My pregnancy was not that great to say the least. It had its ups with her first kick at 15 weeks, no morning sickness, and the love i felt from this little being growing inside me. But it also had a LOT of downs.
At 12weeks, we were told by UCSF medical "professionals" that our baby had a 1 in 81 chance of DOWN SYNDROME and a 50% chance of having some other kind of chromosomal abnormality. They told us that they've never seen a case where extra skin on the back of the neck like this, didnt turn up being something serious. I was shocked! I wanted this pregnancy so bad! So after weeks of arguing with my husband, LOTS of tears, and a ton of preassure from people around me, I finally decided to get an amniocentesis... I called Judi in tears to let her know of my decision. During the Amnio at 18 weeks, I thought that I was going to get the gentleman best skilled at the procedure. But of course not... I got a resident! I didn't know of this until we left the office because I had my eyes closed the whole time. I was SO SCARED!! So with this over with, the results came back a week later and she was PERFECT! Tears of joy wouldnt stop as I called our family and friends.
After that, we had to get an Echocardiogram (an ultrasound of our baby's heart) for the fact that there could be a heart problem that the Amnio couldn't detect. Just before the Echo, we had a level 2 ultrasound. The senior technictian came to us to double check that all of the previous lady's measurement and stuff were all correct. She said to us "OH! YOU'RE the cystic hygroma!...And you're still planning on keeping the baby?" (cystic hygroma was what they called the extra skin in the back of her neck) My husband got terrified once again, but luckily the Echo was going to get underway within in the next 30 minutes. The Echo came back normal and the head cardiologist told us that "...sometimes these things can just re-absorb back into the body just before birth. You have about a 5% chance of your baby having a chromosomal abnormality, and if she does, it will be very minimal". I WAS SO HAPPY! I hugged him!
My work situation kinda sucked. I was in a lot of pain, but luckily Judi was able to write me a few notes to get me off my feet a work. I thank her so much for that.
Then we found out that MediCal changed me to a SF Health Plan without telling me that they could do that and without notifying ANYONE! That meant that I couldn't birth at Sage Femme because they only accept "Fee for Service" MediCal. I was 32 weeks pregnant at the time. I was so dissapointed! The birth of my dreams was going to be ripped away from me just because someone didn't let me know of a possible change. Judi right away sent the MediCal office a form to take me out of that health plan. For two weeks straight, I called every single MediCal office I could find, leaving messages, and talking to people about how to get this changed. I left at least TWO messages a day in addition to talking to workers. And by some miracle MediCal switched me BACK to "fee for service". Judi said that has never happened before! We were all shocked!
It really did seem like the universe was really going to make me work to have the birth of my dreams.
I finally went into labor 7 days after my due date. Once again, I woke up at about 4am having to pee. I felt a SLIGHT cramping. I woke Brandon up and told him that I believe that my early labor had started. I told him that I was fine and that we should just wait, considering they wern't strong at all. His worry was that we wouldn't get to our birth center Sage Femme in San Francisco in time. We had moved to San Jose (an hour away) while I was pregnant to be closer to Brandon's job. So anyways, I told Brandon to go to work and that I would call him if and when the contractions got stronger. Well, two hours later, I called him and told him that I was for sure in labor. He came home and started running around the whole apartment getting things ready like a loonatic. LOL. It was so funny and cute to see him like that. I was still talking through my contractions, but I called Judi to let her know that my labor had started. She also talked Brandon into calming down. I also called our doula Shannon and as she was on her way over to our apartment, I decided to take a relaxing shower. My contractions were slowly getting stronger and with every one, Brandon got more and more nervous. Shannon got to our place at a little before 12 noon and she brought donuts! So nice. My contractions immediately picked up and she started rubbing my feet and back. I wasn't able to really talk through my contractions anymore and they were coming really fast. Shannon called Judi and told her that we were on our way... an hours drive to the city.
The car ride was TERRIBLE! My husband's car is a Ford Mustang so it leaves little room to move. I put a pillow under my thigh to help lift my bum off the seat so the contractions wouldn't hurt so much. Shannon kept reminding me to "breath the contraction out...low breathing...low moans..." and it really helped. She also kept our 4 year old son Brandon calm in the back seat with her.
We arrived at the birth center at around 1pm. I got out of the car, and the pain went half away when I stood up. It felt so good to be out of that car! When Judi checked to see how dialated I was, she said I was 8cm! I had progressed about 4cm in ONE hour! We all immediately made our way to the birthing suite and I got into the birthing tub. The pain went half away again. It was sooooo relaxing to be in warm water all to myself. Brandon and our son Brandon Jr. we're giving me water, and rubbing my hair; it felt great. I loved having my two guys there. I was completely dialated shortly after. Just as I started to push, our friend Anna came into the birthing room. She had made it! And about 5 minutes before Evelyn was born, my mother-in-law walked into the room. I was sooo happy she made it! Okay, it was time to really give it a hard push because Judi said Evelyn's heart rate was dropping a bit. I had no idea she was crowing but I just listened to Judi's voice and did was she told me to do. She told me to look down and Evelyn's shoulders we're already out! I had no clue! LoL. Brandon cought her and I pulled her out of the water on to my chest. It took her about 5-10 seconds to start crying but when she did, the whole room filled with joy! My placenta was delivered 10 minutes later with Evelyn still attached by the cord. Brandon and Brandon Jr cut the cord together. I had no tearing at all.
We left 5-6 hours after she was born. I was able to walk out very easily for just having a baby. I felt GREAT actually! It was so nice to be home in my own bed where I could relax in comfort.
