Every pregnancy has it's own challenges

I have never hidden the fact that I am a c-section mom.  In fact, I have never gone into labor with a full term baby.  With my first child the c-section was required when she was 2 weeks premature because I had no amniotic fluid left and she was breach.  Has she been able to wait that last two weeks perhaps she would have flipped around but because I was low on fluid there was no waiting allowed.

Each baby since has had it's own issues.  With Boog my brain started to shut down other organs to keep supplying him with what he needed.  With Will I had to be placed on medications to stop my stomache from emptying itself violently anytime I put anything in there.  Each time I did research on everything, constantly searching for the answers and the solutions to each problem and hoping to understand.  Do you know what I had never researched?  The consequences of my low amniotic fluid with Kiddo. 

At the time I had no way to research it.  I had no internet access and, if we are all being honest, the amount of information readily available on the web in 1999 was very limited.  In the years since there has always been the thought that it would do me no good to research and frighten myself about what could have happened.  For 12 years I have lived in blissfull ignorance.  That ignorance is no longer allowed.

Exactly two weeks ago I had my big ultrasound.  We were so excited.  My mother-in-law came up to watch the boys.  Kiddo was here to actually experience it.  The whole world seemed wonderful.

The tech was friendly and helpful.  She showed us the babies heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, etc.  She kept shaking my belly to try and get us better views of the little cuties face.  She explained where my placenta is attached, right on the back which is perfect for a c-section mommy.  She let us listen to the heartbeat.  She never once acted as though there were anything to worry about.

We all happily went to wait for the doctor.  We joked about possible baby names.  We talked about dinner and sun burns.  We had no cares or worries.  When the doctor came in he was very calm.  He told us how well the baby seemed to be developing.  He talked about how everything with the baby is right on track.  Then he nonchalantly mentioned that my amniotic fluid is low.  He told me to get plenty of rest and drink tons of water.  We all smiled and I promised to do just that.  We left with no worries.  It's just a little water, right?

That night I finally researched the causes and consequences of low amniotic fluid.  I also tried to look into how to combat it but apparently, if it isn't caused by a dehydrated mommy, there really isn't anything to be done.  What I did find scared me.  The list of possible causes is pretty short.  I could be dehydrated, I could have a tear in my amniotic sac, I could have placental abruption or the baby could have a blockage in the poor child's digestive system.  The solution for dehydration is obvious and often a tear in the sac will repair itself.  Otherwise, there is no fixing the issue.  The consequences are even scarier.  The baby uses the amniotic fluid to exercise the lungs and the digestive system.  If there isn't enough then that can cause dire consequences for those two systems. 

I immediately drank two bottles of water!  Over the course of the weekend I drank an entire flat of water.  Every second I was awake I had a drink in my hand.  I never knew rehydrating could seem so much like work.  I took my job to heart though.

The next Monday I had another ultrasound.  I was expecting the doctor to tell me that my fluid was completely normal now or that things were horrible.  I got something a little in the middle.  My fluid had gone up by 1 cm.  It is still about half of what it should be but at least it went up.  The doctor has me continuing to rest as much as possible and I am under orders to drink, drink, drink.  He is hopeful that when I go back in two and a half weeks my fluid will have continued to climb. 

I have constant prayers going up that that is the case.  I am doing my best to will that to be the case.  All that said I have to agree with my cousin.  "Is it too much to ask to have an easy pregnancy?"