I became pregnant almost exactly 2
years
following my husband's vasectomy
reversal. We have two older children
and
after the second was born we had
decided
to have the vasectomy. Six years later
we greatly desired more children and
had
the reversal.
Within a week of finding out we were
expecting, I started to spot. I had
spotted with our first child at 6
weeks
and with our second at 11 weeks, so I
didn't panic at first but after a
week,
I finally called my dr. and she sent
me
for a blood test. The test revealed
low
levels of progesterone so I was put on
progesterone suppositories for the
next
6 weeks. I continued to spot even
after
the progesterone levels were up to a
normal level.
At 16 weeks, my water broke while I
was
sleeping. I thought I had lost bladder
control and so I showered and changed
and went back to bed. I didn't leak
anymore so I thought it must have had
something to do with my position while
I
was sleeping. The next evening I was
sharing what had happened with my
sister-in-law and she said she would
have thought it was her water-that
made
me think again about what had
happened.
I didn't really think it could be my
water because I didn't leak anymore
and
I had always heard that you would
continue to leak if it was.
I called the dr. the next day and the
nurse said she didn't think it was
either, but that I could come in if it
would make me feel better and they
would
check. They did a sterile exam-just in
case-but didn't find any fluid in the
vaginal canal and what little they
could
get, they tested but it was negative
for
amniotic fluid. They couldn't find the
baby's heartbeat though so sent me in
for an ultrasound. The ultrasound
showed
only 1.6 cm of fluid around the baby.
My dr. did offer me the option of
termination but I told her there was
no
way I could terminate a baby that was
still living. She was very
understanding
and did not push that option. The only
thing they did warn was that if I did
develop an infection, they would
insist
on inducing. So, I came home feeling
unsure and afraid. I came to this site
and printed all the positive stories
and
went to bed.
The following Monday I went back for
another ultrasound and my fluid was up
to 2.0 cm. Not a big gain, but still a
gain. That Friday I had another
ultrasound and it was up to 3.2 cm. We
were very happy. I still had not had
any
leaking and since we were gaining
fluid,
I was hopeful that the rupture had
sealed. They decided that I could just
come in once a week for an ultrasound
and white blood cell count.
That following week, I had my first
leaking. I was not sure what that
meant,
but my baby was still very active and
so
I knew that we would keep going
anyway.
That Friday, my fluid was back down to
2.0cm -not good but at least there was
still fluid. The next week I leaked
everyday, but on Friday, my fluid was
back up to 3.0 cm.
That Saturday, I leaked a little fluid
and it had a red tinge to it, so I
called the dr. right away. They said
that as long as that was all it was,
just to stay down and wait until
Monday
and come in for another ultrasound. On
Monday, my fluid was at 3.1 cm and for
the first time, they could see the
baby's kidneys. All the measurements
they took showed that our baby was
growing and despite all the bad
circumstances, was exactly where it
should be for that stage in my
pregnancy. They did see that I had
placenta previa, so they thought that
that may be where the red had come
from
on Saturday night.
Tuesday, I began to have cramps at
around 9 am. I called the dr's and
they
said to come in at 11:50 am. At around
11 am I had a bowel movement and the
cramping seemed to stop. I called the
dr
again and they said to wait and see
what
happened (so that I didn't have to
move
anymore than necessary). At around
12:30
pm, I began to have contractions.
(before, it was just vague cramping,
this time it was definitely
contractions) I called the dr. again
and
was to go in at 2:20 pm. My husband
came
home and we went to the dr's. They did
another sterile exam and said that it
did not appear that my cervix was
dilating. They did another ultrasound
and said there was no fluid around the
baby so they sent me to the hospital
for
observation and to have a white blood
cell count and urinalysis. The
urinalysis showed a bad bladder
infection so I was eventually started
on
IV antibiotics. By that time the
contractions were only 2 minutes apart
and I was in a great deal of pain.
They
gave me Stadol for the pain and
finally
at 1 am, my husband and I tried to get
some sleep. From about 1 until 4 am ,
the contractions had pretty much
stopped, so we were hopeful that it
had
been the bladder infection that had
caused them.
At 4 am I got up to use the restroom
and
when I was done, I could feel our baby
coming out. They called my dr and she
came in-our little girl was delivered
at
4:25 am. She was perfect and lived for
about a 1/2 hour. We named her Hope
and
were able to spend some time holding
her
and loving her. A little later in the
morning, my mother-in-law brought our
other children up to the hospital to
see
me and our daughter decided that she
wanted to see her baby sister. Our son
chose not to. We all wanted this baby
very much so it has been difficult to
accept. I was okay in the hospital but
had a very hard time at home. I had
been
on bedrest for nearly 4 weeks and had
been drinking 160 oz of water daily.
Now
I was able to be up and doing normal
things again and I didn't know how to
deal with the change.
We will try again, but it took two
years
to concieve Hope, and I'm already 35.
We do trust completely that God is in
control, but our desire for more
children is so strong that this is one
of those things that I'm struggling to
let go of.
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