Thoughts on being pregnant: Meet Ada

This morning I woke up because I thought I had peed myself. After finding that there was no urine in my underwater, I felt my heartrate rise. Had my water broken?! Quickly I changed my underwear and waited in the bathroom to see if any more mysterious fluid would appear. Yep, I was pretty sure my water had broken. Jeremy was just as shocked once I told him and we started preparing to go to the hospital.

When we go the the hospital they confirmed that yes my water had indeed broken. By this point it was a pretty steady trickle.  I was also 1cm dialated and I let them know that on Friday baby was breech. I should have known something was up when after the midwife nurse left I kept hearing "ruptured breech" being whispered in the hallway.

By 7am I was taken upstairs, given an IV and my doctor confirmed that yes, baby had not turned and was still breech.  What this ment I was not prepared to hear. Since my water had already broken I would need a c-section, and since I had eaten some breakfast before coming in I would be scheduled for noon. Oh boy. This was not part of my birth plan. I was supposed be having a natural birth. My plan had me avoiding an epidurl, I never imaginged anything beyong that. A c-section ment a spinal, major surgery and intense recovery.

Since I was having steady contractions my doctor checked me again to see if I had dialated any further. I was now at 2cms. My doctor left the room for a few minutes and came back with the nurse anesthesis and told me that since I was progressing they would be doing the c-section within the hour so that I couldnt dialate enough that something could go poorly for the baby. After a whirlwind of information I got prepped and before I knew it, I was numb from the chest down and laying on an operating table. I will not go into detail concerning the procedure, however I will say it was one of the most terrifing things I've ever experienced. Jeremy and my nurse-anesthesistis got me through it and for that I am thankful.

Weirdly Jeremy had a more in depth birth experience. He saw the procedure (he had now seem more of my body than I have). He coached me through my tears and fright. He anounced that we had a baby girl, and to cut part of the ambilical cord. He got to hold her.

Reality started to set in once the numbness wore off and I was able to hold and keep our daughter. Every movement hurt, but our little Ada was healthy. Holding her skin to skin is something I will charish forever and is the memory I am trying to burn into my memory from this experience.

Welcome Ada! It's going to be a wild ride.

Thoughts on being pregnant: week 37

Pregnancy has been pretty boring thus far. No morning sickness. No weird cravings. Baby's heads down. I was feeling.pretty good about things. This week changed that.

Two weeks ago I measured small. Then last week I measured small again, so my doctor had me go for an ultrasound. I went in  on Friday and baby measured fine - about 5.5 pounds. But contrary to what I had been told, baby was sitting breech. And I was low on ambiotic fluid. Wait, what? These were two unexpected findings. The doctor was worried that I was leaking fluid, so I had to get tested that day and come back for another ultrasound on Monday. If for some reason I was leaking fluid, or my water had broke without me realizing, I was told that I would be induced. Good news is there was no leak. Had my water broken I would have been scheduled for a c-section that day, and lord knows we were not ready for that.  But that still didn't explain the low fluid. Should I be worried? How low can I be before it is dangerous? Do I just need to drink more liquid? And the baby is breech, does that mean I am going to need a c-section regardless? Is there still time to get baby to turn?

So much left unknown.