Stories with the Strickland's

 My pregnancy was really difficult and somewhat traumatic. When we first found out I was pregnant, the first OB I saw thought it was an ectopic pregnancy—it was quickly confirmed that it was a perfectly healthy pregnancy, I had just been earlier along than we thought and they couldn't see anything at that point. As my pregnancy progressed, my symptoms became much worse than I expected, including horrible tachycardia that would make my chest hurt and my head spin; fatigue that kept me from being able to do much of anything most days; nausea that persisted without causing me to actually vomit which may have been something of a relief at that point; intense sensitivity to smell that made anything being heated up repulsive, smells around the house bothersome, and even made it hard for me to kiss my husband because of the smell of his breath.       Then I got Covid-19 when I was 17 weeks along and travelling that made things even worse! Blessedly, my husband seems to...

 In the 8 weeks of my baby's life thus far, I've experienced and learned a lot! I was incredibly surprised at how fast recovery from birth felt—I expected it to be painful, difficult, and long, but it was actually very quick. After the epidural wore off, I was able to start getting up to walk to and from the bathroom with a little help. By the end of that first day, I was able to walk up and down the hall while pushing the hospital bassinet with my baby and I could take a shower by myself. I was on a lot of Ibuprofen, but nothing stronger. I felt surprisingly good.      On the second day, I felt even better and went on a longer walk in the halls and got discharged from the hospital that afternoon. I sat criss-cross on the couch at home with a padsicle on and held my baby with no issues. It was fantastic! In that first week, I showered and felt good and capable enough to even shave my legs! Even with a second degree tear, a dinner plate sized internal wound, and a ute...

Birth was one of the most fascinating experiences. I remember most of it, but as my husband could tell you, I was definitely delirious at some points and I don't remember much of the conversations I had then.        It was very fast. From the time my contractions started (that I was aware of) to the time my baby was born was a span of only 6 hours! I labored for 4 hours and pushed for 2 hours. It all happened so rapidly!       3 nights before my scheduled c-section,  I felt that I needed to go to bed early — which I now recognize as a prompting from God to prepare me for a joyful, although sleepless, night. So, I went to bed around 7pm and woke up to terrible gas pains at about 9:15pm. After using the bathroom, I hoped the pain would stop and moved to go back to bed when I got hit with another bout of pains. I told my husband I was going to go sit in the living room since sleep was unlikely with the aching I was having. The pains were primarily in...