Member-only story
My Son’s Birth Story
A painful 21-day hospital stay.
At 37 weeks pregnant, my son’s health was perfect. My health was pretty good, and we were expected to go to an appointment that day. If you are not a parent or have never experienced pregnancy first or second hand, every visit to the doctor’s office contains many routine checks like fundal height, which is a measurement from your breastbone to your pelvic bone across your baby bump, also the heartbeat monitor, and urine sample.
My doctor was working with a student that day and the student came in to greet me and my boyfriend. She asked for permission to practice fundal height on me, and I consented. Fundal height is supposed to come out to the number of weeks along you are in your pregnancy, for instance, if you are 37 weeks then the measurement should be 37 cm. That day the student measured my stomach, and it came out to 29 cm instead of 37. We did not think anything of the measurement due to her training and brushed it off, the week prior, we had also had an ultrasound, and everything was fine.
When the doctor arrived in the room, he measured my stomach and realized that something was very off. I was measuring 29 cm instead of 37. He made the decision to do an internal exam and bedside ultrasound. The ultrasound came back showing that there was very little amniotic fluid around my son. The chief doctor discussed my health…
