Everything about my pregnancy with Presley was by the book the first 15 weeks. I began to show VERY quickly, which led to any early announcement. I was absolutely convinced I was carrying twins until I saw the first ultrasound, with just one tiny heartbeat. I wasn't nearly as sick as I had been during my pregnancy with Parker, which was a blessing. I did feel like I had been hit by a truck most days, but that could be expected, right? I am thirty five years old, my last pregnancy was eleven years ago, I was in the process of moving into a new home and keeping up with two adolescent boys. Because of the timing of our first prenatal visit, it turned out that we received and ultrasound at each of our first four appointments. It was exciting to be able to see our baby healthy, moving around and growing each time. At just over 14 weeks we took our entire extended family for a gender reveal ultrasound. There on a big screen, with 15 of our loved ones, we learned we were expecting a girl. We were SO very excited and I was in total disbelief! It took a few days to really sink in before I started to embrace the frills and pink.
Then, things began to change.
On Monday, September 29, I woke up spotting just a tiny little bit. I tried to tell myself not to panic, I had heard of this happening in pregnancy, even though I had never experienced it myself. Throughout the morning it persisted and panic took over. I had experienced some abdominal pain over the weekend, nothing excruciating, attributed it to the fact that my belly was rapidly expanding. I called the doctor and his medical assistant sweetly offered to let me come in for an ultrasound just to give me peace of mind. I was terrified as we sat waiting to see our little girl on that monitor, but sure enough, there she was. Heart strongly beating, hands and feet moving. The tech even double checked her gender, I was now 16 weeks and it was most definitely a girl. The doctor met with us for a few minutes, assured us that everything looked wonderful and that my unexplained bleeding was nothing to be concerned about.
The spotting continued throughout the week and my concern grew as we were preparing to travel to Denver with the boys. I called the doctor again on Friday, October 3, and spoke to the medical assistant, who encouraged me to take the trip and feel comfortable doing all the things I would normally do. She assured me again that the baby was healthy, everything looked great, I had nothing to worry about. We made the trip and had an amazing time making lifelong memories with the boys. We knew that this would likely be the last big trip we took as a family of four and we made the most of it. I was definitely feeling uncomfortable, I kept saying that I felt so much further along than I was. There was a lot of pressure and lower back pain. But every pregnancy is different, right?
We returned from Denver on Monday, October 6, and throughout the week the bleeding persisted and eventually increased to the point that I was convinced something was wrong.
On Wednesday, October 8, I went back to my doctor's office, they were able to squeeze me in at the very end of the day. This time I saw the doctor before having an ultrasound, I burst into tears the moment he entered the room and, all smiles, he assured me that everything was fine. He checked her heartbeat, which was 158 bpm and sent me for another ultrasound, just to put me at ease. This ultrasound went about the same as the last, there she was, heart strongly flickering, squirming around, placenta looked "fine" nothing to worry about. Just that unexplained bleeding that had me so worried.
I came home and just felt awful all night long. I remember texting Brett and telling him I thought I was coming down with the flu. The next day I pretty much stayed off my feet all morning and drank as much water as I could. I picked my nephews up from preschool, fed them lunch and got into my bed while they napped. As I was laying there, I began to leak fluid. I knew immediately that's what was happening. I tried to convince myself otherwise, but every time I moved at all, sat up, took a step, there it was. I called my mom and sister completely hysterical and raced to the hospital. I chose not to go to the closest ER because I knew that Banner Thunderbird had an OB triage and wonderful labor and delivery staff. I knew that I'd get the best of care if I drove just a few extra miles...
It turns out, I was completely and totally wrong.
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