My very first pregnancy with my now 19 year old daughter was a walk in the park. I had no morning sickness and I was able to deliver her with no complications. I felt as though I was still healthy, experiencing chronic hypertension, however much older that I would have a pretty smooth pregnancy with the second baby. Yeah right. We were so ready to add this new addition to our family but GOD had other plans. I experienced 3 missed abortions between 2008-2010. Yes three. What exactly is a missed abortion? A missed abortion is a miscarriage in which the fetus didn't form or has died but the placenta and embryonic tissues are still in your uterus. It's also known as a missed miscarriage or silent miscarriage. This is not an elective abortion. All three times my cycle was late, I had a positive pregnancy test, breast tenderness and nausea. Each time I just figured I could be pregnant finally. I would visit my OBGYN around the eighth week to begin the prenatal visits with giving blood to check the hCG levels and an ultrasound. The ultrasound would show the sac but no fetus and no heartbeat. My OBGYN would schedule me to come back to see if perhaps I miscalculated the timeframe and perhaps there would be a better result next time. Still no heartbeat and no fetus each time I went back. The next step would be to schedule a D&C to remove the tissues from the uterus. I immediately scheduled the D&C for the first two missed abortions. My OBGYN was very supportive. What kept me going was her motivation, she told me that you don't have a problem getting pregnant the timing of it all must be off. So keep trying and that's exactly what I did. The third time my OBGYN cautioned me that the D&C could leave scarring on the uterus and that could prevent me from getting pregnant in the future and maybe I should think about letting the pregnancy dissolve on its own. So I decided to try it although my doctor could not tell me what to expect. It would affect women differently. Well, to be very honest it was a scary feeling of not knowing what to expect. Well mine came in a two stages. The first time I was at work, where I bled through my clothes and I had to go home. I felt OK after that. The second time was when the family and I were headed to do community service for MLK day and I had another mess. I lost so much blood I felt weak and lightheaded that I went to the ER. After the second episode, I went to my doctor to see of there was any tissue left inside of the uterus and there was. I then scheduled another D&C to remove the tissue. After my third missed abortion my doctor and I decided to see a fertility specialist to see if there was anything going on with my body. This was mind boggling for my doctor because missed abortions do not occur consecutively. So I started to see a fertility specialist and they took so much blood. When I say they checked everything they did. They must've taken about 20-30 vials of blood. It was unreal. Thank GOD all my tests were negative. The next step was to begin taking this antibiotic that would help with fertility and help me get pregnant. I filled the prescription but for some reason I did not start taking the medication right away. I was in New Orleans for my sorority convention during the month of July, it was so hot!! I started feeling nauseous and breast tenderness again. After three missed abortions, I was in no rush of going to the doctor to get the bad news again. After I returned home from New Orleans, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. So I made the appointment to see my doctor and what do you know I was finally pregnant. I was about 10-11 weeks almost out of my first trimester. I found out just in time because my hypertension medication causes birth defects and needed to switch medication immediately. So we finally got our embryo and its growing, but of course I was a high risk pregnancy because I was 39 years young and I have chronic hypertension. I had to see my OBGYN and a fetal specialist at least once a month initially. We were ecstatic to find out we were having a BOY!! He would be the first boy on my side of the family. Well during the second semester the baby experienced Arrhythmia. His heart was skipping a beat and his heart beat was a little faint. So I was on edge. I then had to go to the doctor every week to check on this heart condition. It got better over time. Third semester my amniotic fluid was low, so I had to be on bed rest and I was admitted to the hospital. I was on bed rest for a week. During the third trimester I was going to the doctor about twice a week. They were constantly checking his heartbeat and my blood pressure. On February 14, I went to the specialist for our weekly check up and she noticed something unusual while she was performing the ultrasound. Yes, this is Valentines Day, my husband and I were hoping to get some lunch and go back to work but GOD other plans once again. The doctor came in and the room and said that his heart rate is up and we need to admit you to the hospital so that we can monitor him for the next 24 hours. Well there goes the Valentines Day lunch date. They immediately put me in a wheelchair and rolled me right on over to the hospital. I was immediately placed in a room and they placed the monitor on me. In the meantime, I called family to let them know that our baby could be delivered in 24 hours although he wasn't due until March. While in the hospital the NICU came in and talked with me because he would be born at 32 weeks. So I did not know what to expect with that. My doctor also informed me that if she could not get a good reading on the baby overnight then an emergency C-section would occur. I was like this is too much!! Tuesday, February 15, 2011 arrived, the day of reckoning. Around 3:00pm or 4:00 pm my doctor came in and explained that she wasn't getting any good reading on his heart rate, so they were going to have do a C-section and they were going to start preparing. In comes the nurses to give me a quick shave and to insert that epidural. Everything happened so fast. I was a nervous wreck. In a couple of hours, our baby boy had arrived. His heartbeat was still racing but after 30-40 minutes it settled down. He was then placed in the NICU because he was born 4 weeks prematurely. He remained in the NICU for 10 days. I still had no baby shower, it was scheduled for the up and coming weekend. I struggled with leaving my baby at the hospital for those 10 days, however the nurses were great. . They answered all my questions they were very patient with me, because this was new for me. I had never experience a baby in the NICU. I was trying to heal from my C-section, pump milk and spend time with the baby. A lot going on. We had to do a CPR class, the baby had to pass a car seat test in order for him to leave the hospital. Initially he was being fed through a tube and before he could leave he had to drink from a bottle and master the sucking, swallowing and breathing method before he would be released. Those were the longest 10 days. We finally got our bundle of joy home and he had to follow-up with a cardiologist because of the heart issues he experienced. After all we went through to get him here, he has been a healthy little boy ever since. He is truly a blessing to our family.
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