Olly's birth story, 6.5 weeks early!!
I've finally had a moment to share this. It's been a crazy week!!! I know how much these birth stories have helped me to read through, so I thought I would post mine. Will try not to make it too long.
To start off, my due date was December 15th, 2011. We had been going to a birth center with midwives, and were planning a natural birth, hopefully a water birth. Things definitely did not go as planned, but we are soooo grateful for how things turned out.
Well, this is what happened.
On Oct 29th, i woke in bed, and felt a bit of liquid on my leg, so i ran to the bathroom, sat on the toilet, and a gush came out, I mean a lot of liquid. i stood up and more came out. I went to the bedroom and woke up my husband and said, "Ummm, I think my water just broke." I then went and called the midwife who said to meet her at the birth center so she can check me to make sure it's amniotic fluid. So my husband and I got dressed and rushed to the birth center. My fluid kept coming out, I was surprised as to how much there was!! My midwife checked me and said that my water definitely broke. She got all our paperwork together, and took us to a hospital. They checked me in, and checked me again, and said that I had a rapture, and would not be leaving until the baby is born. They said that since my water raptured, they can't let me leave because there's a high risk for infection. The doctors came to talk to me and said that they would not let me go past 34 weeks, but that they would try to keep me pregnant as long as possible. I was on bed rest, wasn't allowed to even get up to use the bathroom.
So we were there expecting to not have the baby for at least a few days, until I hit my 34 weeks. I was checked in at 33 weeks 3 days.
I had two bands on my stomach to track the baby's heart rate, and also a contractions monitor. The contractions monitor was not working for some reason, so it wasn't picking anything up. I woke up in the middle of the night and was feeling pain every once in a while, and I was sure it was contractions, but since the monitor wasn't picking it up, and it was my first pregnancy so I had no idea what wash happening, I assumed I was just feeling pain, but that they weren't contractions. In the morning they started to get way more intense, and I decided to just time them. They ended up coming every 4 minutes apart, so I called the doctor and told them that for some reason the monitor wasn't picking it up but I'm prettttty sure I am having contractions because they build up, and come every 4 minutes. They rushed doctors in, who told me that they were obviously not able to stop labor, and that since they are 4 minutes apart, I am in active labor and to be safe, they decided to take our son out.
They prepped me for a c-section, so I had an epidural and other things going into my spine. It was happening so fast, that I barely know what happened. The nurses were amazing, talking me through it as I totally lost it and was crying, and just really. Here I was about to have my baby 7 weeks early, and was so scared something was wrong, and he wouldn't be okay. It was terrifying.
They prepped me, laid me down, and called my husband in. Within minutes the doctor said, "Here comes your baby, look up!" And honestly, I can't even explain how that felt. It was the most intense feeling I have ever felt. I looked up, and he lifted our baby up over the curtain to show us.
They then took our son quickly to get checked, and wheeled me back to my room. They said I couldn't go see him until I had feeling back in my legs, so i could get into a wheelchair. That took 12 hours. It was a bit difficult, having my husband go with his mom and his sister, and I still hadn't really seen our baby. But I'm glad they were able to go. My husband came back pretty emotional, it was hard for him to see his new baby son all hooked up to machines.
When I finally got to go see him, it was very overwhelming. I just held him and cried, and told him he would be okay. It was very surreal when you don't expect to see your baby for 7 weeks, and all of a sudden they're out of you, and in your arms. It's a feeling I can't even describe into words.
So we stayed in the hospital for 4 days, trying to recover. They let my husband stay with me, since there was an extra bed in my room. The recovery process has not been easy. I have honestly never felt pain that intense in my whole life. Day 2 was THE WORST!!! I was in so much pain, I honestly don't even know how I got through it. They are still giving me pain medication now, and it helps so much. I got sent home yesterday, so it's all pretty recent.
I was told by many people that they get very depressed after this kind of experience, but I honestly have not felt that. I had no control over how things happened. They don't know why my water ruptures, but because of that, they couldnt turn the baby and he was breach, so we had to have a c-section. I have accepted that things happened this way and just am trying to stay positive. We are very lucky that things went as well as they did, and our son is here recovering and getting stronger.
Although we didn't get to have the birth we had been planning for, there is no way we could be disappointed. I feared having a c section and would have done anything to avoid it, but it all turned out okay. I've been in a lot of pain, but it's all been worth it in the end. He was meant to come into the world this way, and I have no negative feelings about his birth experience. He's here and healthy, and that's all that really matters.
We are not sure when we will get to take him home. They say he might have to stay until he is full term, so until my due date. But more likely he will go home early. They said 3 things need to happen in order for him to go home. 1) he has to be taken off antibiotics 2) he has to breatheully on his own without machines 3) he has to nipple all of his feedings
In the first 3 days they took him off the antibiotics, took him off the breathing machines and only left the nose tubes in to help him a little, and they said they were shocked to see him start to nipple. He nipples about half of his feedings, and they said that is a huge deal because they weren't expecting him to even start nippling until he was 35 weeks. He started nippling before reaching 34 weeks. So I am assuming he won't take much longer. We're hoping at least.
We are so grateful he is doing so well, and that he will be okay. Things could have gone differently, but they are getting better every day. He is a fighter and he's strong. We are so in love with him. We get to go giveh im baths, change him, feed him. I'm currently pumping and just bringing him food every 3 hours or so.
Ha, so much for the birth story not being long. I tried 
Here are a few pictures of our little guy! He is born on Oct 30th, 9:53 AM, weighing in at 4 pounds 8 oz. Funny how we were getting ready for a christmas baby, and got our little halloween baby instead We are so grateful and so happy to have him here. Can't wait to take him home.
Here are some photos of our perfect little guy. His name is Olly. It's a name both me and my husband loved and it stuck. It really suits him. It's the british spelling of his name.
Here's a few photos. Thought I would share the most amazing one of him seconds after birth. And then a few others.
Re: Olly's birth story, 6.5 weeks early!!
aww, thank you so much! that's so sweet of you. i feel so grateful to have everything be okay. it's been so amazing and surreal.
sniff, sniff.
Congratulations and thank you for sharing your story. The thought of our LOs coming early or not how we planned is scary, but your positive outlook and the obvious blessing of such a beautiful little boy makes me feel like everything will be ok. Best wishes to you and your family!
Make a pregnancy ticker
Snorkel! I love your birth story, It's hard when you have one thing planned and then something crazy happens. These little guys have a mind of their own from the beginning and I love how you are approaching this. Praying for a fast recovery from your c-section and for Olly to be able to come home with you as soon as possible.
He is so handsome!
Congrats mama
thank you everyone for the sweet comments and wishing us well.
Olly is doing better. he's off the antibiotics and off of the breathing machines!! so he's breathing on his own. he is nippling most of his feeings, but about half of them, and then the rest gets put in through the tube that goes to his stomach.
yesterday was my birthday and it was great visiting him.
here's an updated photo
he's so perfect and we're so in love with him. can't wait to take him home!
Congrats, due date buddy, he's so handsome and perfect! It is so crazy to actually see a baby about the same size as mine on the outside! Unreal!
I hope everything continues to go well with everything, especially that your recovery will go fast and get easier. Hope he can come home soon!
thank you
and yeah, i know how you feel. when they took me in for the c section, i was preparing myself for him to be REALLY tiny. but when he came out, i was like, wow, he's pretty big and doesnt even look like a preemie. i mean, he's still super tiny, but it was shocking to think wow, he was in me and was that big. it did not feel like he's that big in me.
enjoy the rest of your pregnancy! i would do anything to still be pregnant for the remaining month and a bit. it's been hard dealing with that. But we're just glad he's made it and doing so well. we should be taking him home next week.
aww, thank you! love your picture too, sooo cute!