I thought I would share with you some background into our little family, although I should warn you this is a very long and drawn out pregnancy story!

My first pregnancy (that would be the cutie on the left) a couple years back was going perfectly normal. We got pregnant the very first month we tried and after being married for four years, we were excited for this next stage in life. Taylor was commuting an hour north everyday for work, but with the prospect of me quitting my job we decided to move closer to his job. So here we are moving out of our apartment and into our first house and I’m nearing the end of my pregnancy (probably about 35 weeks along). At one of my recent doctor appointments, my little guy was pronounced breech which was NO surprise to me. I had a feeling that he’d been like that the whole time. My doctor schedules me for an external version where they’ll try to flip the baby. Ouch. Doesn’t sound like fun. So I’m scheduled for the procedure at 8am on Friday.

On Thursday night we had just finished painting something (we had only been in the house two weeks), showered for the night, and Taylor put in Pirates of the Caribbean and I went upstairs to do some paperwork (yeah, I remember all these details, weird huh). All of a sudden GUSH. I have no idea how people don’t know that their water broke. Trust me, YOU KNOW. It is the weirdest sensation to have no control over what your body is doing. I yell down to Taylor and run to the toilet where it just keeps coming and coming. We have nothing ready. No bags packed, nothing. Heck, we didn’t even have a car seat yet because we didn’t want to buy one until after the move and which incidentally was planned to be purchased over the weekend. So while I was sitting on the toilet, I directed Taylor to get this and get that. I guess you had to be there, because looking back it was kind of funny.

I was 37 weeks. We called the hospital which was an hour south, told them the baby was breech and we were on our way. Thank goodness we walked in past midnight because I was soaked! I guess if it was crowded I would have been forgiven for looking as if I’d peed my pants because I was obviously in labor.

Anyways, you still with me? Anybody actually like reading about other people’s pregnancy stories?

We end up having a C-section (which we were not prepared for). Halfway through the operation I feel intense pain and then black out. When I come to, Taylor and the baby have already gone to the nursery. I don’t remember anything although I supposedly said hello to the little baby. To make a long story short, oh wait, never mind, this will just be a long story, the doctor comes in after I’ve been put into recovery and says, “lucky you didn’t go to that doctor’s appointment in the morning because it ends up you only have half a uterus and trying to turn him would have been determental to both you and the baby.” WHAT?! I’m still really drugged up and it’s about four in the morning. We’ll talk in the morning he says, and leaves me to ponder, what does that mean, half a uterus?

Yeah, so I only have one half of a uterus. Which would also explain why the baby always favored my right side and never flipped or rolled the entire pregnancy. We count our blessings that there is a higher power who was watching out for us, who knew that trying to turn that baby would have sent me into an emergency c-section, knew the cord was wrapped around his neck, and knew that we had to have the baby before nine the next morning. I truly believe that God works miracles in our lives. When that baby needed to come, he came.

After I fully recovered from the c-section and pregnancy, I saw a reproductive endicrinoligist who was able to fully explain my condition. After a lot of tests (some very painful), it was determined that I had what is called a unicornuate uterus meaning that I indeed only have one half a uterus (and a much smaller one on top of that). Supposedly the condition is quite rare, most get pregnant with help, and there is a high rate of miscarriage. We were unable to determine from the tests whether or not I had a left ovary and fallopian tube. If I did, there is a high rate of a ectopic pregnancy, so I would have to go in really early with my next pregnancy to make sure everything is where it should be. I’m told that if they’re there, I’ll have them removed during my next c-section to cut that risk all together. Oh, and my left kidney is there, which sometimes women with unicornuate uterus don’t have.

So the next pregnancy . . . We were told that we were extremly lucky to get pregnant so easily the first time. That it could be years before we got pregnant again naturally. Think of it this way, the average woman ovulates once a month, therefore twelve tries a year. Because I can only get pregnant when ovulating from the right side, my chances have already been cut in half to just six times a year. Add on top of that, the high percentage of miscarriage. So when our little one hadn’t even reached a year old, we thought, well, if it’s going to take us forever, let’s not prevent anything. Yeah, so fast forward to not even a month after we said that and I’m looking at a positive sign on my home pregnancy test! Hmm . . . apparently we are very fertile even against all the odds.

I’m very fortunate and my new doctor is head of the Maternal Fetal Medicine department, which only handles high risk pregnancies. The baby is implanted on the correct side and everything goes normally. As I near my eight month, they begin to watch me much more closely (pretty much the baby just grows to big for the space). The benefit of this, is that I get to have an ultrasound just about every week. All told, I must have add 10 -15 all together, I lost count, including those cool 3-D kind. At about 36 weeks I get put on bed rest to try to get my amniotic fluids up to a normal level and now I’m seeing the doctor and having stress tests three times a week. At one point, I’m admitted to labor and delivery but the doctor sends me home to see if my contractions (which I’m not feeling) will go away.

But bed rest doesn’t last long. After one of my stress tests, the nurse is considering admitting me again, but can’t find the doctor. My test finally smooths out and so I get sent home. I’m home not even ten minutes, when the phone rings. Before answering it, I know exactly who it is and what they’ll say. So I’m not surprised when I’m told to not eat anything and come back in four hours for a c-section.

So what do you do when you’re about to have a baby in four hours? Take a nap! And I actually slept.

I left my toddler at home with my MIL whom had already flown up (and stayed for about a month, I don’t know what I would have done without her) and drove myself to Taylor’s office, picked him up, and went to the hospital. We walked in with only a camera and the nurses all told us that they had never seen anybody pack so light. Seriously, isn’t that the only thing you need?

I’m really nervous about this C-section (which he’s breech again, very common) because my last one was so painful and I didn’t remember anything. I was so happy that this was a completly different experience. Not only did I not feel a thing, but I stayed awake and alert throughout the birth of my son. I was told that they couldn’t find a fallopian tube on that left side and that my ovary was so shriveled up. Oh, and there were seemingly a billion people in the room because they all wanted to see the half uterus and I even had to give permission to take photos (which they later didn’t).

We are so very blessed to have our two children (and we hope to have more). After researching this condition, we know it isn’t easy for others. Many have difficulty conceiving but some like me, didn’t know they even have the condition until they have a c-section. I’m so glad I live in this time period with the know how to deal with situations like mine. Any other time or place and I wonder if babies and I would make it.

Anyways, that’s my story. Either you didn’t read it on principle that you hate other people pregnancy stories or else you were actually curious. Thanks for allowing me to share my story and here’s wishing Baby G. a very happy birthday.

And because I’m determined to not talk about my personal life unless I bring some books into it, here are a couple of fun birthday books: Happy Birthday to You! by Dr. Seuss, Birthday Monsters by Sandra Boynton and The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli. All authors that I absolutely love and enjoy. Cute, cute, books perfect for the birthday boy or girl. And I love anything by Leslie Patricelli. She can do no wrong.