Margaret's birth story - part 1
(I'll try not to make anything too graphic, but be warned, this is a blog post about birth!)
On Friday April 19th, Thomas and I went for my 4th prenatal appointment here in VA. By this point I had seen all three doctors in the practice, and I was feeling very comfortable and happy that I picked them. This was the first visit to which Thomas had been able to come; I was very excited about that fact, since we were getting an ultrasound done for the last time before the birth. After the ultrasound (during which Thomas kept muttering to himself how the tech wasn't measuring correctly) we saw Doctor Terry. Now, we've known that our baby was on the small side throughout the entire pregnancy, but her due date has remind May 3rd. As of last Friday, we STILL hadn't heard when we were going to be in our new house, but had been assured that it would be before May - I was counting on that due date, and the fact that she was so small, and hoping that she wouldn't come before the 1st.
Imagine our surprise when the wonderful doctor informed us that I was a good 3cm dilated, and that he didn't think we would make it another week without having this baby! Both Thomas and I were in shock as we scheduled another ultrasound for Tuesday the 23rd - we had not been thinking the baby would be showing up so soon. After a quick text to our family, letting them know we were on serious baby watch, Thomas and I went shopping that afternoon for the hospital bag. I hadn't really thought much about it up until then, and Thomas and I took turns throughout the day freaking out about the fact that we could have a baby on our hands REALLY SOON.
Saturday and Sunday were spent in nervous trepidation. We took our hospital bags with us when we ran errands, and ended up not going to the church activity an hour away from the hospital "just in case." Sunday I had a series of contractions very close together, but it ended up being a false alarm. When we called my mom to wish her a happy birthday, she picked up in a panic thinking this was THE call. We told her not to worry, and to enjoy the rest of her day. Thomas went to work as normal on Monday - nothing much happened, other than finding out we could move our stuff in our new house on Friday, but we couldn't move ourselves. I spent Monday trying to figure out what to do to keep this baby from coming until next Wednesday. According to MY schedule, that would have been a good time for her to come.
The baby did not listen.
Early Tuesday morning I had a really weird dream - Thomas was King Louis the XI, and I was Marie Antoinette, and we were both about to be lead to the guillotine. This had no relevancy on the rest of the day, except for the fact that I kept sort of waking up from the dream because of a little pain. About 6am (as I was petting a lamb in my dream) I awoke with a start, and realized that I was having pretty painful contractions, at a steady rate. I managed to keep from waking Thomas by reading The Help, in between timing my contractions on my iPad. He eventually woke up at about 6:40, demanding to know why I was hunched over the side of the bed. " oh, you know.... contractions are about 7 minutes apart, and they kind of hurt... DON'T SHAKE THE BED!"
We gave it a little while, and then texted my mom, casually mentioning the fact that, while we hadn't called my doctor yet, I may or may not be going into labor. Mom immediately texted back that she was grabbing my sister, and packing up the car. Thomas and I called the on-call doctor, left a message, and then tried to decide what to do. I had no idea if these were real labor pains, I just knew they really really hurt. I also knew that Thomas should go into work, because if they were NOT real labor pains, he only had a couple of days of PTO, and I didn't want him wasting them timing contractions.
Thankfully Thomas works at the hospital, so I ended up going with him to work. He thought we were going to take separate cars... I have no clue how he thought I could do that. My inability to drive was emphasized when his boss told him I could come in and sit in an empty room in the radiology lab (I was timing contractions in the car when he went in to work; I didn't want to move unless I had to). As I attempted to drive the car from one parking lot to the other, I almost ran into a man, a catering van, and a stop sign.
Mom and Rachel had been texting me this whole time, on their drive down. As I sat in the cool ergonomically correct chair in the radiology room, the doctor finally called, and informed me that I really didn't need to head to the hospital until the contractions were closer to 4min apart, or my water broke. I really wasn't sure what to do - the contractions never got closer than 6min apart, but they HURT by golly! The good thing was that I had another appointment scheduled at the hospital that day; I was supposed to show up to do my pre-registration at 11 that day. Mom and Rachel arrived at about 10:30, and the three of us moseyed on over to The Birthplace, where I informed the nurse at the registration desk that I was there for my pre-reg, and oh by the way, I'm also having contractions, mind if we check that out since I'm here?
They set me up in a triage, and hooked up my belly to a monitor. Mom and Rachel came in, and we listened to the baby's heartbeat, and watched Shirley Temple movies on TCM (apparently it was was her 85th birthday) and after an hour they let me get up an walk around. I probably should have been booking it, but I was still wary about having this baby. I did not want her to arrive on Tuesday, I wanted her to wait at LEAST until Saturday! This was not going according to my plan!
Daddy and Rebecca called to let us know they were going to head down after their last classes. I was not the most gracious person when I heard this, because that meant they expected something to happen, like a baby arriving. Thomas' parents were also called, but they didn't plan on coming down until the next day. Thomas came and visited during his lunch, and was able to be there while they examined me again. I hadn't dilated any more than 3 1/2cm, (even though the nurse informed me that my cervix was very soft and ripe), and my contractions were getting more painful, but still 6-7min apart.
Aft another hour of nothing happening, the nurse called my doctor and they decided to send me home. Daddy and Beka were called and told to turn around, and I got dressed and called Thomas. He had been told by his boss to go home early, "just in case", so at 2:45 we all headed back to Christiansburg.
On Friday April 19th, Thomas and I went for my 4th prenatal appointment here in VA. By this point I had seen all three doctors in the practice, and I was feeling very comfortable and happy that I picked them. This was the first visit to which Thomas had been able to come; I was very excited about that fact, since we were getting an ultrasound done for the last time before the birth. After the ultrasound (during which Thomas kept muttering to himself how the tech wasn't measuring correctly) we saw Doctor Terry. Now, we've known that our baby was on the small side throughout the entire pregnancy, but her due date has remind May 3rd. As of last Friday, we STILL hadn't heard when we were going to be in our new house, but had been assured that it would be before May - I was counting on that due date, and the fact that she was so small, and hoping that she wouldn't come before the 1st.
Imagine our surprise when the wonderful doctor informed us that I was a good 3cm dilated, and that he didn't think we would make it another week without having this baby! Both Thomas and I were in shock as we scheduled another ultrasound for Tuesday the 23rd - we had not been thinking the baby would be showing up so soon. After a quick text to our family, letting them know we were on serious baby watch, Thomas and I went shopping that afternoon for the hospital bag. I hadn't really thought much about it up until then, and Thomas and I took turns throughout the day freaking out about the fact that we could have a baby on our hands REALLY SOON.
Saturday and Sunday were spent in nervous trepidation. We took our hospital bags with us when we ran errands, and ended up not going to the church activity an hour away from the hospital "just in case." Sunday I had a series of contractions very close together, but it ended up being a false alarm. When we called my mom to wish her a happy birthday, she picked up in a panic thinking this was THE call. We told her not to worry, and to enjoy the rest of her day. Thomas went to work as normal on Monday - nothing much happened, other than finding out we could move our stuff in our new house on Friday, but we couldn't move ourselves. I spent Monday trying to figure out what to do to keep this baby from coming until next Wednesday. According to MY schedule, that would have been a good time for her to come.
The baby did not listen.
Early Tuesday morning I had a really weird dream - Thomas was King Louis the XI, and I was Marie Antoinette, and we were both about to be lead to the guillotine. This had no relevancy on the rest of the day, except for the fact that I kept sort of waking up from the dream because of a little pain. About 6am (as I was petting a lamb in my dream) I awoke with a start, and realized that I was having pretty painful contractions, at a steady rate. I managed to keep from waking Thomas by reading The Help, in between timing my contractions on my iPad. He eventually woke up at about 6:40, demanding to know why I was hunched over the side of the bed. " oh, you know.... contractions are about 7 minutes apart, and they kind of hurt... DON'T SHAKE THE BED!"
We gave it a little while, and then texted my mom, casually mentioning the fact that, while we hadn't called my doctor yet, I may or may not be going into labor. Mom immediately texted back that she was grabbing my sister, and packing up the car. Thomas and I called the on-call doctor, left a message, and then tried to decide what to do. I had no idea if these were real labor pains, I just knew they really really hurt. I also knew that Thomas should go into work, because if they were NOT real labor pains, he only had a couple of days of PTO, and I didn't want him wasting them timing contractions.
Thankfully Thomas works at the hospital, so I ended up going with him to work. He thought we were going to take separate cars... I have no clue how he thought I could do that. My inability to drive was emphasized when his boss told him I could come in and sit in an empty room in the radiology lab (I was timing contractions in the car when he went in to work; I didn't want to move unless I had to). As I attempted to drive the car from one parking lot to the other, I almost ran into a man, a catering van, and a stop sign.
Mom and Rachel had been texting me this whole time, on their drive down. As I sat in the cool ergonomically correct chair in the radiology room, the doctor finally called, and informed me that I really didn't need to head to the hospital until the contractions were closer to 4min apart, or my water broke. I really wasn't sure what to do - the contractions never got closer than 6min apart, but they HURT by golly! The good thing was that I had another appointment scheduled at the hospital that day; I was supposed to show up to do my pre-registration at 11 that day. Mom and Rachel arrived at about 10:30, and the three of us moseyed on over to The Birthplace, where I informed the nurse at the registration desk that I was there for my pre-reg, and oh by the way, I'm also having contractions, mind if we check that out since I'm here?
They set me up in a triage, and hooked up my belly to a monitor. Mom and Rachel came in, and we listened to the baby's heartbeat, and watched Shirley Temple movies on TCM (apparently it was was her 85th birthday) and after an hour they let me get up an walk around. I probably should have been booking it, but I was still wary about having this baby. I did not want her to arrive on Tuesday, I wanted her to wait at LEAST until Saturday! This was not going according to my plan!
Daddy and Rebecca called to let us know they were going to head down after their last classes. I was not the most gracious person when I heard this, because that meant they expected something to happen, like a baby arriving. Thomas' parents were also called, but they didn't plan on coming down until the next day. Thomas came and visited during his lunch, and was able to be there while they examined me again. I hadn't dilated any more than 3 1/2cm, (even though the nurse informed me that my cervix was very soft and ripe), and my contractions were getting more painful, but still 6-7min apart.
Aft another hour of nothing happening, the nurse called my doctor and they decided to send me home. Daddy and Beka were called and told to turn around, and I got dressed and called Thomas. He had been told by his boss to go home early, "just in case", so at 2:45 we all headed back to Christiansburg.
I can't wait to hear the continuation! You have already had the first lesson in parenting - kids don't always adapt to our schedules and expectations!
ReplyDeleteWow - didn't know you had your own blog - it came to me thru GG-Gramma through Luann - very interesting reading and brought many memories of my own during the birth of your father. Can't wait to see Margaret - and you and Thomas - will be joining your blog
ReplyDelete