I know, I know.....I have totally been neglecting my blog. I am sorry. With all that is happening in my life right now, it is probably not the best time to take a "blog hiatus", but I have been so busy!!! Now.....on with the story!
It all started on Friday, August 18th. I actually went into work a little early this day as Chuck (my boss) had me working on (yet another) project and I wanted to get an early start on the day. At around 9am, I got this overwhelming urge to use the bathroom. I stood up and the urge was more than I had ever felt. I cursed the 4 bottles of water that I had already drank for the day and started making my way down the LONG hallway to the bathroom. As I walked, I felt a wet substance start trickling down my leg. OH MY GOD! I was peeing my pants. How embarassing. I made it into the bathroom and all of a sudden, GUSH!!!! GUSH!!! GUSH!!! (I am trying to create the mood of like Niagara Falls coming out of my nether-regions.....). I was in denial. This couldn't be! I was only 33 weeks pregnant. This can't be it. Oh my God! As I was contimplating what to do, I noticed that I was alone and in the back room (where rarely anyone goes in my office). I had 2 choices, I could make my way out of the back room, back to my office, shut the door and call 911 or I could wait for someone to come back there and attempt to have them help me. At this point, I was soaked. I was trying to sit over the toliet as not to make too much of a mess when one of my co-workers came into the back and I screamed for her to help me! OMG! My water broke! HELLLLPPPP!!! My co-worker, Lorrie went and got Dr. Brown (the family physician that I work for) and he proceeded to ask me if he could "check me" to make sure that it was amniotic fluid and it was clear and there wasn't any problems. I obviously wasn't thinking clearly because I agreed. Now "checking me" meant that the doc that I worked for (the really cute, 29 year old doc that I see everyday) was going to see "all my stuff". But at that point, I didn't care. He confirmed that it was amniotic fluid (after telling me that I gushed when he checked me.....I could have died!!)and told me that I needed to get to the hospital immediately. Someone called Keith at work and Keith whisked me off to Highland hospital. OMG! I was going to have a baby.......really really early.
The comedy ended there. In my mind I was scared, confused and feeling guilty....like something I had done had caused me to go into premature labor. All the worst thoughts that could go through your head went through mine and I was trying (with all my might) to stay calm. We arrived at Highland and I went through triage. They (again) confirmed that my water broke and they had to figure out what to do from there. They checked me and I was "slightly" dialated. They put me on a magnesium drip to slow down labor until they could figure out what to do with me. Dr. Surgeon from my OB practice came to talk to me and told me that because I was only 33 5/7 days pregnant, I needed to be transferred to Strong's high risk delivery unit. Highland only took moms that were 34 weeks. OMG! Again, I was being labeled "abnormal". I felt like I had failed at pregnancy......and I had already failed at getting pregnant on my own. This "baby stuff" really wasn't a strong point of mine, I guess :( Highland called Rural Metro and I was whisked away by ambulance to Strong.
When I arrived at Strong, I was a little (a LOT!) scared and not knowing what to expect. At this point, I didn't know if I was at Strong to have this baby SOON or they were going to stop my labor and have me on bedrest until I was a little further along. Visions of preemies kept flashing through my head. Little one-pounders who fit in the palms of their mother's hands. I was so nervous! When they started working me up at Strong, they discovered that I had a fever. They also discovered that the magnesium drip that they had me on was not working. I was having contractions (5 min. apart) right through what was supposed to be stopping my labor. I remember Keith being there, my mom, Lisa & at some points my brother in law. I can't remember much else as I was very concentrated on what was happening to my body at this point. It was decided, by a nice man named Dr. Grace (how appropriate!) that they were going to induce my labor. The magnesium was not working and with my fever, they didn't want to take a chance of my or the baby's health being in jeopardy. So.....they started the PITOCIN (which I fondly named "the devil's drug"). Man! That drug brought on the most WICKED UNNATURAL contractions.....WHEW! I was pretty proud of myself though. I made it through the whole day, into the next with NO DRUGS. But at one point, the pain got so bad (I think around 2am on Saturday the 19th)I wanted something. I started with a shot of nubaine. This only let me sleep in between contractions. I still felt ALL the pain! Then on to the epidural (SENT FROM HEAVEN!!!). Thank goodness for the epidural. It was the best. I relaxed and was able to sleep for a few hours. Thank GOD! Now what was going on around me when all this was happening? Hmm.....I remember laughing about "keeping my gimp hand strong" as the hand that held the IV was really bothering me. I was listening to Lisa trying to calm me down and advocate for me to be able to get out of bed to labor. I remember Keith being the absolute best coach on this earth, needing to take a nap at one point b/c he was doing so much work. My mom was rubbing my back as I went through contractions. I remember Brandon asking about a thousand times when the baby was going to be born (ha! wouldn't I like to know...). I remember that the epidural made me feel very anxious. I kept thinking that someone was going to walk into my hospital room and try to hurt me. I also kept having visions of my oxygen mask suffocating me. Although it did wonders for pain relief, that epidural really really played with my mind!
After a full day of being in labor, people started prepping me for the pushing part. They told me when I started feeling like I wanted to "bear down", to tell them and they would have me start pushing. Now I was all freaked out about the pushing part. I started feeling like I had to push at 9am, but was so scared that I didn't tell anyone until 9:30am. My nurse, Lynn, my mom and Keith started prepping me for the birth. And that's where I'll end this blog.......Keep reading my next blog for the birth story :)
