We were getting ready to have family in town for my 30th birthday and also Easter. I was also 37 weeks pregnant. Things were busy, but exciting. Wednesday April 4th I was restless most of the night. I noticed “Whoopsie” wasn’t moving at all. Normally, baby kicks up a storm at night. I was still very restless when Jonny left for work at 2 am. I decided to drink some juice, lie on my side with my hand on my belly and wait for baby to move. Nothing. Thursday morning I call my OB. This just isn’t normal and I was a little worried. Dr. Cole told me to come in immediately.
I walked straight to a room at Dr. Cole’s. They find the heart beat with a doppler, but it was a little slower than normal. Dr. Cole suggested that I go next door to Labor and Delivery for a non-stress test. It was a little unusual and she wanted to have a longer test than just the doppler especially with the holiday weekend coming up.
Alyssa, James and I walk over to the hospital. I get all hooked up and wait and wait and wait. It was very reassuring to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. The nursing staff was awesome. An L&D nurse, Hannah, entertained the kids until Jonny could make it. It was great that I didn’t have to wrangle other kids while worrying about baby. I was having contractions, but nothing too bad or very regular. After a couple of hours and baby checking out okay I was released to go home.
The weekend came. We celebrated my birthday. Family and friends were in town. We celebrated Easter. The kids hunted eggs. We blew up their new pool. We ate bbq. It was a lot of fun. Kids were exhausted. I was exhausted. Yet, again, I couldn’t sleep. I was very restless and achy. Thankfully, my parents were still in town and could help me with the little ones.
Monday morning, April 9th, I got up before anyone else (except Jonny who was already at work, of course) and started piddling around. I unloaded the dishwasher and made coffee. I noticed I was having contractions. They were pretty strong, but not painful. I figured I needed some water and to sit down for a little while. My parents got up, as well as Alyssa and James. My mom was going to stay to help out with the kids and for my repeat c-section scheduled April 16th. We went about our morning. I made breakfast. Cleaned up breakfast. We played outside. At some point I told my mom that was having pretty regular contractions.
I still went about my day as usual, but I decided to start timing contractions…just in case. They were 4-6 minutes apart. I waffled back and forth. I honestly didn’t think I was in labor. They weren’t in a pattern at all. I told Jonny just to come straight home from work. I got Alyssa and James lunch and Alyssa ready for dance class. Thank goodness, my mom stayed! Jonny arrived home and I still didn’t know what I wanted to do. I called Dr. Cole and they said go to Labor and Delivery. They whole way there Jonny and I talked about how we didn’t want to stay up there all day just to be sent home. I was still questioning whether I was in labor or not.
I walk in. The nurse asked if it was the real deal or not. I said I honestly didn’t know. We went to a triage room and got hooked up to the monitors. The nurse said, “Honey, your contractions are two minutes apart.” Good to know! She checked me. I was only 1 cm dilated. 1 cm!!!! Crap! I was going to be sent home. They decided to give me some IV fluids to see if it slowed them down at all. 2 bags of saline in 45 minutes and a shot of Terbutaline and the contractions were still going strong. I was in pain now. If I was still 1 I was going to cry. If I had made any cervical change they were going to talk about scheduling a c-section for that afternoon. So, I get checked. 3 cm. Jonny and I talked about declining the repeat c-section. I was in labor and they can’t kick me out. Knowing I was progressing was encouraging. The fact that I had been contracting all day and it was now 3 pm and I still had a long way to go wasn’t. In the end, I was worried I was going to labor for a long time and end up with a c-section anyway. If I needed a c-section I really wanted Dr. Cole to be the one to perform it. So, we were put on the schedule for 4:30 that afternoon.
I walk back to the operating room. Receive my spinal. Got prepped and ready to go. At 5:10 pm Natalie Ann Osborne was born. She weighed 6 lb 15 oz and was 20 in long (my biggest baby yet!). She was covered in meconium. I didn’t even get to see her over the curtain. They wanted to take her immediately to get cleaned up and have her teeny nose suctioned out. Jonny stayed with her the whole time and was the one to bring her all wrapped up over to me. Dr. Cole said that whatever stressed her on Thursday not to move may have caused the meconium. She definitely needed to be born sooner than later. So, I didn’t get my VBAC, but things went exactly as they should be and my baby girl is beautiful and healthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment