And She Writes too

For me getting pregnant was easy, it was staying pregnant that was hard. In October 1995, just over a month after having my third miscarriage, I found out I was pregnant. Finding out I was pregnant at age 31 after years of trying and three miscarriages, I was thrilled but scared.

Standing in the bathroom, looking at the plus sign on the stick I just peed on, I ran through the house looking for someone to tell. It was in the middle of the day and my husband was in California on business. I began jumping up and down chanting, "I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant." I must have looked like a crazy woman because my cat ran under the bed. Suddenly, the phone rang, I answered, "I'm Pregnant." Thankfully the person on the other end was my sister and not some solicitor. My sister was so excited to hear the news that she hung up on me.

Now that I was pregnant, I was determined to stay that way. I quit working out, I was no longer running 2 miles a day. I changed my diet; ate more fruits and vegetables and cut out caffeine completely. There was no way I was going to loose this baby.

At each prenatal check up I prayed that the baby's heartbeat would be heard. As the baby grew in my womb, I memorized it's movements. And on Valentine's Day 1996, I found out I was having a healthy baby boy. Knowing that my baby was healthy helped me relax and enjoy every minute of being pregnant.

Toward the end of April, the baby appeared to have stopped moving. For two days, I pushed on my belly hoping to get the baby to move. After the third day of no movement from the baby, I went to the doctors. Fearing that my precious boy had died, I cried as the doctor hooked me up to the fetal monitor.

There was a faint heartbeat, I stopped crying to hear better. "There," the doctor said, "do you hear it?" "Yes, I hear it," I said. As I began nudging my belly and talking to the baby, the heartbeat grew stronger and became louder.

My son was born a month and half later weighing 11 pounds and 22 inches long. The rest of the pregnancy was uneventful but the delivery was painful. Today he is an older brother, a star pitcher on his baseball team and a straight A student.