A little background info. It took hubby and I 3yrs to conceive our baby boy through infertility treatment. I wasn’t sure if I could carry a baby due to having a congenital heart defect, chronic hypertension that was diagnosed at age 23 and I also go in and out of SVT. My doctors had hope and I had hope that I could get pregnant and maybe not carry to term but they were going to do everything possible to get me there.

Every week was a huge accomplishment for us. Until, I hit 35+4 I started to notice my blood pressure was starting to creep up a bit. When I went to my appointment to be seen with the nurse practitioner because my OB doctor was on vacation my blood pressure was 146/92 and then they had me go on my right side and wait 10 min and then it went down to 132/80. So I went home and didn’t think much of it. Until, Wed night when I was working I started to get palpitations and headaches so all night at work my pressures were 150s-160/80s-90s. I knew things were not going good anymore. I went home that morning on Thur and spent all day on bed rest but my hubby was also out of town and I didn’t want to worry him either. Until Friday at 4am I woke up with the worst excruciating headache and I took my blood pressures and they were still really high I waited till my OB clinic opened and the doctor on call told me to go straight to triage. I did and as soon as I walked in they started to rule out preeclampsia and hooking me up to cardiac monitors. Not even an hour later they said I was being admitted. By this point my blood pressures were up to 170s/100s. They started my steroid shots, increased my blood pressure and heart medication, did the preeclampsia work ups, along with 24hr urine. Also, got an echo of my heart and CT scan of my head. Baby was doing good all day and night on Friday. By Saturday my pressures were starting to go down and to call someone preclamptic your 24hr urine needs to have a total protein of 300mg or more. I was at 294mg...I was starting to become preclamptic. On Sat morning around 6:30am the on call doctor comes around and I told him how I’ve had decreased fetal movement. So they put me on the monitor and baby wasn’t passing his NSTs. It was taking him hours to get a reassuring nst and it was like that all day Sat and all night. I got zero sleep because they kept trying to get me to turn, reposition, and drink sweet stuff to get baby to perk up. Finally Sunday morning the doctor who’s been on call all weekend came to tell me that I wasn’t going anywhere and I would be there until I delivered which my scheduled c-section date was that following Thur we would be 37 weeks. That my OB doctor was aware of what was going on with me. That my ob doctor would come in early Monday morning to see me. The doctor on call consulted my maternal fetal medicine doctor to give him the heads up. Next you know my nurse comes in and tells me that we are doing an emergency csection and baby isn’t doing good on the monitor again and the MFM doctor wants baby out ASAP. And I need to be delivered immediately. At this time I’m all by myself my hubby was at home with our pups. I knew it needed to be done but mentally I wasn’t ready like this day is actually happening. My hubby and parents got there within 15mins. They prepped me and I was back in the OR within 20mins of them calling it. I was so nervous of the spinal but the anesthesiologists was AMAZING she got it in in less than 3min and wow that medication worked so fast and felt so weird. Everyone was so nice and explaining everything to me. The care team were all females besides my doctor. They called my husband in and he sat right by the head of the bed. They stated the c-section I didn’t feel anything besides occasional pressure but no pain. It was such a weird feeling. They stayed on top of my zofran so I wouldn’t puke thank god. The on call doctor was talking me through everything which was awesome. I was able to get a clear drapes so my hubby and I could see my son being delivered. Next thing I hear is the doctor say alright get your phone ready dad. I couldn’t see because my chest was heavy so I couldn’t lift my head but I laid there waiting to hear his cry. Just felt a lot of tugging and pulling but no pain. And bam I hear the most beautiful cry ever. And I hear them call out baby boy Orion is here at 10:12am and he is peeing all over the doctor lol. I definitely had that ugly cry going on lol. They took baby to the warmer and within a few mins they brought him to me so I could see him and do skin to skin with him for that golden hour. The nurse practitioner came to tell me that baby looks amazing and doing really good to be 36+3 and apgars were 8&9. While they closed me up the hubby and I just laughed and cried and were mesmerized by this perfect little boy. Then doctor was done and they cleaned me up. I was taken to recovery room for 2hrs and I was able to breastfeed him foro 45 mins within the first hour of recovery. My family got to come in and meet him. My csection went great and my care has been above and beyond. I’m beyond happy. Motherhood is so hard but I couldn’t be more proud of my body and being able to carry and deliver my baby boy.

Born 10/20/19 @ 10:12am Weight: 6lbs 4oz

Height: 17 1/4in