On Monday, September 22nd, I had an ultrasound which confirmed what we already knew (I had been feeling her head in my ribs for the past month), AB was breech. My next OB appt was on Thursday (he doesn't do ultrasounds in his office, so I didn't see him on Monday), so figured I'd save all my questions about what our next steps were in regards to scheduling a c-section, what would happen if I went into labor before said c-section, what if my water broke, etc.
Moving on to Tuesday, I was sitting in a training class at work and was having some pretty bad cramping. I had texted G about it (and my mom and sister) and was pretty much second guessing myself. Kept chalking it up to paranoia. I was exactly 37 weeks, which was the gestation in which my water broke with EM and was paranoid about G being out of town. I even was feeling like I had no idea if these were small contractions or just cramps, or maybe even just gas. And because I was sitting in a training class, I was like chugging water to stay alert (for some reason I always drink a TON of water during training classes) and I swear I was getting up to pee every 30ish minutes and thought maybe that was making the cramping worse. I kept saying, I feel like with this being my 2nd pregnancy, I should know if these are contractions or what was going on and that I felt so clueless not knowing, but what "they" say is true, every pregnancy is different so I'm still not sure what I was feeling on Tuesday. I even joked with coworkers as I saw them that day and they asked how much longer I had, and I said 3 weeks but maybe tonight, last time my water broke tonight. I even called my mom on the way home from work and she thought for sure it was going to be me calling her to tell her I was in labor and she needed to come to Orlando (my parents are about 1.5 hours away). I told her it wasn't but that if anything happened, she's be the 1st person I called after calling G. Most Tuesdays, my father in law picks EM up from day care and takes her out to dinner for Taco Tuesday. This Tuesday was no different except I was just more exhausted than usual (I figured staying up a little late the night before finishing the nursery was the reason), I couldn't wait for him to bring her home so I could go to bed when she went to bed. I put EM to bed, texted G that I think all the cramping wore me out and was probably asleep by 8pm. (which wasn't THAT unusual for me this pregnancy).
Wednesday morning, I woke up about 4 am with a pounding headache on one of my many nighttime bathroom breaks so I took some tylenol and went back to sleep. About 5:20 am, I woke up to a gush of water (in bed, gross!) and somewhere in my half asleep mind, thought it would be a good idea to get up during this and trek to the bathroom which resulted in lots of dripping all over the bedroom and bathroom floor (once again, gross!). My water continued to break once I reached the toilet and from there I called G and told him to get on the next flight from Kansas City. I then called my Mom and told her so that she and my Dad could get on their way and then called my mother in law who lives down the street. My in laws have been my back up plan for the last few weeks of G's traveling, just in case it happened while he was away, never thought we'd actually have to use the plan though! We had a plan set up in in case it happened while I was at work (My MIL works about 1 mile away so she'd pick me up) and if it happened at home (My MIL would take me to hospital and my FIL would take care of getting EM to day care/watching her - depending on the time of day). I also called my sister to let her know, she lives a little further away than my parents and I knew she'd want to come as well. I started gathering my things, finishing up packing my suitcase when my in laws showed up. My wonderful MIL helped clean my mess and wash my sheets for me and I took my time getting ready to leave (even put on make up and did my hair nice), figured the more time I wasted before getting to the hospital the better chance G had to make it for the delivery.
I assumed that as soon as I got admitted at the hospital they would do the c-section right away. Since I hadn't talked to my OB about any of the c-sectin options yet (ya know, since my appt was the next day) I really had no idea what they were going to do/say when I arrived at the hospital. When talking about the possibility of this happening on the phone with my mom the night before, she said she believed they would just put me into surgery relatively quickly once I arrived at the hospital. I called my OB and he said that it would definitely be a c-section and to head into the hospital but not to eat or drink anything, which was tough b/c I always wake up super thirsty and hungry and hadn't eaten since 7pm the night before so my tummy was already growling. Luckily, I still felt fine otherwise. No contractions, minor cramping (less than the day before) and the 4am headache was gone.
When my MIL and I were almost to hospital, I realized I didn't bring my purse which meant I didn't have my ID, my pre-registration information, my insurance card, my OB records (which were given to me at my appt the previous friday), nothing. Luckily, because I had pre-registered it wasn't a huge deal and my FIL dropped off my purse to me after taking EM to school. I got checked into triage and my OB showed up and confirmed my water had indeed ruptured. I explained to him the situation about G being on a plane (he was on a plane about to take off within 45 minutes of my call, impressive!!) and the doc said that my cervix was still closed and since I wasn't contracting and baby was doing well, that we could wait for G to get there before doing the c-section. I was sooo happy to hear that. Of course still nervous that things could change at any time with myself or baby and they'd have to rush me in, but relieved that G even had the option to try and make it. He told me to call into his office when G was taking off from Atlanta (he was on a connecting flight) and then he'd schedule me in the OR since it's about a 45 minute flight and then would take him about 30 mins to get to hospital from airport. My parents arrived shortly after the doctor checked me while I was still in triage. I was in triage for quite a while (or so it felt) just hanging out and waiting. They had started me on an IV (after missing my vein on my hand twice, ouch! I had such a huge bruise on my hand for a few days). My sister had arrived during this time and they were moving me to another room to hang out and wait until I was ready to be prepped for the OR. We had decided it would help expedite G getting here to have someone pick him up at the airport, take their car and then let that person take the shuttle to the off-site parking and get G's car, so that's what we had G's dad do, which probably saved him a good 20ish minutes.
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| hanging out in Triage |
G arrived at the hospital right around 12:05 (he made it!) and within a half hour they were getting ready to take me back to be prepped for surgery. I elected to have an epidural vs. a spinal and once that was put in place, we were ready to go. I suffered a little bit of headaches and nausea from the epidural but the anesthesiologist took care of those right away. I was wheeled back into the OR and they started. I was surprised to see so many people were involved, there was at least 10 people. They all introduced themselves with name and function before they actually did anything. At some point I started throwing up, I can't remember if it was before they actually started or what but it was very awkward to not be able to do more than just turn my head to vomit. Luckily I had followed the doctor's orders and didn't eat or drink so it didn't last long and not much came out. The actual opening me up was pretty quick, although I do recall smelling something burning that reminded me of when I got my lasik which I wasn't expecting. My OB was telling jokes with the nurses, and I told him if he's going to tell jokes he needs to tell them louder so I could hear too which he did although now I don't remember the jokes but do recall them being corny. I didn't feel anything, not even too much pressure and soon enough they were commenting about Dad to get camera ready that baby was coming out (and I remember them saying she came out pooping lol). She didn't cry for the longest time and of course I was asking what was going on and they said some babies don't transition well from uterus to the world and they were giving her a little oxygen to help clear her lungs. EM had the same issue but didn't take as long to cry (from what I remember). G later told me that they administered oxygen to her for a lot longer than they had to EM and it was very scary to watch.
Eventually, after they got all her stats and cleaned her up, they brought her over to me and I got to hold her for a few minutes. They told me they were going to bring her to the transition nursery for a little while just to monitor her (EM had been in the transition nursery for 24 hours after birth). G went with her and was able to show her to our family and the team finished stitching me up. I was also getting a tubal (yes, we both put a lot of thought into and decided two children was all we wanted), so it took a little longer than just a regular close-up but I was completely "with in" and was texting with people the whole time. Kind of crazy to think there are people's hands inside of my stomach and here I am sending pictures of my new daughter at the same time.
After all of that was done, they wheeled me to recovery and I was just hanging out as I waited for my room to be ready for me. They told me AB was doing really good and that she'd be brought down to me shortly. This was completely shocking as I was expecting her to be up in the transition nursery MUCH longer considering how long EM was in there last time. G had come back to me at this point and they were ready to wheel my up before AB was ready to be brought down so they brought me up to my room and shortly after I was reunited with AB and the family was able to come and meet her! We stayed 3 nights at the hospital and my parents stayed at our house and took care of EM (and our dogs) during this time. AB struggled with latching (still is) so I'm pumping and bottle feeding her. Other than lack of sleep, we are all doing great at 12 days postpartum, but I will tell you, a c-section recovery is MUCH worse than a vaginal recovery. I'm feeling pretty good with only minor soreness at my incision and completely off the pain meds but the first few days were rough in the hospital so I took it really easy once we got home (slept on the couch so I didn't have to deal with the stairs or getting in and out of a really high bed) and I think that made a huge difference in my recovery. I can't wait for all the soreness to finally be gone so I can start going for daily walks and start exercising again (I know more than walking is still quite a few weeks away though).
In conclusion, both my girls were born at 37 weeks and 2 days. Who would have thought my body would do the same exact thing at the same time of pregnancy? All I can say is, I'm happy to have two healthy little girls to complete our family!
Loved reading your story!❤️❤️
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