TTC Grads

I woke up around 1 AM on Wednesday, 9/30, and had to get up to go to the bathroom.  As I was sitting up, I felt a small trickle of warm fluid spreading in my underwear.  I jumped out of bed and scurried to the bathroom to avoid getting it on the bed or the bedroom carpet.   I sat on the toilet for several minutes trying to be SURE that it was amniotic fluid and not urine or really wet cervical fluid.  It had a sweet smell to it, so I knew it wasn’t urine, but it stopped after that initial trickle so I thought maybe it was wet CF.  I changed my underwear and put on a pad and went back to bed.

At about 1:15 AM, I had my first real contraction of this pregnancy.  It was short, but much different than a Braxton-Hicks, so I marked the time and waited for more.  The next one came about 11 minutes later, and then another one about 12 minutes later.  I was pretty excited at this point, so I gave up on sleep and went downstairs to play on the computer.   The contractions continued irregularly and not terribly painfully for the next two hours. 

At 3:30, I decided to wake Andy and tell him what was going on.  I started with “Guess what!?!”  That was fun.  He asked if he could do anything, but I said no, things were going slowly, so he should try to get some sleep.  I also called my doula at this time to fill her in.  I told her I didn’t need her yet but would call her when things picked up.  I then went to take a shower.

While I was in the shower, the contractions started coming more frequently.  They still weren’t all that painful, and they were lasting well under a minute, so I took my time in the shower, thinking this would be the last leisurely shower I would have in weeks.  By the time I got out of the shower, the trickle of amniotic fluid had turned into a regular stream.  Pads were useless at this point, so I put a hand towel in my underwear. 

At 4 AM, I called my parents (who live 2 hours away) to come up and take care of Maya.  At this point, I was still very calm and happy between contractions.  I also told Andy he needed to get up and dressed as things were starting to happen.  I sat down to dry my hair, and the contractions started coming every 2-3 minutes and getting moderately intense.  I was determined to dry my hair (I am vain to the core), but I had to stop and moan during the contractions.  As soon as Andy got out of the shower, I had him call my doula and ask her to come over.  The contractions were pretty painful by this point, but they only were lasting about 30 seconds each.  

Around 4:30, all hell broke loose.  An unbelievably strong contraction knocked me to my knees while I was finishing up my bag, and I felt like I was being torn in half.  Andy came out of the bathroom, and I screamed that we had to get to the hospital NOW.  Once that contraction (which felt like it took forever - I'm guessing 2 minutes at least) ended, I crawled to the stairs so that I could get downstairs and get to the car.  On the stairs, another monster contraction hit, and I began to SCREAM.  I mean, SCREAM.  Andy said it sounded like something from a horror movie.  Andy came running out, and I said “I NEED TO PUSH!!!”  He said “I don’t think that’s a good idea” (he was very good through the whole ordeal).  At some point I guess he had called our neighbor to come over to watch Maya, because the neighbor rang the bell while I was on the stairs screaming.  We just moved to a new town a month ago, and I had met this woman only once before; at our second meeting, at my house at 4:45 AM, I was crawling on the floor screaming.  I owe her a big basket of flowers J

Things get fuzzy here, but I remember there was a lot of screaming.  It was so strange – I could feel myself screaming, but it was like it was coming from someone else.  I was kneeling on the passenger side floorboard of our car…and I can’t stress how much I was screaming.  Anyway, we made it to the hospital in less than 5 minutes.  My doula was waiting at the door, and she and Andy walked me into the building and got me in a wheelchair.  The contractions had slowed down at this point, but it took everything I had not to push.  I just closed my eyes and let them wheel me around and into the L&D unit.  At that point, my doula asked if I had called my doctor.  I realized that, um, no, we had never really gotten around to that, so we just showed up completely unannounced at the hospital.  It was all a blur for me, but I remember a nurse asking me if I would put on a gown.  I said no and just pulled off my pants and underwear and crawled into the bed.   

She checked me between contractions and said, “yes, the baby’s head is right here”.  I got a mirror set up, and started pushing at 5 AM.  It hurt more than anything I could have imagined, and I repeatedly said “I can’t do this!”  But, there was no way around this pain other than to push through it, so I gave it my all.  It took about 15 minutes of pushing (still screaming intermittently), and then out came his head.  That was the most amazing feeling – the physical relief was immense, plus just knowing I had done it and survived (when I seriously doubted I could live through the pain) was absolutely phenomenal.   I watched as his body turned and his shoulders popped out, and the doctor put him on my belly.  At this point I was still screaming, but with joy and happiness and relief.   He was born at 5:14 AM, exactly 4 hours after my first contraction and 45 minutes after things became crazy.   One of the nurses asked me what his name was, and I turned to Andy because we still hadn’t decided.  “His name is Leo”, said Andy.  It just felt totally right.

I had a minor tear, but other than that (and a sore throat from you-know-what) I felt great the first day.  We had a hard time rousing him to breastfeed for most of the day, but once he latches on he has a great suck.  He seems so tiny – a pound and a half lighter and two inches shorter than Maya.  He looks just like his Daddy – same nose and chin – and has a bit of dark blonde hair.  I still can't believe he's here, but I'm thrilled to have him :)