Just a little note: I write up all of my birth stories primarily for my own memory-keeping purposes, so I don't even pretend that I'm going to keep them short or concise. I won't go into super graphic details, but I will mention a decent amount of medical situations. There are a lot of those situations involved in this story. So, all of that being said, if you like birth stories, enjoy this little series! If not, I'll be back in a few days with my regularly-scheduled content about the children's shenanigans.
Hallie, as my fourth pregnancy and c-section, was never going to be born on her official due date, which was September 18. Because she was always going to be a planned Caesarean, we knew that she was going to be born around September 11. Planned sections that aren't following a former emergency section are scheduled for 39 weeks; they don't really want you to go into labor on your own when you've had multiple c-sections. Basically, her given due date never meant anything outside of measurement/sizing purposes.
At my 34-week appointment, they went ahead and officially put me on the hospital's calendar. At that point, I knew which doctor would be scheduled to do my surgery (a doctor I like!) and what day to officially work toward for childcare and general planning purposes.
At my 36-week appointment (which was actually when I was 36 weeks, 6 days... Almost 37 weeks), things took a turn. I had spent the entire pregnancy expecting my diabetes to eventually take a nosedive and become much more severe, like it did during my pregnancy with Brynna. In a surprise twist, it never did! It remained entirely under control just through diet the whole time, which surprised and impressed everyone. What ended up causing problems and adjusting the birth plan was actually my blood pressure.
I developed pre-eclampsia with Claire at 38 weeks, so I'm always very sensitive to my BP readings at my prenatal appointments. In my non-pregnant life, my normal BP is naturally very low, and I never get stressed about having it taken. I'm much more anxious about it while pregnant.
Around 32-weeks, I started running quite high numbers. That particular week, I was fighting a migraine during my appointment, so the doctor I saw that week largely attributed my BP to feeling so bad. She did, however, run several labs just to verify that I wasn't actually pre-eclamptic (which I wasn't). She asked me to check my blood pressure at home over the next couple of weeks to check and see if it was becoming a pattern or if it really was just because of my migraine that day.
It proved to be a pattern. Each time I checked it at home, it was high. At my next few appointments, it was even higher. It just kept climbing.
So, at my 36 (+ 6) week appointment, everything changed. I was set to see a doctor that I had never met before (because he joined the practice after my pregnancy with Brynna), and my first meeting with him went like this:
Doc: "Hi! Sorry to leave you waiting in here for so long, but I've been working on your situation. How would you like to have a baby next week, instead of in two?"
Those are the first words we exchanged, guys.
My response?
"Uh... I'm going to need to get some childcare worked out."
(Please remember that we haven't even done real introductions.)
"Yep. You should get on that quickly. We've rescheduled your c-section for September 2nd, instead of the 11th. Your bp is just getting too high, and we're concerned. We need to deliver your baby."
While he was talking, I was shooting off a text to Brad. I was also realizing that the phrasing of "how would you like [to have a baby earlier]?" was, in fact, less of a question about my interest and definitely his way of informing me that they were making big changes.
Brad wasn't texting me back, so I also started texting my mom, as she had been set to be our childcare. Note: I wasn't just being rude and texting while the doctor was speaking; I told him I was trying to let my husband know. He understood and continued to talk details with me: blood work, glucose things, more blood pressure things, scheduling details through the hospital, pre-op COVID test.
It all came at me FAST. It was so fast...on top of the fact that I was suddenly processing nerves over the information that they found my bp dangerous enough to make these moves so quickly. I'd been nervous about it for weeks at this point, and it was all becoming super real.
OOF.
Before I could head home, I had to get a blood panel and also make a pre-op appointment. Getting my appointment took almost 20 minutes to hammer out because there was no time to work me in before my new c-section date. The poor receptionist had to run all over the office, tracking down doctors and rearranging schedules. We finally got something worked out, and I was able to head home and start getting my ducks in a row. I got in the car and took a deep breath before starting to make phone calls.
Before all the craziness set in at my appointment, though, I had a growth scan and got to see this picture of my baby smiling for the camera:
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