TicToc
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Early signs:
Week 36 & 37
Although I had been having BH for months they started to become more frequent and more intense with period like and lower back pains. They would ten to come on for a few hours at a time about every 12 hours or so and be from 10-20 minutes apart although at times they got as close as 5 minutes apart.
I also started having mini-clear outs frequently. My groin began to ache like it did in the first trimester and had the first hints of lightening crotch and low pressure as well.
Week 38
Sometime during this week my breasts which had been hurting a lot earlier on and then stopped, starting aching again. At 38+3 my BH disappeared and I had dropped, I could feel the pressure increase a lot and could see the difference in my bump. The night I had a few tiny gushes of fluid. They were so tiny that while I was hopeful it was my waters since nothing was in my pants and it stopped right away I figured it was just watery discharge and didn't go in or call. At 38+4 I had dropped even lower, no BH, had another mini-clear out, and no more gushes of fluid. Just before midnight on 38+5 as i was drifting to sleep I had a small gush of fluid that left a hand sized wet spot in my pants. Immediately after I had contractions that were the most intense and period like yet that were 7 minutes apart and lasted for 30 seconds. I was still in denial and didn't cal or go in right away. Instead i laid in bed and after an hour the contractions stopped and I fell asleep. I woke up three hours later and the contractions started again at about 7/8 minutes apart with no more gushing of fluids. I waited a few hours and called the clinic when they opened, the nurse said I needed to come in right away to have my waters check, as soon as I hung up the phone with her and stood up they started gushing in large regular bursts, they was no more questioning whether it was my waters. The contractions had since stopped though and did not return. (edit: I lost my bloody plug during the night and into the morning as well)
Delivery
38+6
The doctor scolded me for not coming in at 38+3 at the tiny hint of possible waters breaking and then again for not coming in right away at midnight when it seemed more obvious. He said that since we didn't know when the ruptured I need to go and get on pitocin right away and that if he baby wasn't out by 5 pm I would need antibiotics. I did not want pitocin or antibiotics and was pretty upset about the whole thing. I decided to take the pitocin and will the baby out in time to avoid antibiotics since those bothered me more. My goal was a natural birth and no pain medicine and I knew the pitocin was a slippery slope.
I got to the hospital and it took them an hour to get an IV in so it wasn't until 1pm that I started on the pitocin. At that point I was still gushing water and having no contractions. The drip started working right away. The contractions were intense but manageable, I was able to talk and joke around between them. I was checked at 2:30 and was 3cm (up from 2cm at the clinic before the doc sent me over). At 4:30 I was still 3cm but was finally 100 effaced although still not engaged, the contractions had gotten considerably worse during that period and I was much less chatty.
I used the birthing ball and it was glorious. After that the contractions kept getting a lot stronger and I wanted off the ball and tried kneeling over the back of the bed and that didn't help either. I was being wishy-washy over whether I wanted to try the tub for some reason too. 
My back was hurting bad. At some point around 5:30 I was checked again and was at 7cm, there were some periods where babies heartbeat got a bit low and bounced right back, they thought she was back to back and it was caused by her turning into the correct position because right after everything happened really fast. At 6:10 I was 8cm and making a lot of noise through each contraction. I kept saying i felt like I had to poop and that I was pushing and couldn't help it. I even asked at one point if I had a big turd hanging out of my butt It turns out I did not, no pooping on the table for me. 
DH was great at getting me through it, all of a sudden I heard them say i was at nine and then that her head was there and i needed to put my legs up and push...which was funny cuz I had been pushing for what seemed like an eternity already. 3 agonizing contractions/pushes later and she was out. Born at 6:25pm and 7lbs, 5oz, and 20 inches long.
I managed to get her out fast enough that they didn't try to give my antibiotics which made me feel cool for some stupid reason. I know the doc didn't expect me to pull it off. And I didn't have any pain meds so besides the pitocin I got everything the way I wanted it. I couldn't have done it without DH though, he was so great!
I did tear pretty bad, 2nd and 3rd degree tears inside and out. It seemed like i was being stitched up forever! I have been calling myself Franken-Vag. It hurts and stings and it sucks but she was worth every last stitch, we are just so happy she is finally here.
Week 36 & 37
Although I had been having BH for months they started to become more frequent and more intense with period like and lower back pains. They would ten to come on for a few hours at a time about every 12 hours or so and be from 10-20 minutes apart although at times they got as close as 5 minutes apart.
I also started having mini-clear outs frequently. My groin began to ache like it did in the first trimester and had the first hints of lightening crotch and low pressure as well.
Week 38
Sometime during this week my breasts which had been hurting a lot earlier on and then stopped, starting aching again. At 38+3 my BH disappeared and I had dropped, I could feel the pressure increase a lot and could see the difference in my bump. The night I had a few tiny gushes of fluid. They were so tiny that while I was hopeful it was my waters since nothing was in my pants and it stopped right away I figured it was just watery discharge and didn't go in or call. At 38+4 I had dropped even lower, no BH, had another mini-clear out, and no more gushes of fluid. Just before midnight on 38+5 as i was drifting to sleep I had a small gush of fluid that left a hand sized wet spot in my pants. Immediately after I had contractions that were the most intense and period like yet that were 7 minutes apart and lasted for 30 seconds. I was still in denial and didn't cal or go in right away. Instead i laid in bed and after an hour the contractions stopped and I fell asleep. I woke up three hours later and the contractions started again at about 7/8 minutes apart with no more gushing of fluids. I waited a few hours and called the clinic when they opened, the nurse said I needed to come in right away to have my waters check, as soon as I hung up the phone with her and stood up they started gushing in large regular bursts, they was no more questioning whether it was my waters. The contractions had since stopped though and did not return. (edit: I lost my bloody plug during the night and into the morning as well)
Delivery
38+6
The doctor scolded me for not coming in at 38+3 at the tiny hint of possible waters breaking and then again for not coming in right away at midnight when it seemed more obvious. He said that since we didn't know when the ruptured I need to go and get on pitocin right away and that if he baby wasn't out by 5 pm I would need antibiotics. I did not want pitocin or antibiotics and was pretty upset about the whole thing. I decided to take the pitocin and will the baby out in time to avoid antibiotics since those bothered me more. My goal was a natural birth and no pain medicine and I knew the pitocin was a slippery slope.
I got to the hospital and it took them an hour to get an IV in so it wasn't until 1pm that I started on the pitocin. At that point I was still gushing water and having no contractions. The drip started working right away. The contractions were intense but manageable, I was able to talk and joke around between them. I was checked at 2:30 and was 3cm (up from 2cm at the clinic before the doc sent me over). At 4:30 I was still 3cm but was finally 100 effaced although still not engaged, the contractions had gotten considerably worse during that period and I was much less chatty.
I used the birthing ball and it was glorious. After that the contractions kept getting a lot stronger and I wanted off the ball and tried kneeling over the back of the bed and that didn't help either. I was being wishy-washy over whether I wanted to try the tub for some reason too. My back was hurting bad. At some point around 5:30 I was checked again and was at 7cm, there were some periods where babies heartbeat got a bit low and bounced right back, they thought she was back to back and it was caused by her turning into the correct position because right after everything happened really fast. At 6:10 I was 8cm and making a lot of noise through each contraction. I kept saying i felt like I had to poop and that I was pushing and couldn't help it. I even asked at one point if I had a big turd hanging out of my butt It turns out I did not, no pooping on the table for me. DH was great at getting me through it, all of a sudden I heard them say i was at nine and then that her head was there and i needed to put my legs up and push...which was funny cuz I had been pushing for what seemed like an eternity already. 3 agonizing contractions/pushes later and she was out. Born at 6:25pm and 7lbs, 5oz, and 20 inches long.I managed to get her out fast enough that they didn't try to give my antibiotics which made me feel cool for some stupid reason. I know the doc didn't expect me to pull it off. And I didn't have any pain meds so besides the pitocin I got everything the way I wanted it. I couldn't have done it without DH though, he was so great!
I did tear pretty bad, 2nd and 3rd degree tears inside and out. It seemed like i was being stitched up forever! I have been calling myself Franken-Vag. It hurts and stings and it sucks but she was worth every last stitch, we are just so happy she is finally here.
