37+6 and Didn’t Know I Was in Labor *long post *

So in the beginning of the week I had started to feel tightness in my belly. I had it before and my OB said it’s probably just Braxton Hicks. If it doesn’t take your breath away or you can’t talk/walk through it then it’s not a real contraction. So when I was feeling this tightness I thought nothing of it plus I was at work up on my feet a lot so I figured I was just over doing it. The next couple of days it kept going on. I tried to time them but they were irregular or far apart. I had an appointment the next day so I wasn’t too concerned with something happening.

Now my husband’s birthday is coming up and I wanted to celebrate him before the baby came and sort of have a “last bash” for him. I had planned to meet up with our friends after our appointment for lunch and a movie as a surprise for him. Unfortunately God had other plans.

Our doctor and hospital is about an hour away from where we live. So after I got off from work I quickly met up with my husband and we went to our appointment. I was still experiencing some tightness but again irregular. We got to our appointment and I talked to my doctor about it. Again they said if it takes your breath away or you can’t walk/talk through it then that’s a contraction. She asked if I wanted to have my cervix checked. I said yes since it wasn’t checked at my last visit. So she is checking me and starts sounding really surprised and double checks everything. She exclaims “you’re 5cm and 80% effaced”. WHAT?! My husband and I look at each other in disbelief. We were not prepared at all to hear that. She tells us to stay around the area for a little bit then come back later to be rechecked to see if any progression has happened or we can go home if we feel comfortable with it. That’s when I ruined the surprise for Andrew and said I was already planning on staying in the area.

We left the clinic and continued to make our way to meet our friends for lunch. They couldn’t believe that I could go into labor then. We managed to finish lunch but I was afraid to go to the movie (even though I really wanted to see it) in case my water would break. Our friends were awesome and completely understood and even offered to go grab our hospital bags for us so we could stay close to the clinic and hospital. While they went to get our bags, we went back to the clinic to get checked again. They took us right in checked me and within 2 hours I went from a 5 to a 6. Doctor said I was in early labor and sent is straight to the hospital.

At 4 we got checked in and settled in our room; still in disbelief that we were going to be leaving with our baby. The midwife over there checked me again to see if I had progressed any. From just the short trip of going across the street from the clinic to the hospital I went to a 7 and 100% effaced with baby’s head at 0. I had progressed so much and this whole time I felt nothing but the slight tightness at times. We contacted our families to let them know. Of course it was a surprise to everyone because they all thought we still had two weeks to go.

My mother in law and aunt came to support us for the whole experience. We walked the halls to try to get things going because I was at the point where I could choose to wait to have my water break on it’s own or have them do it for me. I wanted to have things happen on their own if I could so I was constantly moving around and walking. Around 1030 I decided to have my water broken to get things moving along. I had to prepare myself that contractions would become more intense; at this point I had to look at the monitor to see if I was having one. So the midwife comes in and breaks my water. That it such a weird feeling!

Now contractions are starting to pick up and i have to start breathing through them. After experiencing them for about an hour and being exhausted from work earlier that morning, I knew if I didn’t get rest I wouldn’t be able to last long when it came time to push. I opted to have an epidural. The anesthesiologist came in shortly after and started the process. Another weird feeling, but if you know you will need rest during the labor prices I recommend it. It’s now around 1130 and I’m all numb from the waist down. We were all resting and just waiting for things to regulate to see when I can start pushing. After awhile I notice that I can feel each contraction in my right hip area but everything else is numb. Contractions started to become regular timing out at 3 minutes apart. It was hurting so bad I started to cry but was still breathing through it. My nurse kept trying to give me a bolus of medicine but the machine stopped working. I finally got one but it still did not help. At this point I’m just ready to have the baby so I worked through it.

I was finally feeling the need to push at 430 am. My husband held one leg (bless his heart he didn’t want to but my doctor doesn’t use stirrups) and the nurse held my other leg. The nurse directed me through pushing while we waited for the midwife to come back in. The unit was hopping with mothers giving birth. The midwife eventually came in but said she was going to call in the doctor because she had another patient pushing at the same time. I was pushing with the nurse for about 2 hours until the doctor came in. I was so exhausted from the day and what was going on I was falling asleep between contractions and pushing. After almost another hour of pushing, our little girl finally was born!

On 11/22/18 Thanksgiving morning at 0655 Millie Kay was born. 7lbs 9oz

19 3/4in.

I did have a second degree tear and some hemorrhaging with the afterbirth. Once I got stable, everything was fine with both of us.

Millie is now 2 months old and thriving!

Thanks for reading! ❤️