Welcome to Nallywood: Douglas's Birth Story

Tuesday, Nov. 3rd

I went to the doctor and was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I hadn't made any progress from the previous week, so we figured he still had a little time since I was only 37w4d. The doctor also thought that Douglas was head down based on the location of his heartbeat. Throughout the day, I had occasional mild cramping that eventually stopped. I had taken the day off since our caseload was low. Coy and I spent the day going to different places to get more estimates for our house remodel.

Wednesday, Nov. 4th

While I was at work, I felt some cramping (about once per hour). I didn't have any pain, just more discomfort. About 5 PM, contractions were coming more frequently so I started recording when they were anywhere from 15-30 minutes apart. Coy was working late unloading wheat seed before the rain, so I brought the guys supper. When I got home around 7, the contractions were 7-8 minutes apart with some occasionally being 5 minutes apart. They were also becoming more intense, but wasn't sure if it was just Braxton Hicks since I hadn't felt anything like that before.

Around 9 PM, the contractions were 4-5 minutes apart. This continued for several hours, so we decided to head to hospital at 11 PM to get checked out. I had been talking to my mom and she decided to start making the 5 hour drive to get here. When we arrived at the hospital, I was 1.5 cm and 90% effaced. The nurse told me that I was just having Braxton Hicks, but I would probably be back in a day or two to have a baby. At 2:30 AM, they sent me home since I hadn't progressed past 1.5 cm. We stopped by CVS to pick up Tylenol PM which the nurse said would either help relieve the pain or help dilate me more.

Thursday, Nov. 5th

We arrived home at 3:45 AM and my mom was also there. The contractions continued to get more intense and the Tylenol PM was not helping. I got a little relief by taking a warm shower. I walked around because it was too painful to sit or lay down. My mom timed the contractions and they became 2-3 minutes apart. At 7:30 AM, we decided to head back to the hospital. I was afraid that I would be that first time mom that kept going to the hospital only to be sent back home.

When the nurse checked me, I was 3 cm and 100% effaced. The nurse wasn't sure if they would admit me or not since I wasn't 4 cm. After calling the doctor, they admitted me based on the frequency of my contractions. They were surprised that I was handling the pain so well. The doctor came in around 8:45 and let me know that she would be back around noon to break my water if it hadn't broken on its own by then.

They had to call in 3 different people to place my IV because my veins weren't cooperating. After taking my blood twice, they told me that my white blood count was high and didn't know why since I hadn't been sick recently. This also meant I might not be able to get an epidural. I didn't know how I would get through the pain because it was getting pretty intense even though we were using the breathing techniques we learned in our childbirth class. Luckily, the anesthesiologist came in and decided that I could have an epidural since I wasn't showing any signs of an infection. He also had to try 3 times to place the epidural. At 10:30 AM, the epidural was kicking in and I was feeling a lot better. I was already dilated to 6 cm, so they placed it just in time.

At 11:45 AM, I was dilated to 8 cm. The doctor came around noon to break my water. She was also very surprised when she felt his butt instead of his head. They brought in the sonogram machine to verify that Douglas was breech. At all of my doctor's appointments, she thought he was head down based on the location of the heartbeat, but I guess he had other plans. So, Coy got all suited up and I was headed to the OR for a c-section at 12:45 PM. At first, I was a little disappointed that I would be having a c-section, but I just wanted him to be here. It ended up being a blessing because he weighed 8 lb 6 oz at 37w6d. If he had made it to his due date, he would have been over 9 lb. At 1:12 PM, Douglas made his appearance.