Sam's Birth Story: Part 1

Ok.  Let's do this...  (This may be the boring part... If you just want the gory details of Sam's birth - jump forward to Part 2 coming soon. No hard feelings.)

Our birth story begins two weeks ago today, on Tuesday July 12th.  As you might remember from some of my posts around that time, I really wasn't showing much progress towards labor.  In fact, I hadn't had a single contraction yet and had set my sights on my 39 week appointment Thursday in which (I'd hoped) the doctor I'd be working with for the next two weeks while mine was on vacation would consider scheduling an induction.  We were ready to meet our little guy... But, I wasn't getting my hopes up!

Anyway, I felt particularly sluggish Tuesday morning; but, I chalked it up to the fact that I had had a productive Monday and crossed off most of the remaining items on my "Pre-Baby To Do List."  (Thanks God for showing this Type-A gal some grace with your timing!)  I snoozed a little later than usual and read in bed for most of the morning.  I was having some new back-pain, but it was nothing major.

At eleven, I left the house to run some errands and meet Jeff for lunch.  Some time around there, the pain in my lower back started becoming a little stronger and I noticed that it was coming in short little intervals.  Could this be labor?  It wasn't what I was expecting, but it was different and could be timed. At Panera, over black bean soup (sorry nurses!) and turkey panini, I told Jeff - "I think I'm having contractions.  I'd actually be a little surprised if this isn't the start of something."

I'd planned to go to the mall and walk around after lunch (you know, to bring on the labor I thought was still weeks away); but the back pain was increasing, and I felt super tired.  So, I went home to nap instead.  At about 3:15, I was woken up by the pain in my back.  Aha! "Real contractions will not slow down when you lay down or walk around."  I decided to start timing these little spurts.  At this point, they were between 15 and 20 minutes apart and lasting between 30 and 75 seconds.  By now I was confident that Baby C was getting ready to come; but, I also was well aware that some women labor like this for DAYS.

By 5:30ish, my contractions (I now felt safe calling them that) were more like 10 minutes apart.  So, when Jeff called to see how I was doing, I told him to come home.  We needed to get some things done because I was pretty sure we'd be going to the hospital that night.  (Always planning, I am.)  Of course, he hurried home.

Things start to get a little blurry around this point... Contractions didn't really feel the way I thought they would.  In fact, the only reason I even knew they were contractions was because they were time-able and not just a basic ache.  They hurt; but, they weren't miserable.  Even as they got stronger, I could still walk and talk through them.  It wasn't the "textbook" labor that I'd learned about in our birthing class; so, despite what my body was telling me, I was super nervous that I would get to the hospital and they'd send me home saying it was nothing.

To busy myself, I cleaned out my car instead.  I'm talking Windex, Pledge, and the vacuum.   This seemed perfectly legitimate at the time - I didn't want the baby to come home in a dirty car.  (Nevermind that it has been sitting pretty in my driveway ever since then.) Jeff ate the Chicken Enchiladas I'd made for dinner (I wasn't hungry - another MAJOR sign that something was up) and mowed the lawn in the dark because I insisted.  He is a really good man.

Finally, by about 9PM, my contractions were five minutes apart.  Mom had brought over an exercise ball, and that seemed to be the most comfortable place to get through them.  I could still handle them, but they were definitely getting more painful.  BUT, they weren't lasting a full minute and it hadn't been an hour like this - I'm a rule follower, you know - so we waited.  I took a shower, put on make-up, straightened my  hair, and asked Jeff - "Do I look ready to meet our boy?"  

At 10:30PM we walked up to the labor and delivery floor of the hospital.  We only took in one bag because I thought we might curse it if we took everything in.  I wanted to be sure we were staying first!  It wasn't like we had an appointment or anything, so we just showed up.  TV makes you think that this stage will be very exciting and dramatic.  In reality, I told a nurse I thought I was in labor, she took me into a room, wrote down my name and social security number on a paper towel (I'm not lying), and left us to wait.

Thirty minutes later, I was checked in and hooked up. My contractions were measuring every three minutes or so, and I was 3.5 centimeters dialated, and I had to use the bathroom REALLY bad.  When I got out of bed, I didn't even make it to the bathroom before my water broke everywhere.  To my relief, the nurse finally said, "You better get settled in, you're having a baby." So... We called our families, Jeff went off to get the other 500 items from the car,  and we checked the blog (on his phone) to see who had a chance at winning our birth-date pool.  :)

I can't believe I'm posting this.  At least I have nice nails.

To be continued...