XP: My birth story!

cjtemt921 · September 2010

Just because I loved reading everyone else's....here's mine.

Emmett Mark Thompson was born Sept. 21, at 10:03 am, only about ten hours over due.

I had a pretty routine pregnancy. My only be concern was that I was diagnoized borderline GD but it was managed through diet only and never became an issue. As my due date came closer, I grew more and more frustrated only because I had literally no signs or symptoms that labor was coming any time soon. I felt great, had no contractions, cramping or back pain. It was also coupled with EVERYONE at work telling me be prepared to go late and even my Midwife was going to let me go two weeks overdue. I went in for my 39w4d appointment and he was station 0 but she couldnt check me further since by cervix was posterior. That was the only info I had that gave me some that I was progressing. 1 day before I was due, I had my bloody show and began to lose big globs of my mucus plug. I had no discomfort though. Monday, my due date, I got up and went to work like normal. It was the toughest day, only because people at work could not believe I was there, even though I felt fine. That night was normal. I went to bed, completely prepared that I would be up for work on Tuesday.

At about 1am, I woke up to my dog whining. I decided to make a trip to the bathroom where I heard a muffled pop but no gush. I figured I cracked a bone or something, but just to be safe I put an overnight pad in. In hindsight it was probably wishful thinking! I then proceded to crawl back into bed and GUSH. MY WATER BROKE! It continued to gush as I waddled back to the bathroom. Almost immediately the contractions started. I figured I had plenty of time, so I alerted my hubby my water broke, but I told him to keep sleeping while I took a shower and when I was done getting ready I would wake him to take a shower and we could relax and time contractions. I then hopped into the shower and began having pretty intense contractions. For some I had to kneel down in the tub and let the water hit my back. I managed to get out and by then my hubby had already gotten up. I think he was too excited to sleep. He decided to take a shower and I went up stairs to time contractions and finish my hair. I barely made it upstairs since my contractions were so bad. It didnt seem like they had a clear start and stop pattern. I became so frustrated with the ap we dowloaded for the Ipod because it would lock before my contraction was over. When my hubby got out of the shower, I told him we better call the doc. It had been a little less than an hour, but the pain was nonstop. Once I got on the phone they told me to get in right away. We had about a 30 min drive, and I was worried that we were going in too early, but I hated the pain and was too anxious. DH quickly loaded up the car as I ditched my hair and makeup plan. I finally made it to the car and on the drive over my DH was trying to comfort me. It seemed like forever!

We finally got to the hospital at 2:45am and I got wheeled up to room 3. I was happy at this since 3 is my lucky number lol. They got me changed and on the bed so they could start to monitor me. I struggled being on the bed and being strapped up. I complained that I wanted to get up and walk around or squat but they said they had to get a good reading before they would let me walk around since I wasnt sure how close my contractions were. I felt like they contractions were non stop but I sucked it up and breathed through them for an hour until monitoring was done and IV was in. They finally let me walk around at about 4am. I got checked about ten minutes later and to my surprise I was 8cm dialated and fully effaced. The epi came about twenty minutes later and that was my saving grace. I finally felt like I could enjoy what was happening and share in the excitement. They let me rest from 5:30 to 7am and then we started pushing. Even though I could barely feel a thing, I pushed effectively but it took just under 3 hours of pushing to finally meet him. My midwife was great along with my nurses. Emmett Mark was born with lots of dark hair and some great lungs! They put him right on my chest and he settled down. I only had a slight superficial 1st degree tear which they quickly repaired.

So far recovery has been pretty good. A little sore from the repair, but I escaped free of hemis and any major damage. Breastfeeding is going suprisingly well. He was tired for the first day and has lost some weight (from 9lbs at delivery to 8 lbs 7 oz today) but they said that some of his weight was probably water weight that he would lose no matter what. Today we will be discharged and cannot wait to settle in at home.

Good luck to all you other mommies to be out there! I will offer some words of encouragement to those waiting for something with nothing in sight: Labor can be completely spontaneous, you never know when it may happen!

uluvfranke · September 2010

Thats exciting, sounds like it went pretty perfect! congrats he is so cute!

Arielle27 · September 2010

Congratulations!! Sounds like you had a pretty wonderful experience! And your little guy is very handsome!

tastyburger · September 2010

aww, so cute! Congrats on your little boy!

It does make me hopeful that you had nothing going on before your due date and weren't really late. Mine is this Friday and I don't know if there is ANYTHING going on down there, lol.