The Very Early Stages of Labor
The night of April 17th, I started to feel some cramping that felt a little different than what I had in the past couple weeks. It was more intense - still not what I would call painful, but woke me up in the night and felt sort of like a stomach ache. Troy was convinced I just needed to go to the bathroom :) The cramping subsided and we fell asleep again.
The next day was quiet all day, until dinner time. The intense cramps returned and were about every 15 - 30 minutes for a couple hours. We talked about whether we should drive to Iowa City and get it checked out. Then they stopped again. We went to bed about 10:30, and at 2 a.m. I woke up with the cramps again. This time they were coming every 15 minutes, and at 4:30 a.m. we decided it was time to head to Iowa City - just in case!
Is it Labor?
Once in Iowa City, they hooked me up to the monitors, checked my cervix - still at 2 cm thank goodness! We waited 2 hours and they checked me again - still 2 cm! Things were looking good that this was just a false alarm. We waited 2 more hours and I was checked again - this time my cervix was about 4 cm dilated. Uh oh. The doctors told us that we wouldn't be doing anything to stop the contractions, because I may possibly have an infection causing them. And if that was the case, it was better for me and the baby if I had to deliver. But there was still a chance my body would stop the contractions on its own.
They did an ultrasound and we got the most shocking news yet - the baby was breech!! Just a week earlier when they checked, she was head down. So we REALLY didn't expect this. The doctors said there was a chance she would flip over during labor, but if she didn't, I would have to have a c-section. Ugh. This was not something we had prepared ourselves for!
Yep, it's Labor!
Over the next few hours, the contractions continued and my cervix continued to dilate. The intensity of the contractions increased as the day went on...Troy was wonderful and rubbed my hand, fanned my face, and did whatever else I asked to help me get through them. I think I only snapped at him once :) I was tolerating the pain okay, I did have one shot of something that made me feel drunk and sort of numb for about 30 minutes, which was a nice break from the pain. I was petrified of how the pain would increase when and if my water broke. Fortunately/unfortunately, I never had to find out!
Time to meet Emily!
Shortly after 5:00 p.m., the doctor checked me again and I was dilated to 8 cm. They knew at this time delivery was imminent and probably coming very soon, so they did another ultrasound to check the position of the baby. She was still breech :( So, I was immediately prepped for a C-section. Everything moved very quickly - lots of people buzzing around the room, getting me set up and explaining what would happen next. Troy and I did a lot of hand holding and exchanging reassuring words. We were so scared for our little girl and the challenges she would face in the coming months. We knew it was all in God's hands now.
Sometime around 6:00, I was wheeled back to the OR for the final surgery preparations. I swear there were 25 doctors and nurses in the operating room! I was given a spinal to numb the lower half of my body, hooked up to all kinds of equipment, and who knows what else they were doing to me on the other side of the curtain...and I was ready to go! Troy sat by my head, he didn't care to watch the surgery (can't blame him there!). I was shaking from the meds, he rubbed my forehead and kept me calm. The anesthesiologist was right there the whole time as well, and kept asking me how I was feeling. Troy was impressed by his "toolbox of drugs", ready to take care of any ache or pain I had! Jenny stood by Troy, camera in hand, ready to snap the first picture of the baby! She kept reassuring me that everything was going great. I remember at one point she said "I see your baby's butt!" and the next thing I knew, "She's out!" It was 6:27 p.m.
Troy and Jenny went over to see Emily briefly. She didn't cry right away, which worried me, but then again we weren't really expecting it, as early as she was. I remember Troy telling me she had LOTS of dark hair. The team of doctors and nurses worked on Emily while another team completed my surgery. That was one part of a c-section I never really thought about - how long it would take to sew me back up after the actual delivery! I think it took about 30 minutes.
After surgery was complete, I had to go to recovery for 2 hours before we could go see Emily. I was exhausted but couldn't rest. I just wanted to go see my baby so I could get some sleep! When it was time, the nurses helped me get into a wheelchair, and Troy and I went to the NICU to see our baby for the first time.
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