One Day at a Time...

I was all set to go to my doctor appointment on Thurs, Oct 7 for my last progesterone shot. Since I had not had any activity on the baby front (besides the uncomfortable braxton hicks contractions that I'd been having for weeks) I assumed that this weeks appointment would be the same. I had it in my mind that I probably wouldn't carry Graham full term, but I really expected to carry him for another week or two. So, I was very surprised when I went into labor at 37 weeks 2 days--the day before my doctor's appointment.

Logan and I had spent the night before at my Mom's house and everything was normal. Although, I was pretty uncomfortable at this point and having lot of pain in my pelvis due the weight of the baby in addition to my BH contractions. This had been going on for awhile and my doctor had assured me that this was totally normal for a second baby since everything is lower this time around. On Wed morning, my mom and I were baking muffins to deliver to all of those wonderful people who helped Dad so much during his treatments and chatting together. By the middle of the day, I decided to take some tylenol and prop my feet up. It didn't really help my pain, but I wasn't having regular contractions and didn't think that any of this was too unusual. I decided to head home, put Logan down for a nap, soak in the tub and try to nap myself. I was on the couch trying to fall asleep when I felt a gush of water. I thought, "hmmm....that's odd" and sat up. Another gush. I headed to the bathroom since I still wasn't convinced this was my water breaking. As soon as I stood up I felt a BIG gush. After this, water was continuously running down my legs. I was so glad that I was at home and not out running errands!! I called Shane at work and told him my water just broke. He didn't believe me! I then called my doctor and they said to head right to labor and delivery. I think I alternated between laughing and crying for about the next 30 minutes as I attempted to figure out what to pack. Normally, I'm super prepared but this caught me totally off guard! Luckily, I had packed all of Graham's stuff so we didn't have to worry about that.

On our way to the hospital, I realized that I hadn't eaten since noon, and I knew that they wouldn't let me eat until Graham was born. So, I made Shane drive through somewhere so I could eat on the way! When we got to the hospital, they checked me and I was about 1 1/2 cm dilated. They started me on pitocin and hooked me up to an IV. Just about an hour or so later I was at 4 cm and asking for my epidural. (Which is one of the best inventions EVER.) Over the next couple of hours, we just rested and waited for me to get completely dilated. As the night wore on, they realized that Graham was "sunny side up" which meant that he was head down with his face towards my stomach instead of my back. We spent over an hour waiting for the last tiny bit of cervix to dilate and at 12:45 am my nurse (who was AWESOME, by the way) came in and turned my pitocin way up. She said that Dr. Robins told her if I wasn't completely dilated and the baby hadn't turned by 1 am, he wanted to do a c-section. Ugghh!! At that point, I started praying hard for things to progress on their own so that we could avoid that. Luckily, she checked me a few minutes later and found that I was complete and it appeared that Graham had turned. It was time to push! Thank goodness I didn't know that Graham would be a 9 lb baby, because I think it would have made pushing him out even harder. The overall birth experience with him was totally different then with Logan. When I had Logan, I was completely numb and was almost too numb to push. With Graham, I could feel everything. Not painfully, but I could feel all of the pressure and contractions. At one point I said, "I want him OUT!!!" Finally, after about an hour of the hardest work ever, Graham was born at 1:51 am. They immediately set him on my tummy and I just stared at him in awe. They took him to clean him up a bit and weigh him in the corner, and brought him right back to me. I was able to breastfeed him right away and hold him for about an hour. A-mazing.

We were transferred to our post-partum room after that, and they took Graham to the well baby nursery for monitoring. We were a tiny bit concerned about his breathing, so they wanted to monitor him for awhile. They determined he was perfect and brought him back to us after about an hour or so. We spent Thursday night in the hospital and were released on Friday evening. Since then, we've all been doing great. This birth was different in every way, shape and from Logan's. I think that was part of the shock for me when my water broke. (I recently read that only 8% of women have their water break like that.) Graham's birth was much harder on me, so it's been a bit longer of a recovery, but I'm finally starting to feel a bit less sore and more like myself.

The whole experience was just another example of how God can surprise you. I never would have expected my water to break, to have delivered Graham this early, or for him to have been a 9 pound baby. But, what a blessing and miracle he is. I'd like to think that Graham and my Dad got to spend those ten days in between death and birth together. I wish that my Dad could be here to hold him now, but I know that he is here with us every day and that Graham will have an incredibly special guardian angel.

Posted in: on Wednesday, October 13, 2010 at at 2:51 PM