The day my world forever changed...
I got up April 13th at 5:45, running late as usual. I went to the closet to get my towels and felt something wet running down my legs. It stopped me in my tracks - was that my water breaking? Certainly not.
It wasn't like what you see on television, so I dismissed it and decided to go ahead and get ready for work. After all, I didn't want to be one of 'those' women who overreacts.
As I got ready for work, I mentioned the earlier incident to JP, but we both dismissed it as nothing. By the time I got ready to leave for work, I was still 'leaking' a little, but still wasn't convinced it was anything. After all, I had just been to the doctor the day before and things weren't looking favorable for labor to begin any time soon. I started having a few contractions on the drive to work, but this was nothing new. I had been having some contractions for weeks.
I decided not to mention anything to anyone at work, as I didn't want people to worry, but decided I would call the doctors office when they opened at 8:30.
I went on with my morning, and was working with 3 of my students in a small group when I noticed my contractions were getting stronger. By 8:30 I had decided that this might actually be the start of something. I called the doctors office, left a message for the nurse to call back, and went on to a meeting with my teammates and principal. We were in the middle of filling out a survey when the doctors office called back. I explained to the nurse what had taken place that morning and how I had continued to 'leak' since then, and she told me she was fairly certain that my water had broken and that I was in fact in labor. She told me to go immediately to the hospital. What?
I was in total shock. I immediately called JP and told him what the nurse had said. He headed home to finish packing our bags and I told him I would meet him there.
I went and broke the news to Terri, Kathryn, and my principal. They were of course shocked and Terri was a little upset that I was driving home and not straight to the hospital. Listen, I've seen enough Baby Story's to know I had a while.
Driving home was a little surreal. I was going to be a mom today - my life was forever changing.
When I got home, JP had almost finshed packing using the very specific list I had typed up weeks earlier:) I double checked the bags, he loaded the car, we took a quick picture, and off we went to the hospital. About 10 minutes after we left, I realized we had forgotten my pillow. How do you go to the hospital to have a baby without your pillow? That's the one thing you can't live without during labor, right?
So, we turned around and went home to get the pillow. At this point I'm still having contractions, but obviously they're not bad:)
We got to the hospital around 10:30 and were immediately taken to the MAC unit where they confirmed that I was in fact in labor and that my water had indeed broken - however, I was only 1 cm dialated. From there I was taken to labor and delivery where I was hooked up to monitors and blood pressure cuffs and IV's. It was official - we were having a baby.
The rest of the day is kind of a blur for me. I know that around 2:00 my wonderful doula Jean arrived. With her assistance, we walked A LOT of laps around the second floor. Dr. Wilcox checked me around 4:00 and I had only dialated to 3 cm. At this point I was VERY uncomfortable. My contractions were back to back and I only had about 10 seconds to recover from one before another one began. At this point, I needed an epidural. About 5:00 Dr. Springs, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural - that was by far one of the high points of my day thus far. It immediately took effect and I was feeling no pain:) They also started me on pitocen.
Dr. Wilcox checked me several times between 4:00 and 7:00, but I only managed to dialate to 3 cm. It was during this time that a C-section was first mentioned. I was adamant that I did not want a C-section, and cried for 30 min. after Dr. Wilcox first mentioned those words to me. She agreed I could continue to labor as long as the baby and I were ok.
Pitocen was given again for the second time and that did the trick. I started dialating, however, I also started running a fever. They started me on IV antibiotics, but it wasn't helping. My fever continued to go up and Becca's heart rate was also increasing. By 10:30 that night I was completely dialated, but Dr. Wilcox was concerned about the baby and me. She agreed I could try to push, but explained that unless I was able to make significant progress with each push, we were looking at a C-section.
Well, obviously the pushing wasn't successful, so after two contractions the decision was made to do a C-section. I was ok with the decision at this point and just ready to meet my baby.
Everything after that happened really fast, too fast for me to remember much except that at 11:23 pm Rebecca Ansleigh Pyle made her debut into this world weighing 8lbs 3oz and measuring 20 1/4 in. long. She was here finally and she was perfect.
From the moment I saw her face, I was instantly in love. She has changed our life in so many ways, and we thank God for our blessing we call Becca every day.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
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