Catherine Anne Dwyer

Catherine Anne Dwyer

A brief prelude:

It was Thursday, December 30^th, 2010 and I was unloading the dishwasher while talking to my best friend on the phone.  I can honestly say I remember every single detail of this conversation and even the random things I was staring at.  Basically, my mom was in town, on a last minute visit for New Years.  We were supposed to drive to NOLA for Christmas but I told Brian I just was not up for it.  I was truly and honestly 100% exhausted.

Up until that point, I had never missed a Christmas in New Orleans.  But for some reason, at the time, I thought I just was not adjusting to being a “working” mom and needed to regroup over the holidays.  Anyway, I know Brian was upset about my refusal to travel but deep down I knew I just could not.

Thankfully my mom flew up that weekend (dad could not make it) for what turned out to be anything but a normal weekend.  So, I was talking to Ashton and I told her how I just was not feeling well.  I had vomited earlier in the day and I figured I had caught a stomach bug from someone or something somewhere.

Ashton then told me that the last time she spoke to me I was vomiting.  It caught me off guard because I seriously had no recollection of our last conversation, let alone that I was “vomiting.”  She informed me it was Saturday December 4^th during the Auburn/ South Carolina SEC championship game.  I vaguely remember that day, my main memory being that I had to brew coffee that evening to stay up for the game because I was so incredibly tired.  I don’t remember vomiting as I really don’t ever throw up, but Ashton assured me I did.

At that point Ashton was convinced.  I will never forget when she said, “Joan, are you pregnant?”

I said, “What are you talking about… I don’t even remember throwing up a month ago and now you think I am pregnant?”

She said, “Exactly!”

I did not get it...My brain was slow that week and I was confused.  Brian was in the background and overheard the conversation and said we should check.  Still, I thought, “Check what?”

In hindsight, I should have known:

I had an aversion to coffee.

I was throwing up and I thought WINE was disgusting.

I even got mad at Brian for not returning a bottle to Costco that was clearly "bad.”

Anyway, Brian left to go get a pregnancy test while I chilled with my mom.  I even asked him to pick up ice cream on his way back from getting it (red flag right there).

He came back with the Walgreens special test and I did not even wet it and it said I was pregnant.

He was elated; I was not convinced.

“Why had he not bought the EPT fancy test that is digital?!”

So I took off in my car, went to the same Walgreens, and got the high-end EPT digital…

The result was the same.

By the time I got home, my mom and Brian wanted to toast to Logan’s sibling.  I was in shock.  Clearly you can’t get pregnant breast-feeding.  Right?  Well, clearly you can!

This is not to say we did not want another baby because we most definitely did.  I called the OB the next morning and they tried to tell me it would be two weeks before my appointment.  I remember taking a VERY deep breath and letting the receptionist know that I 100% had to see the doctor because I 100% had NO idea how pregnant I was.

At my first appointment I was at about 9 weeks.  Heartbeat was loud and clear.  I immediately weaned Logan off of breast-feeding, as I could not handle both. 

With the blink of an eye, I was 20 weeks pregnant, ½ way through my pregnancy and going to my first “big” ultrasound.  Brian did not want to find out the sex  (the route we went with Logan), but I was adamant about finding out.  I remember telling him that he could or could not come to that ultrasound, but I was going to find out.  We reached an agreement, thankfully!

Baby girl measured perfectly and everything was fine except she had a “two-cord” umbilical cord instead of three (the norm).  This translated into a lot of extra ultrasounds.  I had to have one every four weeks.  They were not the fun ones but rather very technical and very measurement oriented.  It kinda took the fun out of the actual ultrasound.

Around 28 weeks, I took my blood sugar test.  Failed.  Went for the three-hour one and threw up everywhere.  Called in sick to work that day because I still thought my stomach was coming out of my throat.  Re-took the test 4 days later and again, threw up everywhere.  The cleaning lady at my OB’s office was like, “Sugar, are you ok?”  Clearly I was not as I was lying on the floor vomiting in a public restroom.  I managed to say I was fine, just catching my breath.  So, after speaking with my doctor and tracking my blood sugar for a week, I was diagnosed as a gestational diabetic.

At this point, I only had 10 weeks left so how hard could a diabetes diet be??

Well, I am here to tell you, when you are pregnant, 3^rd trimester in the Texas heat, the ONLY redeeming factor is eating whatever you want when you want it.

I was put on a high-protein diet that progressed to a no-carb diet.  I wanted to cry some days, as all I wanted was sugar and LOTS of it.

Anyway, we (Brian put up with my mood swings like a champ) got through it and the night I delivered Catherine…I honestly had a dozen donuts brought to me at the hospital.  I was pretty drugged from the epidural but I do remember offering my nurses and doctors a donut and they all declined…. And I just mumbled on that they had NO idea what they were missing.

Nice thing about gestational diabetes is that it almost always goes away the second you deliver, and thankfully, for me, it did.

The only other odd thing about Catherine’s delivery was the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice.  It was totally freaky and I thought she was dead.  I also thought I was going to pass out during labor because I was so weak from my protein-only diet.

Anyway, baby girl made her debut around noon on July 30, 2011.  We were so happy to have her, healthy and beautiful.

The next day, the pediatrician was doing his rounds and came in asking who were the parents to this beautiful red head.  I looked at Brian like, am I missing something.  We both were confused (well off the sugar high from the donuts and not nearly enough caffeine to wake us from sleeping in a hospital).

Well, sure enough, there was our daughter, with the beanie cap off, and a “faux-hawk” of red hair.  We were a bit surprised to say the least!

As every parent says (and it is SO true), you cannot even imagine life without your baby in it.

7 months pregnant

Logan was all about Catherine (in the beginning)

Headed home