Cayde 4 (Allori)

It seemed so unreal. I mean it felt like I had been pregnant forever. Twenty Six very long weeks. But not nearly long enough to deliver a baby, I thought. Time can be so deceiving.

I was miserable my first pregnancy. Miserable. Sick, yuck, gross. And although we didn't have any serious problems right up until the end of that pregnancy, I anticipated that my next pregnancy would be just as miserable. (Expect the worst, hope for the best kind of thing.) Wayne and I talked about wanting 3-4 kids. During that first pregnancy we joked that one would be sufficient. It was hard on him too. I could not go into the grocery store, or the kitchen for that matter without throwing up. My entire pregnancy! I felt nauseous from the time I was 4 1/2 weeks pregnant til the day I delivered. Just for kicks I even tossed my cookies once in the delivery room. (There er lots of fun stories to share here but that's a whole other story!)

Each trimester was different where the morning sickness was concerned...I guess just to switch things up a bit. I was on Zofran which is a wildly expensive chemo nausea medicine. I would break the pills in 1/4's to try to make them last longer. (My co pay was like $7/pill.) In my third trimester i would projectile vomit with no notice. Fun times. (Uh....strong on the sarcasm there.)

A week before I was due I went to my second to last regular doctor appointment. This was the single appointment Wayne was not able to attend with me. My sister Tawni came with me. My blood pressure was extremely high. I remember now I had some pretty good headaches at that last little time too but because I have lots of headaches I didn't attribute them to anything pregnancy related. Dr. Milligan (This awesome young surfer guy doctor that Wayne and I both loved) had my blood pressure rechecked several times then sent me straight to the hospital across the street. I told him I would run my sister home and go right over. "Um, no, you won't be taking your sister home, you need to go right over there. Do you need an escort?" Ok, got it. Important. So we went and with no luck getting my blood pressure down I was admitted to the labor and delivery department and was prepared for an induction. Allori was born 28 hours later.

Now that I know more about pre-eclampsia I am guessing that I had it then too. It just didn't pop up until the end of my pregnancy, so it didn't get to a severe state and since I as at 39 weeks gestation with Allori, it was easy to simply deliver the baby and everyone was good. However because the doctors did not diagnose me with pre-eclamsia, when asked if I had had pre-eclampsia with my first pregnancy, I said no I had not been diagnosed with it. It wasn't until I did a bunch of research and we knew for sure I had it this time around that I began to think I had it then too. Apparently it is highly unusual to have pre-clampsia with a second pregnancy if you did not have it with the first. So either I am unusual in that way too or I did in fact have it my first pregnancy setting this one up to be much worse.

This pregnancy was very different. I was not constantly nauseous. The morning sickness came and went. I was taking Prilosec which made a MASSIVE difference with the morning sickness. If I missed a dose, within 6 hours-gross morning sickness took over with a vengeance. So even though I was less sick that way I still was/felt miserable. Pregnancy just doesn't do well for my body. Begin with a body that is tortured by fibromyalgia then add a hard pregnancy. It's not really a trip to Disneyland. Wayne and I agreed that we would have one more baby and if it was as bad of a pregnancy, we would call it good. Having two children naturally that is.

For the month before I delivered Cayde, the doctors were thinking pre-eclamsia but were tripped up by the fact I told them I did NOT have pre-eclampsia my first pregnancy. My blood pressure, which normally runs low was high the entire pregnancy, and getting higher with each visit.

Twenty Six very long miserable weeks that I would do over again in a heartbeat if I could see to it that my son stayed put a little longer, grew a little stronger and was a bit more ready to face the world. I would do anything to make this time easier on his precious little body and soul.