The darling Jessica Diamant and son Oliver (8 months). Jessica had a little bit of trouble conceiving and needed to turn to the help of fertility drugs to assist in their conception. They decided to take Femara which they were told gave them less likelihood of conceiving multiples than Clomid but that wasn't the case for her. She found out she was pregnant on her third round and though she had previously planned on not having many ultrasounds, their fertility journey had brought on a bit of anxiety so they decided to have a scan at about 6 weeks along. They discovered two embryo's but that one had stopped growing due to Vanishing Twin Syndrome. Jessica says that because it was so early on she thought one healthy baby was great and didn't really process it as a justifiable loss until later when she realized just what it all meant and that she was allowed to grieve. Around 10 weeks she started bleeding which they assumed was her miscarrying the other embryo. At 14 weeks, she felt like her water broke but went into get checked and learned all was okay and still related to her initial loss. She started experiencing more anxiety and symptoms of PTSD. She continued to bleed for several more weeks and just as that eased up she began experienced pain and limited mobility due to Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD). She couldn't really walk the last half of her pregnancy, found working difficult and eventually had to leave her job at 35 weeks to relax and take care of her self.
At 36 weeks she woke up with a backache that was coming stronger every 12 minutes but didn't think much of it. She was supposed to deliver at a birthing center but it was two days too early to deliver there so she spoke with her midwife and thought that things just weren't really happening yet. She spoke to her doula, took a nap and as the day went on thing started getting closer together but she was having back labor and still didn't realize it as the real thing. Finally she called her doula to come over, it became clear she was experiencing transition and her midwife decided to come to her house and prepare for a home birth. She checked Jessica and found she was 8cms dilated but that Oliver was breech. They had to call 911 for an ambulance transfer to hospital and emergency cesarean after a labor that lasted less than 12 hours. Jessica says she is a big natural birth advocate which made her birth that much more of a disappointment. Thankfully breastfeeding has gone well and she and Oliver are still going strong. Jessica's postpartum anxiety has continued but she's been able to utilize medication to help her. Jessica really believes in advocating for other new moms in support and advocacy and says that she never realized how hard it is to be a mom, even when thing go perfectly, it is hard to be a mother. She's struggled with body image but since Oliver's been her she just wants to let go and love herself fully.