A Birth Story

Tuesday went over like any other day. Went to work and surprisingly did not have a stressful day, it was calm rather. I came home and hung out thinking about everything I was going to accomplish this week to get ready for Hanley. Went to get some Chinese food  and I went to lay in bed about 8:30 that night.

About 9 pm I got sick and proceeded to puke my guts out. I laid back in bed about 9:30 and went to sleep. I woke up sick again at 1 am thinking it was going to be a long day at work if this turned out to be a long night.

About 1:30 or 1:45 I woke up with a contraction but thought it was all in my head. I had been having braxton hicks a lot. Two days before this they really started to kick up at dinner and Monday they continued to happen a lot but they didn't hurt at all and weren't consistent. I went back to sleep and woke up to another one. I was thinking oh they are moving into the more painful braxton hicks, I just need to relax and go to sleep. Well they kept coming and when I timed them they were 7 minutes apart. Then they proceeded to take my breath away and come about every 4 to 5 minutes. Me being me still thought it was all in my head.

I called my mom to see if they'd drive over here. I figured they'd be here in an hour and dad could stay with the baby and mom could take me to the hospital if I was still having contractions. Well I had about two more contractions that I couldn't talk through and decided to call the sitter....I'd drop Huddie off and drive myself to the hospital. This was about 3 in the morning. I figured I could go get checked, and would be told to go home. Ya still wasn't convinced I was in labor.

I start the car, realize there is very little gas in it and was thinking, "crap out of all the times to have no gas". I put Hudson in the car and drove over there. My sitter's husband, bless him, comes out and says, "I'm going to drive you to the hospital". I didn't argue, hurt too bad. I knew better.

My contractions were coming, painfully, about every 4 minutes. I got to the hospital, walked up to labor and delivery and could barely talk through my admission. The nurse takes me to the room, hooks me up to the monitor and after my next contraction I say, "so are they really contractions or is it all in my head?" I know...I know...I just couldn't believe I was in labor. She tells me they're contractions and then tells me she could have told me that without the monitor hooked up. Then she checks me. I was dilated to 4 and 100% effaced. Shocked!


Less then 10 minutes later another nurse came in to check me, they wanted to be sure she was head down. I was at a 6. (Told you they go quick).  I was in a lot of pain at this time and my contractions were coming, oh I don't know how often, but it was a lot.

When I first got to the hospital I asked for an epidural cause I had already done this twice naturally and really didn't want to again. She said I could get one but had to go through a bag of IV's, get my labs back and go through a thing of antibiotics since I hadn't been tested for step b yet.

My doc was on call that night thankfully and when he came to check me I was at a 7/8. He broke my water and all I could think was oh no these are going to hurt so much more. About this time I finished my IV and the nurse said I could have an epidural. I said screw it I had made it this far and figured she'd be born quick since with Hud I went from a 7 to 10 in like 7 minutes or so.

I was so so so nervous having her 6 weeks early. I kept asking what would happen, about how much she'd weigh, it was scary. They told me 34 weeks is borderline so it could go one of three ways...they'd rush her to the NICU, she'd have to go to the nursery right away to receive some extra oxygen and observation or she'd be fine and stay right there with us. There would be a respiratory and NICU doctor/nurse in there and he wasn't going to put her on me after she was born, he was going to give her to them. The nurse was so encouraging. The doctor said she'd weigh probably somewhere around 4 1/2 lbs.

So the time came and I was fully dilated, it took me about 2 pushes to figure out how to push and then I figured it out and she came out in 1 push. The doc held her up for me and then handed her to the nurse. About 3o seconds later she cried...talk about relief. She received no oxygen and got a clean bill of health. They wrapped her up and I held my precious baby daughter.

The only issues she had was keeping her temp up that night. Once they got it up good, she managed to keep it up. At first she nursed great but then got really wiped out. When her temp went down they had me pump and gave her some in a bottle to help give her energy. Once she ate and got warm she nursed like a pro and hasn't stopped.

Because she was so little and early, before I took her home she had to pass a car seat stress test. If she couldn't pass we would have had to get a different car seat, I guess one that lays down more. They made her sit in it strapped in for an hour while they checked her vitals. She passed with flying colors. If she was any smaller though she would not fit in that thing. She barely does.

I can't tell you how blessed I feel. All those mamma's and daddy's who have had preemies must have been so emotional. I am extremely thankful that she is healthy. I kept praying over and over she would be. Her brothers and cousin are loving her being here. And her mommy is very happy.

She will go to the doctor tomorrow and I'll try to be good about posting updates. Huddie goes as well, I'm excited to see how much he weighs but wish he didn't have to get shots.

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