Oh my, sitting down to write out the birth story of our seventh baby has proven to be harder than I once thought. The pregnancy was planned, lest you believe that lucky number seven was an accident. Though we were surprised to have such an easy pregnancy, given my past history of pregnancy loss.
The first ultrasound was a relief – for a couple of reasons: 1) The baby was in the uterus and 2) There was only one baby.
The pregnancy was pretty uneventful. In fact, it was pretty easy to forget I was even pregnant. We also didn’t tell people very early because of the stress of hearing the silly questions that go with having your seventh baby.
At the end of the pregnancy I started feeling pretty miserable. My pelvis ached a lot. This made it fairly difficult to walk. I’m also not used to being pregnant in the heat, as most of my kids were born in the very late fall or winter. So it all took some getting used to for me.
At my last prenatal visit, on Monday, I was 12 days past my due date. Seeing as all of my babies, even the twins, were born past their due date, we were not too concerned. The biggest complication was that the baby had turned to a posterior position. This meant that the hardest part of the baby’s head was pressing against my sacrum and back. Then my air conditioner went out!
I was so upset. I totally lost it. Poor Kevin took me out to dinner at nearly 10 p.m. that night to get me into a cool place for awhile. I was so upset and my back really hurt. I cried and whined a lot. He just smiled, held my hand and told me that he loved me no matter what I chose to do. We went to bed with the fan on high and my spirits really low.
The next morning I decided that we should all go to work and be cool and forget about being pregnant. I also thought about what a negative attitude I had and thought about calling a friend of mine in another state, knowing she’d give me an attitude adjustment that I needed. I drove Isaac to camp and Benjamin came with me to work. Hilary was watching the younger girls at home. As I drove through Starbucks at 8:30 a.m. I had a really sharp pain. I assumed it was because the baby was posterior. Though I did briefly wonder if it was the start of something else.
Once at work, I got busy. Benjamin went to the back to read and play games. Every now and then I’d have a sharp pain, again I figured it was a kick or due to the baby’s position. I’d yelp. The patients in the waiting room gave me weird looks. I’d loudly apologize and explain I was 12 days past my due date. They just stared.
