With the inspiration of a dear friend of mine and the desire to document this miraculous process, I've decided to start my very own blog. Who knows if this is just a therapeutic exercise to calm my own nerves or if this blog will gather a following. Either way, I am happy to share my knowledge/experience, and lack thereof, with my friends and family in cyberwold. If nothing else, this blog will be a poignant reminder for myself, my husband, and my son of what actually did transpire during these whirlwind forty weeks and quite possibly, the many weeks/months/years following. So, here goes:
Where do I begin? With hopes of not being too long-winded, I will attempt to give a Sparknotes version of our pregnancy up until this point.
Alex and I have been married for almost four years now and we've always said that we were on the "three-year plan: house/dog, trip, baby." Seeing that the first two were accomplished, we were eager to start our new little family. Unfortunately, we did not have the easiest of times conceiving and after much testing, we were referred to a fertility specialist. Needless to say, this was a very stressful and trying time for both Alex and I. Likewise, we loved the element of surprise entailed in revealing the "good news" to our friends and family and so we embarked on this medical journey seemingly alone. The medical staff that we worked with was top-notch and with only two cycles of fertility drugs, baby Carlson was a-go! Alex and I took our umpteenth pregnancy test on Christmas Eve and God not only blessed us that Christmas with the gift of His son, but also blessed us with the gift of our OWN!
Despite our fear of possible complications, we decided to tell our immediate families by gifting them a Christmas-themed onesie that read "My First Christmas" (sized for a 3 month old, as that's how old he'll be next Christmas). Both sides of our family were ecstatic to stay the least and it seemed that keeping this precious secret was going to be a real challenge. Not only that, but due to the fertility treatments, we were bracing ourselves for a real push into parenting: multiple births. Our doctor told us that our chances of having twins or even triplets was twice that of a normal couple. After several appointments, one heartbeat heard, and our first ultrasound, we decided to share our exciting news with the world and what better way to release such private information? Facebook. Although I dislike the lack of intimacy that our reveal on Facebook provided, it was an easy way to get the word out. It was also sooo exciting to see how many people were supporting and cheering on our little one before even being born.
Fast forward. After being released as a fertility patient (around 16 weeks or so), we had to decide what sort of birthing plan would be ideal for us. Through my own research and through my discussion with other recent mommas, I was hoping for a natural water birth. Alex was not 100% thrilled with the idea at first but was open to learning more about the process and supporting me and my needs. As someone who has lived with chronic joint pain, stiffness, and inflammation for my entire life, water has always been my go-to drug of choice. The pain of my RA, although very different from labor, I'm sure, has been quite painful over the years and very few drugs have been able to curb my aches and pains; hot baths have truly been my only solace. Also, I have tried very hard throughout my pregnancy to do everything I possibly can to follow the natural route, so using drugs and medical intervention at the end of the process seemed counter-intuitive. The hospital nearest us has a birthing center that houses a stellar midwife staff and also allows for water births. This option seemed ideal for us as the hospital setting provided the natural labor I was seeking but with the convenience of having medical intervention nearby if need be. Alex, my mom, and I visited the birthing center and met the midwife staff about a month or so back and we were all very pleased with the result. The facility is quite new and does not feel like the sterile hospital environment that I had envisioned. The individual rooms are quite large giving space for a momma in labor to move. Alex seemed most excited about the free WiFi and continues to joke about how he plans to Tweet/Live Stream the birth. Ummm...that's not happening. I was, however, excited to know that they have speakers throughout the room to play your choice of music throughout labor. Alex and are currently compiling a list of our favorite showtunes so our boy can be born to Broadway's best. We are open to suggestions if anyone has any :)
This may be a good place to stop in this entry before I get too wordy. With one full trimester left to go, I'm sure I'll have plenty of thoughts to document between now and then.
No comments:
Post a Comment