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I keep getting so many questions about my pregnancy and Isabell's birth story and then realized that I didn't really post much about the specifics so here are the ones I get asked ALL THE TIME:
Did you enjoy being pregnant?
- LOVED IT! Other than the million dr's appointments to keep an eye on her mass, it was easy for me.
Stretchmarks?
- NOPE!
Was giving birth like you had imagined?
- Before Isabell was born, I was addicted to watching anything on tv regarding pregnancy and childbirth and it was way different than that. I had been sent home 2 times because I was dilating but not good enough. I walked miles and miles around the house and downtown at the hospital but she wasn't ready until SHE was ready. When I finally was admitted it was only because my water broke and I didn't know what time and I was having contractions pretty close together but still not dilating good though. I had my heart set on having her as natural as possible and come to find out after the fact, I was really, really close to having a c-section due to the long period of time that my water had broken and her heart rate was being a little weird too but when it was time to push . . . HOLD ON!
It was a feeling that I will never forget and wasn't prepared for AT ALL. I was so focused on making sure Christopher and I could see each other that I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing. I had an AMAZING team of dr's that talked me through the process and my Mom on my right leg and Mother in law on my left, Dad was holding up the wall directly in front of me and Stephanie (my oldest sister) was hiding to my left . 20 minutes of hard core pushing and she was out. The rest is sort of a blur!
Was it weird having all those people in the room when you delivered?
- Our miracle was about to make her appearance so my attitude was "Come on in" We had 12 nurses/doctors in the room because Isabell was high risk due to the mass that was on her lung when she was growing inside me and I still have contact with over half of them and they are watching her grow still to this day! Because Christopher wasn't physically there, I really, really needed my family there. My Mom was a pro at giving birth and Christopher's Mom thought she was going to stand there and take pictures in a PG kind of way until the nurse told her to hold my leg . . she wasn't so sure about the PG-13/R rated version she was about to experience. Christopher had asked Dad to cut Isabell's life-line and he agreed, at that point we had NO idea that Dad had never done that for any of us kids so he can now place another check on the list of things he never thought he would experience. My oldest sister Stephanie was also there, bless her heart. The nurse told her that she wouldn't be able to be in the room due to the amount of people already standing by so she kicked her out but when a different nurse saw her standing outside my door with eyes full of tears, she told her to come on in :-)
You had your Dad there when you gave birth?
YUPPERS and it was so nice! I remember looking up a few times and he was just watching everyone. Sure he was holding up the wall and wasn't walking around much and didn't get too close to the action but when Dr. J asked who was going to cut the cord, he stepped up with a HUGE smile and did a great job. He is my FATHER, it's not like he is a stranger!
Did Isabell look like what you had imagined?
Since week 20 in my pregnancy we got to watch her grow through some pretty high tech ultrasounds so we kinda got to see what she was going to look like. I knew she had hair on her head, knew she loved touching her face, knew she slept most of the time with both hands up right by her ears and I knew she had her Daddy's cheeks but when I saw her for the first time I just couldn't believe how much she looked like Christopher and still does!
The healing process, how did that go?
- It took longer than I had expected to feel 100% but I did just give birth to an 8 pound baby, VERY QUICKLY! I was in my pre-pregnancy clothes within about a week but didn't feel normal for a few months. That was the ONLY good thing I could come up with for my Husband being deployed at that time . . I had plenty of time to heal!
What is going on with Isabell's mass?
- we go on 25 January back down to Children's Hospital for her CT Scan. They are going to make sure that EVERYTHING is gone from the mass. If they see anything that isn't normal then they will do a MRI that very same day. After we have our reports in hand, we will go up to see her surgeon to discuss what they find or don't find. We will only have a short time period to schedule surgery and since Christopher is coming home soon, we knew we had to know what was going on inside her little body. Our prayer is that they won't find anything but we know that there is a chance that they will so we aren't getting our hopes up too high. The Lord has guided us every step of the way so we aren't giving up now.
When are you going to work on baby #2?
- we have learned that practice makes perfect (babies) but we are just going to enjoy Isabell for now. Since Daddy has been gone for 5 +/- months of her life, they have a lot of catching up to do. If it was up to me, I would probably already be pregnant again but he is 6,247 miles away :-)
If I missed anything, please let me know but it is 9:3o am and I am expecting my sweet, sweet daughter to be waking up soon! Please continue to pray for us. These next few weeks are going to be hard. Waiting on her appointment and waiting on Christopher's arrival!
Did you enjoy being pregnant?
- LOVED IT! Other than the million dr's appointments to keep an eye on her mass, it was easy for me.
Stretchmarks?
- NOPE!
Was giving birth like you had imagined?
- Before Isabell was born, I was addicted to watching anything on tv regarding pregnancy and childbirth and it was way different than that. I had been sent home 2 times because I was dilating but not good enough. I walked miles and miles around the house and downtown at the hospital but she wasn't ready until SHE was ready. When I finally was admitted it was only because my water broke and I didn't know what time and I was having contractions pretty close together but still not dilating good though. I had my heart set on having her as natural as possible and come to find out after the fact, I was really, really close to having a c-section due to the long period of time that my water had broken and her heart rate was being a little weird too but when it was time to push . . . HOLD ON!
It was a feeling that I will never forget and wasn't prepared for AT ALL. I was so focused on making sure Christopher and I could see each other that I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing. I had an AMAZING team of dr's that talked me through the process and my Mom on my right leg and Mother in law on my left, Dad was holding up the wall directly in front of me and Stephanie (my oldest sister) was hiding to my left . 20 minutes of hard core pushing and she was out. The rest is sort of a blur!
Was it weird having all those people in the room when you delivered?
- Our miracle was about to make her appearance so my attitude was "Come on in" We had 12 nurses/doctors in the room because Isabell was high risk due to the mass that was on her lung when she was growing inside me and I still have contact with over half of them and they are watching her grow still to this day! Because Christopher wasn't physically there, I really, really needed my family there. My Mom was a pro at giving birth and Christopher's Mom thought she was going to stand there and take pictures in a PG kind of way until the nurse told her to hold my leg . . she wasn't so sure about the PG-13/R rated version she was about to experience. Christopher had asked Dad to cut Isabell's life-line and he agreed, at that point we had NO idea that Dad had never done that for any of us kids so he can now place another check on the list of things he never thought he would experience. My oldest sister Stephanie was also there, bless her heart. The nurse told her that she wouldn't be able to be in the room due to the amount of people already standing by so she kicked her out but when a different nurse saw her standing outside my door with eyes full of tears, she told her to come on in :-)
You had your Dad there when you gave birth?
YUPPERS and it was so nice! I remember looking up a few times and he was just watching everyone. Sure he was holding up the wall and wasn't walking around much and didn't get too close to the action but when Dr. J asked who was going to cut the cord, he stepped up with a HUGE smile and did a great job. He is my FATHER, it's not like he is a stranger!
Did Isabell look like what you had imagined?
Since week 20 in my pregnancy we got to watch her grow through some pretty high tech ultrasounds so we kinda got to see what she was going to look like. I knew she had hair on her head, knew she loved touching her face, knew she slept most of the time with both hands up right by her ears and I knew she had her Daddy's cheeks but when I saw her for the first time I just couldn't believe how much she looked like Christopher and still does!
The healing process, how did that go?
- It took longer than I had expected to feel 100% but I did just give birth to an 8 pound baby, VERY QUICKLY! I was in my pre-pregnancy clothes within about a week but didn't feel normal for a few months. That was the ONLY good thing I could come up with for my Husband being deployed at that time . . I had plenty of time to heal!
What is going on with Isabell's mass?
- we go on 25 January back down to Children's Hospital for her CT Scan. They are going to make sure that EVERYTHING is gone from the mass. If they see anything that isn't normal then they will do a MRI that very same day. After we have our reports in hand, we will go up to see her surgeon to discuss what they find or don't find. We will only have a short time period to schedule surgery and since Christopher is coming home soon, we knew we had to know what was going on inside her little body. Our prayer is that they won't find anything but we know that there is a chance that they will so we aren't getting our hopes up too high. The Lord has guided us every step of the way so we aren't giving up now.
When are you going to work on baby #2?
- we have learned that practice makes perfect (babies) but we are just going to enjoy Isabell for now. Since Daddy has been gone for 5 +/- months of her life, they have a lot of catching up to do. If it was up to me, I would probably already be pregnant again but he is 6,247 miles away :-)
If I missed anything, please let me know but it is 9:3o am and I am expecting my sweet, sweet daughter to be waking up soon! Please continue to pray for us. These next few weeks are going to be hard. Waiting on her appointment and waiting on Christopher's arrival!
1 comment:
Great story Kim! So happy for you. She is adorable.
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