To really tell Sam’s birth story we have to travel back to February of 2008. I had a feeling that there wasn’t something right with my body. My body wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do and felt that it was time to make a doctor’s appointment to try to figure out what was going on. At first when I called my doctor they didn’t want to make an appointment they only wanted to give me some medicine that had worked in the past but I knew there was something more, and because I was persistent and probably really annoying they finally had me come in for blood work. Oh, I forgot to mention that it took three months of pestering the doctor before they had me come in. The blood work came back and I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, also known as PCOS. In short women with PCOS have a difficulties with fertility and their ovaries are chalked full of cysts.
After the diagnosis Matt and I decided that we were no longer going to prevent getting pregnant since we didn’t know how long it was going to take us to conceive. I was patient for about six months and then I became consumed. Matt kept on telling me that he knew it was going to happen and that I needed to just have faith. Whenever he would tell me this I would get SO angry, because he just did not understand that I KNEW we were never going to get pregnant and he just needed to let me be a pessimist. Well, I should have listened and trusted him because he was right!
In November of last year Matt and I decided that we felt that we were not going to get pregnant on our own and made another appointment with the doctor to explore our options. The doctor prescribed Clomid, a fertility drug, to help aide in the process. I feel that Clomid did not work the first two months because I was too consumed with getting pregnant and I wasn’t allowing God to work. We followed the directions from the doctor to a “T”. I wasn’t too surprised when the blood work came back that I did not ovulate so we decided to go for another round in December with a higher dose. This made me crazy. My hormones went through culture shock and I was an emotional wreck. During this time Matt and I had researched and found a fertility specialist and Matt added me to his insurance because his insurance paid a small portion of infertility treatments. Matt’s insurance required three rounds of Clomid before they would pay for any of an infertility specialist. I felt it was pointless and just one more hoop to jump through but we did it anyways. I felt like two rounds prior did not work so why would this one round? Because I felt that the round was pointless I requested the paperwork from the fertility doctor and filled it out and sent it back in. We finished the most intrusive paperwork, had my blood drawn to see if I ovulated, I didn’t, I wasn’t shocked, and I gave up. I decided that there was nothing more that I could do. I just had to wait for the fertility doctor to call and make an appointment and I could no longer “control” the situation. For the first time since February of the year prior I relaxed and gave everything to God, I knew that there was nothing more that I could do.
I was devastated but knew that there was a reason that Matt and I were going through all of this. By a fluke chance at the beginning of February I decided to take a pregnancy test, to this day I am still not too sure why I decided to. I was absolutely shocked when it came back positive, the doctor did say that I didn’t ovulate with the Clomid. Wow, God is good!!
For the most part I had a very normal pregnancy. I was actually really lucky and had a very small amount of morning sickness in the first trimester and had more in the second, but nothing that I couldn’t handle. At about 37 weeks I developed an itch that wouldn’t go away. Finally at 39 weeks I called my doctor to see if this was normal. They immediately send me to get blood work to test my liver enzymes. I asked the nurse what this meant and her reply was, “This could be very serious and if your enzymes come back high you are having a baby today.” I was slightly hoping that they were going to come back high because I was miserable. Literally from head to toe my entire body just itched. Well, my enzymes were normal and I was prescribed hydrocortisone cream, was told to take oatmeal baths up to four times a day, and to buy this special lotion. I felt like I was a walking grease ball. Over the weekend I used two tubes of hydrocortisone cream and the itching just continued to get worse. I had a doctor’s appointment that Tuesday and the doctor decided that I was going to be induced the next day, October 14th. I was both excited and scared but was so ready to stop itching. It wasn’t until that point that it became a reality that the next day my life was forever changing.
We went in at 6:00 am to start the induction process. I was a little naive with how painful being induced truly is. The nurse asked me when she was starting my iv if I wanted to have an epidural, I told her I was keeping my options open. At first the contractions were bearable. The doctor came in at 8:30 and broke my water and the contractions started to get tough. By 11 am I was ready for my epidural. To this day Rick the epidural man is still my hero. After the epidural I felt nothing up until they took it out after Sam was born. At around 7:15 pm I started to push and Samuel Lee Tilley entered the world at 7:59 pm. He weighed 7 pound 12 ounces and was 21 ½ inches long. To this day I get teary-eyed just thinking of the moment that the doctor laid him on my stomach, it was just perfect.
Matt isn't home to fix the upside down picture. Maybe one day it will be flipped!
I put Sam down for some tummy time, which he usually HATES, and he fell right asleep for 3 hours. At least I got a lot done around the house. I have tried this trick again and it hasn't worked.
Sam loves when his daddy gets home from work!
Hanging out with mom.
Too cute!
The first picture is of Sam at 1 week old, the second picture is of Sam at 1 month old. It is hard to believe that my baby is now 5 weeks almost 6 weeks old. I am sure when he is getting married I will be saying the same thing. Everyday it seems like he changes more and more.
Enjoying some mommy time.
Sam drying off after a bath.
Sam lounging around the house.
Sam hanging out with George at one week old.
Daddy reading some Dr. Suess to Sam.
Sam enjoying nap time.
Sam enjoying nap time on Daddy's chest.
Sam drying off after a bath.
Sam's new cousin Graham was born at 12:20 am on October October 23! Graham and mommy Emily are doing great. Sam can't wait to meet Graham!
Sam enjoying wake time with mommy.
Sam is 11 days old!!! He is growing up so fast. Mommy was a bit sad tonight when she discovered that he no longer fits into some of his newborn clothes. This outfit is 0 to 3 months and it fits him :(.
