So happy for them!
In January I was ecstatic to find out we were expecting a baby and I was so excited about becoming a parent however I did not have an easy pregnancy. I might have shared this with a few of you during class. I really do not like to complain and thankfully it was all very small fixable and precautionary type issues - I am blessed everything worked out, and it was all very worth it. It sounds like a lot, so here is some background: I had fibroid removal surgery last year, my fibroids were large and inside & outside of my uterus so there was a possibility I wouldn’t be able to carry but my OB did a fantastic job and I was cleared to have normal vaginal birth when the time came. Calculating my due date was tricky for my OB as my menstruation cycle is irregular, the due date was changed twice. Eventually it was determined as 9/24. I also have hyperthyroid so I went to lab every week for blood work to check my levels. I had horrible morning sickness, Hyperemesis Gravidarum is a horrible thing to experience, I tried every remedy but still lost 16lbs. I couldn’t hold down water so I received IV fluids and was put on a prescription that just barely took the sickness away, I felt better around 20 weeks. I had to take the Glucose test multiple times because by sugar was high, and I also did the 48 hour urine collection at home to test my protein, not so fun lol. I developed chronic hypertension putting me at risk for preeclampsia and I worried about the affect high blood pressure had on my baby's growth. Lastly I was born with a heart defect called ASD - atrial septum defect, a whole the size of a quarter in the upper chamber of my heart. It was fixed at age 3 and I am 100% healthy now. I did not know it was hereditary. So I was referred to a USC Perinatologist. We saw him every 2 weeks, Ella's heart was checked for all the major defects, she was cleared and he still watched her growth very closely.
I posted on Facebook a few days later "I wholeheartedly love motherhood. It is so much more than I could ever imagine. It’s absolutely amazing. It’s everything everyone says and so much more! My soul burst into pieces the moment I saw my daughter and heard her for the first time. It was as if God ripped out my heart and replaced it with a heart 10x larger for me to love with. Love has an entirely new meaning for my husband & I and we are beyond blessed and so in love."
We came home 3 days later, I am healing well and Gabriella is doing so great. She smiles and laughs in her sleep and rarely cries. She is gaining weight and passing her physicals. We are working on improving the breastfeeding process & I really need to sleep when she sleeps - instead I hover, watch & adore every inch of her. I am humbled by the amount of support I am receiving from my friends and family - a friend created a meal train for us so people can drop off food to us, my old co-worker friend stopped by to give Gabriella preemie sized clothes because although she is not premature Ella's NB clothes are kind of big on her, my Grad school buddy gave us food the other day and another friend gave me a bottle/nipple sterilizer because I didn’t have time to go buy one before her birth. Many friends are still sending me gifts and emailing/calling etc. I try to get back to people when I can.