Today is the day before Corbett turns 6. This post is decidedly less wistful than the posts I wrote about Zachary. But it is a story that deserves telling, because Corbett is loved, and his story is equally important to tell, even though its less "pretty".
Jordan and I always knew that we would want to have another child if that was what fate had in store for us. We didn't have a set idea on how far apart our kids should be, or any other such plans. We just figured that when it was time for #2, we would know.
I also knew that pregnancy hadn't been all that pleasant or "easy" for me. I wasn't quite sure when I would be ready to put myself through that again.
Two years old. It was shortly before Zachary's 2nd birthday when we found ourselves saying :Now. Now our family is ready to grow." Although these things are never truly in our control, we knew we wanted to avoid another December baby.
Let's face it, December is a bit baby heavy in our families. Apparently everyone needs a little extra lovin' in March. My twin brother and I were born December 5th, Jordan's birthday is Deccember 8th, and his sisters are December 19th and 28th. Follow that up with Zachary's birthday on December 30th, and it gets a little crazy here! On top of all that, there's Christmas and several friends with December birthdays.
So we were hoping for a fall baby. I became pregnant quickly, but from the moment I knew I was pregnant, I also knew I wouldn't be for long. I don't know why I knew. I just did.
Still, I scheduled an appointment with our midwife, trying to think positive. That's what I do. I think positive. The day of my appointment came, and I woke up to some spotting. Damn, I thought. Damn. I mentioned it to the midwife and she said all the right things, that spotting is normal, etc.
A due date of late September was set. 3 hours later, at 8 weeks pregnant, I miscarried. Its funny how sometimes you just know these things. Jordan was at work, and I didnt even call him. His job can be dangerous, and he was working graveyard shift, so I just didnt want him to worry. Besides, what could he do?
I went home and had dance party with my two year old. Because its really hard to be sad when you're dancing with a two year old.
We tried again, and lo-and behold, at the beginning of May, learned we were pregnant. Yep, thats right, the beginning of May. My due date? December 30th. Zachary's 3rd birthday.
Well played, fate. Hardy har.
My pregnancy with Zachary was tough. This one? It pains me to say, but it sucked. I hated it. By 8 weeks, I knew I could never handle pregnancy again. At 9 weeks, I was hospitalized with severe dehydration. At 12 weeks, it hadn't stopped. Nor at 13 weeks.
With this pregnancy, I was ill a minimum of 10 times a day, quite frequently as many as 25 times. I was diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum.
If you've not experienced this, you can really only begin to imagine. To manage through the day, I took diclectin, gravol,and had a careful schedule of eating and drinking. I could not eat and drink at the same time. I couldn't drink more than about 2-3 ounces of liquid at a time. Just the sensation of liquid sloshing in my stomach, would make me ill. At least 30 minutes had to pass between eating and drinking.
This carried on from 6 weeks to 14 weeks, when out of desperation, I tried accupuncture. "What the hell", I said, "it can't get much worse". It helped. Big time. After two treatments, I was only throwing up about 5 times a day. Still, a lot, but far better for me and my baby. Around the same time, we also discovered the foods that my stomach handled best.
1)Plain McDonald's Cheeseburgers - Nothing else. Not home made. Not Wendy's or Burger King. It had to have cheese too. A hamburger wouldn't do.
2)Tim Horton's Honey Dip Donuts
3)Plain popcorn
I ate those 3 things, and ONLY those 3 things for 6 weeks. Finally, at about 21 weeks, the puking stopped. I woke up with no nausea and wondered what the hell was wrong with me. I was scared our baby had died, but then thankfully, he kicked me, hard. I`m still here Mom, he was saying.
The rest of the pregnancy went as most pregnancies do, but I was quite weak. I can`t say I enjoyed the rest of the pregnancy, but I definitely didn`t hate it anymore. It still makes me sad to say I hated pregnancy, but there you have it. I won`t lie. Pregnancy and I just aren`t friends.
Despite the rocky start, Corbett (we knew he was a boy) kept growing well, and was looking to be a bigger baby than his brother. My due date came and went. Not only did this baby make me ridiculously sick, he was now making me wait!!
Finally on January 5th, my midwife and I had a conversation about Corbett`s arrival or lack thereof. My parents were on vacation in Morocco. My brother had to head back home to Toronto on the 7th. My close friends were moving to Toronto on the 6th. My parents were returning sometime around the 9th or 10th. We were running out of people to look after Zachary if I went into labour. And given the speedy labour with Zachary, we needed a plan.
"Well, how does January 8th work for you?" she asked.
"That works just fine", I said.
So it was decided that if Corbett hadn't made his entrance into the world by January 8th, 2006, we would coax him along.
We had a plan.
Tomorrow: Thank you. Thank you very much!
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