On april 10 2017 I found out that I was pregnant. I couldn’t believe it, that week I did 4 pregnancy tests and I still could not believe it. I wanted to become a mom since I can remember. The moment when it really hit me was at the first echo 2 weeks later, when we saw a little tiny dot and heard a heartbeat.
I took a test because I was a week late, that was the only reason. I told my boyfriend that same evening. A week later I made an appointment for an echo. The echo took place at 7 weeks, so of course there wasn’t much there and they had to look for the heartbeat. I was so happy at that moment.
Since I took the first test, the morning sickness came. At first it wasn’t that bad, but 2 weeks after the echo, it got so much worse that I couldn’t hold anything in, even a tiny sip of water would come out almost instantly. So we called the emergency service from the hospital and my boyfriend had to go to the pharmacy. The medicine they gave him did not work. This was on a saturday and sunday. That monday I went to my doctor and they gave me some other medicine. Also didn’t work. On tuesday we went again and they send me to the hospital, because I was dehydrated.
I was in the hospital for 5 days. They did blood tests everyday, got multiple echo’s, saw a dietician and they said that I had something called Hyperemesis Gravidarum, really bad pregnancy nausea. They also saw gallstones, but they didn’t think that the galstones were the issue. They send me home when I could eat and keep the food in. Finally got some nausea pills that worked and things slowly got better.
I was home for 1 week and then went on the planned vacation. During that week the nausea got slowly worse, I’ve even ran outside when we were going to eat in a restaurant, I could not stand the smell xD By this point, pretty much all of our direct family and friends knew already, some guessed and we told some. On thursday I felt more nausea than the days before and on friday we went home, because of the end of our holiday.
On Saturday and Sunday the nausea got extreme again. I waited to go to the doctor on monday, because we had a regular appointment at the obstetrician, our baby didn’t want to cooperate and because I was so sick, they said to get the echo at the hospital. So we called the doctor’s office and they sent me to the emergency service again, so I was in the hospital again for 5 days. So another run of bloodtests, echo’s and again the same dietician. This time our baby was at the right angle and they saw that we were a few days further than we thought. I was really bummed, because we passed the 12 week mark and I was looking forward to that day. Something I wanted to do, but I’ve never got to do because of the entire situation, was coming up with a fun idea to tell people. In all this time I’ve losted a total of 17 kilos (I’ve gained some between hospital stays).
After that, I’ve finally gotten some medication that worked. Felt the first little kicks at 15-16 weeks, it felt like air bubbles and some said that it probably weren’t kicks, but I’m still sure that it was. Almost all of the nausea disappeared around 20 weeks. Untill the echo at around 20 weeks, everything was normal again, I was tired, had a craving in something that I couldn’t eat. We found out we were having a boy, I kinda freaked out about that, because I never saw myself as a boys mom and still don’t see myself that way xD We were quick with names and we stuck with them. The furniture were already put together before 20 weeks xD And I was having fun to buy clothes and stuff. And loving keeping the gender a secret, which was really difficult for me, but I stuck to it, till 36 weeks xD
A few weeks later I had to do a sugar test, which was not eating since 12pm, a super sweet drink that you get at the hospital, you have to wait for 2 hours and than they do a bloodtest. I made sure that I got at the hospital around 8am xD You have to wait for the results. So I thought that I would get the result at the next appointment at the obstetrician, which was the following week. But that weekend I got a very thick envelop, saying that I had pregnancy diabetes and some appointments that were already made. It scared me, because I expected that If I didn’t hear it from my obstetrician, they would at least call.
The appointments were on the same day as my appointment at the obstetrician, so I called on monday if they could move it, because the hospital planned it in a way I could never get to all of them. I also had to make sure that I got the day of, which we normally have to do two weeks in advance. On tuesday was a very busy day, I had three appointments at the hospital and the obstetrician got moved a few hours later. The first appointment was a lecture on what it was and what we needed to do. The second was a meeting with a dietician, at this point I was tired of them. The third appointment was about the equipment, which contained needles (one of my biggest fears is needles by the way). So I needed to calculate the carbs from everything I ate and had to stick to certain amounts of carbs during each meal. I needed to do multiple tests on one day every week, e-mail the results and sometimes do one day extra, untill the end of my pregnancy and 6 weeks after the birth also one day. I’ve lost some more weight, because I normally eat a lot of carbs.
Around 30 weeks I had another echo, and they were worried about the growth of our babyboy. So 2 weeks later I had another echo and they said that he was a little too small. This could mean that they were tinking about inducing and 4 appointments every week. Twice a week to the hospital for scans and echo’s. In the end they planned to induce at 38 weeks.
I was 36 weeks pregnant when my mom wanted to go shopping on a saturday, which usually only happens on wednesday (the day we both are free from work xD) and I knew that one of my sister inlaws already asked my boyfriend in the beginning if I would have liked a babyshower, he said I hated surpises, which is true, so I was happy that she also said it to me and I said that I would love that, but only if I at least knew that one was coming and that it would be with only a few people. So my mom made an excuse to pick up my little sister and when we came to my house, the curtains were closed and I just knew it. At that point I could not keep my mouth shut with all the baby stuff and told that it was going to be a boy. We did some fun games and I got lots of presents for my baby, but also lots of things for myself and that was the bigger surprise than the actual babyshower.
I was exactly 38 weeks pregnant and we had to be in the hospital early in the morning and the next day our baby boy Jax was born. I’ve already posted the birth story. But I think that my pregnancy story is more important, because so much happened and most stories are about the birth and easier pregnancy’s.
By now my son is almost 3 and a year after my pregnancy I got a surgery for the removal of my gall bladder. By now I also know that I have an underactive thyroid, which I probably have had at least since puberty but could be all my life. The thyroid was probably the reason that my son was so small. But it was working quicker during pregnancy which was probably 1 of 3 reasons why I was so nauseous, the other 2 being the regular pregnancy nausea and the gallstones.