I was pretty certain I was pregnant 3 or 4 days before I confirmed with a home pregnancy test. One morning I was terribly nauseous and my boobs slowly started to ache more. I had very mild symptoms with the first pregnancy so I kind of knew what to expect and was optimistic that these symptoms were stronger. I bought a test Friday evening and told Pete “if I’m not pregnant then I’m going insane.”

I woke up at 3 am during a dream that we had twins. I went to the bathroom downstairs, peed on the stick, and sat it on the kitchen counter (with a paper towel underneath, duh). Since I woke up and went downstairs, the dog woke up and went downstairs, which woke Pete up and he went downstairs. The three of us stood in the kitchen at 3 am waiting. The test confirmed my suspicions. We hugged and kissed and went back to bed. I don’t think I slept after that.

The next 10 weeks were tough. We only told my best friend Tori about the pregnancy. I had OB appointments during weeks 5, 6, 7, and 8 due to spotting and painful cramping. I finally had to tell my manager at work that I was pregnant and scared that history was repeating itself. At 13-14 weeks I stood up from my chair to go to the ladies room and I felt a gush of warm liquid. I waddled to the bathroom, slowly pulled my jeans down, and saw the dark red blood. I left work and was on bed rest for 5 days to let the bleeding stop. A perinatologist confirmed I had a subchorionic hemorrhage and placenta previa

I couldn’t lie to my two coworker/friends any longer so I texted them with the news. We saw my parents that Saturday and surprised them during a toast at dinner and we told Pete’s parents the day after that. We slowly started telling more friends and coworkers. Of course everyone was excited but in my head the conversation secretly continued with “…but everything is not OK.”

At 17 weeks the placenta previa cleared up and the SCH was small enough that it did not pose a risk. I enjoyed every moment of the rest of the pregnancy and it was hard to imagine life without feeling Hannah’s kicks. I stayed happy through the heartburn and sleepless nights because my baby was thriving.

Hannah had been breach since the five month mark and I was slowly losing hope that she’d flip. Pete and I occasionally had conversations about only having one child so I desperately wanted what could be my only child-birth experience to be what I had imagined. None of the tricks I tried made Hannah flip and my last resort was to see a chiropractor. Three visits later Hannah was head down.

As the winter weather worsened and my due date neared I started calling out of work during snow storms. I had non-stress tests twice a week due to cramping and my OB was worried about early labor. My due date came and went and Hannah was no closer to leaving her warm hideout so we scheduled an induction for February 19.