It’s time again to put thoughts down on paper- figuratively, at least. I have to recount that day all of the events, the looks, the labor, the physical side of this story. It’s one of only one story that I have with Huxley and even though it’s traumatic… it’s tangible. And beautiful. And raw too. So I’m going to tell it.
For background, my pregnancies are generally quite fine but I have pretty hard labor and deliveries. With Samuel, I had an easy pregnancy but ended with gallstones and gallbladder attack in labor, postpartum preeclampsia, and a c section. With Molly I had an okay pregnancy with preeclampsia towards the end, high blood pressure before and after delivery, but a vbac after a failed/scary experience with an epidural. So because my blood pressure likes to be wonky and labor and delivery are generally quite hard and scary we decided to hire a doula as well as have our care team at the hospital. This was going to offer us the best scenario for birthing in the way we wanted and gave us many options and knowledge from our OB and doula for anything that might come up.
With all of that, my pregnancy with Huxley wasn’t easy. It was probably the hardest actually. In terms of pains and incidents at least. I got sick with a stomach bug and passed out and knocked my head on our tiled tub, had round ligament pains and heartburn that wouldn’t budge and not for lack of trying EVERYTHING. Even though it was my hardest, it was also my healthiest pregnancy in terms of controlling my blood pressure, taking good care of my diet and taking the right supplements and having enough nutrients for me and Huxley all the way through. It was also the best in terms of readying my body to birth. I had all the tools I needed. My doula made sure of it. And my doctor saw all the benefits.
On Tuesday I went for a normal check up I was 39 weeks and my blood pressure had just started to creep up. It wasn’t anything too bad but based on a prior ultrasound the week before saying baby was estimated about 9.6 lbs and my history of high blood pressure in pregnancy, and the fact that this was another attempt at a vbac, my doctor wanted to induce. Something I absolutely did not want but agreed to do Thursday to give myself a chance to go into spontaneous labor over the next 36 hours. She checked Huxley and his heart rate was strong and steady. The following day was normal. I tried all the exercises, drank all the tea, walked all the miles and also did normal life like take my big little guy to a morning class and I went to get adjusted with my chiropractor and drank my water and ate good and spicy foods. With no luck in starting labor… I rested. The next morning we headed to the hospital to be induced. We were sad about being induced but excited to know we were on our way to bringing our baby boy into our arms.
Even Morse Sweetly 