This flashed back to 2 years ago last night...I was 36, almost 37 weeks pregnant and after a bathroom trip I realized I was leaking blood. They say some spotting is normal during pregnancy, but since I never had, and the blood was leaking at a somewhat fast pace, I called for Brent and with shaking hands I called the Dr. He agreed that due to the circumstances I should go to the emergency room and be examined. It was a Wednesday night, probably close to 9:30, when all of this happened. I remember grabbing my purse and rushing out the door. Brent drove and I can remember reclining my seat and feeling for signs of movement. There were no tears but there were prayers on the way to the hospital that night.
After all the normal tests, temperature, blood pressure, baby heart rate, etc. I was hooked up to monitor contractions. The screen was going crazy. Mountain after mountain on the screen and yet I was feeling nothing. The nurse informed me that it's normal to be having contractions and not feel them. Ha, this is glorious I thought. I can handle this...I wasn't very dilated so there was no need to worry about labor just yet. They said even with all that was going on, I could still carry until my due date- January 8 and it was only Dec. 17 and that all was well. Relief! We headed home around 11:30.
The next morning, December 18, I returned to teach my kindergartners, and Brent returned to work in Sumter. I had noticed tiny spurts of fluid throughout the day and told a few teachers on my team. I felt completely normal, I just had these little spurts of fluid. I went through the entire day until my planning period, which was the last period of the day. My team : ) oh, they were so cute..."what in the world are you still doing here?" "It's OK, I feel fine. Let's get some planning done." With their pressure, I went to the principal and told her what was going on. She said my class would be covered for dismissal and I should go ahead and get things checked out...again. I called Brent so he could start the hour drive from Sumter and meet me at the hospital. I'm thinking they rolled me around in a wheelchair, which I thought was silly, but it is nice to be pampered every now and then. : ) I remember they had trouble finding an examine room for me. They wanted to do a swab to see what the fluid was. She came back about an hour after the first swab and said it was inconclusive and she wanted to swab again. Second swab and they discovered it was amniotic fluid. "Looks like you won't be going home" the nurse said. My thoughts: "What? My class' holiday celebration is tomorrow. I have no bag packed. I was about to be on 2 weeks Christmas break and had a long list of things that I wanted/needed to get done. I am a planner! One thing on our list was to buy the car seat!" Calls were made to family and friends. I was brought to a room, a delivery room! I asked for a doula, which had been part of my "plan." They informed me that there had been a lot of births that day and all of the doula's had already been used. I expressed my desire for a natural childbirth and that I really wanted to delay pitocin. I had heard, and they agreed that it can make labor pain more intense. One nice nurse who was going off duty used a marker to draw a black dot on my foot. This was a known pressure point, which may help induce natural labor. She also gave me a sucker and said something about the sucker on the roof of my mouth helping induce labor. Well, you can bet, I was sucking that sucker and Brent was massaging that pressure point! : ) We realized we would have a little time on our hands. Brent went home to pack the essentials, my parents and brother weren't there yet, it was about 8:30 that night and the Dr. came in to inform me he'd like to go ahead and break my water to get things progressing. They also wanted to go ahead with the pitocin. : ( Apparently, once you're leaking amniotic fluid, they want to have the baby out within a certain number of hours or your risk of infection goes up significantly. Well, I'd already been leaking since early that morning. And let me just tell you, after realizing quantity, I'm so glad my water did not break in front of my little 5 year olds! There could have been possible traumatizing. : )
There were times I was like, I can handle this...women throughout time have been able to handle this...
Followed my moments like this...
Although Brent says there were times I asked for the epidural, I met my goal of a natural childbirth. And at 1:30 am on December 19, 2008 I gave birth to Asher Fielding Petersen, 6 lbs. 2.3 oz.
I had moments like these...
(Thank you to my family, who were troopers through the night.)
(Meghann & Troy, thanks for making the middle of the night trip!)
And FINALLY I got to eat! : )
(Kristen R., thanks for chatting at approx. 2:30 in the morning)
