If you've followed along with our Isaac story , and then the baby #3 stories on the other blog, here is the next installment, in honor of my sweet girl who turns 5 years old tomorrow! The background to getting pregnant with her and that whole long journey is here. My pregnancy with Abigail was pretty easy. We continued going to the ART clinic until I was 10 weeks, when Dr. Long felt comfortable turning me over to Dr. McKenzie. I was on progesterone through the first trimester since it had been a little low during some labs, and I had morning sickness for most of the first 3 months. Overall, it was a routine pregnancy, after all the trouble we went through just to get to that point! There were only a few glitches in the last half of the pregnancy. I've been warned to try and keep it calmer this time around. :-)
We went for the ultrasound in late January to find out whether we were having a boy or girl, and our parents all joined us. It was a sweet moment when the tech typed on the screen, "Looks like a girl!" We cried and were so excited to have a gender to put with the little "Rosebud," as she had been referred to up till that point. We all left the hospital very happy, and I headed out to Lakeshore Drive to go pick Isaac up from Mother's Day Out. Before I knew what happened, I was slamming into the steering wheel, in a 3 car accident, right in front of the entrance to Brookwood. I called my parents and James immediately, since everyone was still close by, and cried to them that I had been involved in an accident. I was hurting pretty bad, but the emergency guys on the scene were so helpful and we got straight into the ER to be checked out. Mom and Dad rushed to get Isaac from school, and came back to check on me. They monitored me for 4-5 hours, but then decided Rosebud and I were both fine, just bruised and shaken up. I had lots of soreness for weeks, but no serious complication, for which we were so thankful.
Then, on Mother's Day, we did our annual family visit to the Botanical Gardens, then went to my brother's new home. While there, I missed a step in his backyard, plummeted to the concrete below, and gashed my temple open. It caused us to spend a few hours in the ER, getting 11 stitches in my forehead, but other than a bad headache, Abigail and I were both fine. There were no traumatic events after that, thankfully! I ended up gaining a lot of weight - 46 lbs. - but felt good beyond some pretty rough swelling of my feet and ankles at the end. She was due June 30 and with the warm weather that spring, my body just didn't tolerate it too well, so I had some serious fluid retention. I still managed to do some yardwork, my favorite hobby, including grass-cutting, though several neighbors felt compelled to stop by often and fuss at me for pushing the mower when I was so big and due pretty soon. It was good exercise though, and I really enjoyed it. I went for a check up when I was 36 weeks, and met the last dr. in the group. He joked he was glad we finally were scheduled together, since it would be nice to have met him before he possibly delivered Abigail. He checked to see how things were progressing, if at all, and was surprised when he found out I was 80% effaced, and 3 cm dilated. He said that didn't necessarily mean anything, and I'd probably still go full-term. I told him I was fine with coming early if Abigail was big enough. He assured me she was, and repeated what I'd heard several times already - that she'd probably be a 9 pound baby if she make it to her due date. That night I finished packing, making phone calls to my sister-in-law, asking her to be sure and bring her camera and take pictures for us when Abi was born, and we asked if they wanted to know the minute I went into labor, or if it would be o.k. to just let them know at a reasonable time, in case I went into labor in the wee hours of the morning. They said to call whenever anything happened. So, that night, I slept on the couch again like I'd done for several weeks, since it was more comfortable and easy to get up and down from. Then, around 3:30, I woke wide awake, and knew that my water was about to break. As soon as I could get to our bedroom door, and called his name, James sat up with wide eyes. I started crying, I was so surprised, and said, "Um, I think it's time!"
We quickly got ready, called family, and got to Labor and Delivery just as my contractions were starting. Our sweet friend Holly came to get Isaac once it was a decent hour, from Mom and Dad, who had kept him in the waiting area until then. I was given a drug to help take the edge off of the pain around 8:30, but it caused awful nausea, so I was pretty sick for the entire labor and delivery, constantly throwing up for 5-6 hours. My poor Mama was so sweet and stood beside me, holding a bowl, keeping my hair out of my face and wiping me off. It was pretty rough. Before long, I had an epidural, and progressed pretty quickly. At 12:48 we had our baby girl, who was perfect, healthy, and weighed in at 6 pounds, 13 ounces. Dr. Radbill, who I had just met the day before, was on call, so it was pretty funny when he walked in the room. We came home that weekend, happy to have the whole family together. Now, 5 years later, we are celebrating that special day when Abigail joined our family. We just can't imagine life without her!
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