Finally the test reads correct...Positive!!
Jed and I had been married for three years, and were definitely ready bring our first child into the world. We call it our "planned surprise" because I had endometriosis, and the thought of getting pregnant might be difficult. It wasn't...happened first try, but we didn't know that because the tests were always coming back negative.
I was working in St. George at the surgical center at the time, and I remember feeling extremely tired trying to get up for surgery at 5:30 A.M. I even went to bed early, had a good nights' rest, but I was just tired. Then I started noticing my hips felt different in my jeans when I would try to button them. They had moved, but I hadn't gained weight yet. I was confused... something wasn't right.
Well it was time for my "monthly bill" and I spotted, which wasn't normal for me at all because with endometriosis you have painful, heavy periods, and mine lasted usually a week. I thought that was odd, because it was only spotting, but still lasted my usual duration.
We were golfing with Jed's brother and his wife, and I was telling her what was going on. She told me that maybe I needed to go in to the doctor to see if I was pregnant because she did the same thing with her first boy. She spotted also and the doctor told her it was because her body was getting the uterus ready, and the was cervix closing up, some women spot when this happens. The store bought tests didn't work for her, but they actually did a blood test with her. This gave me some hope that maybe I was pregnant, and my body was just being weird. It had been a week after my period, and now I wasn't just tired, I was starting to get a little nauseated as well.
I told my co worker what was going on the next morning while I was getting the surgery room prepared, and she said "we have pregnancy tests that are a lot more advanced than the store bought ones... take a couple home with you tonight." With surgery, you can't risk a false negative with a patient because some drugs can cause spontaneous abortions, so I knew these would work. I spent a whopping fifty cents on those buggers compared to the maybe twenty dollars plus I racked up on the store bought ones.
I went home that night determined to find out what was going on. With these they are like three inches long, maybe a half an inch wide, and you pee in a cup and place the strip of paper inside. Then you have to peel back the top piece of the paper to see the strips to know if you are pregnant... I didn't know that, so I thought the test came back negative again because the strip was blank. Stumped again! Feeling a wave of nausea, I thought I would try it again, like this little baby wanted me to know I was pregnant and trying to make itself known! I did it again, noticed a teeny tiny flap on the strip to pull back, and then saw the stripes matched it up to the picture.... POSITIVE!!! So then I grabbed the first test from the garbage and pulled back the paper and it showed the same thing. I was pregnant!
Jed was on the phone with his brother, and I just said "I think we need to talk." he looked at me weird and asked what was wrong. I told him I was pregnant...." no you're not"...."yes I am".... "no you're not you've taken a billion tests"...."get off the phone and I'll show you".... "gotta go, my wife thinks she's pregnant." Showing him the test we both started laughing, and then promised we wouldn't tell anyone until I was farther along... we called our parents the next day haha! The reason I say planned surprise because when I went to the doctor and he gave me the dates we conceived.... Jed had surprised me from coming home early from California, and we tried for baby number 1 that night (sorry to be informative).... which was first try and we thought it would take a long awhile to conceive.
"Call to see if you can have your baby at 7 A.M."
When we got to Boise in the middle of April, my parents would come down sometimes every weekend or every other weekend to visit because they missed us since we lived far away, and to be honest, I had the baby blues extremely bad. Those last few months were very hard for me, but I'm truly grateful for Jed and his patience, and also my parents and their willingness to travel so much to keep me mentally healthy. So Sunday when I thought I was in labor, me and my mom had spent most of the day walking trying to get labor started! I had been having contractions since my Thursday doctor visit and had my membranes stripped. He told me if I didn't have the baby that weekend he would be surprised. We did lots of shopping so we could walk on Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday I did not sit down! I guess that would make some contractions pretty strong... I was right to think I was in labor don't you think? I went to the doctor on Monday because he wanted to see me after going to the hospital... and he stripped my membranes again. He said I was ready, it was just if the baby was. So we waited and waited for something to happen... it was a long two days!
Wednesday morning I woke up at like 4:30 A.M. I couldn't sleep any longer knowing I would be having my baby soon. I was so excited. Jed was up as well, and we just laid in bed realizing it was hopefully our last night just the two of us... bittersweet, but we were ready! I had a light breakfast while my mom and Jed got ready, and rounded things up. [My dad had to go back to work, but he would come back on Friday]. I started to get a little nervous when I realized it was time to call in to see if they had room in L&D to come have my baby. What if there wasn't? I would have to do the waiting game AGAIN! I called and they said..."COME HAVE YOUR BABY!!!"
The thirty minute drive was quiet. Everyone was nervous for what was coming up. I think my mom didn't say anything because she knew what I was about to go through, and didn't want to scare me to high heaven by giving me the details of child birth. THANKS A LOT!
We made it to the hospital at 8, got checked in and I got dressed. They were going to put cervix tablet on me to help dilate, but I was having strong contractions on my own, so they just gave me the pitocin. The nurse kept asking if I wanted my epidural after she had turned up the pitocin as high as she could, but the pains weren't bad at all, I would wait as long as I could to get the epidural. I wanted to experience some active labor.
1 o'clock came and the doctor checked me, I was dilated to a five, so he decided to break my water to get things moving along. Holy WATER! That was the weirdest feeling in my life, I felt like I was wetting my pants uncontrollably...it was kinda funny until...I had the first contraction after my water broke with full on pitocin hit me like a ton of bricks. I guess it was written all over my face because my mom started laughing/crying and said "I know...that's why I didn't say anything!" The contractions kept coming hard! I got dilated to a seven and said I would like my epidural and it would be 30 minutes longer because they had to page the CRNA. One contraction I remember looking at Jed who was by my side, and he was asking if I was ok, but it was like it was in slow motion, my body was in a different element. I finally got my epidural, Jed had to leave the room because he hates needles, so my mom helped keep my back arched like a angry cat. She about passed out watching it she was so nervous for me. After that it was heaven, I felt no more pain.
A lot of women said that once the got the epidural everything slowed down drastically. They would take naps, and relax. I didn't want that to happen, so I pretended I was still feeling active labor. So I watched the monitor closely...every contraction I would breath as if the pain was still overcoming my whole body. They came into check me at 4:45 and said they would start getting everything ready, I was ready to start the birthing process. My doctor got there at 5:30, checked me and said the baby was posterior, so they had to try a couple of times to get him turned. There was a resident there whole day, so I was checked a billion times, once the epi was in I didn't mind as much haha!
Two pushes later and he was here! The doctor is seriously my most favorite doctor EVER! He made the whole experience so special. He was very calm, reassuring...just amazing. My mom even commented on how she has never seen a doctor like him! When the shoulders were out he had me reach down and pull Gabe up to me. It was surreal!!! We all cried, even the resident. She wasn't able to have children, and she said how special this delivery was to her for some reason. It made us feel very special. It was seriously the most wonderful experience ever! Since I have three older brothers, my mom hasn't been able to experience viewing a birth, so it was extremely special for her as well. I remember his cries, my mom and I thought he sounded like a little bobcat kitten with his short roar like cries!
I was working in St. George at the surgical center at the time, and I remember feeling extremely tired trying to get up for surgery at 5:30 A.M. I even went to bed early, had a good nights' rest, but I was just tired. Then I started noticing my hips felt different in my jeans when I would try to button them. They had moved, but I hadn't gained weight yet. I was confused... something wasn't right.
Well it was time for my "monthly bill" and I spotted, which wasn't normal for me at all because with endometriosis you have painful, heavy periods, and mine lasted usually a week. I thought that was odd, because it was only spotting, but still lasted my usual duration.
We were golfing with Jed's brother and his wife, and I was telling her what was going on. She told me that maybe I needed to go in to the doctor to see if I was pregnant because she did the same thing with her first boy. She spotted also and the doctor told her it was because her body was getting the uterus ready, and the was cervix closing up, some women spot when this happens. The store bought tests didn't work for her, but they actually did a blood test with her. This gave me some hope that maybe I was pregnant, and my body was just being weird. It had been a week after my period, and now I wasn't just tired, I was starting to get a little nauseated as well.
I told my co worker what was going on the next morning while I was getting the surgery room prepared, and she said "we have pregnancy tests that are a lot more advanced than the store bought ones... take a couple home with you tonight." With surgery, you can't risk a false negative with a patient because some drugs can cause spontaneous abortions, so I knew these would work. I spent a whopping fifty cents on those buggers compared to the maybe twenty dollars plus I racked up on the store bought ones.
Jed was on the phone with his brother, and I just said "I think we need to talk." he looked at me weird and asked what was wrong. I told him I was pregnant...." no you're not"...."yes I am".... "no you're not you've taken a billion tests"...."get off the phone and I'll show you".... "gotta go, my wife thinks she's pregnant." Showing him the test we both started laughing, and then promised we wouldn't tell anyone until I was farther along... we called our parents the next day haha! The reason I say planned surprise because when I went to the doctor and he gave me the dates we conceived.... Jed had surprised me from coming home early from California, and we tried for baby number 1 that night (sorry to be informative).... which was first try and we thought it would take a long awhile to conceive.
5 1/2 months of morning sickness...
4 months of throwing up in between surgeries, and sometimes having to hold on to throw up because someone had to scrub me out so I could.
9 months of not eating sweets because it made me sick....devastated!!!
Went summer selling in Boise and had to find a new doctor at 8 months pregnant.
30 minutes to commute to doctor office and hospital because we lived in Nampa.
Membranes stripped twice....HOLY MOLY, very painful!
One false "I'm in labor" visit to the hospital on Sunday June 3rd...
Induction date set Wednesday June 6th 2007. Due date Friday June 9th.
"Call to see if you can have your baby at 7 A.M."
Gabriel Marion Leishman: The Story Of His Arrival!
Wednesday morning couldn't come fast enough. I was still having my contractions from my false labor visit from the Sunday three days earlier. I just wanted it all to be over with badly!! I think all women reach a point when they are completely over being pregnant! I was there.When we got to Boise in the middle of April, my parents would come down sometimes every weekend or every other weekend to visit because they missed us since we lived far away, and to be honest, I had the baby blues extremely bad. Those last few months were very hard for me, but I'm truly grateful for Jed and his patience, and also my parents and their willingness to travel so much to keep me mentally healthy. So Sunday when I thought I was in labor, me and my mom had spent most of the day walking trying to get labor started! I had been having contractions since my Thursday doctor visit and had my membranes stripped. He told me if I didn't have the baby that weekend he would be surprised. We did lots of shopping so we could walk on Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday I did not sit down! I guess that would make some contractions pretty strong... I was right to think I was in labor don't you think? I went to the doctor on Monday because he wanted to see me after going to the hospital... and he stripped my membranes again. He said I was ready, it was just if the baby was. So we waited and waited for something to happen... it was a long two days!
Wednesday morning I woke up at like 4:30 A.M. I couldn't sleep any longer knowing I would be having my baby soon. I was so excited. Jed was up as well, and we just laid in bed realizing it was hopefully our last night just the two of us... bittersweet, but we were ready! I had a light breakfast while my mom and Jed got ready, and rounded things up. [My dad had to go back to work, but he would come back on Friday]. I started to get a little nervous when I realized it was time to call in to see if they had room in L&D to come have my baby. What if there wasn't? I would have to do the waiting game AGAIN! I called and they said..."COME HAVE YOUR BABY!!!"
The thirty minute drive was quiet. Everyone was nervous for what was coming up. I think my mom didn't say anything because she knew what I was about to go through, and didn't want to scare me to high heaven by giving me the details of child birth. THANKS A LOT!
We made it to the hospital at 8, got checked in and I got dressed. They were going to put cervix tablet on me to help dilate, but I was having strong contractions on my own, so they just gave me the pitocin. The nurse kept asking if I wanted my epidural after she had turned up the pitocin as high as she could, but the pains weren't bad at all, I would wait as long as I could to get the epidural. I wanted to experience some active labor.
1 o'clock came and the doctor checked me, I was dilated to a five, so he decided to break my water to get things moving along. Holy WATER! That was the weirdest feeling in my life, I felt like I was wetting my pants uncontrollably...it was kinda funny until...I had the first contraction after my water broke with full on pitocin hit me like a ton of bricks. I guess it was written all over my face because my mom started laughing/crying and said "I know...that's why I didn't say anything!" The contractions kept coming hard! I got dilated to a seven and said I would like my epidural and it would be 30 minutes longer because they had to page the CRNA. One contraction I remember looking at Jed who was by my side, and he was asking if I was ok, but it was like it was in slow motion, my body was in a different element. I finally got my epidural, Jed had to leave the room because he hates needles, so my mom helped keep my back arched like a angry cat. She about passed out watching it she was so nervous for me. After that it was heaven, I felt no more pain.
A lot of women said that once the got the epidural everything slowed down drastically. They would take naps, and relax. I didn't want that to happen, so I pretended I was still feeling active labor. So I watched the monitor closely...every contraction I would breath as if the pain was still overcoming my whole body. They came into check me at 4:45 and said they would start getting everything ready, I was ready to start the birthing process. My doctor got there at 5:30, checked me and said the baby was posterior, so they had to try a couple of times to get him turned. There was a resident there whole day, so I was checked a billion times, once the epi was in I didn't mind as much haha!
Two pushes later and he was here! The doctor is seriously my most favorite doctor EVER! He made the whole experience so special. He was very calm, reassuring...just amazing. My mom even commented on how she has never seen a doctor like him! When the shoulders were out he had me reach down and pull Gabe up to me. It was surreal!!! We all cried, even the resident. She wasn't able to have children, and she said how special this delivery was to her for some reason. It made us feel very special. It was seriously the most wonderful experience ever! Since I have three older brothers, my mom hasn't been able to experience viewing a birth, so it was extremely special for her as well. I remember his cries, my mom and I thought he sounded like a little bobcat kitten with his short roar like cries!
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| Gabriel Marion Leishman Born 06/06/07 at 6:07 P.M. 6 lbs 3 oz 19.5 inches long |
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| The fluids and pitocin made me EXTREMELY swollen! I didn't get the puffy feet or anything until I got the IV! |
