Week 37: Adventures in Labor and Delivery

37w5d

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  So much to be thankful for this year!  God is so incredibly good, faithful, and He continues to amaze us in His abundant blessings!  Needless to say, this year I am beyond thankful and filled with gratitude for the amazing blessing of our precious son, Cameron!  I absolutely cannot wait to meet him in the next couple of weeks!

Speaking of...our pregnancy has been very uneventful until this past week.  This week I've managed to visit two separate Labor and Delivery units (at different hospitals). 

The first visit was for monitoring after I fell (landing on my belly) last Saturday.  I arrived at L&D and quickly learned that I would have to stay a minimum of 4 hours for monitoring and would have to miss my good friend's baby shower.  The good news was that Cameron was perfectly okay and there were no concerns for his healthy and safety! 

Our second visit was for monitoring after my blood pressure was unusually high at my routine doctor's appointment.  Typically my BP is around 110/70 but for some reason it was consistently (3 separate readings) high- reading 140/90.  After the last reading my doctor confirmed that we needed to go to Labor and Delivery for observation and to rule out pre-eclampsia.  We arrived at L&D, got checked in, and hooked up to the monitors.  Thankfully, my BP stabilized and quickly returned to normal; however, protocol insists that I had to stay for a minimum of 3 hours (or 4 hours since the high reading at my doctor's office).  In addition to my blood pressure being okay, my blood work and urine all came back negative for pre-eclampsia. 

I was so relieved as I knew that if my blood pressure did not stabilize we were likely going to be induced and meet Cameron a little earlier than expected.  As we were driving to the hospital on Tuesday I was playing lots of scenarios in my head and really contemplating my birth plan (which is to go natural, if at all possible).  I am well aware that an induced labor is much more intense and painful and limits the ability to move around, which is crucial to having a natural birth.  I was also wondering how we were going to get our hospital bags (the hospital we were sent to is over an hour, without traffic, from our home...it took us 3 hours to get home that night when we were released). 

As all these things were running through my mind, I realized that I wasn't in control and that God had all of this in His hands.  I quickly released and audibly verbalized, "God, you've got this.  I'm giving this to you and trusting in your plan.  I will deal with each of these things as they become necessary, taking it one step at a time".  It's amazing the peace I felt once I relinquished control and placed it into God's hands.  He has been here every step of the way and continues to meet every need! 

Today is Thanksgiving and I'm at a loss for the right words to describe my thankfulness and gratitude.  A year has passed since last Thanksgiving, yet it feels like our life is so much different and greater than our wildest dreams!  Last year I could not have imagined that we would be pregnant and meeting our son just a year later...it was a dream and a prayer that we begged and pleaded for for many days and nights and today it's our reality!  This journey has taught me so much and has truly changed me for the better!  Today, my heart is full of thankfulness, gratitude, and a peace that comes when you place your life in God's hands and trust in Him regardless of the circumstances.

Love and blessings to each and everyone of you, especially those still traveling the journey to their take home babies.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of you and pray for your little miracles.  May hope and peace be with you all the days until that glorious day arrives!