Hi all!

FTM here and my delivery didn’t quite go as I always imagined it would 😂 I apologize in advance because this is a little long!

On 7/11 I was 38+4. It was a Saturday and I had an odd feeling all week something was going to happen that day. So we woke up, decided to go to lunch and joked that it could be our “last meal as a family of 2” and then went to Target. I wanted to get a ball to bounce on and a few other things. We got there, had to pee, underwear was dry. 30 min later were checking out I feel like I have to peen again and when I drop my pants my underwear was pretty wet with a clear fluid. Not like drenched or a “gush” like they said it would be if it were my water, just more than some discharge. So I tell my husband my water may have partially broke or it could just be excess discharge but we’ll know for sure if labor kicks in or if another large amount comes out.

Saturday night - nothing happens other than Braxton Hicks and light cramping. Wake up Sunday and I am dreading the day because I’m so tired and have 2 different family events to attend. Manage to get through them in misery lol. I assume at this point it was just excess discharge.

The week starts and I work as much as I can, same things Monday and Tuesday- Braxton Hicks, cramping, a few other things but no real “labor” signs. Wednesday I wake up, 39 weeks exactly, and just feel so weak and my body was painful. I suck it up and head out to work anyway. Had to drop something to my mom first and she tells me I look unwell and pale, I tell her I’m just tired. By the time I get home a few hours later my body is legitimately painful to the touch. Being a first timer I think maybe this is just whats normal this far along and lay down for a nap. My husband comes in and is petting the dog who’s in the bed and I started freaking out to not even do anything to lightly shake the bed because it hurts. Fast forward a few hours I wake up and my husband starts my IV fluids (routine for me- had a line placed due to vomiting/GI issues).

Halfway through the bag I start to shake uncontrollably with chills. I start to freak out for him to disconnect the line because I swore it had to be because maybe the fluids themselves were cold. I get up to try to go to the bathroom and can’t even talk through the shaking. My husband comes in the bathroom says I was turning blue, took my temp (102) and basically throws me in the car to go to the hospital.

So we get there and get taken immediately- basically we find out through imaging and labs and blood culture that it was my water 5 days prior, and due to my body not naturally going into labor it infected my placenta, spread to my uterus and then my blood stream and it just hit me like a ton of bricks 😩 before they could even get through the labs I sweat through multiple gowns and had to have them consistently bringing me towels for my husband to help clean me off - it was awful.

But within 3 hours of arriving I was moved to labor and delivery, on multiple IV antibiotics, a heart monitor, and being induced! I was only at a 1 when I got there and barely effaced. Requested the epidural as soon as I felt things ramping up. Epidurals are the greatest thing ever I suddenly became so comfortable other than the recurring fevers! Labored for 22 hours and pushed for 2 hours and our boy made his way out at 1:49am on Friday 7/16! I did tear but thanks to the epidural I felt nothing and also didn’t feel them stitching me either.

He did have to go to the NICU short term for precautionary antibiotics and because he was a womb pooper and had one respiratory episode. That was really hard on all of us to be apart so soon after he was born. I was allowed to go down but my time was limited due to my own med schedule for the infection. He finally got to come up to us Sunday in my room but my own issues held us up another day and we basically begged them to discharge me Monday so we could all go home as a family and they reluctantly agreed!

So that’s my story! If any soon to be FTM are reading this - if you even SUSPECT your water broke - do not wait to go get checked!!