Several weeks ago, ABC News launched the Million Moms Challenge in conjunction with a variety of media partners including mom bloggers.  Join me in working with them to improve health for women and children globally. Today, I’m talking about what made pregnancy so difficult for me.

My first pregnancy, when I was 30 years old, ended in a miscarriage right at the 12-week mark.  After that, I was saddened and borderline depressed.  I wanted to get pregnant again right away.  It took several months, but once I was pregnant, I was terrified to lose my baby once again – and that fear was really the most difficult thing I faced in pregnancy.

Pregnancy was never easy for me.  When I was 14 weeks pregnant, I went on vacation with my husband and ended up spotting.  I had to go to a local hospital for a RhoGam shot and an ultrasound, and was in tears during my entire wait time (which was HOURS).  At 20 weeks, I failed my glucose test, but thankfully passed the second, three-hour test.  In my ultrasound, the gender of my baby couldn’t be determined.  And through it all, I just wanted to hit that 40 week mark so I could have my baby.

At 29 weeks, I had a some contractions, and went into the hospital for an ultrasound.  At that point, I was diagnosed with oligohydramnios – low amniotic fluid.  I was immediately put on left-side-lying bedrest for the duration of my pregnancy. I had to take an immediate leave of absence from my job. Those weeks were difficult – my baby rarely moved in-utero, and I spent every day with my hand on my baby bump, waiting for movements.  After weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests, it was determined that my baby should be delivered early – at 36 weeks via scheduled c-section (because my baby was also breech).

I was scared, but you can only imagine my joy when I delivered a healthy baby girl that didn’t need to spend one second in the NICU.  She was perfect.  Seven years later, I know that the fear I experienced was definitely the worst part of my pregnancy.  If I’d only known she was perfect I would have relaxed more.

For those of you who are wondering, yes, I did go on to have another baby, and I didn’t have all of the complications with him, thankfully.

Becoming pregnant changed my life, and I’d love to hear more about your best or most difficult pregnancy moments. By replying, you will be entered to win an exclusive Million Moms Challenge Gift Pack, which includes an all expenses paid trip to a conference on mothers hosted by the UN Foundation in DC (Jan/Feb 2012), an iPad2, a custom-made Million Moms Challenge pendant and $50 donation in your name to Global Giving.

Please join the Million Moms Challenge and sign up!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Million Moms Challenge. The opinions and text are all mine. Contest runs September 19 to October 16, 2011. A random winner will be announced by October 18, 2011.

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