I have always dreamed about being pregnant and with my other 2 pregnancy I thoroughly enjoyed pregnancy and could not wait to get pregnant again. But my 3rd pregnancy was completely different and HARD. After having Audrey a month early, I was terrified my whole pregnancy that I was going to have a super early baby.
I started having contractions early in my pregnancy, about 25 weeks, so
I knew I was going to go early but prayed that the baby would stay in a little
longer. On July 14th I started having consistent contractions around
4:00am. I texted my boss asking if I could work from home in case I needed to
leave for the hospital (since work is in the opposite direction of the hospital
I deliver at). I continued to have contractions the rest of the morning, but
they weren’t painful. At about 9:00am I decided to lay down for a bit. I
couldn’t relax at all, I started timing them again, the app I was using was
making me nervous and telling me to leave for the hospital. Chad was at work,
but my dad had come over earlier that morning to the house to work in our yard.
I called Chad and he was a little apprehensive, I think it was because it was
his birthday and people at work brought a cake and food for him, but I decided
to just go ahead and go to the hospital especially before my dad decided to go
back home so he could drive me up there.
My dad is a very cautious and law-abiding driver, like 10 miles under
the speed limit type. We took my car cause that is the car I wanted to come
home from the hospital in but of course I was low on gas. I told my dad that we
could make it, but he just had to stop anyways. I was doing my breathing
exercises all the way to the hospital and I think that made him nervous cause
he also ran a red light. Chad was already there and I went straight in and
checked myself in. Luckily my doctor was the doctor on call so he heard that I
was there and came to check on me in the waiting room and walked me back to
triage to check me. To my surprise I was only at a 2-3 so they asked me to go
walk and try and encourage labor so we walked the hallways and I found stairs I
walked up and down. When we returned and they checked me again I was at a full
3 but since I was only 36 weeks they couldn’t induce me so they gave me
medicine and an IV to try and stop the contractions.
The contractions stopped for about 1-2 minutes and then continued up
again. At this point the nurse called my doctor, Chad and I were for certain
that they were going to send us home but to our surprise another nurse came in
and told us that they were going to admit us! They said that they thought I was
in early labor and explained that they would give me the epidural and then
break my water.
They started to wheel me back to Labor and Delivery at about 3:30 and I
was so excited! I was hoping he would be born on Chad’s birthday and I was
getting my wish (later regretted ever wishing for this). They gave me the
epidural and unlike my other 2 it didn’t work immediately, I remember Chad
asking the nurse if anyone has issues with the epidural and her saying very
rarely (still wondering why he would say such a thing and put that energy out
in the air). They had me laying all over the bed to try and get it to take, it
would take the edge off but it wasn’t taking completely, I explained this to
the nurse and they tell me that they changed the concoction of the epidural and
that it wouldn’t be like my other deliveries. They wheeled in the delivery
table because they thought I would go quick and then broke my water which I
felt it and let me tell you, its not pleasant. I continued to complain about
feeling contractions, so the anesthesiologist comes back into the room and
gives me some more drugs through my epidural which at that point the room was
spinning. Again, it took the edge off for a little bit but not completely and
it didn’t last. It was getting to be around 5:00/6:00 when my doctor came to
check in on me. I told him that I was feeling the contractions and that I felt
like I could get up in walk. He explained to me what the anesthesiologist said
about them changing the concoction and I told him that I could feel everything.
I also wasn’t progressing as they had thought I would and was only at about a 5
or 6 so they started me on pitocin. They then called another anesthesiologist
to come and check things out. The contractions were really starting to get
painful at this point. She pinched me all over and every time she pinched me, I
could feel it. They gave me another dose and told me to wait about 15 minutes
and if it didn’t work, they would re-stick me. That 15 minutes was brutal, and
I kept telling the nurse “it’s not working”, “Please call her back”. I was
exhausted, my body was tired, and I wasn’t progressing
I still do not know what happened with the first epidural but they
re-stuck me with a new one and I was a completely different person, just how I
thought I should feel. It was about 7:30/8 when she re-did my epidural and at 9
the nurse checked me and I was at a 6. She told me she would give me a little
bit and come back in an hour or so to check me again. Well, she came back
around 9:30 cause the baby’s heart rate was dropping on the monitor, she went
to go check me again and saw the baby’s head. She calls my doctor to tell him I
was ready. I had to resist the urge to push for a good solid 15 minutes for him
to show up. I kept asking the nurses “Is he here yet”. Finally, everyone starts
piling into the room when they see him running down the hallway. He comes into
the room and starts getting dressed and takes off his shoes (later tells me
that they are nice shoes and he didn’t want to mess them up, gotta love him).
Chad was setting up the camera on our Tripod when my doctor was getting
ready and then told Chad to hurry up lol. He walked around the table and I
pushed 1 time and Barrett was out! I voiced that I wanted to pull him out so my
doctor told me when to reach down and I was able to help pull him out, @9:47 pm. I put
him on my chest and the moments after was terrifying. I was able to hold him
for less than a minute before the nurse took him from me to get examined, and after
little bit they called the respiratory team and immediately took him to the
NICU. Chad went to go be with Bear and I was in the empty room by myself where
I should have been holding my baby. They came to move me pretty quickly after
delivery to my post-partum room. I remember telling the nurse that when your
pregnant all you want is to hold that sweet baby but now that he is here I miss
being pregnant. Probably the only person to miss being pregnant not even an
hour after delivering. I begged to go see my baby but I still was not able to
walk due to the epidural, I tried to stand up and I almost fell down so they
told me I had to wait. I was determined to see him and hold him that I was
moving my legs on the bed to try and get the blood flow. I asked Chad to help
me stand up and we got in trouble with the nurses. The NICU PA came into our
room to explain Barrett’s situation to us and at about 2:00 am I was FINALLY
able to go be with my baby. I was still wobbly, but the nurses let me use a
wheelchair to go back to the NICU.
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