On episode 47, we have Joy on to share her pregnancy story at 42. Joy is an athlete that grew up in small town Alsea, Oregon. She went to OSU (Oregon State) where she became a registered dietician. She spent her 20’s in Portland, Oregon. Then she had two daughters at 33 and 35. She doesn’t describe the two pregnancies as ‘that hard’ but she feels like they took a toll on her. She remembers looking at other pregnant women and moms in their 20’s thinking just how much easier they had it being young and able to survive on less sleep. She and her husband made their way back to her small town to raise their two daughters. She thought her family of four was complete.
She had been tracking her cycle for two years. It was consistent at 28 days until she started to make several lifestyle changes. She focused on gut health and cleared out the candida yeast, so she no longer had to eat every two to three hours. The weight came off and her anxiety decreased, but her 28-day cycle became 31 days. The change made it more difficult to manage natural birth control. In 2022, she thought she was pregnant a few times because her cycle was longer.
40’s are fabulous!
August of 2022 was a busy month for Joy. It was right before her 42nd birthday. She had two long distance relay races with her running team, and she only had intercourse once that month. At first, she wasn’t surprised when her cycle did start, but her breasts were tender. She Googled menopause, pre-menopause symptoms wondering if that was it. She even asked her sisters if they knew when their mother started menopause. She was trying to convince herself she wasn’t pregnant. As the days went on, she finally took a pregnancy test, so she could stop being in denial. After seeing the test results for herself, she pulled her husband aside and showed him the test. They both laughed hysterically together. He said, “How is this possible?”
She was in shock. This wasn’t her plan. She thought she was finished having children. She was worried about going through it again at 42 because it had been difficult in her 30’s. Because her daughters were 19 months apart, she bought diapers for three years straight which was hard. She remembers her anxiety kept her from breastfeeding her daughters because she didn’t trust her body would produce enough. After the negative thoughts ran through her mind, see started to see the positives and how this could be exciting. She knew she was in a better place mentally with her health changes. She was excited about the opportunity to get to be a mom with better mental health. She worked a lot when her girls where little and this was her chance to spend more time with the new baby. She also wanted to commit to breastfeeding and be more patient with it.
I had a better experience with pregnancy at 42 than I did at 33 & 35.
Joy describes her pregnancy as being pretty easy. She had the same doctor deliver all three of her babies. Like her other pregnancies, she didn’t have nausea or morning sickness this time either. Other than tender breasts, and not having a cycle, there weren’t any other signs she was pregnant. Her blood sugars were more stable this time, so she didn’t have the weight gain. Her first two pregnancy’s she gained ninety and sixty pounds, but she gained only 35 pounds this time around. That race in August, was her best race! She was pregnant and didn’t know it, and she had Covid and didn’t know it. She continued running until her second trimester. She remembers running and afterwards being sore in a different way, so she started walking after that experience. She was the health and physical education teacher at her local school, so that kept her doing 16,000 steps a day. She did strength training as long as she could. She just did what was comfortable. she said everything was fine and that her body will tell her when it isn’t. She didn’t have any problems with constipation like she had with the others. She was having bowel movements every day with no problems. She didn’t like cucumbers before this pregnancy, but she craved them this time. She also craved spicy things like pickled jalapenos, salty, vinegary and spicy. She really didn’t have any cravings with her other two pregnancies.
Joy wanted to find out the gender of her third baby. She already had a girl name picked out because she says that’s all her family ever has. She had the blood test for genetic screening including Down’s Syndrome and chromosome conditions where they can find out the gender. She received the call that everything looked normal and the nurse asked her if she wanted to know the gender. When they told her it was a boy, Joy immediately began to cry on the phone. Her husband watched as he thought something was terribly wrong. Through her tears, she told him they were having a boy. She felt special calling her dad to tell him he was going to have a grandson when he didn’t have any sons of his own.
Joy didn’t take any classes and felt the least prepared as this was her third child. Her pregnancies have gotten progressively longer, she didn’t pack a bag for the hospital until two weeks before. In her previous births she had lots of Braxton/Hicks and she went to the hospital each pregnancy with a false alarm. It made her feel dumb, but the hospital staff were nice about it. Her birth plan was to give birth in a hospital and to go as long as she could before having an epidural.
Her doctor didn’t have any concerns with her age. This is one reason why she wanted to go back to him after her first two pregnancies. At one of her follow-up visits with her second daughter after delivery, she thanked him for not making an issue of her age or weight. He just said there were no complications, so it didn’t need to be addressed. She really appreciated that. The first time she saw him at 42, she asked what she needed to worry about. He told her she was higher risk, but nothing to be concerned about. She was the healthiest she’s ever been which made her feel comfortable with the pregnancy.
Braxton Hicks started early with this pregnancy, but she was traveling more. Her doctor told her dehydration can cause Braxton Hicks. She had some small ones during her second trimester which started after her trip to Florida. At 35 weeks, she took a road trip from Oregon to Utah, and then went to Zion National Park for a retreat. Her doctor told her there should be no problem if she took lots of breaks and stay hydrated. After she got home, she thought she was in labor, but it turned out that they actually had norovirus going through the family. Her daughters had it and then Joy got nauseous. She went to hospital where they gave her two liters of fluid, which elevated the baby’s heart rate. The nurse wanted to keep her in the hospital to induce her, but the doctor let her go home. That was 4-5 days before she gave birth.
At 39 weeks, 5 days she went in for her scheduled induction at 5:30 am which meant she had to leave her house about 4:00 am. They gave her the first round of Misoprostol and hooked her up to everything while the waiting game began. She didn’t fear birth, but she knew about the contractions. There were some contractions, but nothing exciting. The doctor checked her in the morning and in the afternoon he came back and broke Joy’s water about 1:00 pm. Then labor started to progress quickly. The nurse kept checking her when all of a sudden, she left to get delivery prepared. She used the jacuzzi tub for the first time which she enjoyed. She only lasted three contractions in the tub because the contractions where so intense, she was ready for the epidural. At 3:30 pm she got out of the tub. She also wanted to be able to move through the contractions. The anesthesiologist came for her epidural about 4:00 pm. She could feel the epidural begin to work, but she could feel contractions on her lower left side. Her right side went completely numb. They wanted her to change positions, but she couldn’t help. The anesthesiologist came back to try to help. He did hit the right spot, eventually, but there was about 5 minutes of intense pain. Moving her in different positions worked with gravity to help the medication flow to her left side. It felt like the most intense menstrual cramp she’d ever had in one specific spot. She was so numb on the right side, she couldn’t move. After several tries, finally relief. Then the doctor came back at 5:30 pm when it was time to push. Three pushes and one contraction later, her son was born on a Thursday at 5:35 pm. She could tell right away that he was bigger than her other babies. He was the only one that was born before her due date and was the largest baby of the three by almost a pound. She describes those next moments as heaven and euphoria.
She said the hardest thing about pregnancy is the anticipation of finally meeting this little being that’s been growing inside of her for so long. Skin-to-skin and latching right away was important to her. It was like he knew just what to do. She had follow-up appointments with the lactation consultant that helped her through it this time. They helped her with different positions to hold the baby. They went home Saturday morning. She went back on Sunday to see the lactation specialist to check for jaundice and again on Monday. By that time, her milk had come in. That gave her some reassurance things were going well and he was gaining weight.
This recovery was definitely the best of the three. She didn’t need Tylenol or Ibuprofen. She used natural supplements that decreased inflammation and supported gut health. She snuck them into the hospital even though it’s not allowed. Constipation was not an issue after delivery. Everything was very good, except for the lack of sleep. She slept pretty good through the pregnancy, so the lack of sleep afterwards was the hardest adjustment. Luckily, when her son was a week old, she got a five-hour chunk of time for sleep. Now he does four hours every night. It’s amazing. Postpartum has been good. Joy says she has really enjoyed having this connection. Joy is his favorite person which is something she didn’t experience with her daughters. Breastfeeding has definitely helped with the bonding process.
Joy was five weeks postpartum on National Running Day when she went for her first run again. She says being strong and moving her body helps her mentally.
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