Insectile
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On Saturday nights I work as a DJ playing music and running karaoke at my parents' bar. That whole day I'd been feeling achey. I visited my mom and kept complaining that my back was hurting and it felt like I had some minor painful pressure very low in my abdomen. I was 36+6 on Saturday, and went in to work at 9:30pm. I do the DJing from a sitting position in a chair with a computer, but as the night went on I felt more uncomfortable. I kept getting up to use the bathroom because the pressure sort of felt like I had to pee even though very little came out each time.
I finished work at 2:30am, and waited around until about 3am while my dad cleaned up before driving me home. My back had started to hurt more, and while I was sitting there for that half hour, I chatted with my parents and let them know that I may not be able to do my regular bartending shift the next day because I didnt feel well.
I finally got home around 3:15am and the pressure and back pain increased as soon as I had nothing left to distract me. It was a constant pain with slight increases in lower abdomen pressure, but I had no bleeding, discharge, or anything. I googled what labor felt like, but everyone had their own descriptions, and I wasnt expecting my baby until mid-June, so I had no idea what was wrong!
Eventually at 5:30am, I decided to go to bed and see how I felt in the morning. As soon as I laid down, the pain spiked and I accidentally woke my boyfriend. When I told him my stomach had been hurting since I went into work 8 hours ago, he jumped out of bed and MADE me get up to go to the hospital. I wanted to try sleeping, but he made a good point that even if it wasnt labor, something else could be wrong.
We got to the hospital at 6am and went to the emergency area. They brought me a wheelchair and took me straight to labor & delivery to be checked on the monitors. I was so overwhelmed when I got into the room because the nurse was asking all sorts of questions I didnt expect for a few more weeks. Would I like the option for an epidural, will the baby be circumcised, do I have any objections to blood transfusions, etc. Even after she put me on the machine and confirmed that I was having contractions, I couldnt believe it was real. I expected them to tell me they were nothing to worry about and to go back home.
She set me up with IV fluids in case dehydration was causing the contractions, and I cried during that part. Im perfectly fine with needles, but she was trying to put it into my hand, and the idea of a needle digging around in my hand and having something stay inside the vein scares the crap out of me. Eventually she went to the bend of my arm and had to help me breathe properly so I wouldnt pass out. After that, she had a doctor examine me for dilation. He estimated I was only 1cm, and asked for her opinion. She guessed about 2cms, and when she removed her fingers I noticed they were very slimy and bloody. I continued to feel lots of discharge after that.
The hospital I go to has private suites for delivery and afterwards, so after checking me in the small examining room, they wheeled me down the hall and gave me my own suite! The room had giant windows, lots of cabinets and chairs, and a long couch for my boyfriend to sleep on. The bathroom had a nice deep tub and was set up with disposable panties, witch hazel wipes, squirty bottles, and all sorts of post-baby helpers like that. I'd toured the rooms before, but I felt so special to finally have one to call my own, lol.
My contractions were definitely contractions by then, and I felt a combination of strong stomach cramping, lower back aches, and sharp low tenderness/pain down by what I realized was my cervix. They got stronger as the morning went on until a midwife came in, unhooked my monitors, and allowed me to get out of that horrible bed and walk around. My back pain instantly vanished, but all the other pain stayed...walking made it more tolerable though.
I'd been walking for about 20 minutes when my water broke. It was 10:45am Sunday morning then, and luckily I'd been wearing one of those huge diaper-sized pads due to discharge or the water would have gone all over my legs and the floors. I stood there for a minute before asking my boyfriend to ring the nurse and let her know. It was a weird sensation, and also the first point at which I realized I was really not going home; I was having a baby.
Time went so quickly after that. My mom came at about 1pm. They put me back in the bed to examine me, and the midwife wasnt too thrilled about the progress. At 7am I'd been 1-2cms and at 3pm I was only 3cms. The pain was also getting hard to take. Each contraction made me feel like I was going to throw up. A nurse came in to talk to me after the contractions began to make me cry and asked why in the world I hadnt taken the epidural yet. I wasnt sure myself...I knew I wanted it, but I didnt want to feel like a wimp for getting it before I was even to 4cms. She convinced me that it was ok, and they gave it to me.
She gave me pitocin soon after that hoping to speed things along, but it really didnt do much either. At 6:30pm, I was 4cms dilated and they began to explain the c-section procedure to me. If nothing progressed in the next hour, they'd take me for one. My mom went outside for a bit, and while she was away, the midwife checked me and suddenly said I was ready to push! I jumped from 4 to 10cms in an hour and a bunch of nurses suddenly showed up turning big lights on, pulling equipment out cabinets, and wheeling carts into the room. I'd been handling contractions just fine, especially after the epidural (though it did wear off about 85% on my right side and I could feel pain) but pushing out a baby made me nervous.
Turns out I had no reason to be nervous at all. My mom came back in the room looking confused at the sudden change in plans, and after the first push I understood what they wanted me to do and did it. I felt no pain at all, but I could still feel the urge to push. I was actually having fun. In the middle of pushing, I made my boyfriend remove my socks so I could show off my new pedicure and had all the nurses look, lol. After a half hour of pushing, I felt his head right about to come out and on the next push it was all over. He popped right out, and they laid him on me while my boyfriend cut the cord.
He was born on May 27th at 8:12pm weighing 5lbs7oz and was 19 inches long
As soon as they took him to the other side of the room to be checked out, I asked if I had any tearing. It turns out I had 2nd degree tearing, and the midwife took about 15-20 minutes to stitch me up and deliver the placenta.
I was distracted and didnt notice them examining Julian, but it turns out he did have some congenital problems. He was born with hypospadias and an imperforated anus. He needed to be taken away to a children's hospital a half hour away for specialized care and he needed to go that night. They let us hold him before taking him to prep for departure and promised to bring him back right before they left so we could say goodbye. Neither of us were able to go with him.
I was discharged less than 24 hours later, and I'd trade my easy labor in an instant to have him home with me tonight instead of on a NICU unit in a hospital 15 miles away. He's getting all his nutrients through tubes, and my plans to breastfeed are out the window. They gave me a pump without any instructions and told me to freeze my milk, but I really dont know how to pump. Im not producing colostrum or anything, and nobody bothered to explain if that was normal or what to do.
So far they believe his problems are on the lower end of seriousness and he was even able to pass a very small bit of poo, but there are still lots of tests they need to run before we know what surgeries he'll need and when. They can fix his problems, but I never expected to come home without my son, and I dont know what to do! I cant feed him, change him, or even hold him when he cries because of all the wires and machines he's attached to.
I know Im so lucky to have an otherwise perfect baby, and after a few tough weeks-months he'll be home where he belongs.
Wow, I know this was a long story, but getting all the details out made me feel so much better. If you made it all the way through, then congratulations, haha.
I finished work at 2:30am, and waited around until about 3am while my dad cleaned up before driving me home. My back had started to hurt more, and while I was sitting there for that half hour, I chatted with my parents and let them know that I may not be able to do my regular bartending shift the next day because I didnt feel well.
I finally got home around 3:15am and the pressure and back pain increased as soon as I had nothing left to distract me. It was a constant pain with slight increases in lower abdomen pressure, but I had no bleeding, discharge, or anything. I googled what labor felt like, but everyone had their own descriptions, and I wasnt expecting my baby until mid-June, so I had no idea what was wrong!
Eventually at 5:30am, I decided to go to bed and see how I felt in the morning. As soon as I laid down, the pain spiked and I accidentally woke my boyfriend. When I told him my stomach had been hurting since I went into work 8 hours ago, he jumped out of bed and MADE me get up to go to the hospital. I wanted to try sleeping, but he made a good point that even if it wasnt labor, something else could be wrong.
We got to the hospital at 6am and went to the emergency area. They brought me a wheelchair and took me straight to labor & delivery to be checked on the monitors. I was so overwhelmed when I got into the room because the nurse was asking all sorts of questions I didnt expect for a few more weeks. Would I like the option for an epidural, will the baby be circumcised, do I have any objections to blood transfusions, etc. Even after she put me on the machine and confirmed that I was having contractions, I couldnt believe it was real. I expected them to tell me they were nothing to worry about and to go back home.
She set me up with IV fluids in case dehydration was causing the contractions, and I cried during that part. Im perfectly fine with needles, but she was trying to put it into my hand, and the idea of a needle digging around in my hand and having something stay inside the vein scares the crap out of me. Eventually she went to the bend of my arm and had to help me breathe properly so I wouldnt pass out. After that, she had a doctor examine me for dilation. He estimated I was only 1cm, and asked for her opinion. She guessed about 2cms, and when she removed her fingers I noticed they were very slimy and bloody. I continued to feel lots of discharge after that.
The hospital I go to has private suites for delivery and afterwards, so after checking me in the small examining room, they wheeled me down the hall and gave me my own suite! The room had giant windows, lots of cabinets and chairs, and a long couch for my boyfriend to sleep on. The bathroom had a nice deep tub and was set up with disposable panties, witch hazel wipes, squirty bottles, and all sorts of post-baby helpers like that. I'd toured the rooms before, but I felt so special to finally have one to call my own, lol.
My contractions were definitely contractions by then, and I felt a combination of strong stomach cramping, lower back aches, and sharp low tenderness/pain down by what I realized was my cervix. They got stronger as the morning went on until a midwife came in, unhooked my monitors, and allowed me to get out of that horrible bed and walk around. My back pain instantly vanished, but all the other pain stayed...walking made it more tolerable though.
I'd been walking for about 20 minutes when my water broke. It was 10:45am Sunday morning then, and luckily I'd been wearing one of those huge diaper-sized pads due to discharge or the water would have gone all over my legs and the floors. I stood there for a minute before asking my boyfriend to ring the nurse and let her know. It was a weird sensation, and also the first point at which I realized I was really not going home; I was having a baby.
Time went so quickly after that. My mom came at about 1pm. They put me back in the bed to examine me, and the midwife wasnt too thrilled about the progress. At 7am I'd been 1-2cms and at 3pm I was only 3cms. The pain was also getting hard to take. Each contraction made me feel like I was going to throw up. A nurse came in to talk to me after the contractions began to make me cry and asked why in the world I hadnt taken the epidural yet. I wasnt sure myself...I knew I wanted it, but I didnt want to feel like a wimp for getting it before I was even to 4cms. She convinced me that it was ok, and they gave it to me.
She gave me pitocin soon after that hoping to speed things along, but it really didnt do much either. At 6:30pm, I was 4cms dilated and they began to explain the c-section procedure to me. If nothing progressed in the next hour, they'd take me for one. My mom went outside for a bit, and while she was away, the midwife checked me and suddenly said I was ready to push! I jumped from 4 to 10cms in an hour and a bunch of nurses suddenly showed up turning big lights on, pulling equipment out cabinets, and wheeling carts into the room. I'd been handling contractions just fine, especially after the epidural (though it did wear off about 85% on my right side and I could feel pain) but pushing out a baby made me nervous.
Turns out I had no reason to be nervous at all. My mom came back in the room looking confused at the sudden change in plans, and after the first push I understood what they wanted me to do and did it. I felt no pain at all, but I could still feel the urge to push. I was actually having fun. In the middle of pushing, I made my boyfriend remove my socks so I could show off my new pedicure and had all the nurses look, lol. After a half hour of pushing, I felt his head right about to come out and on the next push it was all over. He popped right out, and they laid him on me while my boyfriend cut the cord.
He was born on May 27th at 8:12pm weighing 5lbs7oz and was 19 inches long
As soon as they took him to the other side of the room to be checked out, I asked if I had any tearing. It turns out I had 2nd degree tearing, and the midwife took about 15-20 minutes to stitch me up and deliver the placenta.
I was distracted and didnt notice them examining Julian, but it turns out he did have some congenital problems. He was born with hypospadias and an imperforated anus. He needed to be taken away to a children's hospital a half hour away for specialized care and he needed to go that night. They let us hold him before taking him to prep for departure and promised to bring him back right before they left so we could say goodbye. Neither of us were able to go with him.
I was discharged less than 24 hours later, and I'd trade my easy labor in an instant to have him home with me tonight instead of on a NICU unit in a hospital 15 miles away. He's getting all his nutrients through tubes, and my plans to breastfeed are out the window. They gave me a pump without any instructions and told me to freeze my milk, but I really dont know how to pump. Im not producing colostrum or anything, and nobody bothered to explain if that was normal or what to do.
So far they believe his problems are on the lower end of seriousness and he was even able to pass a very small bit of poo, but there are still lots of tests they need to run before we know what surgeries he'll need and when. They can fix his problems, but I never expected to come home without my son, and I dont know what to do! I cant feed him, change him, or even hold him when he cries because of all the wires and machines he's attached to.
I know Im so lucky to have an otherwise perfect baby, and after a few tough weeks-months he'll be home where he belongs.
Wow, I know this was a long story, but getting all the details out made me feel so much better. If you made it all the way through, then congratulations, haha.
, lovely name too!..Hope he makes a speedy recovery and you get to take him home soon 
