Ammon

I was having a hard time getting pregnant again and after seeing the Dr. we decided that I needed to go on some fertility drugs. Just some low dose Provera to kick start my periods, they had been wacky since my previous delivery, and some Clomid to make sure I was ovulating.

Finally the day came that I got that double line on the pregnancy test. I was both excited and scared. Excited because I wanted this; and scared because I had already lost a baby, it could happen again.

This pregnancy was a lot different than my previous one. I was losing weight instead of gaining it. I had monthly ultrasounds, sometimes twice a month. The doctor wasn't sure what was going on but the baby was growing and developing all right so he wasn't too worried.

Early in the morning on Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 34 weeks, a gush of water woke me up. I knew it was my water I just didn't want to admit it. Mostly it was because I still had 6 weeks left and it scared me to be going in already. I actually think things went a lot better for me because I hadn't had the time to work myself up.

 My husband was getting my almost 2 year old ready to take him to grandma's for the day. He had been going to grandma's once a week for some social interaction at her daycare. I didn't say anything to my husband and let him leave. I was in total denial. I got up twice and went to the bathroom. Every time I stood up there was more fluid, I couldn't pretend that it hadn't happened now. My husband was back in about 45 minutes and I told him what was going on. I was pretty sure that my water had broke but I didn't want to go to the hospital yet, he kept trying to get me to go and I kept stalling.

At 10:00 my visiting teaching partner showed up, we had appointments scheduled for that morning. When I told her what was going on she suggested that I go to the hospital. I finally called the doctor's office and the receptionist told me I should just go and get checked to make sure.

So after calling his mom we headed off to the hospital. They checked me and sure enough my water had broke. My doctor came in and talked to me. The pediatrician was also there and he wasn’t too sure that he wanted me to have him there just because I was so early. He finally agreed that I could stay there, but knowing that there was always the chance that I or the baby would have to be flown to another hospital.  I knew in my heart that things would be okay and I was glad that they let me stay with my doctor who I knew.

First I had an ultrasound the check on the baby's size and also to make sure that he was in the correct position to try for a VBAC. Since I had just done my strep B test and didn't have the results yet they had to hook up an IV and give me antibiotics. I was also hooked up to the fetal monitor, contraction monitor, a blood pressure cuff and the oxygen & pulse monitor. I felt like I was hooked up to every machine there was.

Finally at 3:00 they started the pit. By 3:45 I had a headache, felt nauseous, and then my chest got really tight and I felt like I couldn't breathe. Then I started coughing and they wouldn't let me even have a sip of water to sooth my throat. They did stop the pit for about an hour before they started it up again. At about 6:00 I started feeling the contractions. Finally at 7:00 I was checked, I was so disappointed because I was only at a 3. It took another four hours just to get to a 5. By that time the contractions were awful and I was questioning if I could continue without an epidural. At 11:30 I was to an 8 and it wasn't too much longer before I hit that magic 10. My body was saying push and the doctor and nurse wanted me to wait for the pediatrician to get there. I said forget that. After it was over, he was born at 12:07 a.m., they said I only pushed for about 12 minutes. I remember right at the end the doctor saying something about not pushing because he was going to do an episiotomy. It was right then that I had the urge for a huge push and he came popping out. I did tear pretty good. I don't know exactly how many stitches I got the doctor just kept stitching and stitching some more. But when he finally popped out he had the cord wrapped around his neck four times. I got to see him for a minute as my doctor was unwrapping the cord and then he was handed over to the pediatrician. They cleaned him up there in my room and his first apgar score was an 8.  They showed him to me again and then off to the nursery he went where they put him in the warmer and put monitors and an IV on him.

After I was cleaned up and they finished pushing on my stomach, man I hated that, it was about 3:00. I finally got to get up and go to the nursery to see him. We had a real struggle because first they wouldn't let me nurse him, and the pumps just weren't doing it for me at all. Then when he was out of the warmer and I had the chance to try to nurse he wouldn't wake up. I finally gave up and had to give him a bottle. I knew he wasn't going to gain any weight just nursing and they wanted him to gain weight before they let him go home. He did spend a week in the nursery before he got to go home. At birth he weighed 4 lbs. 5 oz. and was 18 inches long.

Even though it hurt to go through the contractions and the pushing, I did feel a lot better, when it was all over, than I had with my first delivery.

I am very grateful that he came when he did, even though it was very early. The cord was just tight enough around his neck that if he had grown much more in there he never would have made it out alive.