Birth Story Part One

Everyone has a different story to tell when it comes to the delivery of their first born child. When I was pregnant I loved reading about different mommies and their experiences with labor and delivery. So, for all you pregnant ladies, mommies, and curious ladies who just want to know what it is like here goes nothing!

As most of you know the day I went into labor was the day that M and I moved from our 1,200 square foot 2 bedroom 1 bath home to our current 3400 square foot 4 bedroom 4 bath home. Needless to say it was a BIG day! I thought that I had at least 5 more weeks to get our new place together. Little did I know that I had less than 24 hours...

Around 11:00 pm I walked up to go to bed for the evening but laid there thinking about what I needed to get done the next day. By the time M came to bed it was after 1:00 am and I was still awake letting my mind wander with the excitement of staying in our new home for the first night. Around 2:30 am I woke up and noticed that M's boxers were wet. (I could not locate any of my underwear after the move and had to wear his boxers to bed!) I thought to myself, "OMG is bed wetting a new pregnancy symptom that I didn't know about?" So I got up and went to the bathroom and changed his boxers. In the back of my mind I thought that it was weird that I "wet the bed" since it was a different feeling than going pee. But I shrugged it off and climbed back into bed. Not ten minutes later it happened again and I got up and changed boxers again. This time I called out to Matt that I thought maybe my water broke. He was dead asleep and mumbled something to me that I couldn't understand. 

So, I called my best friend Carrie and asked her what she thought I should do. She told me to call the nurse and see what she says. After our conversation I went to bed one more time and yet again a third time I had wet the bed. Finally, I got up, called the nurse, and listened to what she said. The nurse told me to cough as hard as I could and when I did, the flood gates were opened! My water broke all over our tile floor in the bathroom. She told me to immediately come down to the hospital. At this point I started sobbing and telling Matt (who was awake now) that I wasn't ready for this. When I looked over at M he was still laying in bed telling me that he thought he might faint. After hearing this I told him to pull it together and get up so we could go to the hospital. I wasn't feeling too nice. 

Some of the silliest things went through my mind. There were things that I wanted to have done before having a baby such as getting my hair done, painting my nails and toes, getting a wax, showering etc. I only had enough time to throw on some waterproof mascara and call it good. This killed me and my type A personality. God was already breaking me and preparing me to let go and let Him be in control. 

M and I threw some things into an overnight bag, put a car seat in the car, grabbed Bella and drove off into the night. On our way we called our parents and then dropped Bella off at my parents house. Neither of us had gotten any sleep and there was no way that was going to happen until the baby was born. 

Upon arriving to the hospital the nurse told me to pull myself together (I was still crying) and reassured me that many women go into labor at 35 weeks. Everyone was super sweet and once I was all settled in I looked at the clock and realized it was 4am. Shortly after my mom and best friend Carrie arrived which helped calm me down. From about the time my water broke till around 8 am I had fought off the urge to get an epidural. The contractions were not bad at all in the beginning but were starting to increase in pain. The nurses introduced me to the anesthesiologist who would give me an epidural if I chose to get one. Tune in tomorrow to see if I went au natural or got the magic juice!

clearly not having intense contractions...

waiting it out

timing contractions...they were starting to get intense

such a good daddy

Part two comes tomorrow! Weekend update... got lots done and had lots of visitors. B is nursing so much better and I'm gaining tons of confidence! Working on her nighttime issues now. Gotta get this girl to go back to sleep in her co-sleeper! Sigh.