Pregnancies are Different
Most pregnancies follow a usual routine, about 6 weeks after conception you start getting morning sickness, which usually fades by about the 3rd month, you then have a glow for the next 3 months and in the final 3 months, and you end up with one part of your baby or other digging in your ribs. There are a lot of common factors during pregnancy, hormones rising and dropping, crying for no reason other than you can’t manage to do your laces up, morning sickness (not always in the morning), and obviously the final part of giving birth, however no 2 pregnancies are alike.
Conception can take one mishap, or it could take months of trying to conceive either, through natural methods or with medical help. Which ever way it is just the start of a very long 9 months. The first sign of pregnancy can be the absence of your period. However, some people d get sick, and others just feel their bellies are getting a couple of inches bigger. Some people have reported continuation of their periods. Once you have your pregnancy confirmed there are more things that need to be done than you could possibly imagine.
Getting married and the house ready is the first and only major hurdle I thought about. What I did not realise is how often I would have to see a midwife or doctor, how long the routine tests would take and how much I would worry about every little twinge that happened.
With my first I was 18 and thought I could do anything regardless of what the medical professionals said. I helped my husband with lambing (it was my first year as a farmer’s wife), only to be kicked out of the vets clinic when he was pulling a lamb. By week 35 of my pregnancy the doctors told me I had to go into hospital as I had a blood condition that meant I could bleed to death during labour. I went in for a week of intensive treatment; I was then taken to the labour ward and induced.
Induction consisted of breaking my waters, and putting me on a drip. Not so bad so far. I woke up half way through a Pethadine induced sleep to find 8 student midwives at the end of my bed. I was also convinced I was having a girl, which led to me having postnatal depression after my first pregnancy as my first baby was a boy. Although it was not officially diagnosed until after I had had my daughter (pregnancy 5, child 3).
My 2nd pregnancy was more routine, although I had bleeding twice during the 7th and 8th month, as well as a lot of ‘twinges’ which I now know to be Braxton hicks. I was hospitalised for this, and although they found nothing, I had a placental abruption in week 37; I was rushed into the hospital and given an emergency caesarean section. I was in hospital afterwards for10 days recovering as I had a huge blood loss, and both my son and I nearly died.
My next pregnancy went without a hitch. I had morning sickness which I had with all the others. However, I was placed on the very high risk list. I was taken into hospital 2 weeks before she was due, as they could not bring an ambulance to the house. It was cheaper to have me in the hospital than get the helicopter to land here, to which the local ambulance crew were relieved.
Then having had 9 years on the Depo injection I decided it was time to try again. It took 18 months to actually conceive this time, and whereas I had morning sickness with my first 3, I had nausea all day most of the way through my 4th pregnancy. I could not cook anything, I had to go into the other room and direct my kids through notes passed back and forth every day during meal times. Ginger biscuits were about all I could eat. I had all the routine scans and tests again. However, I had a lot of contractions through the last month of carrying my 3rd son. The baby was in position 3/5 engaged and stayed that way for 3 weeks. I was in agony most nights crying, and still no one listened to me. It was suggested that I do some gentle exercising, but even that was painful, my last 2 weeks of pregnancy was spent sat on a cushion on the floor during the Easter holidays playing games with the children because I could not do housework. It turned out that the baby had wedged his head the wrong way in my pelvis, and subsequently created a ridge across his head. Luckily there is no lasting damage but considering with each pregnancy people say that it is supposed to be quicker, it was my longest labour yet. I did it all on Entonox (gas and air) I was in labour from 6am until 11pm.
Conception for my final son took less than any other time. I had a 6 month old son, when I decided to do a test, it was negative, but unconvinced I did a further 2 within the same week. And just to be sure the tests were not faulty I did an afternoon test which came positive too. Although I had some sickness, I didn’t suffer much at all. That was left to a close friend. She had all my symptoms, nausea, cravings you name it. I had never had cravings before but mine was fish and chippy chips. I had a lot of Braxton hicks this time round, something I had never had with the others really. The differences in pregnancies were more apparent to me this time, I knew my body, I knew when I was due, but the baby was not having much goodness from me or my body, as there was none in me, and with my dating scan came a setback.
Baby was not developing at the ‘normal’ rate so they moved me back 4 weeks. I went through the pregnancy knowing that if I went into labour, they would try and stop me. In my final month I was in and out of the hospital so often I got to know an awful lot of the midwives. I also was sent in for an extra ultrasound as the baby was not growing according to my specialist, so they did a test on the flow from the umbilical cord. It was not as good as it should be so I was sent into the hospital for routine heart traces, and they seemed fine, the babies heart would dip every so often but nothing to worry about. The following week they did another test only to find the cord was doing absolutely nothing. I had my waters broken and put on the monitor. It showed the baby was going into distress, so I was rushed in to have another section.
Nothing in pregnancy is routine, nothing is text book, and text books will only tell you what a routine pregnancy should be like. Every single pregnancy is different, whether you have raised blood pressure, SPD, blood problems etc. You can not guarantee that the end will be the same either. I was convinced I would be fine this last time, I had backache, I had the runs, and I had contractions, nothing prepared me for the fact that I was having a section again. All problems encountered during pregnancy can be recognised and usually easily treated quickly and efficiently. I would willingly go through it again if I didn’t already have so many children.
This is a members article written by Vickimom
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