Rylan Connor Lund: The Pregnancy

Paul and I started talking about having children in 2008. After months of talking about it, we finally decided to start trying in June 2008. Imagine our surprise when we found out we were pregnant on July 8th, 2008. Since we had made the conscious decision to start trying, I had bought books, surfed websites, and constantly analyzed my body for signs of pregnancy. I had also bought several pregnancy tests, including some at the dollar store so I could test really early without wasting the $10 digital tests. I started testing about a week after I ovulated, and got a couple of negatives. Four days later, I decided I would use the more expensive tests. I knew the accuracy rate was much lower this early, but it was the earliest date the test was supposed to work, according to the box. Since you are supposed to test first thing in the morning, I decided to “hold it” the night before so that the chances of the hormone being in my system would be greater (or so I thought). At 3AM, I woke up and had to go, so I thought “what the heck” and took a First Response test with the lines. At first there was nothing, but after a few minutes there was a FAINT gray line. The line wasn’t pink like the instructions said there would be, but there WAS a line…so I went to the office in the middle of the night to research. I read about evaporation lines, and convinced myself that this is what had happened to me. I swore to myself I wouldn’t test again until the next day and went back to sleep. Upon waking at 9AM, I couldn’t stand the uncertainty, so despite already going once that morning, I tested again with a digital test. I waited for the test to say “Not Pregnant” so I could go about my day without obsessing over the gray line I had gotten during the night. After what seemed like an eternity, the test came back and said “Pregnant.” I was shocked. I sat there in the bathroom and stared at the test for several minutes. For the past several weeks, I had waited for signs of pregnancy that never came. Paul had convinced me that it wouldn’t happen on the first try, and I had started to agree with him. I decided that I would take the other test and it gave a positive reading faster than the first one. I immediately made an appointment to see my family physician that afternoon and requested a blood and urine test. She confirmed what I already knew, and after the appointment I raced over to meet Paul and his family for Maggie’s (mother-in-law) birthday dinner.

It was torture to sit through dinner and keep the exciting news to myself, but I wanted to tell Paul in private first. They went to the house for cake, but I decided to go home and get a gift ready for Paul. On my way home, my car skid off the road and two strangers had to help pull me out of a ditch. I called Paul and he raced home to make sure I was ok. While sitting on the couch, I told him that I had forgotten to give him his birthday card with his present, which was a week earlier. He opened the card which said “Happy Birthday Daddy” on the front. I waited for him to react, but he opened the card without questioning the message on the front. Once he read the inside of the card, signed from “The Baby,” he realized what I was trying to tell him. He looked at me and said, “What?! No way. Are you serious? Woah. Are you serious?” After asking me about ten times if I was serious, I showed him the test and we hugged and kissed. We figured out our due date, March 17, and eagerly waited for our first visit to the OBGYN.



We had talked about keeping the pregnancy a secret until we had made it through the first trimester, to make sure that the pregnancy was viable. After realizing that there was no way we could make it that long without telling anybody, we made plans to tell our parents that weekend. We bought picture frames that said “Grandchildren” on it and gave it to them, saying that is was a gift for helping with the 4th of July party we had hosted weeks before. Our news was met with elation from family and friends. By week 6 I had developed morning sickness, and was nauseous from sun up to sun down. Although I never threw up, I constantly felt like I had just stepped off a tilt-o-whirl. I also experienced a little cramping which luckily turned out to be nothing. On August 5th, we had our first visit with Dr. Flowers, our OBGYN. She performed a sonogram and we got our first glimpse of the baby at 8 weeks gestation. The baby was a tiny dot on the screen, but we could already see it’s little heart beating. Dr. Flowers told us that the baby looked great and that she would see us once a month for the next several months. By the end of August the morning sickness had finally subsided. In September we took at trip to New York City, and during the Celine Dion concert at Madison Square Garden I felt the baby move for the first time.

At 18 weeks, we went in for another sonogram. We were hoping the baby would cooperate so we could finally find out the sex. Paul was convinced it was a girl, and although I had thought it was a girl for several weeks, I had recently started to feel like it was a boy. The sonographer slowly and meticulously looked at the baby’s head, stomach, spine, heart, and limbs before checking the gender. Once she found it on the screen I knew without a doubt that it was a boy! We immediately began searching for the perfect name and decided on Rylan Connor Lund right before Christmas. By the holidays we had already painted the nursery and ordered his furniture. Around 25 weeks, while lying on the couch together, Paul saw the baby move. Desperate for him to feel Rylan kick, I told him to stare at my stomach when I started to feel the baby move. He watched in amazement while Rylan stretched his feet out, extending my belly. Paul put his hand up where he had seen Rylan’s feet and finally felt his son move. It was a moment neither of us will ever forget.

After the first of the year, things really started to get crazy. Paul and I were super busy at work, trying to get things ready at home, plan for showers, etc. My appointments moved from monthly to bi-weekly to weekly. The closer we got to our due date, the higher my blood pressure rose. By the middle of January, I had been labeled a “high-risk” pregnancy, complete with extra appointments, tests, sonograms and stress tests. Our first shower was scheduled on January 24, but had to be postponed after I was put on modified bed rest due to rising blood pressure. After positively responding to blood pressure medication, I was allowed to attend the shower/Super Bowl party and have maternity pictures taken the following weekend. We had 2 more showers scheduled, one on February 8 and the other on February 15th. The first week of February, my feet and ankles began to swell, in addition to the backaches, sore joints, headaches, and frequent bathroom trips. On February 8th, we had a beautiful shower hosted by a long-time family friend.

The following day, we went back to Baylor for our 35 week appointment and expected the doctor to put me back on bed rest. Although my blood pressure reading had been good that afternoon, it was significantly elevated at the doctor’s office, and after examining me she informed me that I would not be going home. So, without a bag, dinner, or a change of clothes we walked across the building and rode the elevator up to the second floor, home of the Labor and Delivery unit.