32 weeks came and went...not a care in the world. I just went on and did my daily tasks...work, home, sleep, repeat. But, at 33w3d...Monday, October 10th, I woke up and I felt OK...but noticed I had some extra discharge, more than normal AND when I say normal, as some of you know...discharge is a close friend during pregnancy...I honestly didn't think anything of it, really. But, I went to work and decided to email the clinic/doc, just to be safe. As the day went on, the discharge changed (I know, TMI). I even decided to take a picture of it and text my mom friends to ask them if they thought it was odd. Again, I emailed the doctor and they didn't really get back to me...just said they would like my OB know and he would get back to me, "eventually." I talked to my boss and she told me to leave work and go to the doctor...she told me a horror story of when her son was born prematurely because her water broke and she didn't know it. I laughed at her and said she was silly, that I was just feeling off and wanted to go home and take a nap. I got home and called labor and delivery (l&d) just to be safe, they told me to talk to my OB (who hasn't called me back yet....tick, tock) or I could come in because they couldn't do assessments over the phone. Of course, I didn't go in...instead I waited for my husband to come home to get his opinion. When he got home, he basically told me I was overreacting and if I wanted to go in, to just go. I proceeded to go to the bathroom and cry because at this point, I felt something was off/wrong...the doctor still didn't call me back (after emailing all day and I did call the clinic and left a message with the nurse for him) and now my husband thought I was crazy. Since hubby and I were fighting, I decided to be stubborn and get in the car, alone, and drive myself to the hospital. I made it half way out of the neighborhood, then drove around the block, bawling and went back home..because I was being ridiculous. I called l&d again and talked to a nurse...same story. "They can't assess me over the phone and it's my decision to come in or not." About 2 minutes after I hung up the phone, the on-call doctor called me back and told me I needed to come in RIGHT AWAY. At this point, hubby was ready to go (because, of course, if the doc says come in, we should come in...ughh). So, I grabbed my glasses, thyroid medicine, let the dogs out, we got in the car... and we left.
When we got to the hospital, they were expecting us. They brought us into the Mother Baby Center triage area and started doing their inspections. They had me change into the awful hospital gowns, pee in a cup, then hooked me up to the machines. At this point, I still feel fine...just wondering what is happening. After a couple minutes, they looked at me and said, "Do you feel that?" and I told them I had no clue what they were talking about. The nurses told me I was having contractions. I thought they were crazy...then the doctor came in and checked my cervix, just for fun. She said I was dilated to 2cm...YES, you heard it right...2cm dilated at 33.3 weeks. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I WAS IN PRETERM LABOR. They hooked me up to magnesium, antibiotics and anything else I needed to STOP labor. They also started giving me steroid shots for the baby's lungs just to be safe and took a few more tests to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid, etc. She could feel my bag of waters and told me it hasn't broken but they were going to check if anything was leaking, just to be safe. I remember looking at my hubby and saying, "SEE!! I knew something was up..." but then I also started to worry. I worried about everything...the baby, me, our family...everything we had to do to get this far. I wasn't going to let anything happen to that baby.
Since I was in preterm labor and less than 34 weeks along, the doctor made the decision to send me to the specialty hospital downtown. Our hospital wasn't able to keep babies that were delivered earlier than 34 weeks (AND OF COURSE THIS FREAKED ME OUT). I remember asking them, "You are not going to take this baby out, right?! IT'S TOO EARLY." They said it was just precautionary...so, with all the pumps, meds, fluids...they ordered an ambulance to take me downtown. Hubby was allowed to follow in the car but he had to go home and let the dogs out...by this time, we had been at the hospital for a couple hours and didn't know when we'd be going home. I remember thinking to myself, "Why do I need an ambulance? This is going to cost a fortune." But, we got to the new hospital and they checked me in. The doctor came in and basically said once we get this under control, I'd probably be able to go home in a few days and just take it easy for a couple more weeks. That was a relief...BUT, about 30 minutes later they came in and said that some of the tests came back and there had been a change in plans. Apparently, even though the doctor at the other hospital could feel my water bag, it had ruptured and I was definitely leaking amniotic fluid...they told me I wasn't going to leave the hospital with baby in my belly....
So, bed rest was the next plan of action...bed rest in the hospital, confined to the bed, in the tiny hospital room and forced to watch TV and do no work for who knows how long because of the stress. The goal was to go to 34 weeks and then reassess the situation at that time. Babies do better outside of the uterus once your water has broken after 34 weeks...so most likely an induction would be in order. Let me tell you, it's a lot easier to make the choice to sit on your butt all day and do nothing but watch the Price is Right and eat food. But, when someone else tells you that you HAVE to do it...it's way more difficult!
So, this all happened on Monday (33w3d) evening and by now it's Tuesday morning (33w4d). We started making calls to parents and work, letting them know what was going on. I told my boss that vacation had come early and I wouldn't be back for months...this obviously caught everyone by surprised and of course they had no plan, but I honestly didn't care. All I cared about was keeping this baby in my body and doing everything in my power to make it to 34 weeks. We also called my mom who lives 6 hours away and asked her if she wanted a baby for her birthday, which was the upcoming Saturday...she had no idea what was going on but then it finally clicked and she dropped everything to drive down and meet us.
Once mom made it to town, we sent hubby back to work...there was no point having him sit in the hospital, watching me on bed rest when he could be working and bringing in the big bucks. That Wednesday (33w5d), they came in and did an ultrasound to measure the baby and give an expectation of how everything would be if we delivered at 34 weeks...which would be Friday. The plan was to do an induction at 12N on Friday (34w0d). This whole pregnancy everything has been so easy, not a care in the world...I was gaining weight per the recommended guidelines, no blood pressure issues, and the baby was always measuring smack dab in the middle around the 46th percentile. Now that we were in this predicament, we prepared ourselves to meet our little lady and knew that she probably wouldn't weigh too much, many 3 or 4 lbs. Well, when they did the ultrasound, we were pleasantly surprised...they estimated she would weigh in around 5lbs 5oz. The doctor said if she was off more than 10%, she didn't do something right so it was a pretty good guarantee. I was so happy...she was now in the 65th percentile for her gestation and had a better overall outlook on life. With two more days to go on bed rest, I almost felt at peace with the plan and the rest of the day went well.
Early Thursday (33w6d) morning I woke up suddenly around 4:30 a.m. Something had changed. My body felt different...the baby had totally shifted positions and I felt like I had to go the bathroom all the time as well. I told the night nurse and she was very off putting, almost like she didn't believe me...she said I was probably getting a bladder infection and ordered some meds for that which was completely unnecessary because I was on antibiotics already and told her that I was most likely in labor, AGAIN. I started texting my mom and husband...that's why the contractions started...ones I could actually feel. I also was texting M because she was an OB nurse and would have more insight. M told me that they needed to get my hooked up to the contraction monitor and see what was going on but of course the night nurse wouldn't do it...so I waited until shift change and told the new nurse who took immediate action. They hadn't been checking my cervix because I was on meds to stop labor and there was a risk for infection since my water broke, but around 10AM the doc came in and took a look at everything. They moment she stuck her hand up there, it was like a huge GUSH of warm bath water rushed out of my vajayjay...I was literally like "UH OHHHH." She confirmed I was going into labor on my own, a day early, and that I was dilated to 4 cm. Of course, I freaked out and was like, "NO!!! I'm not 34 weeks yet!!" And they all literally laughed at me because I was like 14 hrs away from 34 weeks. They told me it would be OK...and that it was better to do this on my own than being induced. My mom, hubby and M were all at the hospital and we labored all day...ALL DAY. We tried walking, sitting on balls, bouncing on birthing balls, rocking in a chair...I finally got to the point where I just wanted to sit in the bed and hash it out. My contractions weren't being picked up by the machine all the time, so we did a lot of writing things down and counting on our own...by 6 p.m. that night, I asked for an epidural. This was part of the plan. I've always wanted meds and people who don't have them are honestly CRAZY. No hate. But, you're nuts. I got my epidural around 7:30PM and I was dialted to 7cm...it was so lovely and didn't hurt one bit. I mean, they had to prick me to numb the injection site but other than that, it was easy peasy. I honestly just felt relieved to have a break in the pain and was actually able to take a nap and watch some TV. Things slowed down and they came in to check on me every so often -- they also did a nurse change around 7PM which freaked me OUT because I had grown fond of my day nurse who had been laboring with me all day...However, it was a blessing in disguise because my new night nurse was an absolute GEM. Her name was Stephanie and she was a husky African American woman who knew her shit. I mean, she was 'da bomb. She told me what was going to happen, how she was going to help me, and what we were going to do to get this baby out safe and sound. I LOVE HER.
But, anyway, back to the story...at midnight, 34 WEEKS (thank you very much!), they came in to check my cervix...I was fully dilated and it was baby time! We woke everyone up and said it was go time! Hubby got suited up in his hospital jump suit and booties and they brought us to the ER. They didn't want me having the baby in the room in case she needed special care plus they wanted to bring her to the warming room as soon as possible after arrival. Everything was very anticlimactic...I was so used to seeing the movies and everyone shooting babies out their cooters as soon as they there fully dilated or the yelling and screaming and crying and whatever else there is. But, for us, it was just another day at the hospital. I remember the doctor talking to the nurses about the weather...I even asked everyone if they were awake and ready. They laughed at me and told me this was their job. I'm sure it would've been a different story if I wasn't on pain meds...but, we went in and had a baby. With my epidural, I couldn't feel much but I could feel enough to know when I was having a contraction and when to push. Stephanie was there and she was a beast, she told me what to do and when to do it. But, I thought it was so funny because once the contraction was over, it was like everyone took a break, twiddled their thumbs... I remember asking or thinking, "Aren't you going to get the baby out?!?!" But, I guess that's not how it worked...I had no clue that you didn't push all the time. That the doctor took a break in between to check the weather...I had no idea why he couldn't just pull her out. I mean, I did all the work until now....so, GET HER OUT. I remember them saying, "I see lots of hair!" and "We're almost there, just a couple more pushes!" I remember them telling me she was stuck or lodged up against something and that they needed to vacuum her for a second...which scared me and I didn't want but I couldn't say that now, I just wanted her out. I don't remember what hubby was doing...I'm sure he was scared shitless at the top of my head, trying not to see my damaged vagina. But, I only pushed for about 20 minutes and the princess made her arrival, screaming. She was screaming!!! This was so good -- I kept telling hubby while I was crying, "She's crying, she's crying...that means she's working!!!" They threw her on my belly and started the count down...since she was so early, I only got to hold her for 30 seconds. Well, I didn't really get to hold her...I was in shock and shaking. So, they put her on my belly and started cleaning her off while the doctor started the count down. I didn't really know what to do, do I touch her? Hold her? I remember feeling her slimy head of hair and by that time the 30 seconds was up. They took her to the warming room and hubby went with to get our first picture.
Please, let me introduce you to our baby girl:
Johanna Joy "JoJo"
This was literally 2 minutes out of my uterus....so here is a cleaned up picture!
We love her and are so thankful that nothing went wrong - all is perfect and she weighed in at 5lbs 3oz, 18.5 inches long. Her lungs were developed and she did not need any help whatsoever. She did have to go to the Special Care Nursery for monitoring but other than being early, she is perfect. So very perfect.
We did end up staying in the Special Care Nursery for 13 days because someone was being a little lazy when it came to eating. She wasn't able to take full feedings by breast or bottle so a GI tube was used until she built up the strength to eat on her own. She was discharged at what would've been 35w6d -- almost 36 weeks gestation.
Oh my gosh. We had a baby.
