Arleigh Lynn


My pregnancy with little sweetie Arleigh was my first and only “ normal “ pregnancy you could say. Before her my first pregnancy with my son  ,Mazio, brought severe preeclampisa and my second ended in a partial molar pregnancy. Each time has been a blessing but little Arleigh was a dream come true. I prayed and asked God for her so hard. I’m incredibly thankful that He blessed us with her and willed for me to get to experience pregnancy like many other women experience. After the loss of my second baby we were lead to believe that any future babies would be a lost hope. So you can see what a miracle Arleigh really is to us!
Here is her story……


                                                         PREGNANT!!
 
A word I had several doubts to think I’d ever type or say again, in context to myself at least. I found out on April 11th 2011 that I was amazingly pregnant again! Our worst fears led us to believe that more children would be far too dangerous a risk to my health but then God provided hope. He weaved His infinite will throughout our difficult situation and stirred both of our hearts. He brought hope with each passing day and the little blessings didn’t go unnoticed. It had been a wild ride and one of the hardest things I have ever had yet to endure but I can't believe that it happened!

I thought for sure that when/if I would ever see another positive pregnancy test that I would fall to my knees in tears over come by the very sight of it but all I could seem to do was stare at it in disbelief. My husband had the largest grin on his face when he saw it for himself.
I had sworn to myself that with any power in my being that I was going to fully trust God in this pregnancy and not fret. It’s a large dose but I was determined to swallow it and pray that I would hold out to the end or at least 36 weeks!

My due date was December 17th. Since I had a history of severe pre-eclampsia my doctors watched me very closely and would perform an amnio test at around 36 weeks(if I make it that far) to check the maturity of the baby's lungs and then based on what they find out they will schedule a repeat c-section. I had a classical cut section from my son's emergency delivery so unfortunately I don't have the option of a v-bac. So we could have this baby more around Thanksgiving time depending on my health.

The next several months was kind of nervous because I wasn’t out of the woods as far as health risks. My doctors were concerned that repeat pre-eclampsia, if found, has a likely-hood of developing earlier than the previous experience with it. For me this means I could have possibly developed pre-eclampsia before 29 weeks. I was trusting in God's will however that whatever happens He would get me through it. I felt pretty hopeful about this pregnancy and I was even experiencing a lot more pregnancy symptoms then I had with the partial molar pregnancy which I was told is a good sign.

Here she was at 6 weeks! The baby is only the size of a grain of rice at this stage.




On July 19th we found out at my 20 week ultrasound that we were having a baby girl!




We were so excited and couldn’t wait to meet her! I was ready to go out and start shopping for girlie clothes.
 I even made it past 29 weeks ( the time I had my son premature from preeclampsia) and my blood pressures were great! No signs at all of preeclampsia had showed up! Yay! And we even decided on her name…..


I had my amnio test done on November 28th 2011. We were prepared and hoping that her lungs would pass the test so we could have a baby that day. Unfortunately her lungs weren’t ready still. They were a 33 and needed to be 55 or higher. We got to see her on ultrasound and she looked so cute! :) She weighed about 7lbs 4oz and they said she had a lot of hair! She was measuring right on for her gestation! We scheduled with my dr. after some debate to have a c-section the following Monday, December 5th 2011. 
The night before the section I was so nervous and anxious. I was ready to have some annoying pregnancy symptoms be relieved but I was just nervous for her to finally be here too. To be honest the surgery portion had me pretty scared. I had never been awake for a c-section before. With my son I had to have an emergency c-section due to severe preeclampsia and I had been in the hospital for a week prior and had been getting heparin shots twice a day. My blood was too thinned to have me be awake and have the spinal. So under general anesthesia I went.

     Anyway, when we got there I got into a room and hooked up to a monitor and they started me on iv fluids. My section was scheduled for 1 but there was an emergency case finishing up so I didn't get back there until 10 after. I was shaking like a leaf as they were rolling me back and I just lost it when my little boy kissed me and said "bye Mommy". Oh there is just something about hearing him say that plus all the pregnancy hormones I'm sure. It was the last moment that it was just him and I just had one child my only little boy. All that was about to change.


     Once I was wheeled into the OR I saw several faces of nurses and staff smiling at me as I'm blubbering still about Mazio's bye to me. I immediately looked at them as they kept trying to calm my nerves and I said, " I know that I'm probably going to embarrass myself in here and later feel like a fool so I want to apologize to you all ahead of time", to which they all just laughed.

    Once they got me on the tiny narrow table they started to prep me for the spinal. Bless the sweet resident that held me and talked me through that because I was terrified. She was so nice! Once they got me started feeling numb I layed down and then I really started feeling the numbness escalate up from my legs. I didn't have that weird feeling that I couldn't feel myself breathing or anything but I did feel nauseous. So glad they waited to do the catheter until I was numb. That process typically hurts, ouch! After what felt like an eternity they let Ben come back to be with me. Now I prepped this man prior to the section repeatedly that I would need him to keep my mind busy by talking to me a lot but of course when the time came he completely froze up and had nothing to say. I could have smacked him! Thankfully as they started cutting and I could hear snipping noises the nurse anesthetist talked me through it. That part was the worst just hearing those initial noises and knowing what they were doing but overall the whole experience was not that bad. Then it came time shortly after all that to push her out. They warned me I'd feel pressure and that was normal. After they started and stopped pushing I thought they were done and had her out, I almost started to panic because I didn't hear her crying. Here they started pushing on me more and more until finally my doctor told me they were going to need to use the vacuum because they couldn't get her out. The vacuum for a csection?! Really?? I was shocked. That was the first I'd ever heard of a vacuum needed for a section delivery but sure enough she came right out with a loud pop after that. Boy did she make her presence known, she came out screaming like crazy. I was so paranoid about her lungs that I kept asking if her lungs were okay to which my doctor replied "can't you hear her wailing? Her lungs are perfect." What a huge sigh of relief. I must admit I did cry a little when I heard her cry. What a beautiful sound! I never got to hear my son's first cries which its surprising that he had been born crying in the first place. He was 11 weeks premature and we were warned that he might not cry because babies that early don't usually cry at first but I was told he definitely did!


My doctor told me that because I'm so short my torso is small and she was pretty tightly squeezed inside me which explains the need for the vacuum. He said next time around we'll just deliver me right at 37 weeks as my scar tissue will also be a bit more. Arleigh weighed 7lbs 12oz and was 19inches long. She was born at 1:48pm. So they got her out relatively quick. I got to hold her as they wheeled me back into recovery.



My sweet husband took feeding duty the first night as I was bed bound with pain meds and the catheter.





We got to go home on my third day. I was so glad to be home, it was so much better for Maz to have free reign of the house and be able to play. Those hospital rooms are so small for a toddler. I did have a hard time adjusting at first but I'm feeling better now. I went through some major baby blues for a few days but looking back I think it was mostly a hormonal shift as my milk came in at that same time.
It’s so much different having a daughter then having a son. There are the clothes and all the accessories that come with little girls and boys are so much simpler and I might add less expensive! Boys are tough guys and daddy's little mini me where as girl's have that special way of getting to her daddy. It'll be fun to see what it’s like with a girl and just what it’s like with 2!






 
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