Our Baby Story

- November 29, 2016

As we begin to count down the days to the birth of our child, I have been loosely preparing things around the house. Knowing that the baby would not come early, I planned to spend my weekend getting everything set and ready, as well as our bags completely packed. I went for a check up on Friday, hoping for some good news, but planning for no change. I was still dilated to a 1, so we decided that we would wait a little longer, meet next Tuesday, my due date, and form a game plan that day. I left the Dr. appointment feeling disappointed, but ok since I wanted labor to happen on its own. The Dr. didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know, so I headed to work, went about my day, and made plans to work the following week.

Saturday morning, I woke up, as I am an earlier riser, to my back hurting, but I don't think much of it, as this was the 5th time my back has been hurting, so I wrote it off as false labor. I had to work an event for a few hours, so I rested around the house most of the morning, and considered not going into work. However, after I took a shower, I felt much better and decided to attend our work event.

About an hour or so into working I felt a slight leak, like I peed on myself, so I went to the bathroom, noticed I lost my plug and just thought the wetness was part of it. I go about the day, trying to be pleasant, but my mind is racing.

Everyone is having a good time and being silly and all I can think is I hope everything is ok. About 20 minutes later I feel another gush and get really concerned. I reach out to my nursing friends for advise and call the hospital, all for them to say "go to the hospital".

I let my boss know what is happening, and I call Ricky to let him know it was time to head to the hospital. I feel pretty sure that they are going to send us home, so we take care of a few things around the house, I change my clothes, then we wake Derek up from his nap.

We arrive at the hospital at about 2:00, and tell them what happened, and follow it with I am sure it's nothing and we will probably be sent home.

We get settled in our room, and the Dr. tells us that my water broke. In disbelief, since I wasn't having any contractions, I ask them if I need to come back later, and they all laugh and say " no you are having a baby today". At this point, I am in shock, and think, there is no way we are having a baby today. I remember asking them a few times if they were sure and each time it was "yes". I then call my mom to let her know it's baby time.

Labor was a little tough, as I was not clear that I wanted an epidural, and when I was ready for it, I didn't have enough fluid in me and had to wait 30 minutes, also I was dilating so fast, that the contractions continued to be INTENSE!

Once the epidural was given, I was feeling a lot better.

At this point, I need to give a huge shout out to my husband, who is trying to stay by my side and also keep our 4 year old entertained.

He did a wonderful job, I can only imagine the emotional train he was riding that day.

Finally after only 7 hours of labor, from beginning to end, I was holding this sweet boy in my arms.