My husband, Jake, and I met in September of 2009. We knew right away that we were meant to be and were going to get married someday. In 2014, Jake asked me to marry him and of course, I said yes! He already had a child from a previous relationship, but I wanted to have a child of my own and Jake wanted to try for another child. Soon after getting married in May of 2014, we decided it was time to start trying for our own child. We contacted our OBGYN to get things started.
Over the next few years, we had multiple negative pregnancy tests come back. I was put on Clomid to improve the chances but I still was not getting pregnant. Jake and I both went through testing to see if there was any medical reason why we were not able to get pregnant. Everything came back normal and I was put on 3-month cycle of birth control to try and see if that would help. Once again, after finishing the 3 months, we waited the next 6 months to see if we would be pregnant, but to our dismay things were not going the way we wanted.
Finally, in October of 2017, I started showing symptoms of pregnancy. I took a test and the line was very faint. I contacted my doctor a few days later to set up an appointment to confirm if I was pregnant. When I went to the doctor, I told him that I had been having some cramping. I was sent to do blood work right away. Unfortunately, I was told that I had a miscarriage. It was so hard for me to understand why I was having so many issues getting pregnant and not being able to carry a child when it seemed like so many people around me were having babies of their own. We did another round of Clomid to see if this would help, but it turned out to be another 3 months of mood swings, depression, fatigue and other side effects.
In the beginning of 2019, Jake had a fall that changed our lives. He had been walking out of work on an icy morning when he fell and messed his leg up severely. He had to go through 2 surgeries and a couple months of not moving his leg. Our plans for a baby were put on the back burner. We had stopped trying and moved forward with focusing on getting Jake back to good health. As time went on, he got better and his strength improved. In September of 2019, while we were out and about at the Apple Popcorn festival, we stopped by a garage sale that had puppies. We instantly fell in love with a husky puppy. We both agreed that since we were not having a child, at this time, that a puppy was a good fit for our family.
A few weeks later, I started experiencing abnormal symptoms. One of them was having my breast itch a lot! I googled reasons as to why they would be itching so much. I laughed when it said pregnancy. There was no way that I could be. We tried for so long only to have a miscarriage and multiple negative tests. I waited a few days, anxious that if I took a test, it would just be another let down. After I was about a week late, I decided to go ahead and take a test to rule out being pregnant. Much to my surprise, there were 2 lines on the test! I didn’t think it was right, so I took another test. Once again, 2 lines appeared. I showed them to Jake and we couldn’t believe it! We had just got a dog and now we are finally pregnant. I contacted my OBGYN and had an appointment that week to confirm. When we went in, I was so scared that I was going to go through another miscarriage, but the doctor confirmed I was pregnant! I was roughly 6 weeks along. They did an ultrasound and I saw my little “jelly bean”. Man was I shocked and nervous! Due to family history of miscarriages, I was told I would be seen more often. 3 weeks later, I went in for a checkup. We were given the option to have a genetic test done that would also tell us the gender of the baby. Sign me up! I was too excited to know what I was having. I wasn’t too worried about the genetics test due to if there was anything wrong, like down syndrome, I would still love my child the same. So, we got the test. I recall the week after the test was done, I started spotting. That is a sign of a miscarriage. I called the doctor and they had me come in the next day. Thankfully, everything was fine with the baby. We were called after the genetics test came back, and were told that we were going to be having a little girl! At 13 weeks, I was told that I needed to take it easy. I was seen by the doctor every 2-3 weeks.
In late December, Jake and I got very sick. Little did we know, we had Covid before Covid was actually known to be. I was super scared that something would happen, as I lost 14 pounds while being sick. At my 18-week appointment, I was told that our baby was measuring small. This increased the number of appointments to coming in every 2 weeks. Due to the very high numbers of Covid, I was told that only I could come to the doctor appointments, and for ultrasounds I could bring one person. I was put on bed rest, sent to a specialist, and had measurements taken every week and half. At my 20-week appointment, I was told that the fluid around the baby had gone down. At that point, I was told that if she didn’t grow more, I would most likely deliver at 34 weeks. I was admitted into the hospital at 28 weeks due to low movement, and low fluid. After 3 days in the hospital with lots of testing ran on me and my baby girl, I was sent home and told we were going to do appointments weekly, ultrasounds bi-weekly, and stress test every Friday. I was also given a shot to help her lungs develop, in case they were going to have deliver earlier than 34 weeks. Along with the other appointments with my doctor in Lafayette, I was also sent to a Riley doctor in Indy for checkups every 2 weeks. On June 5th, I went to Indy for my appointment. I was 33 weeks 6 days. As the nurse did the ultrasound, she paused and said she was going to go review with the doctor. At this point, I felt something was majorly wrong! Sure, enough there was something wrong. I was told by the doctor that I needed to deliver that day. My little girl was not getting enough oxygen through the umbilical cord. I was given the chance to deliver there or go back to Lafayette to deliver. Since Jake wasn’t with me, I told her was going to go back home to deliver in Lafayette. I contacted all my friends and family to cancel my baby shower which was supposed to be the next day, I grabbed my bag from the house and me and my husband headed to the hospital. When we got there, the doctors asked if we were going to deliver the baby naturally or via c-section. We felt it was best for her to be delivered by c-section, due to the doctor thinking she only weighted 2.14 lbs. Shortly after 5 pm, I was taken back to delivery. I was so scared that I was shaking. Next thing I knew, I heard the best sound ever, my baby girl crying! Charlotte was born weighing only 3 lbs., 3 oz! She was so tiny! They looked her over and said she was doing good. Amazingly, she didn’t even need oxygen! She was taken to the NICU while I was sent to recovery. She spent the next 4 weeks in the NICU. She was known in the NICU as the feisty one. Now she is 21 months old and is still small, but very smart. I’m very blessed to have my miracle rainbow baby.
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