Birth Story (The Beginning)

Since I got the plus signs on all those pregnancy tests last May, I had this nagging feeling that we just wouldn't be ending the year with a bouncing baby. I couldn't shake the little voice in my head that kept warning me this could end badly. I tried to chalk it up to fear, since we had lost babies before in miscarriage, but even after as we passed 14 weeks and knew that the baby was healthy - I was still scared. As we entered the third trimester I freaked out any time the baby didn't move for more than two hours. Waking up for potty breaks meant that I couldn't go back to sleep until she moved, for fear something had gone wrong during the night.


I changed OB's at 30 weeks to utilize my medicaid coverage (my original OB wouldn't accept it & I couldn't afford the $2000 we had to pay her by Thanksgiving). I had no idea that changing to a new doctor would likely save the life of my baby.


My 1st OB had been relaxed with my blood sugar test since I was So. Incredibly. Sick. Since I couldn't keep the nasty glucose drink down, she told me to watch my sugar levels for one month & then decide if we really needed the blood test. Two weeks later I was in the New OB's office showing him my sugar tests ... and he flipped out. Within the week I had seen the top perinatologist in our state & was put on twice daily insulin injections. The whole "To c-section or not to c-section" was decided for me when they discovered that the amniotic fluid levels were far too high for a safe vaginal delivery (oh that's why I looked like a beached freakin whale at 31 weeks). At 31 weeks I was seeing the OB once a week & the perinatologist every 2 weeks. I had more ultrasounds in those last 6 weeks than most women get in 3 or 4 pregnancies. I was told that they were worried about the baby's health & safety because of the fluid levels & my sugars. They wanted a NICU team on-call for the delivery & I would not be allowed to go into labor on my own, and so my delivery date was scheduled for December 29th at 9:30 am. The Doctors wanted December 23rd but I begged for one last Christmas with my only child & they agreed so long as I called them the moment I started to feel contractions.


Funny thing about those contractions. I never felt them. I felt a few around 35 weeks and told the Peri about them, who said to call the OB as he was not responsible for catching babies. When I told the OB he laughed & said "Wouldn't that just figure?!" By the next Monday, at my 36 week appointment, I was 3 centimeters dialated. The OB called the Peri & there was a long discussion about the safety of allowing me to continue this pregnancy. In the end it was decided that the Peri would see me on Wednesday & give his vote, I was to return to the OB on Friday for another check.

By Wednesday afternoon I knew I did not feel well. The Peri looked around, noted that the baby had flipped position A G A I N (I think we noted this was at least the 10th time in 2 months). I wondered how on earth she could still flip when I could barely breathe. He voted that her lungs looked healthy by u/s, she seemed to be big enough and he would sign off on an early delivery.

Thursday morning I woke up to snow. In a state where there has not been any significant snow accumulation in over 10 years ~ this was a BIG. DEAL. My office was still open as roads were not closed yet, but my boss agreed that given the state of my contractions, my coming in to work was probably not the best idea. I got to spend that day home watching my daughter play in her first real snow fall. Thankfully she got cold quickly and we were able to come inside before too long!

My best friend came that afternoon, planning to stay the night. She was going to keep the Princess while Hubs and I went to the doctors appointment. I wasn't planning on meeting the baby that day - but went along with the "Plan As If We Are" plan as directed by Hubs. The fear was that the snow would ice the roads & shut down the whole area .... which basically happened. Government offices, schools and most private companies closed. Thankfully my OB opened for possibly birthing girls. Our 20 minute drive became an hour long as we were routed past any bridges (never realized there were 4 between points A & B). During that lovely drive we realized I was having contractions every 6 minutes. By the time I got up to reception, they were closer to every 4.

My OB saw me in the hallway and remarked that I looked like hell. Hubs agreed, and their consensus was that today should be our delivery date. In 20 minutes that was confirmed when I was found to be at almost 5 cm dialated and almost 80% effaced.

We were given our choice of hospitals with 2 having openings at that moment. Since there were 3 more laboring mommies in the office, wherever I picked was where we were all going. I picked the one that could get us in fastest & we all planned on a 3pm delivery. The other option would have been almost 6pm for a c-section .... this was barely 9am .... there was no way I could last that long with no food or water, 3pm it was!