I was due September 8th, but on July 26th, when I was 33 ½ weeks along I went in for an appointment. Because I had been having contraction the day before, they decided to check me. I was at 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced so they put me on bed rest. This was a shock to me and I didn’t think I would need to be on bed rest. I got steroid shots to help her lungs develop and they said it should put her ahead by two weeks just in case she did come early. I headed up to Logan to try and relax and that worked great… for a few days; then I got restless. Bed rest drove me nuts and I had a million things I needed to get done, and most of all I felt like I was wasting my maternity leave. The next week I was at 3 cm and 80%, and they kept me on bed rest. The next week I went in and was at 4 cm and 80%. At this point they said they wouldn’t try to stop labor if it came, but if she came before 36 weeks it was procedure for her to go to the NICU. At that point-my goal was to hit 36 weeks and get her out to meet me, and if she wasn’t ready to come I was going back to work.
I hit 36 weeks on August 10th and decided that if she didn't come by Friday I was going back to work on Monday. A dear friend suggested castor oil brownies and castor oil scrambled eggs; so on August 11th my amazing sister made me some brownies and we went on a walk. A few hours later she made me some eggs. We had our doubts about it working, but before we went to bed (at 2 a.m.) we showered and packed a suitcase-just in case. I woke up with contractions a few times that night, but they weren’t bad so I went back to bed. At about 7:05 I woke up to use the restroom, and my water broke. A little in shock, I woke up Laura to let her know. We got our things together and headed out. We stopped at Jamba Juice on our way out of town and I called my doctor to let her know I was on my way and we were well on the road by 8 a.m.
We were timing contractions at 4 minutes apart and joking about getting pulled over. It was about 9:00 and we were near Centerville when the tire blew! Just my luck, and only my car. We thought getting pulled over would be an adventure, but this was WAY better! We were in the left lane, so we pulled over to the left should and called police dispatch. We just said we needed help changing the tire so we could be on our way, but within 5 minutes they had the entire freeway blocked off for us to pull over into the right shoulder. There were 6 troopers, an ambulance, fire truck, fire chief, and a UDOT truck there for our assistance. We told them I would make it just fine in the car once the tire was changed, but they insisted that I go in the ambulance because I was in labor. Talk about embarrassing! By the time they got me loaded into the ambulance the tire was changed and Laura was following close behind to the hospital.
They unloaded me at the hospital where Laura and Josh were waiting for me at around 10:00 a.m. It was only moments after I got my gown and they hooked me up to monitors that my contractions started getting pretty painful. My nurse was not my favorite, and ignored me when I first asked what point I could get my epidural. She left for quite a while and when the contraction got bad enough I really wanted the epidural we pushed the nurse call button. We waited for what seemed like forever for the nurse to come back in. She checked me and I was at 5 cm and 100% so she left to get the anesthesiologist. She came back a few moments later to let me know that the anesthesiologist was doing a C-section and would be in with me when she was finished. I didn’t think I could wait much long so she gave me a shot of Demerol to “take the edge off.” Well, that worked for all of what seemed like less than 5 minutes. Once that wore off I was in horrible pain, begging for the epidural. They checked me for a final time when I was at 9 ½ cm and they called the doctor. She came running and barely made it in time. They told me it was too late and I couldn’t get an epidural and all I could say (quite emotionally) was, “I can’t do this by myself, I need an epidural.”
Now, I made it, and I did do it without the epidural, but I’m not convinced I’ll skip out next time, and I’m incredibly grateful that she came early so she was small and that it was quick. Now, the day is almost a blur, but still an amazing day that I’ll never forget.
born Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 11:28 a.m.
5 lbs 12 oz
18 ½ inches long
