Mallory Whitmore – Pregnancy and Birth Story
Mallory is a mom of two. The oldest is almost 5 and youngest just turned 2. She is a Certified Infant Feeding Tech, and founder of The Formula Mom, an online educational platform that provides support and education to parents who formula feed!
Was your pregnancy planned or a surprise?
Planned
If planned, how long did you try to conceive?
Got pregnant on the first try! Very lucky.
How did you share the news with your partner, family, and friends?
We told both of our parents after our first ultrasound, around 8 weeks. For both of them we pretended like we were going to take a picture, and then instead of saying “Say cheese!” we said “Mallory’s pregnant!” and then we had the camera ready to capture their reactions. It was so fun!
Which was your favorite trimester and why?
Absolutely the 2nd trimester. The worst of the nausea is over but the aches and pains of the 3rd trimester haven’t hit yet. It’s nice to feel really good for a few weeks in the middle!
What was your pregnancy MUST HAVE?
Carrots and ranch dressing. I was obsessed!
Did you find out the gender?
Yes, we found out at 11 weeks via the NIPT early blood test.
Were there any complications throughout your pregnancy?
Yes, I was diagnosed at 20 weeks with a complete placenta previa, meaning that my placenta had implanted low in my uterus and was completely covering my cervix. My OB assured me that 95% of previas will move before delivery! I had another ultrasound at 30 weeks which still showed a complete previa, and another at 36 weeks which showed a partial previa.
Did you go into labor naturally or were you induced?
Given the placenta previa and the risk of a hemorrhage during labor, we decided in consultation with maternal fetal medicine to do a scheduled c-section at 36 weeks, 5 days.
Tell us about your labor experience.
It’s interesting because I didn’t have any labor experience! Instead, we knew from 30 weeks that a c-section was likely and were able to plan ahead. We went out to dinner the night before and had a nice date night, I was able to take a shower and do my hair the morning of, and it was all very relaxed given that it was a planned c-section.
Did you get an epidural or go all natural?
I received a spinal for the c-section.
What was the best and worst part about labor and delivery?
The best part for me was knowing when it would happen, and being able to plan and prepare (particularly with bringing my family in town). The worst part was the fear of the unknown– most of the folks I know who have had c-sections had them at the end of a long labor and they were just glad to be nearing the end and didn’t have time to really worry or stress. I was very nervous about getting the spinal (especially as my husband couldn’t be in the operating room at that point) and experiencing the c-section. As it turned out, the worst part (the most painful part) was getting the IV beforehand!
Were there any complications with your delivery?
Given that my daughter was born late pre-term she did have some breathing issues at birth that required her and my husband to spend a few hours in the transitional nursery receiving oxygen. The surgical team also discovered that my placenta was prematurely aged and calcified, and given this, plus her size and my excess fluid, indicated that I likely had undiagnosed and uncontrolled gestational diabetes (I had failed by 1 hr test but very narrowly passed by 3-hr test).
Give us the stats!!
She was born at 1:33pm, 19.5″ long, 7oz 3lbs (which again, is pretty big for being born in the 36th week!)
What was the hardest thing about the first few weeks of motherhood?
Oh gosh, so much of it was hard. For me, the hardest part was feeling like everyone else’s life was going on like it always had and yet I didn’t recognize any part of my life. I felt very alone and isolated. Recovering from the c-section was hard, and feeding was hard (which is largely how I became The Formula Mom!), and re-learning a completely new way of life centered about a new, helpless little person was hard. And doing it all on so little sleep was super duper hard!
What is the best advice you received as a new mom?
That nothing lasts forever. Even when it feels like every minute is an hour, every season (good and bad) ends eventually.
What is your best advice for expectant or new moms?
It’s okay to grieve the life you had before kids. It’s okay if you feel both incredibly joyful and grateful for the gift of this baby, but also feel sad and wistful for your old life.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your journey to motherhood?
It’s okay if your journey doesn’t look like anyone else’s– whether it’s how you become parents, how you bring your little one into the world, how you feed them, or how you raise them. You were given this child for exactly this time, and you’re exactly what they need– no one else.
You can learn more about Mallory on Instagram @theformulamom or on her website, www.theformulamom.com.
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