Thursday, August 14, 2014

Birth Announcement - Better Late Than Never

A reader emailed me for an update on the arrival of our rainbow, reminding me that I never updated my blog. Whoops!

Baby A Mercer arrived June 2, 2014 via c-section, which was much more calm and relaxed than his big brother's arrival via c-section. He came out screaming and at a whopping 9 lbs 1 oz. I joke with my OB that the baby aspirin did it's job and he got the nutrients he needed in-vitro. It is now mid-August and he is 10 weeks old.

Big brother E is a wonderful big brother, very loving and attentive. And the dog, who I worried would be too hyper, loves to give Baby A kisses: on his head, feet, hands, face, etc. I'm hoping they will be buddies as A grows.

We chose the middle name Jace for our second rainbow. It means "a healing". I feel that this journey, through his pregnancy and delivery, has been a healing journey.

And now for a few pictures of our sweet one. This was taken at the hospital. The onesie was a gift from my miscarriage support group "The Brites", each of our rainbow babies has received one. The second is a picture of "my boys" - so much love in this picture. Thank you for your support through our journey. And for those who have reached out, asking for advice and sharing your struggles as well, you are in my thoughts and I'm praying for each of you. Love, H



Saturday, March 29, 2014

So I fired my OB

I will be 30 weeks on Monday and last week I fired my OB. Sensational title - I know, because I am still under the care of an OB just not the one I saw for the first 30 weeks of this pregnancy.
Since having E in 2009 and the conversation that followed with my community hospital OB I planned on having a VBAC. However, my community hospital does not support VBACs. But my OB gave me instructions of how to increase my chances of success. I waited the two years for my scar to heal completely. And then I transferred to the "bigger and better" hospital for care during this pregnancy, where they would support a VBAC.
My entire dilemma during this pregnancy was that I loved my community hospital OB. I met her when she delivered my son. She had this amazing way of keeping me calm when I really should have been freaking out. And then she was by my side in 2012 when I lost Tristan.
The practice at the "bigger and better" hospital had 6 doctors that I would rotate between. At first I thought I'd like it. And in the beginning I did. I had access to a great Reproductive Endocrinologist. Also, during those early weeks they had a small in office ultrasound machine that helped ease some fears. But then it turned into 6 different opinions, a lot of blowing things off that I thought were of concern, and not feeling like I could discuss anything with them. Add in a couple of insurance issues, "bigger and better" also meant way more expensive and therefore less coverage. I was paying more out of pocket for a routine pregnancy ultrasound than I was paying for my monthly car payment. I also had some non-urgent pregnancy issues that came up that took my 50/50 chance of a successful VBAC down to more like 20% chance of success.
So I was left with a choice. Do I stick it out with a practice that I wasn't comfortable with, to attempt a VBAC that my chances of success had been significantly lowered and not knowing who would be there to deliver and how they are during delivery? Or do I return to my favorite community OB who I am comfortable with?
At 28.5 weeks I pulled the trigger and fired my OB, then called my favorite community OB and re-established myself with her. I had my appointment this past Friday and I am so glad I did this. And while the local community doesn't "support VBACs" - it only means that they wouldn't induce me for a VBAC, but if I were to come in in labor and was far enough along, they wouldn't stop me just to do a c-section. That being said they do have to plan ahead, and they plan a c-section for the week prior to my due date in expectation that I wouldn't go into labor on my own.
But my favorite recent quote is "want to make a baby laugh? Make plans." We shall see what the next 10 weeks hold.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

16 Weeks (Actually 20 weeks); Taking a Deep Breath

To explain the title; I have been trying to write this blog post since I was 16 weeks pregnant. I am now 20 weeks, soon to be 21 weeks and I think I finally know what I want to say. I've written, erased and rewritten this post a number of times. 16 weeks was my big milestone, the place in pregnancy that I needed to get through until I started to feel safe and confident. But then 16 weeks hit and I have to admit, confidence was not there. Even now, at 20 weeks I worry about things; is the baby moving enough? are these cramps normal? Am I spotting? Of course, everything is going just great. I'm no longer miserably sick, I'm feeling movement and we had our big anatomy scan a few weeks ago revealing that our baby is Boy #2. Names are being discussed but we're not ready to share them just yet. I'm looking forward to in just a few short weeks B&E will be able to feel the baby moving.