Hannah Faith's Pregnancy and Birth Story

Hannah Faith Wills

Pregnancy and Birth Story

My dearest little Hannah Faith,

It’s July 10, 2011, and only two days ago on July 8^th, you came into this world three weeks early. I’m writing this letter to you so that you will know the details surrounding my pregnancy with you and your birth.  I’m sure you’ll ask questions about this when you are older, and I’m sure by then I will have forgotten a lot of what occurred; thus, here are the facts. 

I prayed for you dearly!  I wanted Beth to be a big sister, but more than that, your daddy and I desperately wanted another baby.  We knew that God wanted this for us too.  Even after the loss of our Angel Baby – a miscarriage I suffered in August 2010 – I knew God still wanted us to have another child.  So as Hannah prayed for Samuel in the bible, so I prayed for you.  And out of that faith, I discovered in November 2010 that I was expecting you.  And yes, “Faith” is your middle name because of this, but “Hannah” was out of pure coincidence – it was one of only a few names your daddy and I could agree on. J 

Early pregnancy with you foreshadowed how difficult the road to your birth was going to be. I was nauseous early on in the pregnancy and way into the 2^nd trimester.  In addition to the nausea, I had morning sickness a whole lot more with your pregnancy than I ever did with your big sister Beth.  Both the nausea and the sickness weren’t as extreme as some mommies have it, but it was definitely something I had a hard time functioning with. 

The 2^nd trimester brought with it early heartburn, fatigue, and a quick weight gain.  I have put on as many pounds with you as I did with your big sister (50 pounds), but because of the nausea and sickness in the 1^st trimester, during this time in my pregnancy is where I gained most of that weight.   I could finally eat, and despite the heartburn, I ate!  Zantex 75 and Tums became my best friends.

The 3^rd trimester signaled the beginning of medical problems that would prompt the doctor to eventually take you via c-section at only 37 weeks old.  First, I was diagnosed with maternal tachycardia – a racing heart.  This made it very difficult to breathe and also made me very sleepy the last weeks of my pregnancy with you.  Then, I suffered from severe bleeding due to constipation and hemorrhoids.  You probably didn’t want to know about this symptom of your mommy’s, but these issues concerned Dr. B – my OB/GYN – greatly.  It was putting more stress on my body than I needed with tachycardia - not to mention it was the second worse case of these conditions she had ever seen.  And after a very disturbing and stressful trip to the colon and rectal doctor, we moved your c-section date from the planned 39 weeks date of July 25^th to July 12^th (37 weeks and 4 days). 

The movement of the c-section date may have saved your life.  And as your mommy doesn’t believe in coincidence, I truly trust that God orchestrated these things, watching over you and protecting you!  When I went in for my weekly appointment on July 8th at exactly 37 weeks, Dr. B did an ultrasound she may not have otherwise done but did to check on you before next week’s c-section.  Now during these types of scans, doctors like to check for four things.  Number one, they check to make sure your movements are good.  With this, there was no problem!  As I’ve told everyone, you LOVED to move around in your momma’s belly – a whole lot more than your big sis ever did!!  Number two, they check the placenta, and in your case, it looked more mature than 37 weeks.  This could mean decreased productivity thus decreasing energy to you.  As it turned out, it looks like that was the case because of the lack of the third thing doctors check to see if all is well with baby.  Number three, they check the amniotic fluid level.  Yours, she could instantly tell and measured, was low.  This was probably a result of the low productivity of the placenta and a small leak of fluid that your momma – me – hadn’t noticed.  Then finally, number four, they check to see if babies are practicing breathing inside momma.  In your case, she couldn’t get you to a point where she could check for this.  By the looks of things, your lungs were done practicing because you were conserving energy that you were no longer getting due to a mature placenta.  Dr. B advised your birthday be moved to that very night! 

And as I trust and love my doctor, I obliged and so did you!  I went in for a c-section that night.  Besides getting bad shakes from the epidural – a common side effect of that medicine – the c-section went well.   You were born perfect at 6 pounds 10 ounces and 19 inches long.  You have a full head of brown hair, and you came out of my belly screaming – something that made the doctors and your momma very happy!!!  You breathing was and is just fine, and everything about you was, well, PERFECT!     

I’m sitting in our recovery room now, two days later, typing this.  We may go home tomorrow, but it could be as much as four days we’ll have to spend here before I can take you home to your big sis.  The most important thing you need to know right now is that I love you – more than I ever thought possible! You are beautiful and my little miracle!!

Love,

Mommy