(One of the reasons I love blogging is because I don't have to repeat myself five-thousand times. I know that its a bit impersonal, but I'm not planning to hold a conference anytime soon, so this is the best way to share my experiences with each and every one of you.)
Veda Belle Riley made an early appearance into our lives on January 7, 2013; though we may not have been completely ready/prepared for her early arrival, we could not be happier! Here's how it happened:
Sunday afternoon (1/6) my coworkers threw me a beautiful baby shower. We went there around noon and stayed most of the day until about 6:30PM. Our plan was to stop by Babies R Us on the way home to get any necessary items that we might still need. When we pulled up to Babies R Us, they were closing, so we headed home instead.
All day long I had been complaining of back pain, which had started on Friday night off and on. I was also complaining that my lower abdomen was hurting, but I thought maybe the maternity band on my pants was just digging in - so I was looking forward to getting home and throwing on my sweats. Besides the new pains over the weekend, I was also noticing a little bit of clear fluid leaking from my girl parts, which I think started as early as Friday morning, yet I chose not to ask my doctor about it at our appointment (nurses really are the worst patients!).
Once we got back home Sunday night, we had a little dinner and I told Brett to go out and have a beer with a friend because my back was hurting so bad I needed to lie down. He left the house around 9PM and went to a nearby bar (about ten minutes away) to sing some karaoke. The back pain started to come and go and get increasingly more intense. I started thinking, 'Can you have contractions in your back?' I knew you could labor in your back, but it never occurred to me it would be a contraction. So I googled it... Then I thought, maybe I should time this, so I downloaded an app on my iPhone. I managed to time maybe three of them, they were about five minutes apart and lasting for about a minute. I was also in and out of the bathroom because the only somewhat comfortable position I could find was to sit on the toilet. I called Brett, he didn't answer, so I text him, "Call me when you get a chance." He called me and I told him that the back pain was crazy and maybe he shouldn't drink too much because I might need to go to the hospital. He asked me if he should come home immediately. I played it tough and said I was fine and that I was going to try to sleep it off.
I laid down for a minute and felt what I thought was Veda finally (abruptly) moving. Remember she hadn't been moving much over the last several weeks. Then I felt like I was going to soak the bed if I didn't get up, so I went to the bathroom and released a bunch of fluid, which was actually my water breaking. I still didn't believe I was in labor, so I started thinking about other people's stories and what the telltale sign was or what happened to them prior to birth. A few of my friends told me that the body tries to 'clean itself out,' so I prayed to God to show me a sign (as if I didn't have enough indications) - as in ... diarrhea ... which never happened. Two minutes after I originally talked to Brett, I text him, "You need to come home right now."
During the ten or fifteen minutes that it took him to come home, my pain went from bad to worse, tolerable to intolerable. My hospital bag was only half packed because I wasn't due for another 3 1/2 weeks. I was trying to throw in the important things, but I could hardly move, let alone bend over and search for a specific pair of sweats I wanted. When Brett came in, I was in the bedroom moaning and cussing and I told him, "We gotta go!" I told him everything I needed and he quickly searched the apartment and found most of the items. (Side Note: You really don't need too many things when you go to the hospital, nearly everything is provided and the more you bring the more you have to take home. All you really need is your toiletries and an outfit to go home in, which really could be what you wear in.)
So we ran down to the car and headed to the hospital. I asked Brett to take the long way because there are less bumps/dips in the road because I was just that uncomfortable. We pulled into the ER parking lot and managed to hobble across the parking lot. On the way in I said something like, "If this isn't labor, I don't know what it is, I've never felt like this!"
Luckily, we had gone to a Hospital Tour a few weeks prior and pre-registered and got a card to bypass everyone in the ER and get up to the Labor and Delivery floor ASAP. We were only in the ER for about 5 minutes, they asked me a few questions which I just replied, "I don't know," a bunch of times until they took me to the L&D floor.
Once in the L&D room, the nurse checked me and I was dilated 3cm, 100% effaced and at zero station. I was contracting pretty frequently and having fierce pain. Brett was doing everything he could to soothe me, he was such a rockstar. He let me squeeze his hands, but I told him to get away because his hands were too clammy ;) He helped me breathe through contractions and fed me ice as needed. I had my blood drawn and an IV started. They said the blood work takes about 20 minutes and then I could get an epidural. Being a nurse I knew there was no way it would only take twenty minutes, so two hours later I got an epidural placed. The heavens opened up and angels sang! My pain went from 10 to zero in minutes. The nurse rechecked me, and I was dilated to 7cm, still at zero station, so baby had to move down a little bit yet.
One hour later, I was checked again and I had already progressed to 10cm!!! Still at zero station. We had only been in the hospital for about 4 hours by this point. The nurses told us to go ahead and try to sleep because I would need my energy to push. (Veda looked good on the monitor, so I didn't need to push right away.) Over the next hour or so, Brett was somehow able to sleep... even snoring... which I still can't believe because that's just not like him, AT ALL. I rested, maybe dozed a few times but I could feel pressure off and on. I started to pray for a quick, easy delivery. About that time a bunch of nurses came in because Veda started having decelerations with each contraction, her heart rate actually dropped down to 60 a few times. They gave me a shot to stop contractions and placed a monitor directly into her head for more accurate measurement. They also called the doctor on call (of course my MD was out of town/not on call).
Once the doctor arrived, she had me do a practice push to see how I would do and determined I was ready to give it a go. With the next contraction, I pushed, 4 times. Took a break, with the next contraction I did the same thing, pushed hard 4 times and what do you know, Veda Belle Riley was officially born on 1/7/13 @ 0348. She was 5lbs 12 oz, 18.5 inches long with a full head of black hair! Despite being 3 1/2 weeks early, she is a healthy little nugget and the new light in our lives.
We have been so incredibly blessed! I'm sure many women hate me because my pregnancy and delivery were so easy and mostly uneventful, but for that I am thankful. I may not be as lucky the next time around.
In hindsight, I think I probably started laboring Friday night around 8:30. I remember having back pain in waves, but really didn't think anything about it. I was also having the same lower abdominal pain, since I thought it was my pants, I put on a nightgown instead. Also, I'm sure that I was slowly leaking amniotic fluid starting on Friday morning - I did google that, too because I wasn't sure how I would know. Everything I found said that amniotic fluid had a very distinct smell, which mine did not so I thought it was just increasing discharge that is to be expected during the third trimester.
I did tear during delivery, so thank God I didn't go full term because she may not have fit! PS Screw that doctor that told me my baby was HUGE and that I needed to cut carbs! What a B! Like I said, Veda is completely healthy, the only thing she struggled with was her ability to suck. Breast feeding has been quite the chore, but it is improving every day. We stayed one extra night in the hospital to make sure she would be able to eat - we had lactation consultants in our room almost around the clock. She also had to have her blood sugar checked every three hours for the first 24 due to her age, which she passed with flying colors!
She has been such a joy to have, I am so in love. All I do all day long is stare at her and cuddle with her. I'm beyond happy, there aren't even words to describe how I feel right now.
Annnnd... since we never made to Babies R Us, we didn't even have a car seat! Brett had to do a major haul at Babies R Us the next day while I recovered. He did a great job and got all of those necessities that we still needed and we were able to safely bring Veda home on Wednesday afternoon.
