How My Rainbow Baby Grew For 38 Weeks

I remember when I found out I was pregnant for the second time with my first child way back in June 2014. I seriously could not believe it because I had miscarried in January 2014. In addition, a couple of weeks before finding out I was pregnant, I been on vacation in Florida and of course I was drinking. Within a millisecond of finding out that I was carrying life again, I felt filled with fear. I was absolutely terrified and felt horrible for my unborn child. I was swelled with the instant thought that I would miscarry this little life. That thought caused a snowball effect of fearful questions. Was my baby going to have birth defects? Was my baby going to be full term? Was my baby going to be born prematurely? Was my baby going to be born alive? Tons of other frantic questions and wild conclusions filled my head.

When I found I was pregnant again, I was at the ob/gyn, I was crying when I told him about my prior weekend of drinking. I displayed how scared I was that I may lose or hurt my baby with the look of fear in my eyes. I never shared that I had miscarried just five months ago. He told me that he would perform an ultrasound to see how far along I was and check to ensure things appeared normal for my little life. I still couldn’t believe I was pregnant even when I saw my 6-week old love on the monitor. Yet, I knew something was noticeably different with my body because I kept throwing up after almost every drink I had. I know probably should have stopped engaging in so many drinks but I was 25 at the time. I was not thinking clearly because I to busy living it up. My little ray of God’s love was healthy and strong despite my stunt.

My first trimester was actually pretty easy to get through. Despite, my morning sickness; I had it quite easy. I was able to sleep comfortably. Thank goodness because I hated not getting an adequate amount of rest. I would be a pregnantzilla if I didn’t get my full eight hours of sleep. I was able to work at my retail position which required me to be on my feet for up to eight hours. I did not have any issues while at work other than besides being extremely hungry and having to snack constantly between meals. During those first 13 weeks, I was feeling amazing. I was growing physically and emotionally as I became head over heels in love with my little bumblebee growing inside of me. When the 14th week arrived, I started to feel little flutters of movement that made my heart beam!

Once my second trimester arrived soon, I started having terrible morning sickness. I was nauseated all day. I barely wanted to eat breakfast or lunch. I knew I was going to feel like I was at the bottom of a cruise ship after I finished my food. The only things I could manage to eat during those times that kept me from feeling nauseated and throwing up were oatmeal, bananas, and smoothies. My nausea and need to throw up if I ate something wrong didn’t seem to ease up until the late evening. I could not eat too heavy because my little one would give some serious heartburn if I ate to my hearts desire. As my pregnancy advanced, I started to feel less timid about losing another child. My stress levels went down and I was able to eat more. Thanks be to God because I was missing some of my favorite foods! As soon as I found out the sex of my little bumblebee, a baby boy, he started to bring the heat in the second trimester. He started waking me up in the middle of the night with some serious acrobatic moves. I would wake up in the morning looking like five suitcases were under each one of my eyes. I couldn’t go on without being able to get adequate rest because I was turning into Natalie-zilla.

My third trimester hit me like a ton of bricks. Little man was putting on some weight and he was sitting on my pelvis which caused me to have some serious pelvic floor pains. The pains got to be so bad I though I was experiencing Braxton Hicks early on in the thrid trimester. The weight of my little one caused me to develop Varicose veins in both of my legs. The sharp pains from my veins began to make it hard to stand for short periods of time. I worked in fashion retail at the time and I couldn’t stand up for more than 20 to 30 minutes. I had to find a way to sit down while working. I just could not deal with the pain. I asked my ob/gyn to write me a note exampling my need to sit in a chair while I was at working at my register to reduce my pelvic floor pain. The store manager was not very compassionate about my note or my health needs. He said I knew that working in retail required me to stand and walk for up four or five hours until a break time. He did not want me sitting down on a personal job. I shared what the store manager had to say to my ob/gyn. My ob/gyn recommended that I wear compression stockings and or socks for the duration of my pregnancy. I had to wear both the compression socks and the compression stockings to make it through a work day. By the time I made it home, my legs were pulsating. Eventually, I bought a damn chair to sit in because I did not care about what the store manager had to say at that point. My department supervisor, a black woman, understood and she actually gave me a chair from the beauty counter to sit in which was so plush and soft. I appreciated her so much because did not think I would be able to make it to my due date. The pain was excruciating.

• 

• 

During the beginning of my 38th week of pregnancy, I started to feel strong strecthes in my pelvic floor. I thought I was having minor contractions so I went to the labor and delivery unit at the hospital on a Friday. Let me tell you all, it turned out I was 2 centimeters dilated. The labor and delivery nurses said that I should just go home and when my contractions become stronger and closer together to I come back later on that day. Later on that Friday my mucus plug came out. Wheeeewww, honey! Over the weekend, my contractions dragged out. I did just about everything to try to get them to get closer together. I walked in the neighborhood, I had sex, I ate some spicy food, I had more sex, and even jogged a bit. Monday arrived, I had an appointment to see my doctor so my boyfriend at the time and I went into the appointment after I went on man hunt for his ass. Once my OB/GYN examined me, he looked up and said that we needed to get to labor & delivery right away. I was nine centimeters dilated nor had my water broken yet. Where they do that at?!?!?! You all should have seen the look on my face when he told me that. It was all good because I didn’t want to go back to the hospital that Friday anyway because my OB/GYN had been out of town for the weekend. I didn’t want anyone else looking between my legs or helping to bring my child into the world. Within a few minutes of walking into the labor & delivery wing of the hospital, my birthing story began and it is wild!