So we went to bed Friday night, relieved and thanking God that William was okay! We saw him in the sonogram again, and he was doing just fine, and had plenty of fluids! As I wrote before, we were expecting to be parents the following week, but were still praying that labor would start naturally for us.
Saturday morning came, and Matt had to go to work. He left home about 6:30am after waking me up to say goodbye. Being so uncomfortable in pregnancy at this point, I could not sleep much, and I was up at 6:45am. I took my medicine and used the bathroom, thinking I would be able to get several things done on my 'To Do' list. Very very soon, by 7am, after getting up I starting feeling contractions! I knew they were contractions because of how painful they were, and how tight my stomach would feel during them. At first I thought I was finally really feeling the Braxston Hicks contractions, and I thought 'yay, now maybe labor will start naturally for me in a couple days!' Well, pretty much as soon as the contractions started I had to breath through them, and I was pacing the apartment through each one. I was texting a friend and sister about them, and wondering if this was the real thing.
I was expecting labor to be like this: contractions would start at some point, they wouldn't be awful at first, but throughout the day would gradually worsen. I would stay home and labor until the contractions were about 5 minutes apart, and I wasn't able to talk through them. Then Matt and I would go to the hospital and finish labor there. I really expected labor to last a long time, especially with the first child, and to stay at home through most of it. That was not to be!
So, I continued pacing through the apartment every time a contraction would come. I kept breathing through each one, and was surprised at how the breathing really did help! Because I was expecting to be home all day, I decided that I should eat breakfast so that I wasn't starving all day, and at the hospital (because you can't eat once you get there). I had gotten frozen chocolate chip waffles the day before, and was looking forward to eating them! So I made two of them! Somehow, I managed to eat both of them, in between pacing the apartment with each contraction. I thought how strange it was that the contractions were coming so close together, and that I had to breath through them already! I did enjoy the waffles though, ha ha!
As the morning continued, I got Matt's stop watch and tried to time the contractions. I thought I had timed one out to about 3 minutes, but I wasn't sure. After that one, I was unable to use the stop watch and think about it! That's how strong they were! I was slightly worried about how close they were coming, and didn't know if I should be home alone. But, because Matt was at work, I wasn't sure if I should call him to come home or not. I didn't want him to miss a whole day of work, just being home while I was going through labor. I figured maybe by the time he got out of work I'd be ready to go the hospital. At 8:30am I finally decided that I better call Matt, because I really couldn't time the contractions, and they were pretty painful. So I called Matt's work and talked to his supervisor, telling her I thought I was in labor. She transferred me to Matt so I could talk to him. However, when Matt picked up the phone, I was in a contraction and unable to talk to him! It finally ended, and I told him I thought I was in labor, that maybe he should come home because I wasn't sure if it was the real thing, or what was going on for sure! Thankfully he only works about 15 minutes away from our home! Just in case we were going to the hospital, I filled up the cat's food dish and water. It seemed like it took Matt a long time to get home that day ha ha! While I waited for him, I just paced the apartment and kept breathing, breathing, and breathing!
Matt finally got home, and he started throwing clothes and things in a bag for him, just in case we were really going to the hospital. I just kept pacing and breathing....I remember at one point asking Matt to time the contractions (I had looked at a clock, and thought they were about 3 minutes apart). Matt stopped and looked at me and said, "Is that another one?" He was surprised that they were coming so close together too! So Matt called our doctor, and of course we had to wait for a call back ha ha. Meanwhile he kept throwing things in a bag, packing our snacks, and getting the last few things I had to grab. I kept trying to help him, but really wasn't any help because I just kept walking away ha ha. Our doctor finally called back (it was really probably only about 10 minutes, if that) and was asking Matt questions about timing the contractions, if I could talk through them, and I don't know what else. When he told her how far apart we thought they were, she said we should come to the hospital and they would check me and see what was going on, and if it really was real labor. I hadn't showered yet that morning, and felt going to the hospital un-showered would be yucky. I managed to shower while Matt made phone calls to tell people we were going to the hospital. The shower really didn't feel good ha ha, and I had no where to pace! So I was happy when it was over!
Matt grabbed our bags, and I grabbed the pillows, and we headed to the car! I was so worried about how I was going to ride in the car! Didn't know how I would sit that long. As Matt was packing the car, another contraction came, and I couldn't get in the car, had to keep walking. Finally I managed to get in, and we were on our way! The trip only took about 15 minutes, thankfully! No traffic! I just kept doing my breathing, and gripping the car door the whole way there! Thankfully the hospital has valet service, so Matt pulled right up to the door, and we hopped out! The man wanted to get me a wheelchair, but by this time sitting was something that I did not want to do at all! So I said no, but he was quite concerned about letting me walk into the hospital. Matt grabbed all our bags (we had so much stuff it seemed!), and we went into the hospital. The security guard didn't stop us, but Matt had to go back and sign in as a visitor.
Once we were on the Labor and Delivery floor we had to check in at the desk. The nurse started to ask me to confirm my information. I was able to confirm my name, then had to start pacing around breathing, so Matt had to take care of the rest for me. They took us into the triage room, this was 10:00 am, and it was so tiny! I got my gown on, and then we waited. I tried to pace around, but there was barely any room to pace, so that's when my breathing really helped even more! Poor Matt wanted to help me, but there was nothing he could do! We were in there for quite a while before they hooked up the monitor to measure his heartbeat and my contractions. For that they had me get into the bed...that was so uncomfortable!! I stayed on my side, and held Matt's hand. Standing and walking was just so much more comfortable! Finally, about 11:00, my doctor came in and checked me. Talk about painful! I know my brain is a little foggy, but I really think that was the most painful part of the whole birthing process! When she told us I was 6cm dilated and 90% effaced, I started crying with relief! I was so happy that this was the real thing and we were finally going to meet our son! She said they were going to admit me, and then the nurse drew blood work and placed an IV in my arm. First time with an IV, and it wasn't as awful as I was expecting ha ha. Through all this I was just breathing and squeezing Matt's hand! My doctor seemed a little surprised I was so far along in labor; I think that's why they took their time letting us wait in triage for so long. But now, after 11am, we were moved into our labor room! It was such an exciting time for us, knowing that this was it! Our baby boy was going to be born, and we were going to be parents!!
More to come....
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