As any mother would admit the end of the pregnancy and the waiting game of WHEN can be hard. I figured I would have this baby before my due date, but that is as far as I could plan. At my 36-week doctor’s appointment, I was told that I was already 2 cm dilated. Although you can be dilated for weeks, this got me excited because Caleb and Lucy were born within a week of being 1 cm and I was not dilated at all 2 days before Toby was born. One night the following week I could not sleep through contractions and they were coming every 3-5 minutes apart. By the time the kids were awake, I suggested we leave for the hospital so that I would not have to deal with the kids during labor. The contractions had not made any progress and after being there for a while with still no progress they sent us home. For the next 3 weeks I had contractions for several hours nearly every day. Each day that I had them, they grew more intense. I tried to ignore them, trying not to think each contraction might be labor, and joked that we were going to have the baby in the car because I would not know when I actually was in labor.
The day before my 39-week appointment they were intense enough that I had to stop during many of them. Like all of the previous days, the contractions stopped, but because of their intensity I was pretty sure they had at least helped me progress a little. The next morning at my appointment, still no progress. The doctor told me not to worry and that things could happen quickly. I was pretty bummed that the waiting game was continuing. With the other kids, the first sign of contractions meant labor. Now I had already had 3 full weeks of painful contractions that were not doing anything but tricking me.
We had a busy day planned for Saturday: yard work in the morning, writing/revising Andy’s paper that was due at 6:30 and a visit from a contractor and insurance adjuster for the siding. Just after 10:00, the kids and I were “giving the bushes a haircut” when I started getting contractions. Same as the previous days’, but I think I was even better at ignoring them since my doctor’s appointment. I had them all day and timed them for a little while I was reading Andy’s paper, but they were not very consistent. Just after dinner (around 6:00) my water broke. My water had broken with Lucy and I had wished that I had waited at home for longer than I had so I was not certain we were going in right away but I was finally assured that I was in labor. After a few minutes I decided to call my parents and see if someone could come over, thinking at least I could sit and relax and they would bathe the kids while Andy was finishing his paper. Andy realized that his quotes had not been saved so he left to get the textbooks he shares with the neighbor.
In the 10 minutes or so it took for Mary Jo to arrive I had decided that we were going in. I got the rest of the things for our hospital bag ready and called down to see how the paper was coming. He had just turned it in (6:23). I said lets go and Andy said he needed to shower. He hurried. As we were about to leave I realized that I never called the doctor. I called and said we were coming in. He was going to finish up his dinner and be right in. As we were leaving, Lucy was asking what the baby was. We told her we would not know until it was actually born and she would probably be asleep. Mary Jo reminded me that I added, “maybe it will be born before you are in bed, miracles do happen.” We left at about 6:35. On the drive over I told Andy to time the contractions so we knew what to tell them when we arrived. 2 minutes apart. When we were pulling into the parking lot Andy asked if I wanted to be dropped off at the door or walk with him. At first I said walk, but then realized that I really couldn’t move well and was being irrational. A contraction had just stopped so I ran through the door so I could grip a beam. The man at the desk called up to labor and delivery and asked if I was okay and if I needed a wheelchair. I said no, but he said he would get one if I felt at all light headed. Just then I did feel light headed and said fine get me one. Just then Andy came in and I had him push the elevator button. The man said we had to wait for a nurse since I was in a chair. I was in the middle of a contraction and told Andy that if it ended before a nurse was there we would walk instead. It ended. We bolted into the elevator, leaving the wheelchair. We made it just through the labor and delivery doors before the next contraction hit so Andy checked us in. I am not sure why we didn’t need to go to triage, but they sent us into a delivery room.
As I had the next contraction, the nurse calmly explained to me how I needed to change into the gown and they would hook me up to the monitors. I told her no the baby was coming right now. As soon as the contraction was over I rolled into the bed. She could see the head and since my doctor had not arrived yet, called in a doctor that was passing by the room to deliver the baby. Nellie was born at 7:06, we figure around 10 minutes after arriving to the hospital. I sat there amazed that she was already born and amazed that she was a girl (I had been convinced of a boy from the beginning). We called home within minutes of her birth so the kids would know it was a girl. Apparently Jaime called in on the other line asking if we had left for the hospital and a shocked Mary Jo told her the baby was already here. I guess most of my “plans” didn’t work out as I labored the whole day watching all the kids even after my water broke. I did however get to keep the surprise factor alive. A quick end (only an hour since I knew I was in labor) to a long three weeks.
1 comment:
Congrats to you and the rest of the family. Hope all is well at home. God bless. You are such an inspiration to have a large family.
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