Friday, May 18, 2012

Birth Story - Part One


This is going to be ridiculously detailed…seriously. So detailed in fact I’ve broken it into two parts. Sorry if you get bored. I would understand just skipping over it completely. It’s mostly for my own records. I don’t want to forget this stuff!

February 15, 2012
38 Week appointment with my doctor. I was really excited for this appointment because the doctor was going to check my cervix for the first time to see if I had made any progress. I had been feeling super uncomfortable for a long time by then (seriously felt like I had been drop-kicked it the crotch) so I was convinced I was dilated at least to a one, but my hopes were set for even more progress than that. Unfortunately, it didn’t take the doctor long to discover that I had made absolutely NO progress whatsoever. He lust laughed about it, saying that my baby would probably be born after his due date (Feb 27th) and that for a first time mom that was totally normal. I, however was not laughing. I tried to hide my disappointment, but as soon as I left the office I started crying. I called Denzil in tears (poor hubby) and he did his best to encourage me. I felt frustrated that all my discomfort had been for nothing…and I couldn’t imagine another 2+ weeks of being so very VERY uncomfortable. It seems silly, but when you’re pregnant, it’s NOT.

February 22-23, 2012
39 week appointment. Again, I was excited to get checked. And again, same EXACT scenario (except this time Denz was with me). The doctor checked me, and just laughed saying, “This baby isn’t coming till March!” I had made absolutely no progress. We talked about how “ok” that was, but that if I went more than a week past my due date he would want to induce me. I was super disappointed, but I didn’t have much time to think about it because as they listened to baby’s heartbeat there was some irregularity. They didn’t seem too worried, but they wanted us to go to the hospital to do a “non-stress test” right after the appointment. I was glad Denz was with me, and luckily neither of us felt too concerned.

We went to the hospital and first had to get an ultrasound done to check the amount of amniotic fluid. The tech was really grumpy, but she was quick. Then we went over to labor and delivery where they put us in an actual labor room. We there met a nurse named Debbie (who was about our age) and she hooked me up to a fetal monitor for 30min to watch baby’s heartbeat. She was SUPER nice and everything checked out just fine! As we were leaving we both we talked about how nice Debbie was and how having a nurse like her for the big event would be awesome.

After dinner that night I started feeling gross, but it was nothing new. I had serious digestive issues my entire pregnancy (CONSTANT diarrhea, upset stomach, gas…) so I buckled up for yet another sleepless night. When we went to bed I was too restless to ignore my husbands snoring, so he went to sleep in the baby’s room on the futon to give me some chance of a better nights rest. Unfortunately his kind gesture didn’t help me get any sleep, as I was up about every half hour visiting the toilet. As it got later I started feeling more and more uncomfortable. My stomach ache was really bothering me and I even remember having the fleeting thought, “what if this is the beginning of labor?” but because I had just been checked earlier that day I quickly dismissed it. Well, my dismissal didn’t last long! A little after 4am I was extremely uncomfortable and half asleep when I suddenly felt like something was happening…like, an urgent feeling? I don’t know how to explain it. So I jumped out of bed and as soon as I reached the bathroom I started to leak! At first I thought I was peeing my pants, but what was leaking didn’t seem like pee, and the longer I stood there the more I leaked! It took me a minute to let the reality sink in that my water had broken. I was in shock! I yelled to Denzil “uh…honey?!” and he quickly got up to see what I’m sure was a very interesting sight. I told him I thought my water broke, and he was very calm.  I’ll never forget his sleepy face as he asked me with a crackly voice “so, are we going to the hospital?” I asked him to finish packing the birth bag while I took a quick shower. The feeling in our little home was very strange! It was very quiet, we didn’t talk much…but we felt calm! It was grateful for that :) While I was in the shower my contractions started to feel recognizable. I’m not sure how far apart they were, but it was a surreal feeling knowing that my labor was starting! I was a little worried about how it would go considering I had ZERO sleep and was very weak, but nevertheless it was starting! When I got out we finished getting our stuff ready and Denzil gave me a priesthood blessing. If you don’t know what that is click here.  The blessing filled me with comfort and even though I knew I was about to experience something out of this world and that our lives were about to change forever, I felt an incredible amount of peace. I was ready!

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