So - my October bump became a September baby - on his sister's birthday!
All pregnancy long, I had a feeling this baby would come early - although I expected him around 9/30 or 10/1 - sometime *after* his sister turned 2. With his two big sisters, I had a bout of fairly intense but false labor about a week before the real deal, and ended up at the hospital both times, only to be sent home. So when I started getting fairly regular contractions on Friday 9/23, I was sure it was just false labor.
I had been losing bits of plug for a week, and was having roughly 3 contractions an hour for 6 days, but they weren't really intense at all. My hubby called to see if it was ok for him to work late, so I told him I was having some contractions, but that I was sure it was false labor, and I'd call him back if they got within 7 minutes. At 6:30, they were about 5 minutes apart and getting more intense - I was still sure it was false labor, but I was starting to loose my cool with the girls, so I asked my hubby to come home. The 4 yr old wanted chili and shells & cheese for dinner, so I cooked it up (note to expectant moms - do NOT eat chili while in labor....). I had downloaded a nifty app to track contractions, and with shock I realized they were lasting over a minute, and were under 5 minutes apart! I was drinking tons of water (dehydration contributed to my other false labors), but hubby decided we should drop the girls off with my mom for the night, just to be safe. Wise man.
I used breathing techniques and some visualization/distraction as he bundled the girls up for a surprise overnighter with grandma. We drove across town (40 minute drive), and got the girls set up for the night. Instead of heading straight home, or to the hospital, hubby and I decided to go to the grocery store and pick up some things that we didn't have yet - like newborn size diapers and wipes. We walked around the store for a while, since that is what the nurses would ask me to do if I was at the hospital. The contractions were getting pretty intense at this point - we did the 'slow dance' move several times in the store, and I continued to breath through them. We headed back home.
I took a nice warm bath, and hubby caught up on some TV. The water really helped me be comfortable, but when I got out the contractions seemed to get more intense. At this point I started getting a bit worried that it may actually be the real thing. Unfortunately, about this time, my decision to eat chili also came back to haunt me. I told hubby if he wanted to shower before we went to the hospital, that he should do it RIGHT THEN - then I haded to the other bathroom to deal with the consequences of chili. Seriously - do NOT eat chili if you are potentially going into labor.
Hubby got out of the shower, and I went to rest on the recliner. At this point a REALLY MAJOR contraction started building and it was so intense I sprung up from the chair and took a few steps and BOOM - waters broke. I yelled up to hubby, and we both panicked a little. With my first DD, she was born about 20 minutes after my water broke, but this time around, we lived 30 minutes from the hospital! He threw together the rest of a bag, helped me change pants, we put a garbage bag on the seat in the van, and headed towards the hospital.
Hubby pretty much broke almost all traffic laws on the way, but I didn't mind so much because I was started to get the urge to push and was panting my way through each contraction - I'd stopped counting at 12:45 when my water broke, but it seemed like they were lasting 90+ seconds, and were under 3 minutes apart. We pulled into the ER and hubby practically carried me from the car into the building and got me in the wheelchair. Wheelchairs are possibly the most uncomfortable position to be in while having transition labor contractions - I do not recommend it. However, it is MUCH FASTER to be wheeled quickly across the hospital than to try to walk there while contracting every 3 minutes. They got me to the maternity ward, and I signed a couple papers (I'm assuming they were the ones they'd sent me earlier because lord knows I was in no condition to read them), and wheeled me back to triage. As they put me in the triage room, the nurse (who oddly enough was the SAME NURSE we had when we delivered my second DD 2 years previously) said to go ahead and get ready for an exam whenever I was ready. I dropped my pants then and there and said now would be good!
He then said to let him know when I was ready for the actual exam so it could be between contractions - I responded that the exam couldn't possibly make things feel worse so do it now! He verified that there was no cervix to be felt and I was ready to go. They rushed to get a room together, and honestly it was probably less than 5 minutes, but I sent hubby out to let them know that if they didn't get me to a room soon, I would go ahead and deliver in triage! I was panting like crazy to stop the pressure to push from building up - glad I'd learned that technique! They got me to the labor/delivery room and I crawled up onto the labor bed - I stayed on all fours and hubby massaged my back, and squeezed my hips together - it *really* felt good at that point.
They didn't bother getting the monitors hooked up - the nurse just held the monitor to track baby's heart rate against my belly. I was surprised because they didn't bother putting an IV in, and I was a little bit nervous because I had tested positive for GBS, and hadn't had the antiobiotics. But the doctor came in and said I could push - and all those thoughts went out of my head. Instead all I was thinking was 'omg I don't want to tear again' - which I apparently said out loud, because the doc said he would guide me through it and I wouldn't tear. So I flipped over to a semi-sitting position, let a contraction build, and pushed my heart out - got 3 or 4 good pushes per contraction. On the 3rd contraction, LO crowned - oh the burning ring of fire!!! The doctor said to hold on a second (he was making sure I didn't tear), I said very loudly - PUSH HIM IN OR PULL HIM OUT HE CANT STAY THERE!!! And proceeded to make some rather loud noises - not quite screams, but more like the intense yelling/grunting noise athletes make sometimes I pushed 3 more times and voila - LO was born at 1:35am! No tearing!
He didn't cry right away, but they put him directly on my chest and wiped off most of the goo - at 37 1/2 weeks, he had quite a bit of vernix left. They cut the cord, and I was just in awe at this little man - my hubby kept saying over and over that we (baby and I) were amazing. LO was still not quite breathing well, so the nurse asked if she could scoop him up and work with him to improve his color/breathing and of course we said yes. He ended up just fine and was back to me right away to try nursing. Unlike his sisters, he didn't really show much interest in nursing, and zero interest in opening his eyes. After 30 minutes or so, they got me admitted officially to the hospital, and we got our little wrist bands and the leg bands for LO. Another 30 minutes later, they did the eye ointment and the vitamin K shot - he barely noticed either he was so tuckered out.
We finally got transfered to the post partum room. LO's blood sugar was borderline, so he had to get heel pokes hourly for 6 hours instead of just 3 to make sure he was ok (I had GD so there was minor concern). He also just wasn't getting a decent latch, so the nurse worked with me to hand express some colostrum after each attempted feed and let him have it from a teeny tiny cup and also sucked off fingertips. This really got his blood sugars in a good range fast. Around this time I also started discovering how awesome it was to not have stitches - I could sit down without worrying about it! It was great!
We ended up staying in the hospital until Monday afternoon because they wanted to get the results of the baby's GBS culture just to be safe, and that was fine with us - the nursing staff was amazing, we got lots of rest, and gave us a chance to bond with LO w/o his sisters around. But by Monday, we were really missing the little girls (they visited of course, but that's not the same).
That ends my super long birth story! Kudos if you managed to read it all
All pregnancy long, I had a feeling this baby would come early - although I expected him around 9/30 or 10/1 - sometime *after* his sister turned 2. With his two big sisters, I had a bout of fairly intense but false labor about a week before the real deal, and ended up at the hospital both times, only to be sent home. So when I started getting fairly regular contractions on Friday 9/23, I was sure it was just false labor.
I had been losing bits of plug for a week, and was having roughly 3 contractions an hour for 6 days, but they weren't really intense at all. My hubby called to see if it was ok for him to work late, so I told him I was having some contractions, but that I was sure it was false labor, and I'd call him back if they got within 7 minutes. At 6:30, they were about 5 minutes apart and getting more intense - I was still sure it was false labor, but I was starting to loose my cool with the girls, so I asked my hubby to come home. The 4 yr old wanted chili and shells & cheese for dinner, so I cooked it up (note to expectant moms - do NOT eat chili while in labor....). I had downloaded a nifty app to track contractions, and with shock I realized they were lasting over a minute, and were under 5 minutes apart! I was drinking tons of water (dehydration contributed to my other false labors), but hubby decided we should drop the girls off with my mom for the night, just to be safe. Wise man.
I used breathing techniques and some visualization/distraction as he bundled the girls up for a surprise overnighter with grandma. We drove across town (40 minute drive), and got the girls set up for the night. Instead of heading straight home, or to the hospital, hubby and I decided to go to the grocery store and pick up some things that we didn't have yet - like newborn size diapers and wipes. We walked around the store for a while, since that is what the nurses would ask me to do if I was at the hospital. The contractions were getting pretty intense at this point - we did the 'slow dance' move several times in the store, and I continued to breath through them. We headed back home.
I took a nice warm bath, and hubby caught up on some TV. The water really helped me be comfortable, but when I got out the contractions seemed to get more intense. At this point I started getting a bit worried that it may actually be the real thing. Unfortunately, about this time, my decision to eat chili also came back to haunt me. I told hubby if he wanted to shower before we went to the hospital, that he should do it RIGHT THEN - then I haded to the other bathroom to deal with the consequences of chili. Seriously - do NOT eat chili if you are potentially going into labor.
Hubby got out of the shower, and I went to rest on the recliner. At this point a REALLY MAJOR contraction started building and it was so intense I sprung up from the chair and took a few steps and BOOM - waters broke. I yelled up to hubby, and we both panicked a little. With my first DD, she was born about 20 minutes after my water broke, but this time around, we lived 30 minutes from the hospital! He threw together the rest of a bag, helped me change pants, we put a garbage bag on the seat in the van, and headed towards the hospital.
Hubby pretty much broke almost all traffic laws on the way, but I didn't mind so much because I was started to get the urge to push and was panting my way through each contraction - I'd stopped counting at 12:45 when my water broke, but it seemed like they were lasting 90+ seconds, and were under 3 minutes apart. We pulled into the ER and hubby practically carried me from the car into the building and got me in the wheelchair. Wheelchairs are possibly the most uncomfortable position to be in while having transition labor contractions - I do not recommend it. However, it is MUCH FASTER to be wheeled quickly across the hospital than to try to walk there while contracting every 3 minutes. They got me to the maternity ward, and I signed a couple papers (I'm assuming they were the ones they'd sent me earlier because lord knows I was in no condition to read them), and wheeled me back to triage. As they put me in the triage room, the nurse (who oddly enough was the SAME NURSE we had when we delivered my second DD 2 years previously) said to go ahead and get ready for an exam whenever I was ready. I dropped my pants then and there and said now would be good!
He then said to let him know when I was ready for the actual exam so it could be between contractions - I responded that the exam couldn't possibly make things feel worse so do it now! He verified that there was no cervix to be felt and I was ready to go. They rushed to get a room together, and honestly it was probably less than 5 minutes, but I sent hubby out to let them know that if they didn't get me to a room soon, I would go ahead and deliver in triage! I was panting like crazy to stop the pressure to push from building up - glad I'd learned that technique! They got me to the labor/delivery room and I crawled up onto the labor bed - I stayed on all fours and hubby massaged my back, and squeezed my hips together - it *really* felt good at that point.
They didn't bother getting the monitors hooked up - the nurse just held the monitor to track baby's heart rate against my belly. I was surprised because they didn't bother putting an IV in, and I was a little bit nervous because I had tested positive for GBS, and hadn't had the antiobiotics. But the doctor came in and said I could push - and all those thoughts went out of my head. Instead all I was thinking was 'omg I don't want to tear again' - which I apparently said out loud, because the doc said he would guide me through it and I wouldn't tear. So I flipped over to a semi-sitting position, let a contraction build, and pushed my heart out - got 3 or 4 good pushes per contraction. On the 3rd contraction, LO crowned - oh the burning ring of fire!!! The doctor said to hold on a second (he was making sure I didn't tear), I said very loudly - PUSH HIM IN OR PULL HIM OUT HE CANT STAY THERE!!! And proceeded to make some rather loud noises - not quite screams, but more like the intense yelling/grunting noise athletes make sometimes I pushed 3 more times and voila - LO was born at 1:35am! No tearing!
He didn't cry right away, but they put him directly on my chest and wiped off most of the goo - at 37 1/2 weeks, he had quite a bit of vernix left. They cut the cord, and I was just in awe at this little man - my hubby kept saying over and over that we (baby and I) were amazing. LO was still not quite breathing well, so the nurse asked if she could scoop him up and work with him to improve his color/breathing and of course we said yes. He ended up just fine and was back to me right away to try nursing. Unlike his sisters, he didn't really show much interest in nursing, and zero interest in opening his eyes. After 30 minutes or so, they got me admitted officially to the hospital, and we got our little wrist bands and the leg bands for LO. Another 30 minutes later, they did the eye ointment and the vitamin K shot - he barely noticed either he was so tuckered out.
We finally got transfered to the post partum room. LO's blood sugar was borderline, so he had to get heel pokes hourly for 6 hours instead of just 3 to make sure he was ok (I had GD so there was minor concern). He also just wasn't getting a decent latch, so the nurse worked with me to hand express some colostrum after each attempted feed and let him have it from a teeny tiny cup and also sucked off fingertips. This really got his blood sugars in a good range fast. Around this time I also started discovering how awesome it was to not have stitches - I could sit down without worrying about it! It was great!
We ended up staying in the hospital until Monday afternoon because they wanted to get the results of the baby's GBS culture just to be safe, and that was fine with us - the nursing staff was amazing, we got lots of rest, and gave us a chance to bond with LO w/o his sisters around. But by Monday, we were really missing the little girls (they visited of course, but that's not the same).
That ends my super long birth story! Kudos if you managed to read it all
