Mark was away on a work trip when I began to suspect something was up. I waited until he got back home and shared with him what I thought was going on. We waited several more days to actually take a pregnancy test to confirm what I already knew in my heart. The evening before we were to fly to Colorado to spend a week with Mark's family for vacation, I took the test. The result came up immediately. We were going to have a baby!
We decided right away to keep the news of our expanding family to ourselves for the time being. We both needed time to process the huge change that was to come. We flew out to Colorado and had a wonderful vacation with this secret between just the two of us. Changes to my body happened right away. At first I attributed how I was feeling to the climate change of Colorado. But now looking back I can see that little Zach was making his presence felt even though he was only the size of a poppy seed at that point. I was so hungry and already getting up in the night to go to the bathroom. These conditions would remain with me for the duration of my pregnancy.
A few more weeks went by and I began to feel sick. Certain foods and drinks started tasting weird. Some smells really bothered me. I did not have morning sickness. I had all day sickness. Different remedies offered little or no relief. Eating some crackers before getting out of bed, sea sickness wristbands, and drinking tea, did not really do much to make me feel better. Popsicles were the only thing that seemed to work and I craved them all the time. Finally, after about 4 months, the sick feeling abated and I felt almost normal.
At 10 weeks Mark and I told our families that our family would grow by one. On my side of the family, Zach is grandchild number 11 and on Mark's side, he is the #1 grandkid. They were of course thrilled and very happy for us. At about 12 weeks it became "Facebook official" that we were going to have a baby and our secret was totally out. Which was good because I wasn't fitting into my pants anymore so I was glad to have a good explanation.
Even before I got pregnant with Zach, I knew that I did not want to find out the gender of the baby until the actual birth day. After waiting so long to have a child, I wanted the whole experience. I wanted that moment of declaration after months of anticipation and excitement and hard work. At 20 weeks I had my ultrasound and was still firm in this decision. Mark was very supportive and like myself, was thoroughly amazed at the pictures produced by the ultrasound machine.
By the third trimester, if there was a medical reason for another ultrasound, I would have totally changed my mind on the whole "not finding out the gender thing". I couldn't wait to find out if the baby I was preparing a gender neutral nursery for was a boy or a girl. Time was slowing down and speeding up at the same time. I was getting big. Like, really big. My doctor was all "You might want to cut down on the desserts." And I was all, "Lay off me! I'm starving!" Doctors appointments were becoming more frequent and even though at this point I had heard the baby's heartbeat several times, it was still amazing and easily my favorite part of the pregnancy. Well, that, and no headaches. That was pretty awesome, too.
My due date of February 28th came and went. I hadn't felt any contractions, not even Braxton Hicks ones. It was now the beginning of March and there was still snow on the ground so I started walking the stairs to try to get my little bundle of joy moving in the right direction. I went to yet another doctor's appointment on March 2nd. While I was there my water broke. I was able to drive myself back home, call Mark at work so he could drive me back to the hospital, and gather all my stuff for my hospital stay. We got all checked in and settled into our room. And then we waited and waited and waited some more. My water had broken but I wasn't actually in labor. Pitocin was started but that didn't do much the first day. The second day my contractions really started to hurt but I still wasn't progressing. In my birth plan I had said I wanted to try and have a natural birth, as in no painkillers. After being on pitocin for two days and only dialating 1.5 centimeters I wanted the drugs. I got a morphine shot that made me super loopy. Finally after three days, the doctor came in and said the baby is not coming down straight, you are not dialating and your water broke a long time ago. We need to do a c-section. I was disappointed. I didn't know why my body wasn't doing what it was supposed to do. But at the same time, I was relieved that my baby would be born soon.
I was prepped for surgery and wheeled into the o.r. It didn't take long for the doctor to declare, "It's a boy!" Zachary Quentin Snyder was a perfect 7 pounds, 12 ounces and 20 inches long. Just like that, I wasn't pregant anymore. I was a mother. And that's the memory that makes all the other pregnancy memories fade into the background. And that is why when people ask are you going to have another, I always say "Definitely. Maybe not right now, but soon : ).
By God's Grace,
Kirsten
We decided right away to keep the news of our expanding family to ourselves for the time being. We both needed time to process the huge change that was to come. We flew out to Colorado and had a wonderful vacation with this secret between just the two of us. Changes to my body happened right away. At first I attributed how I was feeling to the climate change of Colorado. But now looking back I can see that little Zach was making his presence felt even though he was only the size of a poppy seed at that point. I was so hungry and already getting up in the night to go to the bathroom. These conditions would remain with me for the duration of my pregnancy.
A few more weeks went by and I began to feel sick. Certain foods and drinks started tasting weird. Some smells really bothered me. I did not have morning sickness. I had all day sickness. Different remedies offered little or no relief. Eating some crackers before getting out of bed, sea sickness wristbands, and drinking tea, did not really do much to make me feel better. Popsicles were the only thing that seemed to work and I craved them all the time. Finally, after about 4 months, the sick feeling abated and I felt almost normal.
At 10 weeks Mark and I told our families that our family would grow by one. On my side of the family, Zach is grandchild number 11 and on Mark's side, he is the #1 grandkid. They were of course thrilled and very happy for us. At about 12 weeks it became "Facebook official" that we were going to have a baby and our secret was totally out. Which was good because I wasn't fitting into my pants anymore so I was glad to have a good explanation.
Even before I got pregnant with Zach, I knew that I did not want to find out the gender of the baby until the actual birth day. After waiting so long to have a child, I wanted the whole experience. I wanted that moment of declaration after months of anticipation and excitement and hard work. At 20 weeks I had my ultrasound and was still firm in this decision. Mark was very supportive and like myself, was thoroughly amazed at the pictures produced by the ultrasound machine.
By the third trimester, if there was a medical reason for another ultrasound, I would have totally changed my mind on the whole "not finding out the gender thing". I couldn't wait to find out if the baby I was preparing a gender neutral nursery for was a boy or a girl. Time was slowing down and speeding up at the same time. I was getting big. Like, really big. My doctor was all "You might want to cut down on the desserts." And I was all, "Lay off me! I'm starving!" Doctors appointments were becoming more frequent and even though at this point I had heard the baby's heartbeat several times, it was still amazing and easily my favorite part of the pregnancy. Well, that, and no headaches. That was pretty awesome, too.
My due date of February 28th came and went. I hadn't felt any contractions, not even Braxton Hicks ones. It was now the beginning of March and there was still snow on the ground so I started walking the stairs to try to get my little bundle of joy moving in the right direction. I went to yet another doctor's appointment on March 2nd. While I was there my water broke. I was able to drive myself back home, call Mark at work so he could drive me back to the hospital, and gather all my stuff for my hospital stay. We got all checked in and settled into our room. And then we waited and waited and waited some more. My water had broken but I wasn't actually in labor. Pitocin was started but that didn't do much the first day. The second day my contractions really started to hurt but I still wasn't progressing. In my birth plan I had said I wanted to try and have a natural birth, as in no painkillers. After being on pitocin for two days and only dialating 1.5 centimeters I wanted the drugs. I got a morphine shot that made me super loopy. Finally after three days, the doctor came in and said the baby is not coming down straight, you are not dialating and your water broke a long time ago. We need to do a c-section. I was disappointed. I didn't know why my body wasn't doing what it was supposed to do. But at the same time, I was relieved that my baby would be born soon.
I was prepped for surgery and wheeled into the o.r. It didn't take long for the doctor to declare, "It's a boy!" Zachary Quentin Snyder was a perfect 7 pounds, 12 ounces and 20 inches long. Just like that, I wasn't pregant anymore. I was a mother. And that's the memory that makes all the other pregnancy memories fade into the background. And that is why when people ask are you going to have another, I always say "Definitely. Maybe not right now, but soon : ).
By God's Grace,
Kirsten
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