My first pregnancy

We found out we were pregnant on Oct 17, 2010. It was a shock to say the least as we had been trying for almost a year. I had an accupuncture appointment scheduled for the following week for infertility. (Needless to say I had to call and cancel) My boobs had been hurting for a few days now and I thought, what is going on with my body? I decided to take a pregnancy test, expecting to be disappointed yet again. When I picked up the test, I started screaming. Kevin was downstairs and asked my what was wrong. I shoved the test in his face and said, "I'm pregnant!" First words out of his mouth were, "no freaking way." I was so excited I was shaking. The very next thing I did was call my mom. She was so happy!

                                                      Our little peanut at 8 weeks

We decided not to tell anyone until we had an appointment and saw a heartbeat. Then we only wanted to tell a few people until I was in my second trimester. Working in the ob/gyn area makes you aware of all the bad things that can happen. We finally told everyone at the end of November. By that point I was feeling pretty confident. We had decided not to find out the sex of the baby. It was difficult to do but so worth it in the end. I felt like we were going to have a boy the entire pregnancy until right before I delivered Karlie.

We knew what we wanted the name to be if it was a girl but could not agree on a name for a boy. Kevin liked Colton and I liked Carson and Ethan. It was an ongoing battle since I was convinced we would have a boy. Well I sure was wrong! At 20 weeks I felt Karlie kick me for the first time and thought I just had a muscle twitch. By 21 weeks she was moving like crazy. At my ultrasound the tech said he could easily tell us the sex because she was moving so much, but we remained strong.

At 27 weeks I had my gestational diabetes (GDM) test and it was positive :( I started checking my blood sugar 4 times a day. I got 2 weeks to try and control my sugars with diet but I ended needing glyburide. I then knew, working labor and delivery, that I would be induced at 39 weeks. I had my heart set on a natural delivery where I did most of my laboring at home. At this point I was still determined not to get an epidural.

The pregnancy was going along as well as it could with GDM. I had weekly ultrasounds and bi-weekly NST's in the ADC. Then another growth scan to see how big the baby was getting. I was scared we would accidently find out the baby's sex with all the ultrasounds, but everyone was great about not telling us what they saw. At the end of May I went home for my baby shower. It was so much fun! When we got home, I noticed I had quite and bit of swelling. At my dr appointment my blood pressure was a little elevated so Dr. Brown ordered pre-e labs. Thanks to the nurse curse I did in fact develop pre-eclampsia at 35 weeks :( The new plan was bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy and an induction at 37 weeks.

                                                         34 weeks pregnant

I was really bummed out and knew my natural child birth dreams were over. It was a huge risk to not have an epidural with GDM and Pre-e. And on top of that to be induced at 37 weeks. So for then next to weeks I sat on the couch, ponding if the little one inside me was a boy or a girl.