Wednesday morning (6/18) I woke up and things just felt "different." I had been having some signs for the last couple days that things were progressing but knew that there was no sure way to tell how long after those things started that I would give birth, but I told Tony before he left for work that today could be the day and that he needed to have his phone with him at all times.
He was really casually getting ready (changing, charging his phone, getting something to eat) while I got myself ready to go. For some reason I looked at the clock and remember thinking "it's getting close to 4 pm, we really need to go" As I told him we needed to hurry things up and get going to the hospital my water broke....so I at least knew we were having a baby soon...one way or the other.
We got to Regions around 1:45 pm, they monitored me & made sure that it was actually my water that broke. I was only dilated to 1 and fully effaced but they were admitting me because the babies heart rate was a little concerning & it was in fact my water that broke.
(Editor's Note: As this couple learned in class, we don't give birth by the numbers. Being "only 1 cm" didn't mean much as you'll soon see... read on!)
So around 2:30-2:45ish I got back into my room & they had me all full of stuff (fluids, heart monitor, catheter, and they tried oxygen but I told them no because it was making me really claustrophobic) which is the one thing I didn't want...I just wanted to be left alone, but they were hoping it would help the babies heart rate be more stable. Around 4 o'clock after the 5th or 6th time the OBs came in and talked to us about a possible c-section and not knowing how long the baby could handle the cord around her neck (which they were pretty sure was what was going on and it turned out it was) we decided to just have the c-section because they predicted I had 8-10 more hours of labor before she would be born. At 4:10 my midwife checked me again and I was dilated to a 5 and then they wheeled me back for the c-section.
At first they told Tony he couldn't come back but the heart rate picked back up and they had him change and come back. At 4:20 the OB asked my mid-wife to check me one more time before they started (as I was laying on the table in the OR) and I was fully dilated and she told me to push. She kept telling me to push with the "contractions" but I didn't feel anything, she asked the nurse if I was having a "contraction" and she said she couldn't tell because I was so calm. She ended up having to push really hard on my stomach to be able to tell & was telling me when to push. Ava was born at 4:23.
(Editor's Note: That TEN minutes to go from 5 cm to completely dilated and only three minutes of pushing for a first baby! Whoa!)
They kept asking if I was ok and to rate my pain and I kept telling them "I feel great!" The most uncomfortable part for me was trying to lay flat on my back on the OR table and push...as soon as she came out it everything felt amazing. I was up walking around, doing normal things. I had no idea it would be that easy!