Dear Zach,
40 weeks and 3 days before you were born Daddy and I decided to have a baby. Last year on July 13th we took a test in the wee hours of the morning just before leaving for Ironman Rhode Island 70.3. (Daddy was racing.) The test was a faint positive, and for those of you who don’t know: any line, no matter how faint, is a positive result. And although we already knew that it was still hard to believe that it worked! I imagine that Daddy thought a lot about that during the race.
Over the course of the next few weeks we had several blood tests and an ultrasound to make sure you were growing appropriately. And of course you were. You were so good to mommy in the beginning. I had no morning sickness or nausea. I was just really tired in the early part and the end of the pregnancy. Growing a human being is hard work!!!
The rest of the pregnancy was pretty uneventful. We had a few more ultrasounds to check in on you. One where we found out you were a boy and two more toward the end to see just how big you were. (here and here). Aside from getting pretty big you were doing just fine in there–and I still think you’d have stayed in there forever had we not made you come out!
At 37.5 weeks I went into work one night and almost passed out. After a barrage of tests we found out that my heart would beat really fast and then come back down to normal. I’d feel dizzy and a little lightheaded when it beat so fast. I was out of work that week for more tests but retuned to work the following week. At 39 weeks I decided I’d had it. Between the heart issues and the severe sciatica from having so much baby in me I couldn’t work those long shifts any more. At 40 weeks we decided enough was enough. Luckily, I have some pull since I work with the midwives that delivered you and we scheduled your induction.
Mommy and Zach on Zach's due date
Love,
Mom
