A Birth: The Beginning

When my doctor told me at my 35 week appointment that I was dilated to a 3 and 25% effaced I just assumed that baby #3 would make her appearance by my 37^th week of pregnancy. I mean, why wouldn’t she? Brynlee came during the 37^th week, and Jace too. But then my 37^th week came and went. And so did the 38^th. By the start of my 39^th week I started to think that I just might spend the rest of my life in this pregnant state of being. It was a scary thought.

It was three days before my due date. June 11, 2012. Jami and her kids had come to stay for a day or two so our girls could attend cheer camp.

That Monday the girls spent the afternoon at the camp, the rest of us went to lunch, ran errands and then Jami watched the kids while I hit up my doctor’s appointment. My doctor checked me - I was still at a 3 and 25% effaced; four and a half weeks and no real change. At the appointment the doctor ordered a stress test due to decreased fetal movement and then it was decided that due to less movement I would be induced later that same evening.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to comfort myself. I didn’t want to be induced; I’ve always felt that that sort of thing should just happen naturally. But maybe an induction is for the best I would tell myself. Jami’s here to watch the kids. The baby’s movement has decreased. I am already at a 3 and 25 it’s not like labor hasn’t already started. Plus, what if she never comes out of there otherwise. Now that would suck.

I went home and did last minute preparations for a hospital stay. Spencer took the week off work. And we planned for a baby.

At five o’clock that evening I called the hospital just as I was supposed to. Don’t come in yet they told me and they promised that they would call me back shortly. So I waited.  About an hour later they called back. The hospital was overloaded with laboring mamas and there wasn’t room for another induction. They rescheduled for two days later and I hung up the phone relieved, yet disappointed. It wasn’t baby day after all.

That night we walked to the park. Spencer, Brooke and Brynlee rode their bikes, Jami pushed Zayne and Jace in the stroller, and I curb walked because my sister-in-law told me it induced labor. I had been having contractions all day, but nothing major, and nothing different than the last few weeks. Jami told me that she thought the baby had dropped even lower than she was earlier that day and then she massaged my pregnant belly telling the baby to get the crap out of there {because that’s how Jami talks}. We ate dinner, tucked in our kiddos, Spence feel asleep while snuggling Jace, and Jami and I decided that we too would call it a night.

I woke up at 1:30 with contractions. I think I’m having a baby, I told myself, but the contractions were manageable so I successfully convinced myself to go back to sleep.

At 4:00 I woke up again. The contractions were more painful now and my head was pounding so hard that I was seeing stars. I felt nauseous and ran to the bathroom. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep through the contractions any longer so I took two Tylenol to try to control the headache; Google searched a refresher on how to time contractions and climbed into the bathtub.

Turns out it was baby day after all.