Oh hey, I have a son

Staying true to the second child stereotype, I have barely acknowledged the arrival of my baby boy, Baden. Even though with Astrid I gave you Confessions of a Pregnant Girl parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 and I even shared her birth story with you all. I shared a couple stories after that and shared that I was pregnant with him and then... nothing. Until I got pregnant with baby number 3 and, well you've probably read the posts I've done for that so far. (if you haven't they are literally the last two things I wrote about before this)

Anyway, when I revisited the blog to share the tales of this third and weirdest pregnancy I've had so far, I realised I never shared Baden's birth story. Thankfully I wrote it down in my journal shortly after having him so I'm not relying on a memory from over a year ago (ps, he's one now, holy cow!).

So, here it is, 

Baden's Birth Story

*Side note, for those of you who have only read his name and never heard it, his name is pronounced "Bay-den" not "Bah-den". okay, let us continue...

When I was pregnant with Baden, Astrid would often ask when her baby brother was coming. Since he was due on the 28th of April, my response became, "your brother will be here when the snow melts" 

Living in Northern Alberta, the winters can be pretty long, so I figured that it would be safe to say that our snow would be melted by the end of April. I started to get nervous though because there was still a ton of snow on the ground within a week of Baden's due date. I didn't want to be a liar! I knew Astrid would call me out if I came home with her baby brother and there was still snow on the ground. In the end though, the snow was gone by the time he came home with us. 

On Tuesday, April 24th Astrid had preschool. And while she was there I decided to do some last minute pre-baby shopping to get a new nursing bra and a couple nursing tops. I remember as I walked around the stores I felt what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions, and I even told my friend about them at Preschool pick-up. I later realised they were actually some super early pre-labour cramps, but I wouldn't say I went into labour on this day though. My day went on like normal with us running a couple errands and even taking Astrid's grampa out for some tax stuff. So yeah, not in labour. 

I started to notice actual cramping in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday the 25th. They were pretty sporadic through the morning so I got some laundry done and called Joe to let him know he should probably come home that night. He had been working 2 hours away at a camp job, which was the farthest his bosses were allowed to send him that close to my due date. The day was spent doing small errands around the house and soaking up my last moments with Astrid as my only child. I remember we had a picnic lunch on the step and played with sidewalk chalk. And then when Joe got home from work we all went out for ice cream at Dairy Queen. Our last outing as a family of three.

Our last photo as a family of three!

Throughout the night my contractions started to make it hard for me to sleep, but they were still very inconsistent. Astrid had preschool on Thursday so in the morning Joe took her over to our friend's house whose daughter was in the same class and she took Astrid to school. From there the plan was for Astrid to stay with their family while we brought her brother into the world. Contractions were around 10 minutes apart so I spent the morning dealing with those and getting whatever rest I could. In the afternoon we went out for lunch and went for a walk around a little pond. I remember there still being piles of snow beside the path, but everything was melting pretty quickly, leaving big puddles all over the place. I really enjoyed my walk with Joe around the pond. I remember we just had a really good, long conversation like we used to have back when we'd go for long walks while we were dating. Besides the fact that we had to stop every once in a while so I could breathe through a contraction, it was totally just like when we were dating. 

We left for the hospital around 8:30 pm on Thursday the 25th. I remember crying in the car on the way there because our family was about to change. I was excited and nervous. We were having another baby! We went through triage and they measured me at 2 stinking centimeters. I think my cervix had softened quite a bit so rather than send us home, the nurse told us to go down to the empty cafeteria and walk for an hour. That hour was the longest hour of my life. Contractions had really ramped up and it was getting harder and harder for me to stay calm. Joe did so well as he supported me through them and he told me what I needed to hear to get through it. We were finally admitted at 10:30 pm with me measuring at 5 cm. Our triage nurse was even the same nurse who delivered Astrid. Small world! The nurse who took care of us once we were admitted was named Grace. She was cool. 

At 11pm I was given my epidural. Before having Astrid I always wanted to try going through labour and delivery without any drugs. And I still do, don't get me wrong. But if I'm going to be in labour for over 30 hours, I am getting some dang drugs. I tried the gas before and that just made me nauseous so this time around I went straight for the good stuff. I even asked for it as soon as the triage nurse admitted me. So I got my epidural and that went well except I could still feel pain on my left side. It was considerably reduced from before so I didn't complain. It was kind of cool this way because as the contractions intensified I could feel it much more than I did when I had a full epidural with Astrid. But it was still manageable. At 11:45pm they broke my water and I think the reason was because the baby's heart had started decelerating with my contractions so they wanted to keep things progressing. 

At 12:35 am on Friday the 27th, we had to wake Joe up because he'd fallen asleep in the corner of the room and it was time to push. He snapped awake pretty quick, I remember Nurse Grace being impressed. 19 minutes of pushing later and Baden Salesi Henry was delivered by nurse Grace. So far both of my babies have beat the doctor to the delivery room. I had some minor tearing so when the doctor arrived he stitched me up. 

We went to our room shortly after and got some rest. Joe left around 10 to pick up Astrid and bring her to meet her little brother. She was very excited and got to hold him and watch me nurse him. We had another night to stay in the hospital so she went back to our friend's house later on and Joe stayed the night with me. We had 2 beds in our room to ourselves so it was awesome. 

Saturday the 28th - we were discharged from the hospital in the morning and I was feeling surprisingly good. I was up walking and didn't feel nearly as rough as I had after having Astrid. As we stepped out of the hospital I was amazed at how warm it was. It felt like summer time! And what happened to all the snow?? My saying to Astrid had come true. Her brother came and the snow melted! 

Ready to go home. He started out so tiny!
Those straps were set as small as they could go. 

First photo as a family of four. 

Solving the Case of the False Period

As you know, I'm pregnant.

And as you may also know this pregnancy snuck up on me and I didn't realize I was pregnant until I had reached the halfway point. When I took my pregnancy test at home I consulted my period tracker which calculated me to be around 6 weeks along at the time. But I didn't trust that date because I was sure I'd started feeling movement already. So when I saw my family doctor I asked to get booked in for an ultrasound first before seeing the OB.

At the ultrasound the tech informed me that I was right and I was much further along than my last period led me to believe. At her guess, she figured I was around 23 weeks along. Upon that discovery it was a relief to know that I wasn't so out of touch with my own body that I had completely missed my baby's movements. Just enough out of touch to totally miss the fact that I was pregnant for 4 months. 

But this still left me with one thing I didn't understand: Why did I have a period in January???

If you read the post before this one, you'll know that I had a massive period in January. It only lasted 24 hours, but was a very heavy flow. So much so that had I known I was pregnant, I would have thought I'd lost the baby. Knowing what I know now, I think it's a tender mercy that I didn't know I was pregnant at the time otherwise that would have been a very distressing day for me. 

So. What happened? The only theory I could come up with was that maybe I was pregnant with twins and I'd lost one. As I've talked with other ladies about it, that seemed to be the only explanation anyone could come up with. 

Well. It turns out that this little baby is a miracle baby. When I saw the doctor today she had my ultrasound report in hand and on it they made a note that they'd found something called a hypoechoic area on the placenta measuring 8 x 7.7 cm large. My doctor told me that it was a hematoma and it was a result of the bleeding I'd experienced in January. 

Figure 1. Doctor's explanation

So, what she told me is this: the placenta had stared to pull away from my uterine wall (see fig.1) which is why I'd experienced all that bleeding in January. But for some reason, only part of it pulled away and the placenta closed itself up and somehow my baby managed to stay. And when we checked on baby's heartbeat it was good and strong! And I've been feeling lots of movement from her, so as far as we can tell she is perfectly healthy.

The doctor showed me the approximate size of the hematoma which is about the diameter of a lemon, and isn't small either. She guesses the area was much larger when it happened but has since reduced in size. We've scheduled another ultrasound 8 weeks from now to check on that spot again to make sure it's still getting smaller. 

In the meantime I've been told to take things easy, meaning gentle exercises only. So no rugby for me, I guess! Just walking, swimming and prenatal pilates it is!

The time I didn't know I was pregnant for four months

Oh man, let me tell you about the month I have had!

All within a matter of weeks I found out I was pregnant, my maternity leave ended and I went back to work, Joe switched from his shop position back to the field, AND just yesterday I learned that not only am I pregnant, but I'm already over halfway through my pregnancy!

There have been lots of overwhelming emotions with all these changes and there were times when I just did not know if I would come out on top. Going back to work hasn't been too bad. I love what I do and it's been nice to get back into it again. The hardest part is leaving Baden at daycare. He's still getting used to it so he cries when I leave. Joe's never had to drop the kids off at daycare, how come it's always moms dealing with the hard stuff?? So far I've had it easy with Joe's return to the field. My mom came up to visit the day he left and she just went back home yesterday, so I had her for a week. We'll see how I do flying solo this next week. It's been a while, so I'm pretty rusty at it, but I think we'll be okay. I hope we'll be okay...

And now, my pregnancy. I'll admit, I never thought I'd be one of those girls who didn't know she was pregnant. But I am sure glad it's not one of those reality TV worthy moments where I pull into the ER in excruciating pain only to deliver a baby I had no idea was coming. Thankfully we caught it in time.

So I had my ultrasound today and the tech guessed that I'm around 23 weeks along. With the help of a handy dandy date calculator I learned that I've been pregnant since October. OCTOBER. I was pregnant at Halloween! For Astrid's birthday! Christmas! New Years! Valentine's Day! All these holidays have gone by and I had. No. Clue.

In January I was mad at myself for overeating during Christmas because I was starting to get pudgy. Baden was coming up on 9 months old and I still hadn't lost the baby weight. My cardio was horrendous and the only reason I had some decent strength left was because my baby is such a chunk. Cue the gym motivation. I had a membership, and that included childcare, so I better use it, dang it! I was doing good until I started experiencing some pelvic pain that I'd had when I was pregnant with Baden. I figured it was because I had started working out again, so I made a physio appointment to get it dealt with and thought nothing more of it. Looking back, I probably started experiencing those old pregnancy pains because I'm pregnant again, duh!

In February I was really gassy. Like, I'd eat a meal and within an hour my stomach was churning and I was producing some really foul smells. And then I started feeling these gas bubbles in my lower abdomen throughout the day. Just more gas I guess... After about a week of those bubbles I started to wonder if those were baby movements. They sure seemed awfully familiar... But I'd had a period in January! Even if I were pregnant it'd be far too early to feel the baby move! It would just be a blob of cells at this point! Still, another week went by and these little bubbles were becoming more frequent. And stronger? Oh crap, could I really be pregnant? By the end of February I'd started to become really stressed out by it.

As March began, and I'd started to gear up to go back to work on the 12th, we received word that Joe would be returning to the field on the 14th. Halliburton had been promising to send him back since January but nothing had come of it so we were starting to believe he'd go the whole year in the shop. Working the shop position had been really nice because it allowed Joe to be home every night and he had every other weekend off. The only downside was that it came with a pay cut and once we adjusted our spending habits, our savings still continued to go down so we needed him to go back to the field to start earning more money again. So once we learned that it was indeed happening that he would be going back to the field, the reality set in that I hadn't had to take care of the two kids completely on my own yet. After Baden was born, Joe had been there consistently to help with the evening routine. What was I going to do when it was just me for two weeks straight without a break?? I knew how exhausting it could be with just one child and I really started to worry about how it would be with two. And then there was that nagging feeling in the back of my mind telling me that, to top it off, I might be pregnant too.

One night I expressed my concerns to Joseph. I wrote down all the things I was stressing about. Including my pregnancy worries. I showed Joe my list and we talked through them one by one. When he got to my pregnancy concern he laughed it off. "This one is so easy to resolve! Just go buy a pregnancy test to put your mind at ease. There's no way you're pregnant, so stop worrying about it" The next day I went out and bought a pack of 2 pregnancy tests. I needed to resolve this once and for all. Every pregnancy test you buy always recommends you test your morning pee to be sure you get the highest concentration of pregnancy hormone. So the next morning, on March the 5th I collected my urine sample and stuck the pregnancy test in it. I always cover my pregnancy tests with a piece of toilet paper and wait the two or three minutes the instructions tell you to wait because #rules. So when I uncovered that little stick and saw those two pink lines I gasped and put my face in my hands because maybe if I couldn't see it, it wasn't real. I peeked, and they were still there. Dang. I took the second test and stuck that in the cup too. This time I watched as those little pink lines showed up again. Dang it! Dang freaking nab it! That didn't put my mind at ease at all! What the heck!

I texted a friend for support and told her to call me ASAP. Which she did. Friend, if you're reading, thank you. I'm glad to have someone nearby that I can vent to. And I'm glad I had someone to be sympathetic and supportive and to help me feel like it wasn't the end of the world to be pregnant way sooner than I wanted to be. I hoped I'd be able to get together with my friend so we could talk in person. We made a tentative plan to meet up at the library. But it didn't work out. But it was okay. I actually found two more of my friends there and I told both of them right away. It felt good to tell people who were excited for me, because it helped me feel a little less un-excited about the whole thing. I know without a doubt that I was in the right place at the right time that day. Thank you friends, for making plans to go to the library that day! And thank you for being sympathetic while also being excited for me.

I saw my family doctor the next day to get a referral to see the baby doctor. I also requested an ultrasound since I'd been feeling movements, but it seemed too early for that if I was as far along as my last period suggested. He didn't seem concerned, but ordered the ultrasound anyway.

The two weeks leading up to my ultrasound were agony! If I were 8 weeks along, I should not be showing like this. But maybe because I'd only recently had Baden, that's why I was getting bigger sooner. Not only that, but I could swear I was feeling definite kicks at this point, and the rhythmic thump, thump, thump of hiccups occasionally. What was going on?? I definitely had a period back in January. Like, a full-on, all systems go, purge the uterus, kind of period. Except, it was unlike any period I'd ever had. The bleeding only lasted 24 hours, but it was a flood. I filled a pad in a matter of hours. It was insane! But it wasn't painful, so that was good. Still, if I had known I was pregnant at that point I would have thought I'd lost the baby, so how could there be anything still there in March?

There were two things I knew:
1. I had a period in January. No question. Which meant I was 8 weeks pregnant.
2. I was definitely feeling something in my stomach that I shouldn't be feeling at 8 weeks along.
These two things were so conflicting! It confused me and made me think I was going crazy for thinking I could possibly be further along than what my period tracker said I could be.

Finally, the day of my ultrasound came. I filled my bladder as instructed and gingerly walked into the clinic. The wait wasn't long and soon I was in a room with my stomach exposed. The tech asked when my last period was. And I told her, January 18th. I also told her that I'd been feeling movement, so I suspected I was further along than 8 weeks. She gooped me up and put the wand on my stomach.
"Yup, you're further than 8 weeks. How far along do you think you are?"
I told her I figured I wasn't in my first trimester anymore. Maybe 15 weeks? 16?
"It looks to me like you're around 23 weeks along."
I'd say I was surprised, but really, I was relieved. I wasn't going crazy! I was in tune with my body after all! You know, except the part where I totally didn't clue in that I was pregnant for four months. But hey, once that baby started moving, I'd felt it, and recognised it. I had denied it at first, but I knew.

Now my dating ultrasound had just turned into an anatomy scan. I asked the technician if she could have a look at the sex for me and she said she would. She went to work gathering the measurements she needed. I stayed quiet to let her do her job. Every once in a while I'd look at the screen and ask about what I was seeing.

Finally, she turned the screen toward me and showed the side profile of my baby. That was a real baby in there! Sneaky little thing!
The tech showed me the baby's spine and the baby's heart.
I saw a hand and a foot.
I saw the the little tiny radius and ulna of the baby's forearm. (I have a thing for little tiny skeletons, don't judge me)
And then we worked our way down and I had a hard time seeing what I was supposed to, but the technician told me it looked like my baby was a girl.
Astrid will be so pleased! A couple weeks ago when I asked her if she'd like to have another sibling, she told me yes, but she wanted a sister and not a brother. When I told her that we couldn't really choose if it were a boy or girl, she shrugged and said that she'll just have a toy instead then.

As soon as I got out, I called Joe and told him the news. He never would have guessed that we only have half a pregnancy left before we meet this baby. I sent a couple more texts and then I went home. I shared our news on social media, and now here we are. 2 weeks ago, I found out I was pregnant. Yesterday I found out I was having a girl and that girl is coming in 5 months or less. I don't know if want another child after this, but it would sure be nice if I could only have a half pregnancy again like this one. We already almost there! We thought we'd have a baby in the fall, but it turns out this will be a summer baby. Wahoo!