She did
February 16: Our first ultrasound. Perfect little baby (whom we would find out was a boy when I delivered him), perfect size, perfect heartbeat. Showing off his fancy dance moves as he squirmed around. I could have watched him forever.
April 23: About lunchtime, when I first began feeling sick. I thought I had food poisoning. I was throwing up, had diarrhea. I was traveling back from a conference, luckily I wasn’t driving, but it was a LONG drive.
I got back home and was really unwell for the remainder of the night but the vomiting had subsided. My husband called the Dr. on-call that night who thought my symptoms sounded like food poisoning, and to be fair, they did. She didn't have any great recommendations as to feeling better except to drink some watered down gatorade.
April 24: Our 20 week ultrasound. I still wasn’t feeling great but wasn’t horrible. I hadn’t felt Noah move in 2 days. The lab technician begins by measuring the size of his head. She didn’t say much. She measured and measured, and I was waiting and watching her expression and I could tell something was wrong. I asked if everything was okay and she said that he was measuring small by 10 days.
Initially, I really didn’t think 10 days was that big of a deal but obviously knew it wasn’t good. Additionally, I thought his heart rate was still “fine” at 157 but as I learned later, that was actually low, lower then normal.
The technician left to consult the doctor. We would eventually be placed in an exam room and waited for the doctor. She came in and explained that we would probably loose the baby. She couldn’t tell us when or why but because of his growth delay he wouldn’t make it to viability at 24 weeks.
Obviously, unsettling news, devastating news, but I hung on to the glimmer of hope that somehow my pregnancy would continue and everything would be alright.
That day, my husband and I decided to get away from our tiny apartment. We went up to my parents second house which was about a 2 hour drive. I believe this is when my back started to ache. The pain was coming from below my shoulders but above my belly button, right along my spine, I didn’t really know what to make of it. The pain could only be described as an ache – not piercing but enough to keep me up the whole night. I couldn’t get comfortable in any position and all I was able to take was Tylenol which I really didn’t want to take that - plus it really didn't help!
Around 7:30 or 8 that night, we called the Dr. on call again – this time about my back pain. The doctor that night (actually our midwife) had already been briefed about our ultrasound. She was concerned when I described my symptoms but not enough to urgently have us come to the hospital. She was able to prescribe me a muscle relaxant which by the time we made it to the CVS, the pain had gotten out of control. And in the end, the medication didn’t help.
I was up all night, trying to find a comfortable spot – up on the couch, down on the floor, in a firmer twin bed – truthfully, nothing helped.
February 16: Our first ultrasound. Perfect little baby (whom we would find out was a boy when I delivered him), perfect size, perfect heartbeat. Showing off his fancy dance moves as he squirmed around. I could have watched him forever.
April 23: About lunchtime, when I first began feeling sick. I thought I had food poisoning. I was throwing up, had diarrhea. I was traveling back from a conference, luckily I wasn’t driving, but it was a LONG drive.
I got back home and was really unwell for the remainder of the night but the vomiting had subsided. My husband called the Dr. on-call that night who thought my symptoms sounded like food poisoning, and to be fair, they did. She didn't have any great recommendations as to feeling better except to drink some watered down gatorade.
April 24: Our 20 week ultrasound. I still wasn’t feeling great but wasn’t horrible. I hadn’t felt Noah move in 2 days. The lab technician begins by measuring the size of his head. She didn’t say much. She measured and measured, and I was waiting and watching her expression and I could tell something was wrong. I asked if everything was okay and she said that he was measuring small by 10 days.
Initially, I really didn’t think 10 days was that big of a deal but obviously knew it wasn’t good. Additionally, I thought his heart rate was still “fine” at 157 but as I learned later, that was actually low, lower then normal.
The technician left to consult the doctor. We would eventually be placed in an exam room and waited for the doctor. She came in and explained that we would probably loose the baby. She couldn’t tell us when or why but because of his growth delay he wouldn’t make it to viability at 24 weeks.
Obviously, unsettling news, devastating news, but I hung on to the glimmer of hope that somehow my pregnancy would continue and everything would be alright.
That day, my husband and I decided to get away from our tiny apartment. We went up to my parents second house which was about a 2 hour drive. I believe this is when my back started to ache. The pain was coming from below my shoulders but above my belly button, right along my spine, I didn’t really know what to make of it. The pain could only be described as an ache – not piercing but enough to keep me up the whole night. I couldn’t get comfortable in any position and all I was able to take was Tylenol which I really didn’t want to take that - plus it really didn't help!
Around 7:30 or 8 that night, we called the Dr. on call again – this time about my back pain. The doctor that night (actually our midwife) had already been briefed about our ultrasound. She was concerned when I described my symptoms but not enough to urgently have us come to the hospital. She was able to prescribe me a muscle relaxant which by the time we made it to the CVS, the pain had gotten out of control. And in the end, the medication didn’t help.
I was up all night, trying to find a comfortable spot – up on the couch, down on the floor, in a firmer twin bed – truthfully, nothing helped.