Although it was hard to be happy for her, everything changed in July of 1989. I felt kind of strange and my breasts were tingling. I thought “Oh my… could I be? Should I be?” I waited until my period was a week late to take a pregnancy test and boy oh boy did that ‘+’ sign come up in a hurry. No denying it, I had a baby on board. We did it!
After the euphoric feeling of being pregnant wore off a little, I started to worry about how the fibroid would affect my baby and pregnancy. It had been nearly a year since I saw my gynecologist, and I had been referred to a OB-GYN close to my new home. I scheduled my first appointment to get all my preliminary tests done and also ask a lot of questions, but before my appointment, I started to bleed a lot and very bright red. I was devastated. I called the doctor and he told me it looked like I was going to lose the baby. “Keep a jar by the toilet,” he told me. I couldn’t believe my ears… It seemed to cold and so callous.
I got in bed and put my feet up and prayed for the best. My bleeding lasted about a week and then I went to see the doctor for all my tests. I asked him about the fibroid and told him of my previous Doctor’s findings. I was told not to worry and that there was no way that I could have a fibroid that big. I continued the pregnancy with breakthrough bleeding here and there but everything went as planned.
I made it to the ninth month, although at 43 pounds heavier, I was feeling like a beached whale! On April 28, 1990, after 36 hours of long, hard labor (I was adamant about not having a c-section), we welcomed Benjamin Curtis, 8 pounds 6 ounces into the world. We were finally parents, and with a vaginal birth at that. Ben really resembled Elvis Presley with his long sideburns. We called him the “King”. We were so happy. I just put the whole fibroid right out of site and mind. I thought “Gee I don’t have and never had a fibroid.” Just like that…denial. Ben was an active baby, he kept us hopping. He never liked to sleep so we never got any sleep. Being parents is a lot of hard work but we were grateful for this little life of ours.
David and I never planned for baby number two. In fact, we were happy with our little Ben. But in February of 1993, my period was late. I kept telling my husband “I’m just late honey, nothing to worry about.” Another week went by and no period. I took a pregnancy test just to see what the heck was going on. Sure enough, I was pregnant. David was speechless. We both couldn’t believe it.
Again, I scheduled preliminary tests with my OB-GYN but I started to think about a alternatives to the difficult hospital birth I’d had with my first son… The epidural and all the medications to shut down my labor caused an allergic reaction. The doctors and nurses were very unpleasant to me and I decided I never wanted to see a hospital, let alone be in one ever again; especially after the endless back labor and fourth degree lacerations. I began looking into having a midwife and a home birth.
I had always trusted my body so a home birth for me was the perfect choice. Some of my girlfriends had given birth with wonderful midwives to great success. I made an appointment with them and kept my appointment with my OB-GYN as well, mostly to get his opinion on having a home birth. But as with the first pregnancy, I started to bleed, this time even worse. My Doctor was unavailable, so his office referred me to a colleague of his for a vaginal ultrasound. With David away, I braved the pouring rain and drove myself and little Ben, who was sick with the flu.
