The Birth Story

I have already written NICU...which is a part 1... but here's what happened prior to that scary wake up call Sunday morning.

The Start
On Friday morning, I woke up about 7:00 a.m. with a crampy feeling.  At this point, I had stopped getting excited over cramps and decided they were just gas pains.
Went to the bathroom and looked in the tp as I have every single day of this pregnancy and there was the mucous plug!  I walked out of the bathroom and said to PC "OMG (and I'm not even a big fan of text lingo) OMG, I just lost my mucous plug... it could be hours now!"  PC said "I thought it could still mean days."  Me:  "Let's think hours.  Good grief, I have to go to the bathroom again."  But I couldn't hold it and didn't make it... my water broke at 7:15 a.m.  For me, it started as a trickle and then the "gush."  It was the strangest feeling ever!  And it kept coming... and kept coming...and kept coming... I  yelled to PC  "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh... my water just broke!  We've got to go!  But I need a shower... and to put a few more things in the bag... go ahead and put everything in the car...gotta call the doctor... I can't believe it!"  PC by this time has jumped out of bed and was worried about a few work things that need to be resolved... one was a pie delivery.  I asked him why he didn't have a back-up plan and that we were going to have a baby and could not be worried about pies!!!  Anyway, we rush around for about 45 minutes making phone calls, showering and getting the car ready and finally we're off.

The Car Ride
I tell PC that I want to get a biscuit.  He told me he didn't want to deliver a baby in a car and I told him everyone's advice was to eat something before labor & delivery and I was hungry!  PC was irritated and driving 85 mph.  I told him I really wanted to actually make it to the hospital.  About 10 minutes into the drive (hospital is 30 minutes away), another gush.  I had a mega pad on and a towel but it didn't help.  So, I had PC make another stop at the Dollar General (one on every corner in the Southeast) for a pair of jogging pants and underwear.  I was not walking into the hospital with wet pants, priorities lol.  I had to change in the hospital parking lot.  He also got a mega lollie... more about that later.

The Mega Lollie

 The Arrival
We arrived about 9:30 a.m. and checked in.  The nurse had to go with me into the bathroom and make sure my water broke.  I was thinking... seriously?  Confirmed and off to lucky room #7!  They did my first check and I was at 2 cm.  So much for the movie scenes where the water breaks and the couple barely makes it to the hospital in time!  A nurse peeked into the room and told me my mom was in the hallway and asked if she could come in.  We had specified to family that we didn't want them there during the labor... I just wanted the time for focusing on baby.  But I'm an only child and we had one really excited grandma-to-be there so we let her in for a few pictures and hugs and promises to send updates. 

The Labor
I was not feeling contractions that morning.  So the walking began.  We walked and we walked and we walked.  At 6:30 p.m., I started feeling contractions and we didn't leave the room after that point.  During this time, I wanted dark and complete silence.  During each contraction, I was telling myself "closer to baby, breathe, closer to baby."  I remember (and so does he) telling PC that his shoes were squeaking.  I told him he was getting off easy with my need for dark and silence!  I snuck in a few graham crackers and had a few of those during this time too.  I disagree with the 'absolutely nothing to eat' policy... definitely a time that strength and energy is needed!  I labored from 6:30 to midnight and just knew the next check would be a "10 and ready to push!"  No such luck.  I was 4 cm. Bring on the epidural.

Walking, walking, walking

 The Epidural
I knew we had to speed things up with my water breaking.  Epidural lady came and she was no nonsense.  I remember telling her I was scared of this because I had scoliosis and she said everything would be okay.  She talked me through each part and I remember her popping the top of the needle with her mouth, putting it in her other hand and tossing it across the room to the trash can, hitting it spot on.  Funny the little things you remember but I was thinking "I'm in good hands here!"  I didn't want the epidural for different reasons, but, in my case, I really believe it would have ended in a c-section if I had not because things were just not progressing and I was getting close to the point of being at risk for infection because of my water breaking. 

From 4cm to 10 cm
From midnight to 4 a.m., they added pitocin

off the charts

Pushing
I remember telling the doctor "let's do three pushes and get him here!"  He laughed and said that it might take a few more than that but we would try.  He had to get a mirror for me and coach me through pushing where I needed to push but when I saw the head and hair, extra motivation kicked in!  Hampton was born at 7:21 a.m. and then the room became a blur while PC and I cried and looked into the sweetest face I've ever seen.  I remember telling him how long we had waited on him and how much he was worth it.  Then he pooped, lol.  But at least he waited until outside the womb, such a gentleman.

Welcome to the World

The "Push Present"
A sweet card and necklace from PC.  It means eternity.  Perfect gift from my P.rince C.harming:]

Little details
In conversation before the pushing, it came up that this was an IVF baby and we had tried for years.  One of the L&D nurses said she had one unsuccessful IVF and adopted a baby girl and that we were giving her hope that they might just try one more time.  She stayed through shift change to help deliver the baby and cried with us.

That darn mega lollie... it caught my eye several times during labor and I told PC to get rid of it... looking at it made me sick!

After I got the IV, they looked for the baby's heartbeat.  It took her a long time and PC and I shared a look of sheer panic.  It became the first of several and I remember saying later in the week "why can I not just get a baby home?!?"

I still had my bra on for some reason and it needed to come off.  The nurses were having a hard time getting it around the cords and IV and I said "cut the bra."  They were like "no, we'll help you save the bra."  Totally a female moment!

Advice for packing for moms to be...

• Lots and lots of socks!  Some for walking on the nasty hospital floor, some for comfort, and cheap ones you can cut if your feet swell afterwards like mine did!

• Disposable panties... they don't give you enough of these things but they worked during the walking/labor part and after labor because they stretch and-best part- you just toss them in the trash!  My ob/gyn said we could purchase those in the lingerie department, another funny detail I remember.

• Snacks... I wouldn't have had any strength without a few graham crackers here and there.  I know the reasoning because you don't know if surgery will be necessary but sometimes people need emergency surgery and they haven't fasted... I was thankful for those crackers!

• Cottonelle and colace to prepare for that first bm.  Enough said.