Topher's Pre-Birth Story, Part 1

Wow, this is my first post since my LAST maternity leave! I must apologize for completely neglecting the blog. I’d love to make a grandiose promise for future frequent blogging, but I know myself too well, and can only promise to do my best to update more. : ) I do however, want to get Topher’s birth story down in writing, which I plan to do in a series of several blogs. I must first start by saying that Topher is amazing, and worth everything you read from this point forward!

Before I can tell the actual birth story, I have to talk a bit about this pregnancy, or Topher’s pre-birth. The day I found out I was pregnant I was not exactly elated…I was shocked to say the least. First, I must admit that I am not the best with birth control pills. In the past if I missed one, I would simply take a double dose the next day. However, this go around I was breastfeeding our oldest son, Liam, who was around 10 months old. I was taking a low dose birth control, but if I missed a pill I couldn’t take a double dose because I was breastfeeding, so I simply missed it. Obviously, any smart person would realize that missed pills means increased likelihood of pregnancy. Somehow in my mind though the breastfeeding was like an added protection….ha! Anyways, two weeks before the positive pregnancy test we found out Liam was allergic to penicillin. He was battling multiple ear infections and the allergic reaction landed us at Cook Children’s hospital. Not fun. After that Liam got Hand, food, mouth disease from daycare. Also, not fun. I had just gotten through a 3 month battle of mono myself and for some reason was still feeling sluggish. So, because I had finally just started menstruating the month before (for the first time since Liam was born), I thought I’d take a pregnancy test just to rule that out as a reason for my continued exhaustion. Originally I was sure it was still the mono, but a doctor’s visit the week before told me that I was (finally) over it.

So, back to the test…the second I peed on the stick I swear I started to see the line telling me it was positive. Immediately I threw it down on the floor and covered it up with toilet paper, as if this would change the results. But no, when I finally gathered the courage to look again, there it was…positive. Then came the tears. Yes, tears. I just couldn’t see past my level of exhaustion and my current sick child, Liam. So through my tears I picked up the phone and called Will who was on his way home from work. He immediately heard my distress and thought that something was terribly wrong with Liam. When I was finally able to choke out that I was pregnant, Will couldn’t contain his laughter and laughed all the way home. At the time I didn’t see the humor in the situation!

The day after finding out we were pregnant, Liam got an infection in his hand, possibly a complication from the hand, foot, mouth disease. Either way his hand became very swollen requiring a second trip to Cook Children’s in two weeks. This time we were admitted and had to stay overnight for IV antibiotics. Liam is the kind of child who doesn’t make a fuss about much, so even though he was in the hospital he was happy and playing. In fact, he was so happy he played all night and we got absolutely zero sleep. Here’s a picture that was taken at about 2am.

Adorable, yes, but I have never been more tired! And a trip to the doctor for myself the next day verified that on top of everything else I had tonsillitis. I think Liam and I slept 24 hours straight once we were both home and in our own beds!

Overall, finding out I was pregnant with Topher was certainly dramatic. Little did I know drama was just meant to be a part of this pregnancy. Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll share more about Topher’s pre-birth story!