Ramblings of an Army Wife: Happy Birthday Ian!

One this day one year ago I gave birth to my one and only son. The little piece of chunk that I now call my baby man. This past year has really flown by so quickly. I think it has been all of the changes in my life. Let's back up a bit and start from the beginning. When I first found out I was pregnant Tim had been gone for about 6 weeks. We were wanting and planning to have another baby and were trying. I was so worried and scared about what was going to happen. Since having Abi I had 2 miscarriages, one of which was very bad. The Doctor's had told us that it was possible, but not likely with the amount of scar tissue that I had. The only thing we could do was try. I was laying on the couch sometime in February of 2011 and like I said Tim was deployed. I was feeling something awful and had been for a few days. I just could not shake it and ended up calling my mom to come watch Abi for me for a few days. I was going to make a Dr. appt and find out what was going on with me. I knew I was not pregnant considering I had taken a pregnancy test and it was negative. So when I went to the doc and found out that I was in fact pregnant I was elated! I immediately rushed home and sent Tim an email and let him know. I waited to make sure that he got the email and then I started letting everyone else know. I got all of my medical stuff set up and made it to my first Dr. visit. I got to see my little peanut on the ultrasound and got my due date (originally September 8th). After 2 weeks they had bumped my due date back to September 13th and started telling me that my blood work was not coming up correct and it would appear that something was wrong. Everything seemed to be measuring correctly, but my bloodwork was off. I started weekly visits where blood was drawn everytime, as well as urine twice a visit to check for everything. I remember it vividly on March 21 my Dr. called me and said that some bloodwork had come back and Ian was positive for Down Syndrome. She told me that with my history of complicated pregnancy it would be unlikely I would carry full term, and in the event that I did with my and Timmy's family medical history he would most likely not live past the age of three. We found out that children with down syndrome often have heart defects. Heart defects already run pretty deep on both sides of our family. At this point we did not feel that our baby stood a chance. Then the doc hit me with the news that perhaps I needed to consider abortion. I was astonished to hear that come out of her mouth. My mind at the time was racing in a million different directions, but abortion just wasn't one of them. I wanted this baby, I tried for this baby, I was having this baby. I just wasn't sure how I was going to make it through this. My husband was on mission and on the other side of the world. I could not get in contact with him and tell him what was going on and what this meant. I dredged on without him... I set up an appointment with one of the best Pediatric Units from Sacred Heart hospital and Dr. Dobek and his staff helped turn that pregnancy completely around. After my first visit they did an ultrasound and some other work and found out that Ian in fact did not have Down Syndrome. I was so relieved I cried right there in front of everyone. That was also the first time we found out he was in fact a boy, and got our first real take home pictures to show to Tim!

After finishing up with them I had a follow up with my OB and I found out that what had actually happened was they had mixed up my paperwork with another patient. They put her due dates on my chart and vice versa. They actually thought I was a month further along than I was. Tim and I agreed it was time to get a new Dr. So I made the trek to see Dr. Bowen. Who without a doubt is my favorite ever and has delivered both of my children! I faced a ton of other trials while pregnant with my son. I ended up also with high blood pressure as well as gestational diabetes. I gladly did what I had to do to make sure my little man was taken care of. After finally being induced with him everyone was telling me how quick it would be. I was admitted to the hospital at 2 pm and they were all telling me he would be here by dinner. They were wrong. At 2 the next morning they came in and took me off the drip and said they were going to let me get some rest. They let me know that in the morning they were going to let me go home and we would just have to wait unless I chose to have a c-section. So I went to sleep and then I woke up at 4 to the oddest feeling....MY WATER HAD BROKE! I mashed the button and called the nurse in there, told her what happened and she told me that it wasn't possible, I wasn't even registering contractions. I informed her that without a doubt I felt it, she checked and surely enough it had. She set me back up on fluids, checked me and said that I still was not really dilated enough to have him. I needed to wait about another hour that way I would not have to push as much. The contractions started. Let me tell you for all the ladies out there who HAVE NOT felt them.... they really hurt. They have not even made a word yet for how much hurt that is. The nurse kept insisting that I could not be feeling them b/c of the epidural. I said a slew of dirty words, I believe something to the effect of "GO fuck a menstrating monkey" but I was hurting so I am really unclear. (I did apologize later) I kept letting them know I needed to push. I could feel him and I needed to push. No one came.... I yelled at Tim and told him to get ready, our son was coming out and he needed to catch. Not even joking I told him that. He rang for the nurse and they came in. He told them that I was ready. Again the nurse said that I wasn't, but she would check and see how close I was. She put on her gloves, lifted the covers and her eyes got big. She yelled to call the Dr. I asked what, and she said, "Oh there's his head!" It took them less than a minute to get everything ready, and less than a push to get him here. Now a whole year later we have laughed, we have cried. We have come so far and done so many things. So many months ago I was scared that he would never make it here, and now I am so thankful for every day that I get to spend with him. Tim and I have since decided that we are totally done with having children. We are blessed to have the two we have here with us and the two we did not get to meet. So here is my little man over the past year! HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN NICHOLAS CAIN! Born September 24th 2011