Last updated August 17th, 2023 at 12:27 pm
The birth story of our first child, Theodore “Theo” Isaac Oliver!
After a difficult pregnancy, I was counting the days until I reached full term. As a soon to be first time mom I was pretty nervous about giving birth, but we loved our OBGYN and she did a great job making us feel prepared. At every appointment I mentioned how much I did not want a C-section but I had no idea what was in store for us!

In the second trimester I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I’d finally gotten through all the nausea and feeling sick in the first trimester just to start checking my blood sugar 4x per day. I also had to drastically change my diet. No more indulging pregnancy cravings – I had to cut out all sugar and most carbs. Eating a heathy diet is obviously a good thing for anyone, but when you’re already having a hard time, those treats had really helped!
I had hypertension prior to pregnancy that was managed with medication. At all my appointments, my blood pressure had been in the normal range. Around 32 weeks I’d started to notice vision changes and my doctor asked that I start checking my blood pressure at home. I was already checking blood sugar multiple times per day, so why not!? Turns out this saved my life.
We went into my 34 week appointment on a Friday afternoon. They checked my weight, blood pressure, baby’s heart rate, etc. and everything looked good! We also got an ultrasound (one of the perks of having a high risk pregnancy is LOTS of ultrasounds!). Baby T was already around 6 lbs. If we went the full 40 weeks he was projected to be over 10 lbs.! We started talking about induction being highly likely, but most likely around 38 weeks. That mean we still had about a month to go!
The weekend after my 34 week appointment I felt fine, but had started to get tunnel vision and was seeing floaters in my eyes. My blood pressure was starting to go up as well. I emailed my doctor and waited to hear back. I should have contacted the on call instead of waiting and turns out I should have gone to the ER immediately! By the time my Doctor got my messages, she had me come in first thing on Monday morning. She told me they were admitting me to the hospital to get my blood pressure under control.
We took our time checking in. We ran home to grab our overnight bag – but didn’t bother with any of the baby stuff we had packed. After all, I told Eric, we still have several weeks until baby will be here! We just need some clothes for us and we’ll be home in a few days. We checked in to Antepartum at Texas Women’s Hospital and they started me on monitoring and meds.
Throughout the evening I had lots of blood draws and vitals checks. We settled in around midnight to get some sleep. My blood pressure was still high, but we were safe here while being monitored. Around 1:30am the phone rings and it’s my doctor calling. She calmly let me know she got my blood work back and I had extremely high liver enzyme levels. I had preeclampsia and would have to deliver immediately. She knew I was terrified and I’ll never forget she told me cheerfully: “we’re having a birthday party today!”
Things moved very quickly after that. As soon as I hung up the phone, and explained to Eric what was happening, a team of nurses came in and started prepping me for surgery and wheeled me to the operating room. By 3:33 am Theo was born!
Eric was able to go to Theo immediately. Our little guy was put on oxygen but as soon as he heard Eric’s voice, his heart rate came down and they were able to take him off oxygen! His daddy was the first one to get to hold him but they brought him to me about an hour later when I was put back together and taken to the recovery area.
Unfortunately I was shaking so hard from the anesthesia, I could barley hold my baby. We got about 30 minutes together before he had to be taken to the NICU. He spent the next few days receiving the best care and having daddy go back and forth between him and me. It was SO hard to be separated like that but I was in so much pain and could barely move. Our little guy needed a little extra care so I knew it was for the best.
We ended up spending a week in the hospital. My mom came right away and we had lots of love from family and friends. It was a really hard time, but we were so happy to go home as a family of three! We are so thankful for all the support we received and realized pretty quickly it really does “take a village”! We settled into a routine and have been soaking up all the cuddles as sleep deprived, love drunk zombies!
Carol@BlueskyatHome says
Congratulations Amber on being a new mom. So glad to hear everyone is healthy and at home. P.S. I had three C-sections to have healthy babies. Absolutely worth it. Both my daughters had C-sections. Must run in the family.
Amber Oliver says
Thank you Carol! Definitely worth it!!