Category: Pregnancy

Pregnancy · Pregnancy After Loss Miniseries

Pregnancy After Loss Miniseries: Viability

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It’s been a little while since I published a post on here, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had plenty of thoughts as we’ve traveled the sometimes smooth, sometimes bumpy road of pregnancy after loss.  Recently, I mentioned to a friend that I had a lot to say about this journey – but not really enough on any one subject to create a blog post.  She suggested that I publish a miniseries, so that’s what I’m going to do.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting shorter (but more frequent) blog posts on a variety of pregnancy after loss topics.  First up, viability:

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Pregnancy

The Anatomy Scan

Becca Schmitz4 Comments

The anatomy scan has been one of the largest sources of anxiety for me this pregnancy.  As I’ve mentioned before, to most people this is just the “gender ultrasound”, but there was a lot more hinging on this ultrasound than just that for us.   There’s a lot of important measurements taken, and for us, this was our first glimpse at whether this baby was growth-restricted or not (at least at this point).

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Pregnancy

18 Weeks and a HELLP Scare

Becca Schmitz4 Comments

Over the past week, I’ve been dealing with some upper right quadrant pain.  If you’ve had preeclampsia or HELLP syndrome, you know that upper right quadrant pain is a hallmark of the disease.  If you have preeclampsia, you’re constantly being asked about your upper right quadrant, as that will often indicate an escalation to HELLP.  I made another call to the nurse line, and since I was at a stage where HELLP would’ve been really rare, they suggested alternatives – watching my fat intake (if it was my gallbladder) and trying Zantac (if it was indigestion).  The Zantac did help some other symptoms I’d been having, but the upper right quadrant pain wouldn’t go away.  I called back today, and, due to my medical history, they were able to get me in to the doctor within the hour.  I am so grateful for a care team that takes my concerns seriously.

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Pregnancy

A Call Log After Loss

Becca SchmitzLeave a comment

Pregnancy after loss is a trip.  If you haven’t been there, you probably don’t get the mental acrobatics that I go through on a daily basis.  Today, I’m offering a glimpse into this mental state via a list of reasons I’ve called the nurse line, on-call OB, or sent a medical message during my first 16 weeks of pregnancy.

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Life After Loss · Pregnancy

14 Week Review

Becca Schmitz3 Comments

If you’re friends with me on Facebook, or follow me on Instagram, you already know that we’re expecting baby #2 this fall.  I’ve been pretty quiet about it, and it feels good to now be at a point where I’m comfortable enough to talk about it.  Emphasis on enough.  As of yesterday, we crossed the 14 week mark, and I want to catch you all up on these first few weeks.  I know the blog post title is a bit inaccurate.  It’s really a review of our first 11 weeks, since we found out we were expecting at 3+1.  Yeah, I know, that’s early, but if you know me at all, you know I am that kind of person.

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Life After Loss · Pregnancy

The Trauma of HELLP

Becca Schmitz4 Comments

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past 10 months processing the trauma of losing Brady.  Weekly appointments with a therapist, grief support groups, grief hours, journaling, and, of course, blogging.  Losing a child is a horrific, unnatural kind of loss.  Even if I you haven’t experienced it yourself, I probably don’t have to tell you this.  What I have started to realize is that I haven’t scratched the surface of processing some of the other traumas I’ve experienced.  The fact that a significant date is looming, less than 2 months away, is making this all the more clear.

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Brady John · Pregnancy

A Year Ago (Roughly)

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Of course I’d miss it by a day.  I’m just not that organized, and I guess I never noted the exact date in my mind.  August 8th, 2016 was the day that we found out I was pregnant with Brady.  One year and one day ago.

I might not have burned that date into my mind, but I do have a lot of memories of that day.  I remember driving home from work, noting that I was out of pregnancy tests and deciding to stop and get some.  Tomorrow would be the day that I could take a test after the two-week wait.  After the first couple of months of just winging it, we’d gotten strategic this month.  The pressure was on.

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Brady John · Life After Loss · Pregnancy

Preparing for the Future

Becca Schmitz2 Comments

With everything that happened with my pregnancy with Brady, we had a lot of questions about what future pregnancies would look like, and whether we would be willing to take on the risks associated with any future pregnancies.  We had always been hopeful we could find a way to reduce our risks and still be able to have children in the future.  I mean, who wouldn’t want to make more babies with this stud?

     

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Brady John · Pregnancy

Brady John: Happy Birthday!

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Sunday started out like any other day, well, besides being on day 4 of our hospitalization.  Due to my sassiness the night before, and my hesitation at staying longer in the hospital, Dr. Pates had requested that Dr. Wagner round with me first that morning.  Jeff had to leave early that morning to deal with our cable hookup at the new place (#priorities) so my mom had come by to hang out with me.

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Brady John · Pregnancy

Brady John: Two Days of Monitoring, and Then I’m Out, Right?

Becca Schmitz4 Comments

When we last met up, I talked about heading to the hospital for monitoring since the flow to Brady wasn’t looking good all the time.  We’re going to call our little man “Brady” from here on out.  In the last week or so of my pregnancy, Jeff and I had started calling him Brady, since we knew that’s what we wanted to name him.  Friends had cautioned me against this, just in case he didn’t come out looking like the name.  What can I say?  I don’t like following the rules! Continue reading “Brady John: Two Days of Monitoring, and Then I’m Out, Right?” →