Marcus :: Pregnancy + Labor Story

Marcus :: Pregnancy + Labor Story

• 6.25.2018

While Felix's pregnancy and labor story was in depth and full of details, I feel as this one was a blur and went by super fast now that baby has officially been out of the womb for a month. I don't have any bump pictures (or any pictures for that matter) this time around because I was chasing a toddler the entire time and selfies are a thing of the past -- only thing I take pictures now is the kids and the occasional cold coffee sitting in a mug, but that's life and I love it. Anyways, without further ado,  here are all the details as I remember them.

How I Found Out + Reaction

This pregnancy took me by complete surprise. I thought I was pregnant about a month before, but all the tests I took came out negative. My husband told me to stop taking them because they cost a fortune and I probably wasn't pregnant if they've all been negative thus far -- I agreed. Late October I had planned to get my wisdom teeth pulled and the surgeon told me to make sure that I wasn't pregnant when coming in for the operation.

A week prior to the surgery, even though I felt fine and probably wasn't pregnant, I went ahead and took it upon myself to buy a pregnancy test just because you can never be to sure. And guess what, I was right -- the test came back positive!

I didn't believe it, so I took another test, and it too came back positive. I was pretty speechless to be honest. I stood in the bathroom looking at the tests for a bit before I went to break the news to my husband.

How I Told the Husband & Family

This time there was no surprise or creative way to tell my husband -- I literally walked out of the bathroom and stated "we're pregnant." He was pretty taken aback and didn't believe me until I showed him the positive tests. After the proof was brought to the table and he realized that this was not a drill, he was pretty happy.

I bought Felix a "This Is What An Awesome Brother Looks Like" t-shirt which he wore when he visited our parents and that's how we announced it to our families. Both our families were just as surprised as we were to find out that we were expecting.

The Pregnancy 

Being pregnant with Marcus was a blur. It felt like forever, but the months really did fly by -- if that makes sense. This time around, I had an easier pregnancy which means there was no high blood pressure, no UTIs, no complications and no visiting the doctor's office a million times. I was busy chasing around Felix which made this time harder, but the pregnancy itself was a normal, easy pregnancy (as if an "easy pregnancy" even exists).

I did have a serious sinus infection accompanied by the flu when I was 5 months pregnant (read about my experience with that HERE) and that was pretty brutal since I didn't take any medication. I did get through it and I think that was the most eventful thing during my pregnancy up until 7 months when sleeping through the night became non existent.

Towards the end of the pregnancy, I was miserable. Everything hurt earlier than it did with Felix. I wasn't as tired as I was when I carried Felix, but I still felt pretty tired most of the time. I honestly don't remember much about the pregnancy besides feeling miserable towards the end because I felt so occupied with Felix -- having a toddler and not having the time to focus on the fact that you're going to give birth eventually really made this time around so different.

I didn't take very many bump photos this time around either because I felt so big, but here are some of the ones I did take -- mostly shared on my instastory.

Labor + Birth

At 35 weeks, on a Friday, I had a doctor appointment to check on baby's progress and to my surprise, baby was already head down, I was 3 centimeters and 80% effaced. She announced that baby could come any minute now even though I still had a month to go. My doctor did tell me that if I went into labor before 36 weeks, the hospital I was registered at would transfer me because they don't deliver  late term premature babies unless the mom was 6 cm dilated when she comes in.

After I left the doctor's office, I quickly went to finish packing my hospital bag. Come Saturday, I had contractions off and on all day, but nothing close enough together to be able call in. I went to bed around 12:30 a.m. and right as I crawled in bed I heard a POP! and felt a pressure like I had to pee, so I rushed to the bathroom. Right as I stepped in the bathroom, a gush of fluid poured onto the floor -- you, guys... my water broke and it was exactly like it happens in the movies. I called the doctor's office and explained what had just happened and she told me to come it.

Because I was spending the night at my parent's house, Felix was already accounted for and my brother was able to drive me to the hospital since my husband was at work. I got to the hospital around one and by then my contractions were about 3 minutes apart and labor was in full throttle mode.

The nurse confirmed that my water broke and called my doctor as my husband arrived. They were rushing to get everything ready because I had walked in 6 cm dilated and they had no time to transfer me to another hospital -- ironically Marcus had listened to doctors orders on Friday and my doctor thought that was the funniest thing.

The preparations did not go smoothly this time around -- the nurses tending to me had some new equipment and ended up poking me a total of five times before actually finding a vein for the I.V. which made me furious because it looked like I wasn't going to get an epidural. Usually, I am a very pleasant person, but I felt like flipping the table over because it was taking so long and my contractions were getting stronger and stronger. My husband said I looked like I was going to hit one of them and that he's never seen me that angry. It was brutal.

The anesthesiologist stepped in, found a vein quickly, and then went to give me the epidural right before I completely lost my cool -- talk about life saver. I was 8 cm dilated and finally found some relief. It took a total of 10 minutes after the epidural kicked in that I felt a pressure and the doctor announced that baby was coming!

It took me a total of 10 minutes to push Marcus out and then, just like that, there he was -- my sweet little baby boy. Born at 3:29 a.m. 6 lb. 2 oz. on April 29th.

Because Marcus was considered a "late term" premature baby, we had to stay two days in the hospital. The nurses were testing his glucose levels every two to four hours and each time, it was low.  He also wasn't very interested in nursing, so we started supplementing with formula. In addition to that, he also had jaundice, so they kept a close eye on that too.

He was pricked in the heel so many times that to this day, he has marks. Luckily for us, his glucose levels stabilized and I was discharged on time. His jaundice required us to visit the pediatrician a few times the first week, but everything turned out okay and baby was growing at a good rate and his jaundice levels were in the "safe zone" and declining with every visit.

Thinking Back 

The pregnancy, labor and birthing process was a lot smoother than it was with Felix and this time around, it felt super rushed. I barely had time to breathe. I only gained 5 pounds this time around and since I'm 8 weeks and have gotten the a-okay from my doctor, I am on the road to getting my pre-babies body back!

All in all, life is definitely much sweeter with Marcus in it and we feel extremely blessed to be parents to such a precious baby --  all of us are so in love with him and are loving being a family of four!