Anthony’s Birth Story

 

Hey guys! Happy Friday!

A different kind of post today. No recipe! If you are here for a new recipe, I’d like to apologize. There are plenty of recipes, you can find in my recipe index. Instead, I’d like to quickly share my son Anthony’s birth story with you.

It is long, I’m warning you!

And yes, this is a food blog and it will remain one. I don’t like sharing a lot of personal information and keep bothering people with stories about myself! The thing is that I got many requests from readers to share my experience, that’s why I decided to do so. And it is a life changing event, I very grateful for!

Our baby boy Anthony was born on August 9, 2016. He weighed 7 lb 2 oz and was 20 inches long. We are extremely happy and blessed to have this little guy!

 

I’ve always had a slight fear of childbirth and pregnancy. But I knew that when the time comes, I’ll just go through it like everyone else. I just tried to stay positive.

As I mentioned before, my pregnancy was relatively easy. No morning sickness or other serious issues, I’ve been active and working during the whole time. But things changed after I entered my 35th week of pregnancy. I started developing preeclampsia,which is a serious condition that some pregnant women have. It is marked by high blood pressure in women, who have not previously experienced it, mostly in a first pregnancy. Preeclamptic women will have a high level of protein in their urine and often also have swelling in the feet, legs, and hands.

I was so swollen! No shoes fit me, I needed to get flip flops 2 sizes larger! It was pretty bad! Despite everything, I still had lots of energy and felt ok.

My doctor assured me that I can still try to deliver the baby vaginally. C-section was my biggest fear. (Now when I think about it is was not that bad…!)

I have always imagined delivering my babies naturally. I did not mind getting an epidural or pain meds, if I needed, but I absolutely hated the thought of having a surgery… Well guess what? Murphy’s law – your biggest fears often become a reality and this is what happened to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that everything is over and the baby and I are doing well, but my birth story is nothing that I had imagined! So sometimes is best to have lower expectations and be prepared for various options.

At 37 weeks, the protein in my urine had gone way up and I had some contractions already. We spent almost a whole day at the Labor and Delivery Unit at the hospital and since my blood pressure that day was not too high, contractions were more than 30 minutes apart, I was not dilated or effaced, so they decided to let me go home and wait till my appointment the following week. I knew things were almost coming to an end and we were going to welcome out son pretty soon.

At my 38 week appointment, I had severe pelvic pain on the right side. My blood pressure was high and the swelling was getting worse. My doctor said he needs to do an induction and this baby needs to come out asap, since things were getting serious and dangerous for me. It was a Friday ad we were going back on Monday to finally welcome our baby. I was excited and a little scared. I started having doubts that this baby was going to come out easily. Well, I was right, it was a bit traumatic!

We went to the hospital in the evening on Monday August 8th. I still had severe pelvic pain and high blood pressure. I got an IV and they started Cytotec for 10 hours to soften the cervix. In the morning I was 2 cm dilated, contractions over 10 minutes apart and my water was broken. They started Pitocin at this point. I got an epidural 2 hours later, when the contractions got a little stronger and painful. Still at 2 cm dilated. Getting the epidural was not painful for me, but the fact that I was unable to get up and walk was not fun. Well, Pitocin did nothing for me, because 12 hours later I was still at 2-3 cm dilated. At this point baby’s heartbeat had dropped a few times already, so they decided to stop it. I was still at 3 cm… At this point, I started to give up and got a little scared. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

My doctor came and checked me, he then mentioned the possibility of a c-section, since there was obviously something stopping the baby from coming out. We later found out that the baby got stuck and there was no way for him to come out on his own (he needed help!).

They gave me a few more hours, but nothing changed and the fact that my water had been broken over 15 hours ago meant something needed to be done.

I then signed the papers for a c-section. They got me ready very quickly. My husband was ready, too.

I was excited, knowing that I’ll meet our baby boy very soon!

My doctor is very experienced and professional, I knew I was in good hands, plus he has done this surgery many times.

It was quick, I think it took less than 15 minutes. It didn’t hurt, I just felt pushing and pulling. Then we saw our baby boy and heard him crying! It was the most exciting time in my life so far!

They cleaned, weighed and measured him, them my husband and baby boy went to the recovery room to wait for me.

I got my sutures and when they were done we went to the recovery room.

I still couldn’t hold my baby, since I was not able to get up. This was breaking my heart!

The anesthesia started to wear off and I started feeling pain. I asked for pain meds and they said they needed to order them??? I got them in 5 minutes, but I was in some pain. It was not fun!

Then they gave us a room. It was late, I was in pain, asked for more meds and I don’t clearly remember this night. What I remember was the excitement about having my son.

What I was not happy about was the inability to get up, I needed someone to always hand me my baby. Being someone, who likes to control every situation and not being able to get up, when I hear my son crying broke my heart!

Things got better over the next few days. Everything I went through was worth it. Being able to hold my son, feed him, watch him sleep and smile is priceless!

We had a few names picked out, but agreed that Anthony fit him best!

Life as a new mom has been very challenging and exciting. I’m a lot busier than I had ever imagined. I’ve been spending my whole time with my son and took a break from blogging. I’ll slowly start working on new recipes this month.

I might share a post including some of my favorite baby items I’ve used so far. I used to love reading other blogger’s baby posts, before I even got pregnant.

And I’ll be sharing my recipes regularly.

If you are still reading, I’d like to thank you and apologize if this post was boring for you!

By the way, I wanted to mention that I found the most amazing and talented family photographer! If you are in Illinois, you should definitely check her website and Facebook page! She captured some beautiful moments for my family.

Thanks for reading my birth story! Have a nice weekend!