So in the last few weeks of my pregnancy as I looked forward to delivering my daughter I really enjoyed reading everyone’s birth stories and I’m so blessed to finally be able to share mine!

This pregnancy was so different from my other two in so many ways! First let me say my first two were both boys and pretty uncomplicated for the most part.

Both my boys came at 37 weeks naturally and were fairly easy labor and delivery.

We found out we were pregnant when my youngest was only 7 months old which was a huge difference between the 6 year gap between my two boys. But still it was a welcomed surprise.

I decided to do the materni 21 genetic testing at 9-10 weeks and everything came back normal, we were excited because this test also shows the sex in the first trimester. We found out we were having a daughter and we were ecstatic!

At 12 weeks gestation I started bleeding like a period, my husband rushed me to the hospital

where we waited for what seemed to be forever for an ultrasound. We had experienced loses before so we had almost prepared ourselves not to hear a heartbeat.

The ultrasound tech places the monitor on my stomach and keeps the screen turned to where I’d have to lift up to see it, but my eyes were closed anyway. I finally opened my eyes to look at my husband and he looks at me, smiles, and says OMG she’s jumping all over the screen!!! My heart skipped a beat!!! After the ultrasound tech walks out the doctor comes in about 20 minutes later and explains to us that the bleeding is because of whats called Placenta Previa. Strangely enough I had already heard of this diagnosis during pregnancy but I still I wasn’t prepared for what was to come during this pregnancy.

Placenta previa is when your placenta is either very close or directly on top of your cervix instead of in the front or back of your uterus, it causes light to heavy bleeding during pregnancy and can either be life threatening for mother and baby or just bleeding with no other symptoms. I was told I was on pelvic rest until further notice (no sex and nothing in the vagina) as it could damage my placenta.

From that point on I had several bleeds, but one in particular that was so heavy I thought my water had broken at only 26 weeks!! I had been on my feet a lot taking care of my boys and that particular night my husband was working out of town and I was up late packing the boys bags for a trip with my parents. My mom picked my boys up at about 4am that morning to get on the road so I laid back down to get some more sleep before work the next morning. At about 6am I woke up to something gushing and being that I had already given birth to two children I knew exactly what this felt like.

I was panicking but still managed to stay calm enough to do what I knew to do to keep my baby in. I called 911 first so the ambulance could be on their way. Next I called my husband and very calmly told him I believe my water had broken and the ambulance was on the way. Of course no matter how calm I said it he was in a panic especially since he was about an hour and a half away. We both knew what giving birth at 26 weeks meant for a baby and we were terrified. When the ambulance arrived I unlocked the door with the app on my phone and called out from my bedroom for them to come in. I was determined to not get up and walk. The paramedics were wonderful and got me to the hospital really quickly. I told them I wanted to go to Ochsner where my doctor and the NICU are but they said my bleeding was too bad and they had to bring me to the nearest hospital. When I arrived to the hospital they were also wonderful, but it was clear they weren’t prepared to handle a baby coming that early and they couldn’t even determine if my membranes had ruptured or not. I was so scared I was shaking all over and thankfully my husband arrived not long after they got my IV in (he must have driven 100mph the whole way there). I say I believe they did a good job at the hospital because they called in a transfer to woman’s hospital as soon as I got there and was stable. My husband rode with me in the ambulance to the other hospital and the entire ride was so bumpy I thought I’d roll off the stretcher. As soon as we arrived to woman’s hospital I knew I was at the right place. They spoke about my baby as if she could survive which was different from the first hospital where it seemed they were already preparing for her not to make it. They started me on the magnesium for brain development and to stop any contractions (which I hadn’t felt any) and I received two steroid shots for her lung development. The nurses were wonderful but I was waiting for a specialist from maternal fetal medicine to let us know what the plan was.

When the doctor arrived he did an ultrasound and determined what we never would have expected. MY WATER WAS NOT BROKEN!!!

I immediately started to cry and the look on my husbands face was as if he had been holding his breath since we got to the hospital.

I was hospitalized for 3 days after losing so much blood, but thankfully baby’s heartbeat stayed strong and steady my entire stay.

I went home on bed rest but still experienced several more bleeds that resulted in usually a one night hospital stay. I must say these were some of the hardest weeks for me considering I’m very independent and I hate being off my feet and especially unable to take care of my children. I had to stop working and go on strict bed rest for a good bit of my pregnancy.

My 7 year old was a huge help but still sometimes I had to send my youngest to stay with grandparents especially because through a lot of my pregnancy he wasn’t even walking yet and I had strict guidelines about heavy lifting. (He was 30lbs at 10 months). My husband was doing a good bit of traveling for work which left me to do a lot on my own or to depend on my parents or my husbands parents. I am happy to say my support system was absolutely amazing and really got us through that tuff time!!

At 32 weeks I had my final ultrasound to determine what date we needed to schedule my c-section considering all of the doctors were positive my placenta wouldn’t move this late in the game. Especially since it was a complete previa which means it’s directly above the cervix. So it was to all of our surprise that my placenta had moved up and out of the way!! Even far enough for me to deliver vaginally!!!

I had assumed my baby girl would come anywhere between 36-37 weeks considering with both my boys I was 37 weeks but even after quite a few scares thinking she was coming early she surprised us all and waited to arrive at 38 weeks 4 days!!!

I labored 2 days at home with her and arrived at the hospital to labor another 13 hours. I got my epidural at 6cm and it seemed fine at first, but all of a sudden both my legs were numb and I started to feel tingling in my hands and chest! I told the nurse I thought I had too much but they assured me what I was feeling was normal. I have delivered 2 kids already both with an

epidural and I knew it wasn’t normal. I asked for the charge nurse and I told her I wanted the medicine turned completely off! By then my blood pressure had dropped to 70/50! And I couldn’t catch my breath!! The charge nurse called the nurse anesthetist who turned my epidural off until it was time to push. Once turned back on the epidural only worked on my right side so I felt mostly everything on the left while the right was completely numb! I pushed for maybe 15 minutes and she was out. As soon as I heard her cry I was so relieved!! When I delivered my placenta it caused a little more bleeding than normal but wasn’t too bad and I didn’t end up needing a blood transfusion. My hospital stay was pretty great and we are now home with baby girl enjoying her and our boys!

Emery Michelle was born November 2nd 2018 at 7:44am weighing 7lbs 20in long!

Our 3rd blessing from the creator!!