Piper's "Double" Long Journey Here

September 17-19,2000~ Bryan and I had a rough couple of days on our way out to Boston. I lost the baby that I was carrying at the time. We chose to name "her" Shawna Elise.

October 25~ I had started to hope that maybe I was pregnant again already, even though I knew that it wasn't a great thing to happen to me so soon after a miscarriage. (either emotionally or physically) I did a home pregnancy test and it came up positive. I wasn't sure if this could still be a high HPT level from the baby that I lost or not, so I proceeded to call the hospital where I had the miscarriage at. They told me that my HPT level was so low when I lost the baby that most likely a test saying positive now would really be positive.

October 30~ Yet another home pregnancy test was positive. Dare I hope at this point?

November 20~ My pregnancy was confirmed by Dr. T. I don't think that I could seriously believe it at this point. She asked me what happened to the birth control prescription that she sent me after the miscarriage and I think I had the good graces to look sheepish at the time. Actually, by the time I received the prescription, I thought I might already be pregnant, so I waited.

November 30~ I got to see my little peanut for the first time today at Dr. M's office. Because of my past miscarriage and the immediate pregnancy afterwards, Dr. T sent me here once again. I had some of my fears laid to rest by Dr. M. He just wants me to be a little more careful than if I had waited to get pregnant.

December 25~ Bry came home for the last two days and he brought some wonderful presents for the new baby. I am so hoping that this is a little girl for him, since he already has two boys, but I would love another little boy!!! I noticed that my family did not buy things for this baby as readily as they did for Trey at Christmas before he was born. I am sure that they are just being careful and hoping for the best, as we all are.

December 28~ I had my first appointment with the midwife today. I am seriously considering going with them instead of the doctors. (barring any complications, of course) They are more lenient in letting you walk around during labor, take a shower, labor in different positions, have other people in the room with you besides your coach, etc. BUT the very best part is that they don't leave your side during the labor, which is probably the most important thing in the world for me after my labor with Trey. I felt extremely comfortable with Janet even though I had only met her briefly at the end of my pregnancy with Trey. I also get to see Eloise at every appointment and no matter how I am feeling, she always makes me leave with a smile!

January 23-24~ I felt my first flutterings of a baby inside of me. It is much earlier this time that with Trey, but I guess that is because I know what the movements are this time. It's just amazing!

January 29, 2001~ Bryan and I went for my second ultrasound, this time at the hospital. The technician was 80% sure that it is a girl, but there is still time for the testicles to descend, so we don't know for "sure". She also mentioned something about my placenta being right at the edge of the cervix, meaning that I may have marginal or partial placenta previa. This scared me a bit until I came home and read about the possibility of it moving once I get farther along.

January 30~ Dr. M eased my mind a bit about the placenta. He told me that most of them move and he would not be concerned until I had another ultrasound later in the pregnancy. So, now I wait.

March 1~ I got to see the other Dr. in the practice...the same one that delivered Trey a year and a half ago. He asked me if I was going to let him deliver this one, but I really think that I am going with the midwives, just for the extra support that I know I will have. It's nothing against the doctors. I know that they are busy and just don't have the time to be there the entire time that I am in labor. Look, I am still trying to justify my decision, because I feel guilty, but I have to do what I think is best for me!

March 3~ Bryan got to feel "her" move today....I love it when he can feel it. There is so much that he can't participate in with my pregnancy, but this is one thing that he can.

March 26~ Glucose test time. I was almost late to the hospital and the poor people in the waiting room had to let me go first so that it wouldn't be too late to take my blood.

March 28~ Once again, I had another appointment with Janet today and we scheduled the 3rd ultrasound to see if my placenta has moved up so that I will be able to delivery vaginally. Keeping my fingers, and everything else, crossed.

March 31~ I had some terrible nausea, cramping and diarrhea, along with backpains tonight. I spoke with Dr. M from the hospital and he told me that as long as there is no blood not to panic and to lay with my feet up and drink lots of water. I started to feel a little better before bedtime.

April 3~ Well, this is it..........it doesn't look as though the placenta has moved at all. I am hoping that Janet will still tell me that we can try a vaginal birth. Of course I want what is safest for both of us, but I also want to avoid a C-section at all costs! The picture on the right is a picture of the four chambers of the heart and a hand reaching up to grab at the technician pressing on her. The picture on the left is a picture of the brain.

April 8~ I woke up at 3 am. with contractions that were regular and 7 minutes apart for about an hour and a half. All of a sudden, they went away, thank goodness!

April 11~ I am getting a terrible cold and had the scariest moment of my life last night. I woke up in the middle of the night totally unable to breathe. I tried to call for Julie and couldn't. Finally, I took a drink of water and that seemed to loosen something, because I was able to get a small breath of air. I continued to drink and felt somewhat better, but I was terrified to go back to sleep. I saw Janet and Eloise today and told them about it. It may have been a panic attack, although I have never had one that bad, or it could have been caused by mucus from my cold. We are going to try another ultrasound in 4 weeks to see if the placenta moved. Janet seems to still be hopeful. I expressed my wishes that I really do not want a C-section unless absolutely necessary and that if I must have one that I really would like Eloise to be there for some moral support.

April 18~ It seems as if this pregnancy is taking a whole heck of a lot longer than my previous one with Trey. I am into my 31st week now, but I feel like it should be over with already. I am trying to cherish every minute of having this child inside of me and every movement that I feel. We have finally decided on a permanent name, after much, much debate and many times of me changing my mind. We are going to name her Piper Elaine Lawson. Elaine was my grandmother's middle name (Marilyn was her first name and that was a toughie to match up with anything). I just hope that she is up there in Heaven smiling down on me, proud as can be.

June 24-25, 2001~ The 24th was a Sunday, and Piper's due date was the next day. The whole family gathered at my Aunt's house for a picnic that day. I had been having some irregular contractions since the evening before, but really didn't think anything of it, because of how many times this had happened previously in the pregnancy.

At about two....it appeared to me that the contractions may be getting a bit stronger and possibly regular. We decided to start timing them and the funniest thing happened, Trey would start to act really funny and cling to me right before I had a contraction. It was like this little 23 month old kid knew what was coming for me every 5 minutes! :) He's just something else.

Anyways, we found that they were pretty regular at 5 minutes, so we didn't panic. I kept enjoying the picnic and I was comfortable at the time. I was very lucky because my grandfather was in town and would be for a week. This happens quite infrequently, so him being there for my baby's birth was pretty exciting for me.

At around 4 pm, the contractions had gotten down to about 3 minutes apart and I was inside walking while Trey was outside. I didn't want him to see me in pain and he wanted to climb all over me. I was drinking water and just pacing. After my experience with Trey, I did not want to rush to the hospital only to find out that I wasn't even dialated. Finally, my Aunt convinced me to call my midwife (Janet) and let her know what was going on.

Bryan was working out of town about 4 1/2 hours away and because of this and the fact that I was in Jamestown, 40 minutes from the hospital, Janet wanted me to come right in. We had discussed this previously because Bry worked out of town so frequently...Janet wanted to try to give him time to get here.

My poor grandfather was the one that drove us to the hospital. I had him, his wife, and my Aunt all there with me. They put a garbage bag and then towels down underneath me in case my water broke. I think my grandfather drove faster than he ever has! :) The contractions were still 3 minutes apart, but manageable. In fact, I don't remember them being very painful at all at this point.

We got to the hospital at about 6:30 p.m. and Janet was there waiting. She immediately checked me and her first words were, "I think you better call Bryan". That was the best news I could have heard. I was already at 4 cm.!!! wooo hooo...the barrier from Trey was broken. So, Bry said he had a couple things that he had to do and he would be on the road in about an hour. Janet then told me that she would not break my water until Bryan got there and she would do everything within her power to help me deliver after Bry got there.

I still had my Aunt there...and I felt so bad because she had a still-born baby back in 1987. I didn't want her to feel badly or have unpleasant memories. She was wonderful for me. I got to walk up and down the halls and I didn't have to have my antibiotics for GroupB Strep until later. I was told that as long as I had them in my system before the baby was born, we would be okay. Not having the IV allowed me to move around and do things that I wanted to do.

Janet came in and checked me again around 8 pm and I was at 5 cm. The pain was getting significantly worse and I really wanted to try to go natural. The problem was, we weren't expecting Bry for quite a while and I wasn't sure I could handle it without the epidural. If I knew that there was a chance she was going to come very soon, I may have been able to do the natural thing. But, I opted for the epi. and I also then got my IV since I was stuck in the bed anyways.

Bryan got there around 12:30 AM on Monday, the 25th of June (My Due Date!). My family decided to go home and rest, which was a bit disappointing. I was really hoping that Janet would come break my water immediately, but she had an emergency with a woman who was possibly in labor and only at 26 weeks. She finally made it in at about 2 AM, and broke my water. At that point, I was at 7 cm.

Bry decided to go lay down for awhile and I had been feeling pressure, but they kept checking me and I was only at 8 cm...so no worries, right? I think Bryan was gone about 5 minutes and Piper must have gotten upset that her daddy left the room (daddy's girl already) because I really started feeling pressure. I was extremely uncomfortable and luckily the nurse came in to drain my bladder. When she came in, I told her about the pressure, hinting that she might want to check me before she did anything else.

The poor nurse!!!! I was fully dialated and she could see Piper's head starting to come out! (I was a little more than crowning! :) She told me not to push and ran to get everyone. Equipment and people just started flying in. Bry couldn't believe that he was just there a couple of minutes ago and now she was ready to come out. I pushed 4 times. Really, four times, for 14 minutes and out came my beautiful baby girl. She was born at 4:14 am on her due date....hopefully she'll be that on time for everything the rest of her life!

This labor was completely different from the one I had with Trey. I was much more relaxed and everything went so smoothly, thanks to Janet. I am absolutely amazed at what a difference it was.

Here She Is...

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