Pregnancy for Me and Having Baby Charley

This story is hard and personal. I still cannot believe it all happened the way it did. I look back and am still in shock with the events that led to me meeting my sweet baby girl.

A little back story…

My husband and I started trying to have children a couple years into our marriage. And while it was not a struggle for us to get pregnant, it was a struggle to stay pregnant. The first time I got pregnant, I miscarried. It was so hard. I was sad but realized that God had a plan for me and I knew that I would get pregnant again and have a baby. And I did. I got pregnant with my son, Hudson just a short 3 months later.

While I was pregnant with him, I ended up with gallstones halfway through my pregnancy. This meant I could not eat ANY fat whatsoever. And I mean NONE. If I did, I would have horrible pain in my rib cage and my upper back. Needless to say I wasn’t the best experience.

Hudson was born on his due date January 1, 2016 at 8 pounds 6 ounces.

Fast forward to last December. Sean and I planned to get pregnant again with a second baby. And like before, we got pregnant right away. It was wonderful. And then it wasn’t. I had yet another miscarriage. I just thought to myself, “this can’t be. I already went through this. Why would God make me go through this again?” I was angry. Really angry. I just didn’t understand why.

Now that was hard. I thought it was hard the first time, but the second time was even worse. I knew what it was like to have a baby, therefore, it hurt a lot more knowing that was my child that I would never get to know. My baby had a heart beat… and then it was gone.

If you have never had a miscarriage, let me explain what it can be like. A miscarriage is your body killing off something it feels is foreign. And in order for your body to get rid of it naturally, you have to go into labor. Your body should go through the process.

I was just waiting. Waiting for my body to start this horrible process that is usually supposed to bring a living baby into this world. Two days after I found out, is when it started. I started having contractions in the middle of the night while my son was sleeping and my husband was at work. I was all alone. It hurt. It hurt so badly, it took everything in me not to scream. Oh and I bled. I bled a lot. When you miscarry you can have a lot of bleeding. You feel as if your bleeding out and not sure how much more blood you have in your body.

My husband came home a couple hours later. The contractions lasted hours. And the bleeding lasted 4 weeks. Yes, weeks! It was torture. I stopped bleeding for 2 days and then started my actual period.

I was pregnant again 3 months later. We were so happy. We found out it was a girl and knew she would be a great addition to our family. I was doing well throughout the pregnancy up until I was about 30 weeks. I was extremely fatigued, my feet were swelling and so were my legs. On Halloween I had to use ace bandages to wrap my feet just to take my son trick-or-treating. The very next day, I ended up going to OB triage.

My blood pressure started spiking. It was running in the 160s/90s and then the 170s. They wanted to keep me overnight to monitor my urine for protein as I was showing signs of pre-eclampsia.  Pre-eclampsia for those of you that don’t know, is a complication in pregnancy that is characterized by a set of symptoms. Which I was showing some of them. They continued to monitor myself and the baby for 4 days. My blood pressure would not go down even with medication. The doctors felt that it was too dangerous for the both of us to continue the pregnancy and the only treatment was delivery.

I was induced at 6pm on November 5th and at 6:06pm on November 6th by baby girl was born. She was 34 weeks and 5 days when she was born. She was only 4 pounds and 3 ounces. She came out breathing on her own and was pink in color. She didn’t cry at first, just looked around wide-eyed. She had to spend 3 days in the NICU for temperature control. She was a fighter.

I had to spend another 2 days in the hospital. I was more swollen than when I went into the hospital and could barely walk with the medication they had me on and with how swollen my entire body was. I wasn’t allowed to go visit her in the NICU until the second night after she was born. It was HARD!

We went home on November 9th. She has continued to be a champ. She has been gaining weight at a phenomenal rate. She is now 8 weeks old and weighing in at 8 pounds 15 ounces.

I would never want anyone to have to go through the things I went through. And I know there are women and families out there that have gone through even harder situations. And for that, I am so sorry.

Here are some photos of my sweet baby Charley Grace.

I don’t think I will be having any more children due to all the unexpected events I have had to go through. I have my two sweet babies and our family feels complete.

I get to see newborn babies all the time doing what I love. Capturing these moments that parents won’t ever get back. I couldn’t ask for a better job!

To book your newborn session contact me at (602) 568-6417 or by my website!