Pregnancy

When my oldest son was born, everything happened so fast. I was only thirty-seven weeks gestation when he was born, and it was quite the experience. Outside of extra monitoring and progesterone shots, I had a pretty normal pregnancy, until my 35 week appointment. My ultrasound revealed a possibility of some type of blockage in baby's kidney, and the next thing I knew I was in labor and delivery.  Everything was fine but in the next two weeks, I was triaged two different times for high blood pressure. At 37 weeks, I was finally induced due to low amniotic fluid. After only an hour after my induction began, the baby's heart rate dropped and the next thing I knew I...

Who doesn't get excited about a baby announcement? Your own, a family member, a friend, or even a stranger's announcement is exciting. It is all hunky-dory until someone brings up the whole gender topic and not in a "I can't wait to meet him or her!' 'Oh how I hope you have a boy!' I never truly understood the whole gender bias thing until I was expecting. When I found out my first was a girl, I will never forget the comment "Good luck with a girl!" (Insert Major, Major Eye Roll!) Really?! I was pretty excited to have a girl. Thoughts of future manicures and girl talks filled my head. The comment was forgotten in a matter of seconds. Then...

Rainbow babies. Thanks to social media and some really beautiful photo shoots, the phrase "rainbow baby" is pretty widely known. But for those who don't know, a rainbow baby is a baby born after a loss. The rainbow after the storm. Both of my babies were born after tremendous losses, and I'm so fortunate we came out the other side.  I got engaged to my college boyfriend my senior year of college. We planned to get married in a year but I started to feel a little funny a week after I walked across the stage. Surprise, surprise! I was pregnant! But the real surprise came after my first ultrasound, and there were two babies! Part of me was excited...

I knew I was pregnant on my twenty-seventh birthday. I had wanted a baby for so long, though, that I didn't want to spoil my birthday if I took a test and it was negative. So the day after my birthday, I took a test and sure enough two pink lines confirmed what I already knew. My friend was one of the first people that I told about the pregnancy. I was in her van, and we pulled over onto the side of the road so she could give me a hug and then we, well, squealed together with excitement. I was a little queasy for a few days, and then it stopped. I thought I had just gotten lucky...

My husband and I were thrilled to start a family. My first pregnancy was incredibly smooth, with my OB literally saying that every appointment was perfect. Besides the normal morning sickness, there were no complications. I gave birth to a healthy 7 pound 12 ounce baby boy at 40 weeks. He was gorgeous! He even miraculously slept through the night a few times early on. Three years later when we wanted to try for another baby, I thought it would be just as easy. When I found out I was pregnant the next time, I didn't anticipate any complications. As soon as the pregnancy test was positive, I started thinking about baby names and going through baby things we had...