The Beginning

Hi
Let me take you back today to where it all started

In November 2004 after lots of practicing and not falling pregnant we decided to look further into things
Knowing it couldn't be me (hahahahah) as I already had 2 children to a previous relationship we went to the doctors for Darren
He was sent to do a sperm count test

For those that have never experienced one of these for the male it is quite embarrasing
For the female it is hilarious every step of the way

Darren was given a specimen jar (yep the small jars with yellow lids) and was told to put a specimen of sperm into the jar and keep it warm and have it at the blood bank within 15 minutes

Seeing that we lived just 15 minutes away we decided to do it at home

Probably didnt help with me throwing evil visual comments at Darren while he was doing the obvious deed.

He comes out of the room and we jump into the car racing to St Andrews collection lab He had it between his legs to keep it warm hahahha

We head to the door of the collection place where on the door it says pull Needless to say i fall over laughing so hard Darren is red as a beetroot
We go up to the counter and Darren quietly says what he is here for and the assistant seening me also burst out laughing
She tries to be professional to save him the extra embarrasment i suppose but because of me she has a fit of the giggles too

After we leave we signs saying "pull" everywhere and every time i look at Darren and start laughing again

A few days later we get a call from the doctor and head of for a appointment

The test has come back that Darren has a low sperm count like almost non existant so we get a appointment for a Uroligist in January


In January i get sick at work and have to have some time of as I have caught Glandular Fever

We go to the Urologist appointment and he wants further tests done but from what he can see we could not have a baby unless we use IVF

I am quite ummm excited as this means we wont have another child but i would not have denied Darren a child if it was possible naturally
Bear in mind i was going to be 39 in a few months and that in my mind was so close to my cut of date of 40 regardless for having kids

By halfway through January i wasn't feeling any better and still very exhausted from the glandular fever
Darren with his crazy sense of humour suggested i get a pregnancy test as i might be pregnant
What a joke but to humour him i buy one and for some strange reason two pink lines appear

I am pregnant against ALL odds

We get a letter from the urologist asking why we havent gone back for the extra tests and we ring and say i'm pregnant
It took til after Jalan was born and we took her in for this idea to actually sink into the urologist head I think he thought that i must have had an affair or something
They just kept sending us letters

Part way through the pregnancy I started on Clexane needles due to the factor V leiden deficiency I have

At about 8 weeks i had a bleed and went for a scan as we thought we were loosing the baby
Have no idea what caused it but she looked like a peanut so that was her nickname throughout the pregnancy

At 3 months i gave up work due to being too sick to go and very exhausted all the time

Peppermint chocolate worked wonders for heartburn and nausea

At 6 months she decided she was coming early and i was put into hospital and given needles that really hurt into my butt but luckily enough they stopped the early labour

At my appointments they kept saying that she was a bit on the big side and were worried about Downs syndrome and the usual stuff with being a elder mother

I was also diagnosed with pregnancy induced diabetes so really had to watch what i ate

My obstetrician/gynacologist Dr Cerqui said that of all his ladies i was the one he felt the sorriest for as i was huge and very uncomfortable

He decided to induce her 2 weeks early and we were trying to decide whether to go natural or via caeser
Jalan decided for us by going breech the week before i was to be induced
Saved us deciding

On the 25th October we headed into the hospital took some pictures of my enormously fat stomach then headed down to the operating theatre to be prepped for my caeser

Jalan came into this world weighing in at 11lb 4oz Dr Cerqui said that he was sending her to the nursery to start work.....she was huge and had a squashed nose and was curled up due to lack of space

She would not latch on to feed and her paediatrician Dr Prebble called her a lazy suck
She had to go to special care nursery at night time as they tried to feed her
She was not having a bar of it and was fed by syringe half the time trying to get something into her
They thought it was because of the diabetes and because she was so big

Darren went to get her one time and she was next to a real premmie weighing in at about 500g
He said she looked gigantic

We put her on a bottle so that at least she would get fed and i would not have to spend the day being milked all the time
Nurses and people kept coming in from everywhere to see this big beautiful baby They were amazed at her size

We took her home on day 5
Life was a bit hard as she still wouldnt feed properly but she was getting there
They suggested getting her a dummy to try develop the sucking reflex
She did a lot of yelling and screaming and pulling her legs up in pain

On day 10 we received a phone call that caused the world to drop out from under us and life as we knew it to be changed forever

Luv Deb