Where to begin my little early surprise?? You came into the world at just 36 weeks and 5 days! And there had been absolutely no inkling that would happen. I went to bed the evening of June 28th, just like any other evening. I woke up out of a dream involving a waterpark at 1:15AM and headed to the bathroom as always. I felt like I’d wet myself just a little already and was a bit disturbed by that. I was wet enough that I had to change my underwear. I wondered if it could be my water breaking, but figured that was crazy, being so early and that only 10% of waters break on their own. So I went back to bed. I lay there for awhile, and had what I now think was a contraction, but at the time I thought it was just nerves, from not knowing for certain what was going on with my body. At about 1:45AM I got up again and went to the bathroom. This time I turned on the light to see what color was going into the toilet. It was slightly pinkish. Uh oh! I woke up Daddy, then called the doctor. She said to head into the hospital where they could check to see if it was my water that had broken. Both Daddy and I were in denial – you were too early! So, Daddy went back to bed and Grandma drove me. Part of me figured we’d be back home in a few hours.
Too much talking along the way caused us to miss the turn so we had to loop back around to the hospital. Only we got caught by a freight train that had stopped across the intersection only a block from the hospital – how frustrating! But even more frustrating for the people in the car ahead of us. The woman was out of their car, pacing back and forth in obvious agony. She was also in labor. I knew there was a way to backtrack and get to the hospital avoiding the train tracks so I got out and went over to her. She was in tears and asked that I talk to her husband. He was already on the phone with the hospital, but I assured him that yes, there was a way around. Us along with at least one other car turned around and headed to the hospital a different way.
After testing the fluid I was leaking and confirming it was my water, I was moved from triage to an L&D room. They also had checked me and I was 3 cm and 60% effaced! So much more advanced that I got with Evey pre-epidural! We decided to let Daddy continue sleeping (it was probably about 3:30AM or so by then) because he was going to wake up at 5:30AM anyway. I put off getting the epidural for awhile, and ended up getting it around 7:15AM. Daddy came in shortly thereafter. This time my mom got to be in the room and help support me during the epidural. With Evey, they had made Daddy leave the room!
A funny thing - Daddy said that when he woke up he could’ve sworn I’d come home and said it was a false alarm. And so he was briefly confused when I wasn’t there!
The epidural worked long enough for me to give some resolution to my open items at work (Daddy brought my laptop) … how amusing that I’d just assured my clients I was going to be around for awhile still! What else would I have thought? Evey had been just 3 days shy of her due date! Shortly after cleaning up my cases and emails, the epidural seemed to stop working as well as it had. The anesthesiologist gave me more medicine twice and it still didn’t fully work. We think it was because of the pitocin they gave me to make sure I had you within a certain amount of time to avoid infection because my water had already broken. It made my contractions much harder, and come faster. I went from 4 cm to 10 cm dilated in about an hour!! And boy, that last hour WAS painful! I got nauseated at one point as well, but thank goodness never threw up.
On the bright side, I pushed you out in just 4-5 contractions, about 10 minutes! And this time I watched with a mirror, which was so cool. And I think it helped, too, to see what progress I was making. I pushed so hard though that I broke blood vessels all along the sides of my face … it looks like someone beat me up! And even more cool was when your head was almost out, they told me to not push and we just watched and you slowly glided out! Wow! And no episiotomy was needed this time! I tore just slightly they said and required only one suture. You didn’t cry right away, but did make little noises. They checked out your breathing because you were early, and everything was good! You were born at 10:53AM, 6 lbs 8 oz and 19 inches long! For so many weeks I’d wondered how our birth story would play out. It still astonishes me that it’s happened! You’re here!
One little tidbit I just remembered – so many women came in when we did that they had to call their scheduled inductions to tell them not to come! A lady just brought me June 29th’s newspaper to save for you and said that 16 babies were born here yesterday!
I’m a little sad that my pregnancy is over. I liked being pregnant and was trying to enjoy every moment of it because this should be my last time. It makes me wistful still when I think about how you were just in there yesterday, wiggling around! But it makes me happy when I remember you’re not gone, you’re here in my arms now! I was also looking forward to being off work until mid-October, not the end of September! It’s still the 12 weeks of course, but somehow doesn’t feel as long. I am getting used to the new reality of it though. Some good sleep last night helped I think.
As I finish this little write-up, you are turning 24 hours old my little buddy!! I love you!
