All About Pregnancy

When I was about 5 months pregnant with Natalie, someone asked what being pregnant was like. Here is my response:

Let's see. First, the nausea begins. The smell of food you normally love sends you running...hopefully, only to get away and not to your new porcelain friend. And, speaking of smell, you nose is suddenly more sensitive than a tracking dog. You can smell the person two cars in front of you having a cigarette. Because your body is trying to function at its optimum, you begin to eliminate more...meaning, you will soon know the location of every woman's room within a 20 mile radius of your house. Another fun aspect of pregnancy is the sheer exhaustion. You will begin to wonder if you can stay awake until 8:00PM to see your favorite show. You may take naps in your car during work breaks because you just can't keep your eyes open one more minute. Within a few weeks, your chest is so tender you want to cry. Sometimes, even putting on a bra is misery. And, they begin to grow and grow and grow. You will have cleavage you only ever dreamed about!

Once you get over the morning sickness...which sometimes lasts all day, you start to feel hungry. Although you have never raided the fridge in the middle of the night before, you will quickly learn how to make it to the kitchen in the middle of the night, eat, and get back into bed without waking the husband. Eventually, the growing baby, and the eating will take its toll on your body and you begin spouting a little belly. Of course, no one will be able to tell you are pregnant yet so people will just assume you have been eating more (and you have!). Buying bigger sizes works for a little while and so does raiding the hubby's closet. Soon, you will need to make a trip to the maternity store. This is LOTS of fun. Assuming they have the styles you like, you have to also find out what fits. You can try on 50 things and walk out with one shirt. It is enough to make you cry.

Crying. That is another subject. Your emotions are now on the roller coaster ride of a lifetime. Things that should be happy for you make you cry. Things that never bothered you in the past will be cause for World War III. Of course, there is much happiness knowing that you are growing this little life inside and you try to justify that all the crazy emotions will be worth it in the end...and they are!

At about 16-18 weeks, you will begin to feel some fluttering in your tummy. It is kind of like the feeling you had as a little kid riding through the hills in the car. Eventually, this gives way to a stronger movement and you realize that is the baby kicking. This will cause real tears of joy! Over the rest of the pregnancy, you will feel much movement and it somehow connects you to your baby in a really neat way. Of course, the baby connects with all your inner body parts too...and that isn't always the most comfortable feeling. Trying to get the baby to move out from under your ribs so you can breathe can be a major feat! But, it is fun to watch your belly roll around and occasionally, you can see a foot or arm protruding. Very cool!

Throughout the pregnancy, you may have other weird symptoms. Lack of sleeping. Funny bodily smells. Heartburn that takes your breathe away. People who touch your belly for no apparent reason. Strangers that ask personal questions and give you advice as if they have known you all your life. Smiles from almost everyone you pass. Life is good!

Around the second trimester, you will start to feel obsessed about getting things done. Closets that you never dared to open will need to be organized. You will be on ladders deep cleaning areas of your house that you previously ignored. But, since the second trimester is the best for energy levels, emotions and well being, enjoy those nesting feelings and get it all done while you can!

You also have constant questions. Is this normal? Is everything okay? Will my baby love me? Can I be a good parent? How will I know what to do? Will the baby breast feed? All the security you have ever know will suddenly be in doubt over an 8 pound little being.

As you go through all of this, you have lots of doctor's visits. They make you step on the scale every time so you can watch the numbers get higher and higher. You have to manuever this little tiny cup around your big belly and into your urine stream. They prick your finger and occasionally make you drink sickening sweet orange syrup while trying not to throw up. And later in the pregnancy, the doctor sticks his/her entire arm inside of you to see how things are progressing. All of this to make sure you aren't having any physical problems and the baby is doing okay. The fun side of the doctor's visits are that you get to hear the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler machine and occasionally get a little wave during the ultrasounds.

Somewhere in the 9th month, you decide that you have had enough fun. Everything you do is a major effort and you would really like this pregnancy thing to be over. So, you walk a lot and try every crazy wives tale to see if it will make you go into labor. You even get the hubby involved because somewhere you read that sperm can cause labor. After you spend 1/2 hour trying to find a position, you realize that you are just going to have to wait until the baby is ready to appear.

Then, labor begins. If you are lucky, you begin having contractions that are spaced far apart. Contractions feel like someone has a belt around your belly and are pulling it tight for a minute or two. They release it and you continue through that cycle as the belt tightens closer and closer together each time. When your water breaks, it feels like you just had an accident in your pants. Am I peeing or is that my water? Inquiring minds want to know! Hopefully, labor is short and painless. Although if it is not, you can opt for good drugs to make you feel better.

And, after about 260 days of pregnancy, they hand you the smallest thing you have ever seen. You are amazed that this baby came from your body just seconds ago. You feel a love that you never knew you could. Everything in you begins to formulate the protection instincts of a mother bear. This is your baby. Your life. Your love. And, it was all worth it.

Now...go buy three books. "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" is a positive book that tells you each week what is happening in your body and with the baby. "The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy" tell you all the things doctor's never will and will keep you laughing when you want to cry. "The Pregnancy Journal" is a daily account of what is happening with the baby (like when the fingernails grow, etc.), gives advice on pregnancy and has lots of space for you to record all the details about your pregnancy. Good luck!

Natalie Elizabeth

It was only one week after my last post that I delivered a beautiful baby girl named Natalie Elizabeth. She weighed only 6 pounds, 10 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. She is a terrific baby! Once again, God has blessed us with a little girl to love.

On Wednesday, I went to the OBGYN for him to tell me that NOTHING was happening in Baby World. After having had two days of contractions the weekend before, I was bummed to say the least. He suggested that if I hadn't had the baby by July 4th, that he would hospitalize me and break my water. Having studied enough childbirthing books to start my own library, I know that doesn't always start labor. Because Mackenzie was a c-section, he couldn't give me anything else to induce labor. If breaking my water didn't work, he would have to do a c-section. I came home and sent an email to my praying friends and asked them to pray for a natural labor. Be careful what you ask for!

Thursday, June 28th started a little early for us. Around 4:00 AM, I started feeling "crampy." I knew something wasn't quite right and tried to lay there and rest but sleep wouldn't come. Evidently, excitement was brewing in the air because Mackenzie crawled into our bed at 5:00 wide awake. I went ahead and got out of bed because I wasn't sure I could deal with her. I really wasn't feeling well. Stephen tried to get Mackenzie back to sleep to no avail and he got up at 5:30 to get ready to work. We put her on the couch with a sippy cup of chocolate milk and a cartoon. It wasn't too long after that when the contractions started. These contractions were different than the weekend prior and I told Stephen I thought I was in labor. He had the typical male response. "Are you sure becuase I don't have much time off work and can't stay home just to help you with Mackenzie?" No, I didn't smack him.

The contractions continued to get stronger and Stephen took Mackenzie to the sitter's house around 7:30. When he got back at 8:00, the contractions were pretty intense. He timed them and said they were only about 2 minutes apart and thought we should leave. All I could think about was the 19 hours of labor I had with Mackenzie. I really didn't want to spend that long in the hospital again but I agreed. We left around 8:30 for the half hour drive to the hospital.

The car ride was pretty agonizing. I think I came close to understanding how Mary felt on the horse. Okay...maybe not but it was bad. I was using the armrest and the center console to hold myself up because sitting hurt so much. The contractions were coming so close that I hardly had time to catch my breath in between. It was somewhere on this 1/2 hour drive that I decided I might just need drugs to get through this...forget the natural childbirth. During labor with Mackenzie, I was pretty calm. I talked on the phone and just said "Hold On. I am having a contraction." So...it was pretty obvious that this was a different labor. I yelled at my mother when she asked me why I was on my way to the hospital (perhaps she forgot I was pregnant??). I hung up on the pastor's wife when a contraction started. I screamed at Stephen when he told me to do this whistling type of breathing to help. After all, I could barely breathe, let alone do synchronized breathing! And...I did some pretty good yelping and moaning.

I am sure it was those yelps and moans that caused the nurses to come out of the back room once we arrived at the emergency room. Or perhaps it was the screaming I was doing as I was trying not to rip the chair apart that I was holding on to. To his credit, Stephen very calmly told the admittance clerk that I was in labor. The hospital staff had told us prior that when we came to the hospital to be patient. They see hundreds of women in labor and would get us to a room after we registered. Obviously, most of the women in labor don't come in screaming like I do because they insisted on taking me up immediately. It took 3 nurses to convince me (okay, force me) to sit in the wheelchair to be transported to labor and delivery. I was terrifed that once I got there, they were going to gently pat me on the back and say "Congratulations Lisa! You are dilated 2 centimeters."

Instead, after much persuasion (okay...again, they had to force me) I was up on the table being examined. I felt like an olympic athlete when she said 9. YEAH! I did ask if they could give me anything to take the edge off these crazy contractions. They all just laughed at me like I was the funniest thing. The doctor arrived about 10 minutes later and announced that I was now at 10. Lucky for me, they were out of labor rooms and labor tables. I was transported to a brightly lit operating room and moved to a small, hard metal table. No stirrups. No arm rails and about as wide as my pregnant rear end. Thankfully, I only had to push about 5-6 times and little Natalie was born. Of course not before the nurse told me I wasn't allowed to scream during pushes. Okay. I won't scream. Just come over here and let me rip your ears off instead! My doctor won the hero award though when two pushes later he told me I could scream because it made my pushes better. I did my best to accomodate him! From start to finish, my labor and delivery was less than 6 hours.

Then, it was off to the Great Land of Demerol while they stitched me up. They took us to a holding area until they had a room for us several hours later. Stephen had to make all the calls because I was totally out of it. They brought the baby to me to nurse but I was so loopy I wasn't even sure I could hold her. When they handed her to me, I fell in love with this little tiny baby girl. I must say that it was all worth it! Isn't she gorgeous?