I took a week off.  Did you notice?  Did you miss me? Sorry if you did.  I was busy pushing out a baby and adjusting to motherhood.  I figured the best time for me to blog would be while I’m hooked up to ole Bessie here, aka my breast pump.  So here is the birth story.

If you’re new to the blog, long story short: Car accident at 24 weeks led to contractions, preterm labor started January 1, actual due date was February 26.  So last Monday I woke up at 5:00am to use the bathroom as was par for the course.  I was a little more sore that morning but nothing big.  I crawled back in to bed and Kel woke up enough to throw his arm around my belly and the little baby started going crazy kicking and punching and rolling about.  I’ve had contractions that were five minutes apart since January 1 so the ones I was having were fairly usual but they seemed slightly stronger but still tolerable.  I laid in bed thinking of the things I wanted to get done that day and was making a mental list of what I wanted to clean and organize.  I realized that my contractions seemed a bit stronger so I reached for my phone to start timing them when I felt a faint pop and a rush of water.  Apparently my nesting instinct was only 30 minutes long before labor started.  My eyes got wide as sauces and my ninja like reflexes kicked in and I flew out of bed slapping Kel on the shoulder on the way out of bed.

Me:  Honey I think my water just broke

Him: Are you sure?

Me: Either that or I just peed myself

I went to the bathroom to investigate and sure enough I was pouring amniotic fluid.  No one can ever prepare you for the amount of fluid you have in your uterus.  Seriously.  I changed clothes and called the doctor.  My contractions were not any stronger ofrcloser together so the doctor advised to either head in now or wait a little awhile.  Given my history with complications we decided to head in but take our time.  By this time Kel is a little more awake, having changed in to jeans and then crawled back in to bed.  I was running around in a tank top and underwear.  As I was standing by the dresser grabbing some clothes I started to leak again.

Me: Ack I’m leaking more

Him: Are you sure?

Me: Um look it’s running down my leg (as I start walking toward the bathroom)

Him:  You’re leaving a trail

As I walked to the bathroom completely disgusted Kel hopped out of bed and went to the kitchen.  When I emerged thinking I was finely dry…ha!  I saw Kel bent over spraying resolve carpet cleaner on the carpet

Me: WTF are you doing

Him: That’s my security deposit damnit

We both started laughing.  Until I realized laughing made me leak more.  But it was pretty damn hysterical watching him spray carpet cleaner on my little trail from the bedroom to the bathroom.  Better yet it was the pet stain remover which made me laugh and leak even more.  I wish I would have thought to snap a picture of this.

As usual, humor is our defense mechanism.  Shit just got real.  This baby is coming and we are laughing our asses off while packing up the rest of the last minute items.  As we get ready to head out the door I decided to grab something to drink on the way to the hospital since water and zero food was in my future.

Me: Drinking root beer out of a bottle that looks like a beer bottle is appropriate for the ride to the hospital right?

Him: Sure why not.

Me:  Luckily it’s still dark out so people won’t be able to see that I’m drinking what looks like a beer

So I grab the IBC root beer and off we go.  I spread out my garbage back and towel for the ride and managed not to leak all over my car.  Getting out of the car was another story.  Seriously how much fluid does one’s uterus contain?  I waddled my way in to the hospital and down to a triage bed.  Before I sat down the nurse asked me if my water breaking was a gush of water or a trickle.  Um do you not see the large wet spot all the way down my sweat pants?  ”Oh” she says when I show her.  She walks out of the room and shouts down the hall “yeah she’s grossly ruptured we need to move her down the hall”  So off to the labor and delivery room I go.

I was so excited when my nurse Jen walked in.  She was one of my nurses during my preterm labor stay and she was a blast.  Super nice, knowledgeable, funny, and supportive. Seeing that she was my assigned nurse put me at ease.  I let Kel run up to his work while I got settled.  I was 2/3cm when checked but had a ring of scar tissue so they paged the doctor to come see me while I waited for Kel.  The doctor saw me and broke up the scar tissue which made me cry.  She told me that this was most likely why I didn’t dilate more or deliver while in preterm labor.  I was also cleared for a epidural whenever I wanted it and was given pitocin to help with the scar tissue.  She said she predicted a baby this evening and didn’t see me lasting past 7:00pm.

I made it until 11am or so before I got my epidural.  Of the whole labor process this was the worst.  Mainly because my first one didn’t work.  It was an uncomfortable position to get in to and the contractions made it even worse of a position.  The first epidural was close but not quite where it needed to be.  The doctor put in the second one, gave me an extra dose, and everything was much better.  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  Nurses came in to set up the baby area and some friends stopped by to say hi.  I was in medicated bliss with the exception of not being able to move.

Around 3:30pm they came in and checked me and I was still at a 6 for the second check in a row.  They turned up my pitocin and  would be to back to check again.  They checked me again at 4:00pm and I was a 9 so I was really close.  By the time they checked me at 4:15 I was fully ready so they paged the doctor and got me ready to push.  Again, Jen was probably the best person to have coach you through a delivery.  That’s not saying Kel did a bad job.  He was amazing coaching me.  He had my emotional side to coach and Jen had the physical side.  I started pushing just after 4:35pm while waiting for the doctor to come.  I felt so useless during the pushing process.  I felt like I was doing absolutely nothing.  Apparently that wasn’t the case and I was doing quite well.  Kel held my hand and told me how good I was doing.  Jen eventually told me to stop pushing because I was that close and doctors get pissed when you deliver without them.

When my doctor arrived I’m not sure she was prepared for how close I was to delivering.  She was casually getting her protective gear on and told me I could push when I felt a contraction.  So I did, and all of a sudden she moved a lot faster to get ready and sit down.  About three pushes later baby Rhino was here.  And they put him on my belly covered in baby gunk.  And I didn’t care.  I cried.  Kel cried.  I touched Rhino with my hand baby gunk and all.  And sure enough he had the lungs of a five year old (thank you steroids) and screamed his head off.  They whisked him off to clean and wrap him up and we just stared at him and each other.

Me:  Gross I have baby on me

Kel: Nice honey

Yep that’s me.  So here he is.

Brody Ryan, born 2/4/13 at 5:00pm on the dot, 20.5 inches long, 6lbs 10 oz

Not bad for pooping out a baby

Our family

Proud Daddy

Already making faces