do about it. So I read online about it and was immediately freaked out. It said no sex, it could tear the placenta. If you don't know what it is, it's when the placenta is partially or all together over the cervix. If it doesn't go away then you have to have a c-section. But she neglected to tell me that it was most likely due to the fact that it was so early on in my pregnancy and it would move as the uterus grows. I am lucky my parents friends Rich (a doctor and former OB) and Shelby ( a ultrasound tech) were able to help me understand what it was and what I should and shouldn't do. I am still convinced the only reason my doctor said I had it was because my insurance only pays for one ultrasound unless there is a problem. But she didn't say that to me, but her lack of explanation of the potentially dangerous condition is reason enough for me to believe that was her intention. Regardless I did everything that Rich told me I should do until I was 16 weeks and Shelby did an ultrasound for me. She said that for sure I didn't have it. At that time she also told me Sophia was a girl. Well her exact words were "Oh, I don't want to tell you." I said "It's alright, I see it's a girl. Besides I only have a girl name picked out."

My pregnancy went along fine again until it was time for my blood glucose test. I have always failed the first test, always. But I HATE drinking that stuff. I went in to do the 4hour blood glucose test, drank my nasty, warm, sugary, piss water, and had my first draw. I left the hospital after the first draw, I didn't want to sit around all afternoon with nothing to do. I felt ill though and by the time I got to the commissary I was so sick I vomited. I called Kale and had him tell the hospital I left because I threw up all over myself. They were angry I left without telling them, but hey I am a grown person and can do what I want. When I went in the next week to see the doctor she was angry. She insisted I do it over, I didn't want to. I asked her if there was an alternative. She said she would treat me as a diabetic for two weeks and see what my daily blood results were. I had to do the self sugar testing. My only instructions were to take a fasting test in the morning and then four more times during the day 1hour after I had eaten. No problem, except she forgot to mention I couldn't eat after 7pm at night in order to get a proper fasting test at 6am. So out of the two weeks I had three high results, 2 were fasting results and I had eaten at 12am those nights. And the third one was after I had not waited long enough after I had eaten, not realizing she would flip out and label me diabetic if I had one high result.

I convinced her to let me do it the right way for another two weeks, but she never got it out of her mind that I was diabetic. After I stopped eating after 7pm I never got another high result for the rest of my pregnancy. I did forget to mention that she told me at my first visit that she believed I would be diabetic. Based only on the fact that Aidan was 8ozs bigger than Lilly at birth and my weight. Talk about pigeonholing someone. After that next appointment I lost all respect for her and it just kept getting worse from then on. I also forgot to mention I didn't gain but 10lbs the entire pregnancy and lost 15 in the beginning, normally diabetic pregnant women balloon.

The next issue came when I had an ultrasound at 34wks. Sophia was breech and because she was breech they couldn't get a good reading of my amniotic fluid. They read it as low, so immediate bed rest for me and a scheduled c-section. I wasn't ready to resign myself to that fate, so I researched how to get babies to flip by positioning your body certain ways. I did everyone of the positions each night until I felt her flip. I knew she had and when I went in for my next ultrasound (at that point I was having stress tests twice a week and ultra sounds once a week) sure enough she had flipped. And low and behold my amniotic fluid level was normal. Will wonders never cease?

She still was pushing for a c-section when I went in for my weekly appointment and informed her very happily that she had flipped and I would no longer need a section. After that appointment I went home and researched her stats, turned out she had an almost 50% c-section rate, which is horrible considering most doctors rates are under 10-15%. That said to me she was all about the money and the easiest route for her. Not what was best for the baby and I. At that point I smiled and nodded through all my appointments, doing nothing that she told me to do. She said to stay in bed, I went shopping. She said no sugar, I hate entire cakes and drank pepsi. She said I would have a c-section, I told Kale over my dead body and he had better back me up on that. We told her the next appointment that unless the baby was in distress that a c-section was out of the question. She kept the appointment anyways and said she would just induce me that day. I was so ready to have Sophia out and be rid of this woman for the rest of my life.

I will finish the actual birth story and the chaos that followed on Thursday.