To begin, I'll share the short version of my daughter's birth. Around 36 weeks, I went to my regular check up and the doctor said I was already 4cm dilated. My daughter was breech so we were planning a c-section when she turned 39 weeks. The doctor told me that it was very likely I would go in to labor before then, and if that happened, rush to the hospital as soon as I felt the first contraction. We scheduled the c-section for March 4th. On March 3rd, I woke up feeling "off". I was supposed to take my husband to work. Around 9, we decided to wait 30 minutes since I was feeling so strange. At 9:15, I felt the first contraction. Second one came 6 minutes later. We grabbed the bags and were in the car by 9:30. I was on the L&D floor in the hospital at 9:41 and that's when the contractions got really bad. The checked me right away and said I was 5cm. 15 minutes later, they checked again and I was at 8cm. They started prepping the OR for her delivery and checked me one last time. Just 25 minutes after arriving at the hospital, I was already fully dilated and having pushing contractions. She was safely delivered via c-section at 11:04 a.m.
The morning I went in to labor with Case, Seth was asking if I felt alright. He kept asking all day because I apparently looked "off", the same way I felt "off" when I went in to labor with our daughter. I had been having contractions for a week but didn't realize that's what they were. That afternoon, I had a few that were bad enough to make me grimace. It felt like Case was just balling up and pushing out against my lower belly. That night, he was "pushing against me" a lot and it was hurting pretty bad. Seth was at a football game that didn't end until around midnight. Around 12:30, I was getting pretty tired and decided to go to bed. It was at that point that I realized I was bleeding. I was also beginning to think the "pushes" were contractions. The two together had me freaked out but Seth still wasn't home. I called him about 10 minutes later. My good friend was also at the football game so she came rushing over to stay with our daughter so that Seth and I could go to the ER.
We got the the ER and they sent us straight to L&D. I just "knew" they were going to tell me I was crazy. They'd check me, give me a pill, and send me home. It didn't quite go like that! They checked me and said I was 4 cm and the sac was bulging. Holy crap! They sent me straight to a room, hooked me up to monitors, put me on bedrest with my feet elevated and my head down, and started magnesium. The next 18 hours were so scary. I got the steroid shots for his lungs and was just very thankful for every hour he was still inside. They managed to stop my labor 3 different times and after 62 hours, took me off the magnesium. I was on procardia and they were waiting for a room to open up in Antenatal care so I wouldn't be on L&D anymore. I was going to be on hospital bed rest until the baby was born. My first goal was to make it to 28 weeks. 34 weeks was my longest goal.
On Wednesday around noon, the day I turned 28 weeks, Seth and Hadley came to visit me for lunch. As we were visiting, they told me my other room was ready and I was going to get to move! I had been having borderline contractions at about 40 seconds long. I was only having 1 contraction every hour or two so it wasn't a concern. I was moved in to my new room around 1:30. Seth went home to put Hadley down for her nap and my friend was on her way to visit me. At 2:15, my water broke! I texted Seth and my friend to tell them. She went to our house instead so Seth could come back to the hospital. The contractions really started picking up around 2:40. They put me back in a wheelchair and brought me back to L&D. Seth was running across the floor as they were bringing me to a room. That was 2:50 or 3:00. The midwife came in to check me and said I was 8 cm. They prepared the NICU team and 10 minutes later, I was pushing. After 2 pushing contractions, he was born!
As soon as he was born, he cried. That was such a wonderful thing to hear because I know not all preemies do that. They let me kiss him before they took him to the table for his NICU care. Our lives were forever changed!
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