the last trimester of my pregnancy was quite the journey. it started with the lovely glucose test; i managed to fail both the 1 hour and 3 hour tests so i was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. the first week or two of that was rough, but once i figured out what i could and couldn't eat to keep my blood sugar levels good it ended up being a blessing in disguise. i lost 3ish pounds those first weeks and didn't gain anything the rest of my pregnancy!
a few weeks later we were planning on heading up to murrieta for a visit with family when i started feeling contractions pretty regularly. i had been having braxton hicks here and there for a couple weeks, but never one on top of the other within minutes of each other. we headed to the hospital and they hooked me up to the monitor- my contractions were off the charts and coming every 2ish minutes! it was so weird to see that happen on the screen but only feel a little bit of pressure in my belly. they ended up admitting me and i was stuck in the hospital for four days. i got lots of meds pumped into me (not fun) and thankfully the contractions stopped and we got sent home. but i now had to be on bed rest... i was only allowed on my feet to go to the bathroom and take fast showers. so we moved in with my parents so my mom could be my nurse.
when i was 36 weeks i was scheduled for an ultrasound to check the size of the baby; moms with GD tend to have bigger babies so they wanted to make sure she wasn't getting too big. turns out she measured almost 8 pounds at this point. i knew there was some room for error but it still freaked me out. i did NOT want to push out a 10 pounder! there was some talk of scheduling a c section, but i had my last appointment with a new doctor and she felt that was totally unnecessary and scheduled an induction for me instead. so we had two weeks for baby to come on her own before she got evicted. it was kind of hilarious hearing all our friends and family make guesses on when she would come based on the weather and the full moon and other ridiculous things. i was fairly confident she wouldn't come out on her own. mama knows best.
march 9th finally came. we got to the hospital around 7, got checked in and settled in our room and around 8:30 the party got started. the doctor put a pill in my cervix to get it to soften, came back four hours later and i was 2 cm. put another pill in, came back another four hours later and i was 4 cm. i then got hooked up to the pitocin. that's when things got really fun. i really started feeling the contractions; at first they were just like bad period cramps, but after an hour or so they got pretty painful. and my water broke, which was one of the weirdest feelings ever. i was still at 4 so i decided it was time for an epidural. long story short it took three anesthesiologists and about 12 tries for the epidural to take. not fun. side note- if you are pregnant and have scoliosis and want an epidural, GOOD LUCK. the first time they got it in there was a little pocket where it didn't work, so i was numb except for this one little spot where i felt extreme pain. second time around (god bless the anesthesiologist who was so determined to put me out of my misery) i was sitting there praying that it would work when i felt serious urges to push. the nurse had just checked me and i was still at 4, but when she saw how i was having to bear down to make it through the contractions she had me lay down really quick to check me again. in 20 minutes i had gone from 4 to almost 9. they got the epidural in pretty quickly and thankfully it worked much better but i still felt a lot of pressure. it was finally pushing time, and that went on for 2 hours. my eyes were closed the whole time. i have never been so exhausted in my life. labor is seriously the hardest thing i have ever gone through. she finally started to make her way down and the doctors quickly got the bed ready. they had to tell me to stop pushing which was almost impossible. a few pushes later she was here! it was so surreal. how did we make this baby?? how was she inside of me??? all 8 pounds 8 ounces of her????? and how the heck did she turn out so stinking cute???????
we spent two nights in the hospital and then finally got to come home. it's now been three weeks and she is growing and changing every day. it's so fun seeing her come to life and become more alert and active. i still can't believe how crazy and amazing the whole pregnancy process is now having gone through it. all the aches and pains and 20 hours of labor go out the window when you look at that little face the first time and realize she is all yours.
