Here's Molly's Birth Story - It's a bit lengthy, so I divided it into 2 parts so your eyes wouldn't bleed from ready so much. I was going to cut out details, but it's almost impossible to do that! It's a little TMI perhaps - so read at your own risk!
First things first. I lost a little bit of my mucous plug on Sunday (5/27) night before I went to bed, and had some painless contractions throughout the week, but nothing painful at all. Wednesday morning I woke up with a little bit of blood, so Daddy knew we were getting close and he kept his phone on him the whole day, texting me a few times to make sure I was okay.
Last Wednesday night while getting ready for bed, I was talking to Daddy and wondering when you were going to be born. I said that I’d rather you wait until June 1 to be born because no one likes the end of the month, but then I remembered that Daddy’s birthday is October 31. Oops. He just laughed it off. I stayed up until about 11pm, Daddy was passed out, but I was watching TV - Chopped, I think, on the Food Network. I was envisioning how I’d like labor to go, and thinking that I’d actually like to wake up in the middle of the night in labor because that way Daddy definitely wouldn’t be able to go to work and I wouldn’t have to try to get a hold of him and worry about how long it would take him to get home and wondering when I should tell him I was in labor, so I planned it all out in my head - start labor during the night, have Daddy stay home, stay at home for as long as possible, but that’s as far as it got. About 11pm, I decided to go to bed finally, wondering when you were going to come. Oh how close we were!
I woke up thinking that I was getting my period - they felt like period cramps. I went to the bathroom and remembered that I was pregnant - they couldn’t be period cramps! I came back in bed and looked at the time - 12:23am. I just laid there, trying to go back to sleep, wondering if I was actually in labor, or if these were just Braxton Hicks contractions. I did walk around a lot on Wednesday, trying to start labor. I didn’t go outside, but I was doing laps around the house, doing squats, pelvic rocks, whatever I could to start labor. I don’t know if it actually worked, but anyways I was just laying there in bed on Thursday morning feeling the contractions coming and going. I didn’t want to start timing them yet, just because I didn’t want to jinx myself and have them fizzle out. After about a half hour or so, I turned my phone on and opened my contraction app and started timing them - first contraction recorded was at 12:50am. About 1:30, Daddy got up to go to the bathroom and I told him he might not be going into work that day, I thought I was in labor. He got so excited and asked me what contractions felt like. I told him and we both thought it would be best if we tried to get some sleep. At that point, my contractions were less than 10 minutes apart, but because they were regular - meaning not consistently every 8 minutes or something, I didn’t know if it was true labor. I couldn’t sleep all night though, and I don’t think Daddy got much sleep either. Every time I would be relaxed enough to fall asleep, I’d get another contraction and tense up again. I tried to relax myself as much as I could, knowing that tensing up wouldn’t help me, but it was so hard! Eventually I got up and packed my hospital bag, and I think we turned the TV on at some point, too.
At about 5:30am, we decided to get up, and I hopped in the shower. Okay, well not hopped, but took a shower anyway. Contractions were still less than 10 minutes apart, some 3 minutes apart and other 9 minutes apart. They weren’t too intense, I knew that they lasted about 1 minute and after that minute I could breath and relax again. Daddy and I came out to see Grammy, who was frantic wondering if I was in labor. She knew Daddy’s truck was still home, and knew what that could mean, and honestly, that would be the only reason he’d be home. She was on the verge of tears when I told her I was in labor since 12:30am, and she was wondering when we were going to call the hospital and what we were going to do. I told her that we were going to wait and see how everything went and we’d play it by ear. She quickly showered and Daddy and I ate - I had some chocolate mini wheats for breakfast and had a huge glass of water - I wanted to make sure that I was hydrated enough - I did NOT want to get an IV and knew that if I was dehydrated then that would be an excuse for them to stick an IV in me. I had 2 big glasses of water and kept timing my contractions. After I ate, my contractions started to get farther apart. Great, I thought, it wasn’t real labor, I knew I should have eaten something when I first woke up, but I just didn’t want to get up, I was hoping that I would be able to fall back to sleep. So I texted Grandma Crane and Krissy, and told them both that my contractions were fizzling out.
After Grammy left for work, Daddy and I tried to sleep some more, and we watched a few episodes of CSI Miami. I think Daddy actually got some sleep, but I was never able to sleep, I just kept timing my contractions. They were still pretty far apart, but they never went away. Once Uncle Billy came home from school at about 10 or so, Daddy and he went to play tennis. They made sure I was okay, and Daddy texted me while they were playing to make sure I was okay. I was pretty shaky, so I had a few pieces of pizza and more water to hold me over. After I ate, I was okay, I’m thinking my blood sugar was low or something. Once they got back from playing tennis, they wanted to play horse, so I sat on the rocking chair outside and watched them play. Grammy came home about 2pm or so, and she was still so nervous and wondering why I was still home. My contractions were a little closer, and a little more intense since I couldn’t talk through them anymore, but they were still manageable. They were averaging about 7 minutes apart, but I just breathed through them. Some were still about 15 minutes apart though, so the average on my app was kind of high. They were always about a minute long though. Grammy just sat with me once she got home and couldn’t believe how calm I was.
After Daddy and Uncle Billy were finally done, I thought I should call the hospital and just let them know I was in labor for about 15 hours, even though the contractions weren’t close enough to go to the hospital, I wanted some confirmation that I was in labor and would eventually have a baby. So Daddy came in and made ramen noodles - actually I made him ramen while he was getting ready, and still timing my contractions. About 2:30 or so, I finally made the call, and the nurse asked me a bunch of questions - I wasn’t leaking any fluid and she asked about my bloody show and a bunch of other things. She put me on hold while she talked to the doctor on call, Dr. Lincoln, but told me to wait until my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and then to call again once that happened. I was a little frustrated, contractions were getting stronger at that point, and I didn’t know how much longer I’d be in labor. I cried a little bit, and your Daddy was so helpful.
Almost as soon and I got off the phone, my contractions got closer together. And way more intense. I could only lean over your Daddy and have him hold me through the contractions. Eventually my average frequency was 5 minutes and I called the hospital again at about 4:30 or so and told them they were closer. They told me they would let the labor and delivery floor know that I was on my way. Daddy finished packing, while holding me during contractions. Grammy was in tears when we left, and of course, both neighbors Michelle and Mr. Becker were outside as I was walking to the car, so they knew I was going to the hospital. We asked Grammy for a puke bucket in case I got sick. We also put garbage bags down in case my water broke on the way. Honestly, I barely remember leaving, my eyes were closed most of the time, and Daddy kept recording my contractions.
..... Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment