35 Weeks With Baby #4 Update
Hey friends! It’s been a while since I’ve come on here to just do a life update, so while I still have the strength and capacity left in me I thought I’d let you all in on life with 3 littles and one on the way; especially as we near the end of this pregnancy has been. I’ve had a lot of people check in on me in the last week asking how I’m holding up and truth be told, things have been a little topsy turvey over here.
If you’ve been following me for a long time or if you’ve just recently started following me, you may have seen me make mention of my “early end of pregnancy normal.” We aren’t really sure why that is, but for some reason my body just doesn’t do a very good job of holding the baby’s in till 40 weeks; every since I had my first baby at 36 weeks they have all pretty much followed suit in that way as well. When I got pregnant with my third baby the midwives and I got smart and I started taking progesterone suppositories to slow down my every increasing contractions (that usually begin around 17-18 weeks). When I went this route with that pregnancy we definitely saw a huge benefit and were able to keep her in till 37 weeks, 6 days! Although she did make quite a name for herself when she decided she almost wanted to be born in the car! You can read her full birth story [HERE].
So when it came to this pregnancy, the decision to get back on progesterone suppositories was simple. I saw the incredible benefit with my last pregnancy and wanted to keep this baby in as long as possible! At 16 weeks you start taking the suppositories and you do so until your 36 weeks, after that they want to see a natural progression of events. However, for me this time around I’ve noticed a slight difference in my body even while taking the progesterone and that’s where this little update is coming from. About 2 weeks ago, I started noticing an increase in my Braxton Hicks contractions (definitely not uncommon for a woman going on her fourth pregnancy but definitely something worth noting). In the coming days after that I began to notice a significant amount of shifting happening in my lower groin and back. I brushed it off like most moms do and continued with the mindset that all was well.
But on Wednesday of last week I woke up to some extremely crampy contractions coming every 2 minutes for 2 hours straight. I waited it out as long as I could, doing all the “tricks” I had learned throughout my years of “false labor” signs and finally got them to space out and eventually leave. After that things just weren’t the same. I could feel another significant shift happening and pain beginning to form in places that you just don’t want paint to subside!
The next night I had a very similar event happen and decided that if all turned out by the next morning I would call in to get some monitoring done at the doctors. After being there for a while and seeing no real intense movements they decided to do an internal exam to make sure things weren’t progressing too too quickly. I was reassured when they told me I was about 1 1/2 cm dilated and 60% effaced (definitely nothing to raise concern about) however with the accompanying symptoms (cramping, pressure, back pain) they were a little more leery to let me walk away.
Long story short, when I had my son at 36 weeks he was immediately rushed to the NICU for having underdeveloped lungs and we soon found out that that often is the case for caucasian boys born early. Knowing that history, they decided it would be best to give me a set of steroid injections to help develop his lungs in-utero so that way if he was born within the next couple weeks, he would have a greater likelihood of having mature lungs! This definitely put my mind at rest as I feel the end is nearing very quickly.
The last couple nights have been very sleepless with again, very active, very consistent contractions, preparing me for the big day!
I know this is not like a typical blog post entry for me and basically as I write this I am falling asleep but I would so so appreciate your prayers over this baby boy! Ultimately I know God has the very perfect timing for this little guys arrival. And as eager as I am to meet him, I just want him to remain healthy and strong. I can’t thank my friends and family enough for coming around us during this transition and giving us the support we need. We feel so blessed by our community!
If you haven’t already be sure to check out my latest “Must Have Baby Essentials” post [HERE] and be on the look out for part 2 of that series coming later this week!
Thanks again everyone for always coming to support my little corner of the internet!
xoxo, Tessa
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