Eric's Birth Story

I found out I was pregnant in August of 2001. The pregnancy was unplanned for and came as a complete shock. My husband and I had just gotten married in June, a couple of months earlier. Having lost both my parents a few months apart earlier that year, I was having a difficult time and didn't know if I could handle being pregnant.

We told my family our news but they were not too happy as everyone thought we were too young. This made me feel lonelier than ever.

After my family came around, they were very supportive. Around 9 weeks I started bleeding badly and went to the emergency room. The doctor told me it was the start of a miscarriage and to come back the next day for an ultrasound. I cried the entire night and prayed that God would save my baby.

The next day my husband came with me for the ultrasound. Our baby was doing well and the heartbeat was great.

Pregnancy was very difficult for me. I had gestational diabetes and was put on a special diet. I’m not a very healthy eater so it was hard not to have a lot of sweets. Paul was amazing! He gave me my insulin shots every night because I couldn't bear to do it myself.

At 35 weeks, I started having bad contractions so I called the doctor. When I got to the hospital, he gave me a shot to stop the contractions. I went home with some pills so the contractions wouldn’t come back. From that point on I frequently had pain in my stomach.

The doctor induced me on my due date, April 22, with Pitocin. The night before, a gel was inserted to help me dilate. The Pitocin made my contractions very severe and they started to come only a minute apart. I could barely stand the pain and nothing helped. Finally I got the epidural, which helped.

Baby Eric did not want to be born. Finally on Tuesday, April 23rd at 10:20pm, he was born by C-Section. He weighed eight pounds, five and a half ounces, which was a surprise. The doctor had expected a big baby because of the diabetes.

Even though I had a very long and rough labor, I wouldn’t trade my baby for anything. He is my angel who arrived at a time when a lot had gone wrong in my life.