New Moms, Old Moms, Young Moms, All Moms,
You understand that journey to motherhood. All of our stories are different. From our conception, to our pregnancies, to our birthing experience, to parenting styles.
But we all have things in common as well.
My Journey to Motherhood:
It started with a little surprise on a stick that told us YES we are pregnant. Thoughts all came pouring in. Is this real? Yes, yes it is real! Do I have a human being inside of me? Yes! Yes! Yes!!
Okay so prenatal vitamins - CHECK! Vitamin E oil - CHECK!
I think once you become pregnant your mind is flooded with emotions. You have questions - you google constantly. You wonder Will I be good at this? Am I doing everything right? Is my baby healthy? Am I healthy?
Usually most expect that they will have a completely normal pregnancy, and that everything will go as it should. We don't typically anticipate the negative, surely because we are so overjoyed with being pregnant!
My pregnancy was "normal" for the most part - starting with morning sickness for the first 3 months, the next 3 being that 'glowing i am so happy to be pregnant and I am finally "showing" & for the most part sickness no where to be found' and then came along my third not-so-normal trimester (3 months of misery) LOL.
I was diagnosed with Cholestasis. You have probably never heard of this before. It occurs in 1 /1000 pregnancies. If you are searching for information on it, the information is probably limited.
It started gradually - In my palms & feet. An itch, an unbearable itch. The kind that there was no relief for. First thing I tried was benadryl. The next thing I tried was a cream prescribed by my doctor. When none of that was working we did some blood work. & come to find out I surely had what they call "CHOLESTASIS of pregnancy"
That third trimester only got worse - The itching continued, and spread to my legs and arms. I itched every waking moment. I didn't sleep more than 2 hours at night. I was so unbelievably miserable. When my doctor told me that for the safety of my daughter I would need to be induced at 37 weeks - I was selfishly overjoyed that I would finally be put of my misery. Weeks upon weeks with no relief - an under the skin itch that even after itching & creating scabs all over my poor pregnant body - NO relief!
While doctors are slowly getting more information on this pregnancy phenomenon - I was given pills which attempted to control the over flow of bile salts in my blood- to keep my little one safe.
They say that if you had cholestasis with one pregnancy the likelihood that you will have it with your next is 75% - Yikes.
So that was my pregnancy - my experience.
At the end of it all - I ended up with a beautiful, healthy, bundle of JOY! My daughter was worth every moment of misery in that third trimester.
I am a regular - 5'2 - & some change - healthy person who ended up with a what might be considered 'not-so-normal' pregnancy. Every pregnancy is different.
What's your story?
