Just the Facts Birth Story

I was 39 weeks and one day along.  At about 12:30am I felt my first contraction.  Up until that point I hadn't felt any contractions and had no bloody show.  Even though this is my first I knew right away that what I felt was a contraction.  It felt like a big period cramp. 

I didn't wake my husband because I wanted him to get a good night's sleep and knew this would probably take a while.  They kept on happening.  They were about 30 seconds long and not very intense. I actually was able to doze in between them.

At 2:30 my husband woke up because he heard me breathing hard.  Well neither one of us could go back to sleep because we were too excited.  We did get out of bed at 4:30.  I ate an egg and a piece of toast with peanut butter.  Then I took a bath and shaved my legs.  

 We put in a movie and continued to time them.  We had called my doctor to let her know and she said to come in when they were 5 minutes apart for two hours.  They did continue to get more intense where I couldn't have a conversation.  

I did make the mistake of having a glass of orange juice at about 7:00.  Not a good idea.  They say to stick to clear liquids and they aren't kidding.  I threw up right after drinking it and then vomited about 5 more times between 7:00 and the time she was born.  TMI, I also had about 5 BMs that day.

 At 10:45 we headed to the hospital.  I walked all the way from the parking ramp to L/D, stopping every now and again to have a contraction.  By 11:30 I was laying in the triage bed and having really intense contractions.  At 12:00 my water broke.  The nurse checked to see how much I was dilated.  She said I was 6cm and she didn't feel the head.  Up until that point we all thought Baby was head down.  They did an ultrasound and confirmed I had a surprise breech baby.  

 They decided to do an emergency C-section.  By that time my contractions were crazy intense and really close together and I was 8cm.  For me it helped to keep my eyes closed, sit in an upright position, and squeeze the heck out of my husband while I leaned into him.  

They quickly moved me from triage to the OR while I was still having contractions.  It was busy and hectic in there because they quickly had to assemble a team.  Before my husband was allowed to come in I squeezed the heck out of a kind nurse.  I finally got on epidural and was feeling no pain.  

My husband was allowed to come in and in a matter of minutes at 1:28 we had a baby girl named Irene Grace.  She was 6 pounds 5 ounces and 18.5 inches long.  My husband got to go with her and I was so jealous.  It seemed like it took forever for them to stitch me up.  My husband came back with Irene and I got to see her.  Her Apgar score was 9 and she was beautiful.  I got to breast feed her shortly after that.

 She's a week and two days old now and is breast feeding well.  (that took a while to get the hang of.  Ask for a lactation consultant to help you right away!)