My pregnancy with Mason was really hard because of a lot of health issues and I had to be induced three weeks early. I thought that it couldn’t be harder this time, but the morning sickness was much worse this time. With Mason, it was only in the morning and this time I was sick all day. It made it even worse that I couldn’t rest because I had an almost two year old to be taking care of.
When I called the doctors office to tell them about my pregnancy they told me I needed to do aspirin therapy this time because I had high blood pressure with Mason which was part of the reason for the induction. The aspirin therapy worked really. I didn’t have high blood pressure at all this time and I had high hopes this pregnancy would be much better once the morning sickness was over. I was able to find out the gender of our baby really early on thanks to an at home blood test that said it was a boy. I was excited for Mason to have a brother and things seemed to be going well until I had my glucose testing. I had gestational diabetes again, but I wasn’t worried too much since I knew how to handle it from the first time. I was able to control my blood glucose with diet so I didn’t need insulin and as long as things kept going well I wouldn’t need to be induced.
I had to see the maternal fetal medicine doctor a few extra times for more ultrasounds to make sure the baby was growing properly and the diabetes wasn’t affecting him. All the ultra sounds looked good so I was cleared to stop seeing her. I just had to email my my glucose readings every week. They all looked good for a few weeks so I was told to test fewer times (I was doing it four times a day). As my due date, March 25th, approached, my numbers started getting worse. The maternal fetal medicine doctor called to talk to me about it and we decided it was best that I be induced one week early to be safe. It’s hard to know if the numbers start getting worse because of hormones changing, foods you’re eating, or other factors and it could be dangerous for the baby. I was heartbroken at first because I was really excited to actually make it to full term and go into labor on my own. At the same time, I was really excited for him to be here. Our nephews birthday is on the 17th and we could have gone in that day to be induced (my mom wanted him to be a st. Patrick’s day baby because Mason is valentines day) but we decided the 18th, one week early, was best so both boys can have their own special days.
I was told that this time I had to go into the doctors office beforehand, even though I only had like three days, to sign papers for the induction and talk to the doctor that would be on call. We set up a plan for the induction and what I wanted to happen. I was really hoping my actual doctor could be there for the delivery this time (same doctor I had with Mason) but she was going to be working at the clinic during that day, so depending on the time I went into labor she said she might be able to to make it or stop by since the hospital was right across the street. The good part about being induced is I’m able to pack everything, take a shower, plan childcare for Mason, and then head to the hospital for our scheduled time which was 6 am this time. My parents took the day off work since I was going in on a Monday and my grandma went to their house to help and to wait to meet the new baby too. I’m so blessed to have such amazing family that’s always willing to help when needed. They were awake bright and early to watch Mason and were prepared to have him stay the night too. They bought an air mattress and had movie night which was really fun and I was so thankful for it and happy that he got a lot of quality time with his grandparents. He had a hard time though being away from both mom and dad for so long.
I went in to the hospital at 6 am on Monday the 18th and labor didn’t seem to be progressing, but then all the sudden he was ready to come and was born at 5:26 pm. I was so excited for Mason to come meet his brother and curious to how he would react. We waited until the next day for him to come so it wouldn’t throw off his bed time and keep him up all night after seeing me and probably wanting to stay. I’ll be sharing all about the induction and the birth story in my next post. 🙂