Early Labor for a Military Mom
Submitted by AdrianJamesMommy
I have been in the US Navy for some time now and just a few days after getting married, I found out that I was a couple weeks pregnant. We moved on orders to a safer naval base in Washington state and my whole pregnancy was great—except for the vomiting and migraines, which I had for the first 7 months! Yes, SEVEN months! My midwife (who was actually a man) never considered it a problem, so he just prescribed medication to stop the vomiting and shots every now and then for migraines.
It wasn't until I chose another midwife that we discovered the cause of my problems—an enlarged cyst on one of my ovaries. The cyst had pushed itself down on to my cervix and moved my cervix downward nearly 2 inches. The midwife told me that the size of the cyst was about the size of a grapefruit and would prevent me from giving birth to my child naturally. So, a c-section was on the horizon.
My midwife requested that I go to an actual doctor at the University of Seattle Medical hospital. Unfortunately, at 36 weeks, after I finally went to the medical institute, my child's lungs were not fully developed.
,br> I was already having contractions like crazy and to be honest. he was a big baby!
So, one day (4 days after the lung test) I went to work on the base and noticed a few sharp pains and a burning sensation in my stomach. I didn't think much of it, so I just ignored it. I had a meeting with a master chief and for the 2 hours during the meeting, the pain seemed to vanish. Or at least until I stood up and all the sudden—it was time!
Thankfully, my mother was at my apartment and was able to get my suitcase ready. We all rushed to the hospital and told the staff that I was in active labor. They could only schedule me for c-section the next morning, so I'd have to spend the night there. Literally 15 minutes later, a doctor came into my room and told us that a surgery room would be open within 30 minutes! Now, I was already in shock that I was in labor and that this baby was going to be born the next day—plus, I just started getting used to the idea of even being cut open (which was one of my biggest childhood fear; thank you Rob Zombie!)—and now I was going to be sliced open and have a baby in 30 minutes! To me, this at the time was way too much to handle.
After writing a will, just in case the worst would happen, and signing documents of "don't blame me if..." my son was born: 8.8lbs and 21 inches at 37 weeks. All I can remember is the doctor pulling my son out and saying, "Wow! He's a Linebacker!"
My son was in the NICU for 7 days until he was finally healthy enough to come home. I can tell you that my little linebacker has greatest smile I have ever seen, the greatest coo that I have ever heard and he is the greatest gift in the world.
I love my little baby boy and he has already taught me so much.
It doesn't matter what your fears are or to have worries that you can't get over. The greatest life lesson is to just have faith and love in your heart, to make through the day and realize that everything is going to be okay.
It wasn't until I chose another midwife that we discovered the cause of my problems—an enlarged cyst on one of my ovaries. The cyst had pushed itself down on to my cervix and moved my cervix downward nearly 2 inches. The midwife told me that the size of the cyst was about the size of a grapefruit and would prevent me from giving birth to my child naturally. So, a c-section was on the horizon.
My midwife requested that I go to an actual doctor at the University of Seattle Medical hospital. Unfortunately, at 36 weeks, after I finally went to the medical institute, my child's lungs were not fully developed.
,br> I was already having contractions like crazy and to be honest. he was a big baby!
So, one day (4 days after the lung test) I went to work on the base and noticed a few sharp pains and a burning sensation in my stomach. I didn't think much of it, so I just ignored it. I had a meeting with a master chief and for the 2 hours during the meeting, the pain seemed to vanish. Or at least until I stood up and all the sudden—it was time!
Thankfully, my mother was at my apartment and was able to get my suitcase ready. We all rushed to the hospital and told the staff that I was in active labor. They could only schedule me for c-section the next morning, so I'd have to spend the night there. Literally 15 minutes later, a doctor came into my room and told us that a surgery room would be open within 30 minutes! Now, I was already in shock that I was in labor and that this baby was going to be born the next day—plus, I just started getting used to the idea of even being cut open (which was one of my biggest childhood fear; thank you Rob Zombie!)—and now I was going to be sliced open and have a baby in 30 minutes! To me, this at the time was way too much to handle.
After writing a will, just in case the worst would happen, and signing documents of "don't blame me if..." my son was born: 8.8lbs and 21 inches at 37 weeks. All I can remember is the doctor pulling my son out and saying, "Wow! He's a Linebacker!"
My son was in the NICU for 7 days until he was finally healthy enough to come home. I can tell you that my little linebacker has greatest smile I have ever seen, the greatest coo that I have ever heard and he is the greatest gift in the world.
I love my little baby boy and he has already taught me so much.
It doesn't matter what your fears are or to have worries that you can't get over. The greatest life lesson is to just have faith and love in your heart, to make through the day and realize that everything is going to be okay.
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