Birth Story {Part 1}
Dear baby Charlotte,
It's already been almost 8 weeks (!) since you were born, and for fear of forgetting the details of November 26, I want to recount your birth story, which began around 1:30am on November 25. I should preface by saying that this is not a "pretty" story, but it is ours. Proceed with caution ;)
I woke up in the middle of the night on the 25th to go to the bathroom (which I typically did at least four times each night toward the end of my pregnancy) and noticed a fair amount of blood in my underwear, accompanied by some cramping. I had not spotted at all during my pregnancy, so I immediately thought that something was beginning to happen. At this point, I was five days overdue and this day was the 20th anniversary of my Grandpa Bruce's passing. As such, I was fairly sure that my labor was beginning (and that my grandpa was looking out for us)! I got back into bed and told your daddy what was going on. I attempted to start timing contractions but though they were happening regularly, they were not happening consistently. After about three hours, I was sure that the contractions were contractions and I decided to call your Nana to ask her if she thought I should go to the hospital since the bleeding was consistent. She said that it was probably fine, but that I should call my doctor to check. When I called my OB's office at around 5am, they told me to go to the Labor & Delivery triage in order to be sure that everything was okay. I called your Grandma & Aunt Mary to let them know that labor was starting (and I sent a few texts to my closest friends/family) and your daddy took me to Strong Hospital. They checked me out and told me that I was only as dilated and effaced as I was at my last doctor's appointment three days before (1.5 cm and 80% effaced), and that my contractions were visible on the monitor but only barely. Even worse, they were still about 8-10 minutes apart. I was told to go home, since your heartrate looked good, and come back when my contractions were under five minutes apart.
Your daddy and I got home and shortly thereafter Grandma & Aunt Mary arrived. I told your daddy to go back to sleep since I wasn't alone and he might need his rest for the night ahead. For the whole day, we watched TV shows, visited with each other, and had an overall nice time; all the while, my contractions were getting much stronger & closer together. By 5pm, they were consistently about five minutes apart so we headed to the hospital. When we arrived, they hooked me up to the monitor again (much like what they did 12 hours before) and checked my cervix. To my dismay, I was still only 1.5-2 cm dilated and no more effaced than I was at 5am. The resident and nurse told me that they were inclined to send me home, but since I was clearly having very strong contractions they would try to convince my OB to admit me. Thankfully, he agreed, and I was wheeled to my private labor room at around 7:30pm. My first nurse was wonderful - she took my vitals, asked if I needed anything, and talked to me about pain management. I expressed my stress and frustration that I hadn't yet dilated, and she explained that some people progress in their labor in terms of their contraction intensity/frequency, but take a long while to "catch up" with their dilation. I just had no idea how long my "catching up" would take!
To be continued....
Love,
Mommy
It's already been almost 8 weeks (!) since you were born, and for fear of forgetting the details of November 26, I want to recount your birth story, which began around 1:30am on November 25. I should preface by saying that this is not a "pretty" story, but it is ours. Proceed with caution ;)
I woke up in the middle of the night on the 25th to go to the bathroom (which I typically did at least four times each night toward the end of my pregnancy) and noticed a fair amount of blood in my underwear, accompanied by some cramping. I had not spotted at all during my pregnancy, so I immediately thought that something was beginning to happen. At this point, I was five days overdue and this day was the 20th anniversary of my Grandpa Bruce's passing. As such, I was fairly sure that my labor was beginning (and that my grandpa was looking out for us)! I got back into bed and told your daddy what was going on. I attempted to start timing contractions but though they were happening regularly, they were not happening consistently. After about three hours, I was sure that the contractions were contractions and I decided to call your Nana to ask her if she thought I should go to the hospital since the bleeding was consistent. She said that it was probably fine, but that I should call my doctor to check. When I called my OB's office at around 5am, they told me to go to the Labor & Delivery triage in order to be sure that everything was okay. I called your Grandma & Aunt Mary to let them know that labor was starting (and I sent a few texts to my closest friends/family) and your daddy took me to Strong Hospital. They checked me out and told me that I was only as dilated and effaced as I was at my last doctor's appointment three days before (1.5 cm and 80% effaced), and that my contractions were visible on the monitor but only barely. Even worse, they were still about 8-10 minutes apart. I was told to go home, since your heartrate looked good, and come back when my contractions were under five minutes apart.
Your daddy and I got home and shortly thereafter Grandma & Aunt Mary arrived. I told your daddy to go back to sleep since I wasn't alone and he might need his rest for the night ahead. For the whole day, we watched TV shows, visited with each other, and had an overall nice time; all the while, my contractions were getting much stronger & closer together. By 5pm, they were consistently about five minutes apart so we headed to the hospital. When we arrived, they hooked me up to the monitor again (much like what they did 12 hours before) and checked my cervix. To my dismay, I was still only 1.5-2 cm dilated and no more effaced than I was at 5am. The resident and nurse told me that they were inclined to send me home, but since I was clearly having very strong contractions they would try to convince my OB to admit me. Thankfully, he agreed, and I was wheeled to my private labor room at around 7:30pm. My first nurse was wonderful - she took my vitals, asked if I needed anything, and talked to me about pain management. I expressed my stress and frustration that I hadn't yet dilated, and she explained that some people progress in their labor in terms of their contraction intensity/frequency, but take a long while to "catch up" with their dilation. I just had no idea how long my "catching up" would take!
To be continued....
Love,
Mommy
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