The Beginning
When Reva found out she was pregnant, Tim and Reva were elated that they were blessed with a baby. They also found out shortly after their one year wedding anniversary. That was a wonderful gift! Once Reva and Tim found out there was a baby coming, weekly postings began. It was a very difficult task to keep the pregnancy a secret. Reva did have some minor morning sickness and not much other early pregnancy symptoms other then cravings. Reva craved bread and butter pickles throughout most of her pregnancy! Reva was able to continue eating the way she was and even exercising. Reva was expecting to be considered in the high-risk pregnancy category but the doctor told me not to worry.
The time came to announce the pregnancy! Reva and Tim decided to take a subtle approach to announce the pregnancy to extended family.
To announce to their families, Reva and Tim created Christmas ornaments with an ultrasound picture and gave it to them as a gift. (Sorry, no picture)
The Middle
As with most pregnancies, the second trimester is nothing special. Baby develops, mom-to-be takes the glucose test, ultrasounds, at 24 weeks the baby can survive with medical intervention, the start of Braxton-Hicks contractions, and just watch the baby grow. However, since Reva's second trimester fell in the middle of winter she fell twice. The doctor was not very concerned about the fact that she fell, she was more concerned that I had the stomach bug in the middle of January. During this trimester, Reva passed all her tests, still working strong, and didn't even feel pregnant.
The Last Trimester
This was the final stretch for the pregnancy, Reva and Tim were getting really excited that they soon would meet the baby. Reva had to get a shot of Rhogam which is designed for women whose blood type is Rh-. In the event that the baby's blood type is Rh+ and Reva's blood and the baby's blood crossed, Reva's antibodies will attack the baby's blood as if it was an allergic reaction. It is a very serious issue and despite Reva protesting to get it because she isn't a fan of needles she had to because Tim's blood type was unknown. Reva worked straight through the school year and still had a successful pregnancy! Reva started feeling real contractions starting in the beginning of June and at that point the doctor was predicting the baby would come early, however, that soon changed when Reva went for an ultrasound at 38 weeks that showed the baby was right on schedule. The last two weeks of Reva's pregnancy really took a toll on her. Her contractions picked up and started to experience a lot of pelvic pain. Reva's due date came and she was having contractions all day at about 10 minutes apart with no increasing of intensity, timing or anything.
Overall, Reva can't complain that her pregnancy was uncomplicated and she is very happy and blessed that is worked that way.
The Labor
On July 5, 2014 Reva was having contractions 10 minutes apart, however, there was no increase of pain or timing, so her and Tim thought nothing of it. At 12:53am, Reva was awakened with a contraction and the need to go to the bathroom, the minute she walked into the bathroom, her water broke! She ran into the bedroom woke Tim up, called the doctor and the doctor said she doesn't think it broke and said to come in. We no sooner got to the hospital and the nurse did an exam to check, and yes it was my water. Reva was also 3cm dilated at 1:15am. The issue with Reva's water breaking, was that the baby made her first poop before she was born. This made the doctors nervous, as well as Reva. Tim was so calm during this time. At 2:00am Reva was officially admitted into the labor and delivery ward. The doctor comes in and says that they want to administer Pitocin to speed up the delivery so the baby doesn't inhale the poop. Reva asked to wait a half hour to see if anything changes, the doctors agreed. A half hour passed and nothing changed, so Pitocin was started. Contractions now were three minutes apart and were really intense. Reva started feeling stressed, nauseous, and was shaking from the pain. At that point, she talked to Tim and decided to go against her birth plan and what she was hoping for and opted for the Epidural. At 3:20am, Reva was 5cm dilated and the Epidural was given. Once the Epidural started working, time ticked by and Reva and Tim waited and waited. Tim and Reva took naps and called family.
Around 10:30am, the baby's heart rate kept dipping so the doctors had to keep shifting me around to get the heart rate up. It wasn't working, so the doctors put Reva on oxygen and that helped. At around 11:00am Reva told the nurse she feels a lot of pressure and the urge to push. After an examination the baby's head was really close and we are ready to go! The nurse called the doctor and the nurse came in and said don't push, the doctor is in another hospital and will be at the hospital in 30 minutes. Reva was ready to go not sit for another half hour! Doctor arrived at 11:30am and they started to get ready, by 11:40am they started doing practice pushing and after 3 sets of practice pushing the baby's head was visible. Reva kept pushing and within a few sets there was a baby! On Sunday, July 6, 2014 at 12:02 PM Anneliese Grace entered into the world. She weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 inches long.
After reflecting on the delivery, Reva wishes things went differently although there was nothing she could have prevented. She does wish that upon the arrival of Anneliese she would have loved to spend time with her but she was whisked away to be looked at by the pediatrician because of the poop issue; they wanted to make sure she didn't inhale any into her lungs. Luckily, Anneliese did not inhale any into her lungs.
Tim was so calm, supportive, and helpful the entire pregnancy and labor and I would not have picked any other person to share this process in with!
