Welcome Ladybug Part 1

***Just for your information, my OB’s office has multiple doctors and you see all of them during pregnancy then whoever is on all at delivery is who you get. So I will refer to my different doctors as A, B, and C.

Cozy, that’s what Ladybug was. She was too cozy to come out and join us. Therefore, I was lucky enough to be induced; actually at 41 weeks, it was pretty nice to get her out. But lets start at the beginning.

At week 36 I had my first progression check. I felt I would be going over my due date, which I was fine with as long as no one tried to talk to me about it. So when the dr. told me I was high and tight, I wasn’t surprised.

It was also about this time that my swelling got so bad that I lost the feeling in my fingertips. I just had pins and needles feelings all the time. I even burned myself once and didn’t realize it until I saw the blister. I also couldn’t’ sleep on any one side too long or my arm would fall sleep due to the added pressure.

I started having some bouts of nausea and cravings again, extreme cravings. I felt like I had an addiction to sour cream doughnuts, just HAD to have them. I started putting on weight a lot quicker and assumed it was due to this bad doughnut addiction….and the nachos and burger/fries cravings.

Well, at week 39, Dr. C said maybe about 1 centimeter and 50% effaced. I was thinking okay, that’s something. Did some more walking and sleeping, thought I was feeling some minor contractions. Week 40 (Wednesday) arrives….no progress. I was still okay with it, as I thought I would be going over my due date but I was still ready to be done. Nick and I spend my due date (Thursday) walking and going out for our ‘last’ breakfast, lunch, and dessert as just the two of us. Then Friday came and yes, I was done. As a friend put it ‘when your due date comes, it’s like wait, today is supposed to be the day I’m no longer pregnant and when it comes and goes, it’s disappointing’. I get it now. My brother-in-law says you can’t have the baby until you are so miserable you are willing to do anything to get the baby out. I was getting there.

On Saturday my mother and grandma L arrived. They drove cross country, first stopping in Texas to help my sister move. We spend Saturday at Colonial Williamsburg walking the pregnant lady to exhaustion, 7 hours, in flip flops. Sunday, it was cold and rainy but determined to get that baby out, after church they took me back for another 5 hours at Colonial Williamsburg…in flip flops…and rain.

That night Nick gave me a blessing that was of great comfort to me and made me remember how special this little girl was going to be to me and told me there was a specific time for her to come, which I do think was true seeing as I ended up seeing my three favorite doctors at the practice.

 At this point my feet were really swollen and were not going down at night. My mom was determined to find me a new pair of flip flops because I had worn mine down at an angle and was falling off them. We went shopping but I was tired and frustrated at still being pregnant. In addition, my feet were so swollen nothing was fitting, even bigger sizes. I was trying on a pair of flip flops at one store and needed to adjust them and when I couldn’t even bend over enough to get to my feet while sitting down and got a glance at my huge feet, I lost it. I started balling right then and there and went running out. I had reached misery.

Tuesday we went shopping to find some pjs for post pregnancy. Best thing ever, putting on new pj’s to come home from the hospital felt so good. In the dressing room, I looked down and saw my feet. I flipped out, they were huge!!! I went running over to my mom’s room and asked if they had been this way for days because I rarely looked anymore. She said no, that they were bigger. We finished finding some pj’s and went home to finish Downtown Abby (you know, where one of the daughters has pre-eclampsia).

Wednesday morning was my dr. appointment to test and see if I could even continue the pregnancy. We started with a stress test where they monitored Ladybug’s heart rate and I push a button every time I felt her move. She was sleeping so Nick poked her a bit to wake her. It was pretty fun to see how if I started thinking about something that stressed me out, her heart rate would jump but when I started singing the primary songs I sung all pregnancy, her heart rate would be the calmest. Well, Dr. A comes in and tells me the baby is a happy baby but I haven’t progressed and that I’m starting to become pre-elampsic so it’s time to induce (I was swollen, small traces of protein in my urine and I developed pregnancy hypertension…Downtown Abby was in the back of my head but I knew that it was rare to die anymore from it). We scheduled for Thursday afternoon. At this point, I knew I was really swollen but I didn’t realize how much until Thursday morning when I went to get dressed and my maternity pants where too tight. I wore sweats and slipper flip flops all day.

I was told they got even bigger in the hospital. No that's not a stretch mark, it's a scar. Also, for the record my feet have returned to normal. Although, I'm worried they may have permanently widened at the ball of my feet.