Labor & 7 Days
I was planning on doing my usual post for 37wks, but I thought I'd skip it, since there haven't been a ton of changes. As usual, I'm posting this after midnight, so just pretend it's Tuesday still...
We have ONE WEEK LEFT from today. In 7 days I will be holding my baby.
267 days, approximately 230 daily blood thinning injections, 12 ultrasounds and doctor appointments, several baby showers, and countless blood draws later.
We can't wait to introduce all of you to him or her! (add one to all of those since it's Tuesday 😂😆 )
Let's take a step back to last week, though. It was Thursday night and I was 36 weeks and 4 days along when my back started hurting. Except my back has been hurting, so it wasn't a huge deal. It's not like it's an unusual thing. I was so exhausted I took a nap from about 7-9 and my back really hurt when I woke up. My back usually hurts, especially after I first wake up, so I thought nothing of it. I went about getting ready for bed and I took my nightly blood thinning shot around 10:30pm. Fortunately, that Monday my doctor switched me from my once daily 24hr blood thinner to a twice daily one that only lasts 12hrs with each injection. Around 11pm my back suddenly began to absolutely kill me. I was curled over in pain and I could barely breathe. I knew something was wrong, but I kept brushing it off. After 30min or so, we realized the pain was cyclical and would ease off for a while, only to come back in full force as if it had never left. It reminded me of waves crashing and then drawing back into the ocean until the next round came in. We had been briefly "entertaining" the idea that it could have been back labor, but I wasn't feeling anything up front...and obviously, with this being my first, I had no reference point as to what labor should feel like other than painful. Note: there is very little entertainment in labor pain. I breathlessly called my doctor's page service and he called me back within about 5min. I felt absolutely terrible because he had obviously been sleeping. I kept thinking, "oh gosh...what if I'm just reading into something and this is nothing!" He told me what I knew he would - go to labor and delivery. Because I see a specialized high risk doctor, the hospital I'm giving birth in is 35-40min from our house via 70mph speed limit tollway, vs the one 10min from our house and the dozens of others you pass on the way there. One perk of going into labor at 11pm is you can pretty much guarantee there wouldn't be a jam up on that highway, which does happen. Often. That's one thing we love about being induced early. We will leisurely check in to be admitted to the hospital the night before, so no rushing. This was not the case for us that night. We were anxious. We knew the contractions were coming close together, I knew I had JUST taken my blood thinner - one of the main reasons for my controlled induction - and it was still early. Being induced at 38wks is scary enough, and technically 37wks is very safe, even if I was a few days short of 37. It was unexpected and scary. It was NOT the plan. Side note - I had been having this eerie feeling for over a week that I might have the baby early. Interesting, right?
We get to the hospital sometime around midnight and my doctor was waiting for me. The nurses were all so surprised because they said doctors rarely show up and just want to be called and notified. I have an amazing doctor, though. You know he genuinely cares about you. It's so refreshing. After making me fill out a form that felt like it was a million questions long (I think it was actually something like 5-10, but can we talk about how it's wrong to make a very pregnant woman IN LABOR stand at a desk and fill out a form?!), they got me into a room and strapped me in to the monitors and I saw the look of worry on my doctor's face. My contractions were 2-4min apart and strong. I was only dilated 1cm at that point, so I'm sure he was worried about the possibility of a c-section and my blood thinner being so fresh in my system. I noticed the worry in his face, but I was honestly in so much pain I didn't really care more than to make a mental note of it. I just wanted the pain to stop. I had always heard back labor was excruciating, and they were not kidding. At all. I had a few contractions in my belly and they were a walk in the park. I barely noticed them. The anesthesiologist came in and said the earliest they could give me an epidural if I wanted one was at 10am...a whole 10hrs from then. I could have cried. I might have. Again, the pain was crazy terrible and that's what I remember most. They did tell me they could give me a pain medicine called Nubain, so I was begging for it. I felt it IMMEDIATELY. It felt kind of like the morphine I had been given in the past, but about a million times more effective and better. Oh, it was awesome. It stopped labor, though. My contractions dropped to every 7-13 minutes and I had only dilated to 2cm in several hours. It was really bittersweet. On one hand, I was so excited about the prospect of meeting our sweet baby a week and a half earlier than we already planned to, but on the other, only one set of our parents would have been able to make it there in time. Randy's parents had just gone out of state for a few weeks and my dad and stepmom live 1000 miles away. Everyone was planning on coming in a few days before my induction. After all, it's pretty rare for first babies to be that early...right? I think I was so focused on having a date scheduled I didn't even consider that I might go into labor earlier. I mean, I knew it was possible, but so unlikely. However, the prospect of back labor for that long overshadowed all of those feelings. I don't think I've ever been in that much pain in my life except maybe when I was passing a kidney stone that got stuck a few years back. Even then, this was so much worse. Each contraction felt like my back was being snapped in half while also being beaten with a bat. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I knew I didn't want more of that. Even if it meant more waiting. We finally made it home around 4am and we both crashed. Baby and I both have been doing great, except the back labor has made my back pain so terrible. It was like it opened the flood gates. So I've been sleeping in recliners most nights since then to keep some of the pressure off of it. It has gotten much better, though...just in time for induction, haha!
Now you're basically caught up. OH! And we took our infant safety and CPR course (the day before I went into labor) and our childbirth class, which was the Saturday AFTER this whole ordeal haha. In my defense, I had been trying to schedule the class since February. We love our hospital, but their motherhood class department is so horrible. We actually mentioned something to our OB a few visits ago about how we couldn't get ahold of anyone for classes or a hospital tour and he was LIVID because it has become a common complaint of his patients. He actually grabbed his coat and took us on a quick tour himself right then and there, even though he had more patients coming in. It was very sweet. We wound up spotting the woman who runs that department and he forced her to meet with us, haha. Great doctors are priceless.
I've definitely been having more signs of my body preparing for labor. The most noticeable to me being that the baby has definitely dropped lower. Between the pressure, feeling kicks a little lower than in my ribs, and needing to use the bathroom almost twice as much as usual, it's fairly obvious. My belly also slopes downward now, so that's weird. My doctor is actually really excited about it because one of the risks of an early induction is that a woman's body isn't ready yet and it can cause a lot of difficulty, and often winds up with either an outrageously long labor (like, days) or an emergency c-section. Randy and I kind of feel like I won't even make it to the induction day. I most likely will, but it wouldn't surprise us if he or she came early. I'll let you know!
If he or she stays put, we will have our baby ONE WEEK from today. One week. As in 7 days. Single digits, people. I've started having daily mini panic attacks. Nothing major, it just takes my breathe away and my eyes tear up when I think about how my life will never be the same again a week from now. Sure, I've known it was coming, and I've been growing and feeling this tiny person for 9 months, but it is really sinking in now. I'm so unbelievably excited, but also terrified. I'm so ready, but so not ready. We see my doctor again today (Wednesday) for another check and ultrasound and we're going from there!
So that's that. You may see one more post from me because I may need to have an outlet while we're in the hospital waiting on labor to begin, or even to try and take my mind off labor, but I'll for sure fill you in on the birth and life with a newborn after!
If you would, please pray for peace for us in this week. Everything is changing. For the best, but it's still very intimidating and scary. Pray that the induction is successful and I don't wind up needing a c-section, and for protection if I do. Pray that our transition from a family of 2 to a family of 3 is a smooth one, and that our animals would handle the changes well.
As always, thank you for reading and following along with our crazy lives! 💛
We have ONE WEEK LEFT from today. In 7 days I will be holding my baby.
267 days, approximately 230 daily blood thinning injections, 12 ultrasounds and doctor appointments, several baby showers, and countless blood draws later.
We can't wait to introduce all of you to him or her! (add one to all of those since it's Tuesday 😂😆 )
Let's take a step back to last week, though. It was Thursday night and I was 36 weeks and 4 days along when my back started hurting. Except my back has been hurting, so it wasn't a huge deal. It's not like it's an unusual thing. I was so exhausted I took a nap from about 7-9 and my back really hurt when I woke up. My back usually hurts, especially after I first wake up, so I thought nothing of it. I went about getting ready for bed and I took my nightly blood thinning shot around 10:30pm. Fortunately, that Monday my doctor switched me from my once daily 24hr blood thinner to a twice daily one that only lasts 12hrs with each injection. Around 11pm my back suddenly began to absolutely kill me. I was curled over in pain and I could barely breathe. I knew something was wrong, but I kept brushing it off. After 30min or so, we realized the pain was cyclical and would ease off for a while, only to come back in full force as if it had never left. It reminded me of waves crashing and then drawing back into the ocean until the next round came in. We had been briefly "entertaining" the idea that it could have been back labor, but I wasn't feeling anything up front...and obviously, with this being my first, I had no reference point as to what labor should feel like other than painful. Note: there is very little entertainment in labor pain. I breathlessly called my doctor's page service and he called me back within about 5min. I felt absolutely terrible because he had obviously been sleeping. I kept thinking, "oh gosh...what if I'm just reading into something and this is nothing!" He told me what I knew he would - go to labor and delivery. Because I see a specialized high risk doctor, the hospital I'm giving birth in is 35-40min from our house via 70mph speed limit tollway, vs the one 10min from our house and the dozens of others you pass on the way there. One perk of going into labor at 11pm is you can pretty much guarantee there wouldn't be a jam up on that highway, which does happen. Often. That's one thing we love about being induced early. We will leisurely check in to be admitted to the hospital the night before, so no rushing. This was not the case for us that night. We were anxious. We knew the contractions were coming close together, I knew I had JUST taken my blood thinner - one of the main reasons for my controlled induction - and it was still early. Being induced at 38wks is scary enough, and technically 37wks is very safe, even if I was a few days short of 37. It was unexpected and scary. It was NOT the plan. Side note - I had been having this eerie feeling for over a week that I might have the baby early. Interesting, right?We get to the hospital sometime around midnight and my doctor was waiting for me. The nurses were all so surprised because they said doctors rarely show up and just want to be called and notified. I have an amazing doctor, though. You know he genuinely cares about you. It's so refreshing. After making me fill out a form that felt like it was a million questions long (I think it was actually something like 5-10, but can we talk about how it's wrong to make a very pregnant woman IN LABOR stand at a desk and fill out a form?!), they got me into a room and strapped me in to the monitors and I saw the look of worry on my doctor's face. My contractions were 2-4min apart and strong. I was only dilated 1cm at that point, so I'm sure he was worried about the possibility of a c-section and my blood thinner being so fresh in my system. I noticed the worry in his face, but I was honestly in so much pain I didn't really care more than to make a mental note of it. I just wanted the pain to stop. I had always heard back labor was excruciating, and they were not kidding. At all. I had a few contractions in my belly and they were a walk in the park. I barely noticed them. The anesthesiologist came in and said the earliest they could give me an epidural if I wanted one was at 10am...a whole 10hrs from then. I could have cried. I might have. Again, the pain was crazy terrible and that's what I remember most. They did tell me they could give me a pain medicine called Nubain, so I was begging for it. I felt it IMMEDIATELY. It felt kind of like the morphine I had been given in the past, but about a million times more effective and better. Oh, it was awesome. It stopped labor, though. My contractions dropped to every 7-13 minutes and I had only dilated to 2cm in several hours. It was really bittersweet. On one hand, I was so excited about the prospect of meeting our sweet baby a week and a half earlier than we already planned to, but on the other, only one set of our parents would have been able to make it there in time. Randy's parents had just gone out of state for a few weeks and my dad and stepmom live 1000 miles away. Everyone was planning on coming in a few days before my induction. After all, it's pretty rare for first babies to be that early...right? I think I was so focused on having a date scheduled I didn't even consider that I might go into labor earlier. I mean, I knew it was possible, but so unlikely. However, the prospect of back labor for that long overshadowed all of those feelings. I don't think I've ever been in that much pain in my life except maybe when I was passing a kidney stone that got stuck a few years back. Even then, this was so much worse. Each contraction felt like my back was being snapped in half while also being beaten with a bat. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I knew I didn't want more of that. Even if it meant more waiting. We finally made it home around 4am and we both crashed. Baby and I both have been doing great, except the back labor has made my back pain so terrible. It was like it opened the flood gates. So I've been sleeping in recliners most nights since then to keep some of the pressure off of it. It has gotten much better, though...just in time for induction, haha!
Now you're basically caught up. OH! And we took our infant safety and CPR course (the day before I went into labor) and our childbirth class, which was the Saturday AFTER this whole ordeal haha. In my defense, I had been trying to schedule the class since February. We love our hospital, but their motherhood class department is so horrible. We actually mentioned something to our OB a few visits ago about how we couldn't get ahold of anyone for classes or a hospital tour and he was LIVID because it has become a common complaint of his patients. He actually grabbed his coat and took us on a quick tour himself right then and there, even though he had more patients coming in. It was very sweet. We wound up spotting the woman who runs that department and he forced her to meet with us, haha. Great doctors are priceless.
I've definitely been having more signs of my body preparing for labor. The most noticeable to me being that the baby has definitely dropped lower. Between the pressure, feeling kicks a little lower than in my ribs, and needing to use the bathroom almost twice as much as usual, it's fairly obvious. My belly also slopes downward now, so that's weird. My doctor is actually really excited about it because one of the risks of an early induction is that a woman's body isn't ready yet and it can cause a lot of difficulty, and often winds up with either an outrageously long labor (like, days) or an emergency c-section. Randy and I kind of feel like I won't even make it to the induction day. I most likely will, but it wouldn't surprise us if he or she came early. I'll let you know!If he or she stays put, we will have our baby ONE WEEK from today. One week. As in 7 days. Single digits, people. I've started having daily mini panic attacks. Nothing major, it just takes my breathe away and my eyes tear up when I think about how my life will never be the same again a week from now. Sure, I've known it was coming, and I've been growing and feeling this tiny person for 9 months, but it is really sinking in now. I'm so unbelievably excited, but also terrified. I'm so ready, but so not ready. We see my doctor again today (Wednesday) for another check and ultrasound and we're going from there!
So that's that. You may see one more post from me because I may need to have an outlet while we're in the hospital waiting on labor to begin, or even to try and take my mind off labor, but I'll for sure fill you in on the birth and life with a newborn after!
If you would, please pray for peace for us in this week. Everything is changing. For the best, but it's still very intimidating and scary. Pray that the induction is successful and I don't wind up needing a c-section, and for protection if I do. Pray that our transition from a family of 2 to a family of 3 is a smooth one, and that our animals would handle the changes well.
As always, thank you for reading and following along with our crazy lives! 💛
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