Long post. I’m sorry but photos at the end! 😁

I found out I was pregnant at the end of February. My SO and I were so happy! We told our family and everyone was so happy! For the first few weeks everything was going great! I felt great! Then the nausea and vomiting came! 🤢 I lost my appetite and it got so bad that it was hard for me to get out of bed. I called my doctor and told him what was going on. He wanted to see me right away. He seen I lost some weight but wasn’t to worried about that. He was worried because I was dehydrated. He sent me to the hospital for 3-4 days for fluids(I didn’t have to stay I just had to go up there everyday). At our 10 week US he seen I lost 10lbs in a week. He told me I couldn’t work anymore until the nausea stopped. Well that didn’t happen until about 32 weeks. We tried everything to help with the nausea but nothing worked. I ended up losing 25-30 lbs. Then one day at around 25 weeks I started having palpitations. Just sitting there my heart rate was 125. I went and brushed my teeth and checked it again and it was 145. I was put on a beta blocker. I was having protein in my urine off and on throughout my entire pregnancy. At 35 weeks I started having headaches, swelling, seeing spots and my bp was starting to rise. I started getting checked weekly. At 39w+3d doc decided to induce.

With the first cervix softener I didn’t feel my contractions at all I felt great. The second one I really started to feel them. I get the pain meds that go through your IV(sorry it’s been two months) before they gave me the pitocin. The first dose helped I was able to close my eyes for a little. The second dose did NOTHING! The pain of the contractions were so bad my entire body started shaking. The nurse came in to check me and I hadn’t dilated anymore than when I first came in(I was at a 1). This went on for I think 4 hours. She called my doctor and they had to stop my contractions and then start them again. But they told me I was getting the epidural. I was so scared. The guy came in and gave me the epidural. He was great! He let my SO stay with me in the room(he had to stand on the other side of the room though). He talked me through the entire thing! Then doc came in and broke my water. After about an hour of having the epidural in I started to feel my contractions on the bottom left side of my stomach all the way into my thighs. The nurse called the anesthesiologist on call. I told he what was going on and she looked at me like I was crazy. She then goes on to tell me that in the years of her doing this she’s never heard of anyone feeling the contractions in their thighs. I didn’t know what to say. I knew what I was feeling. She then proceeded to say and I quote, “I need you to understand a few things before I help you. 1. I’m not a miracle worker. 2. When I readjust the epidural it will either work or your anatomy is screwed up and it won’t work.” I said fine whatever let’s just do this. She left to grab her stuff. When she came back I was having a contraction. Keep in mind with every contraction I had my entire body shook. I couldn’t control it. So I was shaking. She STOMPS over to me and raises her voice at me as if I’m a child throwing a fit and points her finger at me and says, “Open your eyes and look at me! Look at me! You need to pull yourself together or I’m not doing this! Do you understand me!” Then looks at my SO and says, “And you need to get out!” The nurses help me sit up and get into position. I started having another contraction and of course my body starts shaking. The anesthesiologist says, “I can’t do this if your shaking!” I apologized. The nurse stepped in and told that nasty witch that I couldn’t control the shaking and that she just needed to give me time for the contraction to stop. The anesthesiologist then told me that she was gonna do the spinal because I obviously can’t handle pain. I had no idea what the spinal was so I started asking questions. She acted like I was the biggest inconvenience. She just kept saying it’s like the epidural do you give your consent! The nurse explained to me that it would completely numb me and I would not be able to move at all. I gave my consent. I just wanted this bitch out of my room. After getting everything done they laid me down and my bp started dropping and I started throwing up they gave me two doses of some medicine that helped I can’t remember the name. My family came back in and I told them what happened my mom ran out the door ready to track this woman down. The nurse and I ended up filing a complaint against this woman. After that everything was going good. It was finally time to push. My SO was so amazing! He held my hand and my big fat swollen leg and watched the entire thing. And at 1:05p.m. On October 16,2018. Our son Jerry Herbert Howard was born! 💙😍

6lbs 12oz

20.5” long

Sorry for such a long post 😂

^last bump pic at 39 weeks^