NaughtyAngel

Sorry about the long post but there is nothing that gets a proud mommy rambling like asking about the baby or pregnancy experience. ;c)

For me, I didn't have any real signs of pregnancy in the beginning. At least, none that I recognizes as being pregnant. I've always had an irregular cycle so when I went two months without a period, I didn't think twice but when the third month came along, it finally dawned on me that there could be something going on and got an OTC test. So I was three months pregnant before I even realized that I was.
I've always felt that I was born to be a mommy so this was incredibly good news to me. My husband.. well, he was a bit more apprehensive but finally decided that it wasn't such a bad thing.

I'm a very girlie-girl and wanted a little girl that I could buy frilly little dresses for and put little ringlet ponytails in her hair. And I really didn't want a little boy like the ones who lived in our apt. complex who seemed not to have concern for anyone but themselves. I apologize for the sexism, but it at least seemed to me that boys were far less polite.
Everyone thought I was going to have a girl. And I thought so, too, although I knew that my prejudices affected it. To be quite honest, I was concerned that if I did have a boy, I couldn't love him as much as I would love a little girl.
Not to ruin the suspense, but I did end up with a boy after all. And now I wonder how I could even think like that. Even thinking about something happening to him is like thinking of having one of my limbs hacked off. He's as much a part of me as any extremity.

Because we thought we were having a girl, we spent a lot of time deliberating girl's names. But the boys name came quite quickly and we never questioned it. The day that I took the pregnancy test, my husband was out of town. Certainly I didn't want to break the news over the phone but I had to tell SOMEONE! So I went to visit my mom. After the excitement died down, we were sitting watching television and something with Liam Neeson came on. My mom said, "I like that name." I said, "So do I." And that was pretty much it. Besides, my husband's family has a middle name tradition... all firstborn sons have the middle name Pringle. And it worked with that.

I made it through without much morning sickness... of course, I didn't even know I was pregnant the first trimester when it is most prevalent so I just chalked it up to other things when I did have it. I did have cravings but nothing terribly bizarre. I mostly craved ice cream cones. I had to have one EVERY DAY! ;c) And meat. I'm not a big meat eater and I never was a fan of steak but suddenly during the pregnancy I just wanted hunks of dead things on my plate.

The pregnancy itself was a little rough. I developed high blood pressure during it and had to spend a lot of time in bed and doctor's offices. At about seven months, they were still having trouble getting my blood pressure down so I was admitted to the hospital for monitored bedrest. While there, they discovered that Liam was low on amniotic fluid and it was causing the cord to kink. They decided to induce labor.
It didn't work as well as we'd hoped, though. After just a short while and a couple of contractions, there was a large heart rate deceleration and it was decided that the baby was in an emergent state so it was off to the OR for a C-Section.
All in all a scary situation but it's all worked out very well.

Liam was born extremely healthy considering the conditions he was under and the fact that he was two months premature. He never needed help breathing or had any heart troubles. He had a touch of jaundice and ended up staying in the NICU for three weeks because he was having trouble nippling, not uncommon for preemies.

He is 19 months now (17 months adusted) and we do have some concerns about his developmental health, but nothing severe. He is a smart boy and ahead of his chronological age in some things but is behind his adjusted age in others such as speech. Kids grow and learn at their own rate but we will be having him checked out for SID (Sensory Integration Disorder... something he has shown symptoms of) or other possible causes.

Phshew! That was a lot of rambling!

Anyhow, I'll be keeping you in my thoughts for your impending pregnancy! It is such a true joy, both the pregnancy and the outcome. I hope that you will have the experience very soon!

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Millions de baisers,
=*=Angel