Thumbs-upThursday is here at BSOD ❤

Today's beautiful belly bump picture comes from bff Alisha

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The Friend of the show today are the Women at

The Naked Monkey

www.thenakedmonkeyspa.com

Their Motto: “We are not here to judge, we are only here to wax!”

I met these girls at Bebe Paluzza in Indianapolis.  They were showcasing their spa and selling these shirts to raise money for cancer.  These women are amazing, fun, and brilliant.  Of course they are "friends of the show"!! ♥  ~Kelli Stapleton on BSOD

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Today's featured birth story is

Tina's birth of baby girl

         By the time my son was about six months old, I wanted a newborn again.  I knew that we wanted more kids.  I had been having problems adjusting to birth control pills, so my husband and I talked about it then decided to stop taking the pill.  Sure enough, two months later I became pregnant again.  What a joy!!  To do this again, I knew had some risks.

          With my first pregnancy, I had severe morning sickens.  I was working at the time.  My job was 35 miles from door to door.  I would stop three times on the way to work and the way home just to throw up on the side of the road.  At my first doctor’s appointment, I complained of the throwing up.  He just said that that was normal for some women.  I thought, "Oh my gosh, this is normal?"  Well, after about one more week of throwing up from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. every five minutes, my husband called the doctor.  He was so frustrated.  My doctor wanted me to come in.  I had lost 10 lbs in one week.  My doctor decided something was really wrong.  I had tried everything.  I had tried the soda crackers in the morning.  I had tried peppermint tablets.  I even tried the homeopathic methods.  Nothing seemed to work.  I was still throwing up and I was still losing weight.  So, my doctor put me in the hospital.  He gave me TPN (total peripheral nutrition.)  From that point on, I had an IV in my arm for the rest of the pregnancy.

          When I started throwing up with this pregnancy, my doctor ordered the IV right away.  We did not want to lose too much weight.  We were somewhat worried about preterm labor, but not really.  Being that my first was only four weeks early, we just kept an eye on things.  Well, around Thanksgiving, my husband had to do some work down in Minneapolis.  We took my son with us.  I was feeling really good.  I was carrying my son and sure enough, I slipped on the icy sidewalk; down I went.  I was only 25 weeks along.  My husband tried to catch us both and he managed to catch my son, but not me.  I hit the ground pretty hard. I got right up, I was slightly embarrassed.  I never fall on ice.  I grew up with snow and ice.

          By the end of that day, I was feeling pretty rotten.  I had to go to the hospital and get checked out.  I was a bit worried for the baby.  As it turned out, I was starting labor!  I could not believe it.  Here I was 25 weeks along and I was scared.  I was placed on bed rest and medicine to keep contractions away.  We managed to find someone to help with my son and I stayed in bed.  I ended up in the hospital on magnesium sulfate over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.  I had weekly appointments with my doctor and we did find out this was a girl.  How wonderful we felt.  We were so excited!

          At week 32 I started labor again.  All this led me to the hospital.  I stayed there for two weeks when the contractions broke through the magnesium sulfate.  When I got to 5cm dilated, my doctor broke the membranes.  This was at about 1:00 p.m. and by about 5:00 p.m., the contractions stopped.  I was walking and walking and walking.  I could have danced!!  I knew we were going to have a baby soon.  Life could be normal again.  It would be normal with two kids 16 months apart, wouldn't it?

          Well, at about 7:00 p.m. the contractions started in again, but the nurses started a Pitocin drip anyway.  Oh my.  Had I known what I was in for, I would have made them stop.  I was not happy with my nurse anyway.  I had my husband try to get a different nurse but, to no avail.  I was in labor from about this point until about 9:30 p.m.  During this time, I broke my thumb.  I don't remember how.  I really don't.  I do know that I had no pain medications.

          Two pushes and my daughter was born.  At 34 weeks gestational age, she was wonderful.  She was healthy.  She cried and I cried and my husband cried as he cut the cord.  She weighed in at a healthy 6lbs 7oz. I nursed her and she grew and grew.

          I went on to have another baby that was also a difficult pregnancy and resulted in a premature baby.  I do, however, rejoice over each and every step of my difficult pregnancies and feel very blessed to have gone through what I did.  My family and my relationships are deeper because of it.