By guest blogger Lea
I was 25 and had just gotten out of an extremely abusive relationship. I hooked up with someone who was only 5’6″ and 120 lbs thinking that if it came down to it I could protect myself. Come to find out he was popping holes in the condoms. I found out I was pregnant at 6 weeks. I spent two weeks throwing up every day at least 405 times a day before it struck me what could have happened. I took 6 store bought tests and all of them came back negative. So I finally decided to go to the health department. They did a urine test that came back negative, but things weren’t lining up so they did a blood test. It came back that I was pregnant. I immediately got myself insurance and found an OBGYN. My OB was my mom’s OB when she had my baby brother and had delivered most of my cousins. He was someone I trusted and still do.
This is LeAnn 1 hour after I had her. She seemed so tiny. Measuring 21 inches long and weighing 7lbs 14ozs.
Other than vomiting 4-5 times every day up until the day I had her. I worked as an overnight stocker at Walmart. I lost 72 lbs in total with my pregnancy. The day I went into labor I was at work. On the way to the hospital we were side-swiped. Luckily we were at the corner of the hospital. I went in and they said I was in active labor, but I was only 35 weeks pregnant. They couldn’t stop it so they decided to go ahead and let it go. I dilated to a 4 and stopped. I was having major contractions, but my body wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. The on call OB went ahead and put in a Cervidil and put me on Pitocin. Worst thing that ever could have been done to me. I never progressed passed 4 cm, and the Pitocin sent me into “hyper-labor”. I had gone in saying I didn’t want drugs. I wanted a natural child birth. But my contractions were coming every 30 seconds. At this point I stopped remembering anything. My mom told me that my daughter’s heart rate became erratic. The nurses would come rushing in and would kick my family out. They would flush my system until the baby was doing ok again. Then they would begin the Pitocin again. This happened at least 10 times. I finally begged for relief. They gave me the waivers to sign for an epidural.
4 days old getting her first bath at home
After waiting who knows how long he came in and gave me the epidural. They let my mom stay in the room. She was the one that I hugged while they gave me the shot. As soon as the drugs hit my system my heart stopped. I collapsed against my mom. The nurses came rushing back in and flushed my system. They got my heart started again. My OB came in and checked me. He said that the baby was lodged in the birth canal. Her head was wedged against my pelvic bone and told my mom that I had to have an emergency c-section.
LeAnn the all mighty GRUMP! She still has this look to this day
My mom called my dad telling him they were taking me back in 15 minutes after they unhooked me from everything, shaved me, and did what they needed to do to move me. My dad made a 45 minute drive in 15 minutes. He came in as they were wheeling me to the O.R. He kissed my forehead and told me everything would be ok and that he loved me (my dad is NOT an affectionate man. As far as I can remember he’s never told me he loved me or shown me any sign of affection). They wheeled me back, gave me some gas in a mask. I remember them saying I would feel tugging on my body but nothing else. I remember a nurse lying across my rib cage while the tugging continued. It seemed like forever before they said that she was here. She was handed off and taken out to my family while they checked my insides to make sure everything was ok and sewed me up. My mom told me that when they wheeled me back in there was no one home. My eyes were open, I would answer questions, but that it was like I was on auto-pilot. There was no feeling in my voice, my eyes were empty. I was like this for hours before I finally start to come to.
Happy LeAnn is the best LeAnn EVER!
It has been 5 years since I had my daughter and to this day I cannot remember most of what happened. I feel sad and bad that I cannot remember. Every year on our birthdays my mom tells “The Story of _____”. I cannot do this for my daughter as I cannot remember.
She was breastfed the first 6 months of her life. She never latched right. I approached her pediatrician about it. Told him it did not feel like she was latching properly and after doing some of my own research I felt she might be tongue tied. He ignored me and told me it was because of my breast size. 3 years later she had to see a specialist about her ears and tonsils and he asked if I knew she was tongue tied. I tried my hardest to breastfeed. She ended up with what her pediatrician described as “breastfed jaundice”. He said she wasn’t getting enough milk, so I tried pumping, but I was only getting a single ounce or two at the very most. So we finally ended up switching to formula.
I swore up and down that if I got pregnant again things would go differently … and they did. They went much much worse but even from that horrible experience I now have a beautiful wonderful little boy who makes every day a fun experience.
This is LeAnn on October 5th at my wedding to her soon to be adoptive father. She was cold so she is wrapped in my shawl, and she was holding my bouquet for me to be a big helper. She is 48 inches tall, weighs 46 pounds. She is at the top 98 percentile for her age category for her height. She is extremely intelligent. She has a great sense of humor. She is a girly girl to my tom boy. She is the ultimate princess.
