I worked all day Tuesday (no signs of labor) and Wednesday was such a toss up. I did not want to go to school because it would be a 13+ hour work day- I arrive at around 6:30am and we had parent-teacher conferences after school until 7:30pm... but also if I went into labor that day, I would have a leap year baby... which though it would be cool, part of me felt sad thinking that our little guy would only have a true birthday every four years. Well... he didn't want to come on Wednesday, so I had a delightful (ha) 13 hour work-day. I even stayed a few minutes after 7:30 because I was madly grading essays written that day by my French 4/5 students so my sub would not have to grade them. As I had done the past three weeks, I left with everything ready in case I was not the one teaching the next day.
I arrived at home completely exhausted and went to bed at 9 pm... only to wake up at 12:05 am with lower back pain and I felt really hot and sweaty. I remember thinking "I don't know if I'm going into labor, but baby boy, I love that you waited until 5 minutes after leap day if this is really the start of your entrance into this world!" A little while later, I had a contraction with pain that wrapped around the front and back, which was completely different from the contractions I had been having for pretty much the whole month of February. After hearing so many stories of "false labor" I decided I would just lay there... so I downloaded an app on my new phone to track my contractions and basically lay in bed wide awake all night. Grant got up at 5:30 (I did not wake him up because he said he had a sore throat the night before and I did not want to have a baby with a sick husband!), and I was like "sooo yeah I was up all night having contractions but I don't know if they are real." I had non-stress test #2 scheduled for that day (so I wasn't planning to go to school anyways, but was thinking about going on Friday if the baby still had not arrived), so I figured they would tell me at the doctor's office if I was really in labor.
I ate a small bowl of cereal before my appointment (this is one change I would have made had I known I was going to go into labor...) and then did the test. We both did awesome again, and you could see that I was having contractions on the print out... I asked the nurse if this was the start of labor and she was like "well, I can't say you are in labor for sure, but I do think you will not make it to your induction date." So basically, she told me nothing. I drove home and decided it would be smart to do start like 5000 tasks around the house since I had the day off. The contractions continued and they hurt but I still didn't think I was really in labor (looking back, what was I thinking?!?) so I started like 5000 tasks around the house... started being the key word. By lunch time, nothing I was doing was making the pain any better and the thought of food made me want to vomit, so I didn't eat.
My Mom called me via Face Time and I quickly told her I would not face time (again, looking back, the fact I didn't want to be on camera?!?) but would talk on the phone. My friend and neighbor Katie called and said I could come over but I figured I was too much of a mess, and again didn't want to be around people. She wisely advised me I should probably try to eat something because I would need the energy if I was really in labor... so I chocked down like two crackers. Then tea sounded good so I made some... had a sip... and my water broke around 2:30. I decided finally I should tell Grant to come home (he had been calling every hour but I kept telling him I was fine and didn't know what he would do if he was here anyways), and by the time he arrived I was even more of a disaster and could barely get my last few things in my hospital bag.
My wonderful husband drove as fast as he could to the hospital (most miserable car ride of my life) and we went up to labor and delivery... where the woman basically told me she wasn't sure my water had broken, so I was left there in triage while they "looked for the house doctor" or something. The contractions were awful by then, and finally I was like GRANT, I've had enough. Get someone. The nurse came and checked and said "oh you are about 6 centimeters, so we can go ahead an admit you." Thanks. By this point, I knew I wanted meds.
They gave me a few bags of fluids plus an antibiotic and then probably an hour later I got an epidural... which was amazing.
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| praise God for my epidural :-) |
After not sleeping and not eating, I just needed to rest a bit. They only had it at 50% strength so I still had complete control of my legs and felt a lot of pressure. They checked me immediately after they inserted it and I was already at 8-9 centimeters! I'll leave out the rest of the details for blog world (but just ask next time we talk if you want to know!), but after some pushing, some resting and letting him move down on his own and then some more pushing, Kyler Lane was born at 11:10 pm on March 1, 2012. He weighed 7 pounds 9.6 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. And is completely adorable.
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| just a few minutes old |
