Pregnancy and Birth II

I woke up one morning at 13 weeks pregnant with my second child and noticed blood. Fortunately I was on my way to the gynae for a checkup. She did a sonar and said the same was happening as with my first pregnancy. The placenta implanted low over the cervix and was tearing loose at the one corner. It caused the bleeding. Like with the previous pregnancy, I was told to take it easy, not lift heavy objects, not drive long distances, etc. It was scary, even though it was the second time I was going through it. Every time I noticed new blood, I’d freak out. Even when you have a child already, this isn’t just “another baby”. This is YOUR baby. This is a new, unique life and you already love it more than life itself.

The good thing about the gynae visit, was that she confirmed my instinct, we were having a girl! I was also, like with my first son, struggling with constant UTI’s (urinary tract infections). It caused some pain in my lower abdomen and back. Unfortunately I needed numerous courses of antibiotics for it. :-(

At 14 weeks I was starting to feel movement. :-) It was lovely and made everything so much more real. She was a little busy body. Mr N, our oldest son, loved to play with her inside my tummy. He watched “Postman Pat” quite a bit in those days, and the moment she’d hear the tune, she’d kick like crazy. It was so sweet.

The bleeding episodes continued until week 32, though by week 30 the placenta slowly started to lift out of the way of the cervix. I was quite relieved. Unfortunately the stress just continued, because around week 32 the placenta started to fail. It didn’t provide enough oxygen to the baby, and the amniotic fluid came close to a dangerously low level. I was sent for extra sonars to keep a close eye on the baby. She slowed dramatically with her movement. Only making about 10 movements per day. I counted each and every day and kept a close eye on it, because I was extremely scared that she’d just stop breathing without giving us time to get her out alive. By 34 weeks, my nerves were shot.

I stopped picking up weight. In fact, I stopped at 20 weeks. I’ve tried everything. I’d eat and eat, but for some reason, my weight stood still. The baby still grew, so I was actually “loosing” weight while she picked up little by little. The dietician prescribed a very high calory diet, and it helped zero. I ate everything she told me to, but to no avail. I felt so helpless.

At 35 weeks, I knew something was going to go wrong. I felt it. It felt like the day before you fall ill. You know something’s “off”. You’re irritated and tired, but you can’t put your finger on the problem. Something’s just wrong and there’s nothing you can do to prevent it. At my visit at the gynae, she confirmed my fears and said the baby’s going to come early. But there was still amniotic fluid, the placenta was still alive though calcifying quickly, and the baby was still picking up a bit of weight, so she was going to keep an eye on it and take her out the moment I turned 38 weeks. We were contemplating a VBAC (Vaginal birth after Caesarian), especially since she would be a tiny baby and the reason I needed a c-section with my first was because he was a big boy. Now, only to shake the feeling of foreboding I had…

To be continued…