photo by Josh Parrish
In celebration of my son's birthday, I'm writing about the.... adventures... surrounding my pregnancy with him and his birth. If you already know the story, I'm sorry if I bore you. If you don't know the story, I'm sorry if I bore you. Blame Blogger Dad because I got the idea from him.
We were living in Oklahoma at the time. It was hot and miserable and windy. Did I mention windy? I have a horrible memory but I remember a few things about when I told Trey I was pregnant. He was out cutting the grass and looking miserable. I went outside and waited to catch his eye. He was too focused on what he was doing, trying to get it done quickly because, as I said, it was hot and miserable and windy. I couldn't wait. I yelled. He looked up, irritated that I had interrupted but I waved him over anyway. I think I also bribed him with cold water.
I didn't say anything, I just showed him the test. He broke into a wide smile and hugged me, covered in sweat and dirt and grass clippings. It was gross. But we were excited and we celebrated that night with a nice dinner. We didn't say anything to Monkey, yet.
The first 5 or 6 weeks were long for us. I had an early miscarriage just before we moved to OK, so we were nervous about this one. I went for my doctor's appointment and they did bloodwork to check my levels. They said I was pregnant. I explained to the doctor my concern about actually seeing the baby (because I had been through the miscarriage) so he was kind enough to do an ultrasound right then. I saw the little kidney bean with the tiny flicker of a heartbeat. He said everything looked good.
The next several weeks passed without too many incidents. I didn't have morning sickness in the vomiting-my-guts-up every morning sense, but brushing my teeth was a very difficult thing with all the gagging I was doing. I'm surprised my teeth survived. I couldn't drink coffee because it tasted revolting (and I love coffee) and I was tired all the time. It was nothing for me to fall asleep on the couch after dinner.
The only hiccup so far with my appointments was that the doctor couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler, so I got an ultrasound at every visit to see the heartbeat. Then at 15 weeks or so, they did the triple screen blood test. I didn't think anything of it at the time. I don't remember how long it was after the test that they called me - if it was a few hours or a couple of days, but I remember I was at Wendy's when I got the call. I must have had a craving for their french fries.
The nurse was going on about the test and although I was paying attention, I was also distracted because I was waiting for my food. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that last?" I asked her.
"You tested positive for Downs Syndrome."
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9 comments:
Kool Aid, I haven't heard your story before and I was far from bored ;)
My wife and I had our own scares with the little ones. We thought we'd lost our first at 3 months in. It turned out well, but it was scary.
The end of your post hit me hard. I wasn't expecting that.
I'll be checking n for the rest. :)
Thanks for not being bored :)
It's amazing, isn't it? All the things that can happen. I'm trying not to give anything away and save it for tomorrow, but I'm glad everything turned out well for you.
Yeah, it hit us pretty hard, too. Thanks for checking in.
My pleasure entirely.
These stories hit dads in the heart much more than most people know, or would care to admit.
I LOVE to hear people's birth stories. I think they are all fascinating, to hear the highs and lows of what parents to be go through.
I had a scare with my second when I developed this bizarre itchy palms and feet thing and when I looked it up in my Book of Everything to do with Pregnancy it said something along the lines of 'possibility of still birth' and I just FREAKED out!
That would freak me out, too!
However, where I'm from, itchy palms mean you'll be getting some money. I don't know about the itchy feet, though. Athlete's foot?
Wonderful story. :) I love hearing of birth stories too. It is incredible that women go through so many different stages and emotions during their pregnancies. I know that each pregnancy of mine was very different (except for the nausea thing ~ that was constant.
PS you have an award over at my pace, if you want to come pick it up. :)
I have an award??? Cool! Thank you! Thanks very much!
Wow, what an ending!
Sorry I missed it earlier this week. Of course, I missed a lot this week. Anyway, great post - now to catch up with the rest. I'm also linking back to you in my post today.
Hey BD! Thanks for stopping by and for the link. I appreciate it.
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