What a day-

I'm still very exhausted, but since I have some time alone while my beautiful baby boy gets his physical, I thought I'd try to start the story of us. It's a crazy whirlwind, and it took us all by surprise.

At 7am Tuesday morning I woke up because I had to use the bathroom. Nothing new there, especially being 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant! However, I noticed that when I stood up I was still leaking like a faulty faucet. Not a gush, nothing major, just a couple drops here and there. I couldn't figure out if I was wetting myself or leaking amniotic fluid, so I decided to try using the bathroom again. I still had urine left, so I was still confused... so, feeling icky I took a shower. I was still leaking. Still puzzled over what was literally just a couple drops every so often, I put on a pad and crawled back in bed.

I instantly started having what I thought were strong braxton hicks contractions. After three very close in time, I decided to get up. They got more intense, and I quickly began to think they were contractions. So, I started timing them. Sure enough, they were getting stronger and stronger, and only 4 minutes apart. Within 10 minutes, they were 3 minutes apart and a hell of a lot stronger. By 7:40ish, they were 3 minutes apart, super painful, and I was starting to think I really was leaking amniotic fluid. Given how quickly things were happening, I woke up my husband and told him that I thought I might be in labor. By 8am, they were 2 minutes apart.

I was still doubtful, because my OB has told me I would have plenty of time to discern if it was labor or not, and getting to strong contractions 4 minutes apart would take hours... not one hour like I had experienced. But I was in a hell of a lot of pain, it felt just like when I used Cytotec to induce my second miscarriage. We called the oncall doctor, but since the hospital was an hour away we went ahead and left.

The drive there was hard. I kept having strong contractions in the car, which brought difficult back pain with them and intense vaginal pressure. I would be fine, and then I'd be squirming and panting really bad. I'm sure that was an interesting for all the other drivers we passed.

When we got to the hospital they took their sweet time in triage. I don't believe they were taking me seriously at all, I was only 2cm and 100% effaced. Then they checked me to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid. Which I was. And so they had no choice but to keep us.

So I labored from 7am until like 5pm with no pain medication. My contractions were so intense, and so close together, but I wasn't really dilating. They could see him in the birth canal, he was molding, but I just was not dilating. They thought it was possibly a contraction strength issue, so they switched me to internal monitors to check contraction strength and the baby's heart beat. My contractions were 2 minutes apart, but irregular- some lead right into the next one without a break. Also, the strength was literally off the charts. Definitely not a contraction issue.

The nurses/residents/doctor's kept acting like this was crazy, how it's like I was on Pitocin- then baby's heart beat started decelling really bad during the contractions and when I moved. They said if I was on Pitocin they would have stopped it because of how crazy the contractions were, but since my contractions were just naturally insane they really couldn't do anything. I was toughing it out so well, until the contractions started leading into another without a break. So I got an epidural, and the contractions did not lessen one bit... yet hours later, I was still not progressing. I was at 3cm for hours, then 4cm for hours, and then 5cm. No progress, and his heart decelerations were getting increasingly worse.

Finally, we all decided it would be in his and my best interest to proceed with a c-section. At 6:30 we agreed, at 6:56pm he was born :) No regrets.

We're trying to breastfeed, but having some issues. I saw a lactation consultant today, and we'll see them everyday until we're released. So we're working on it. We're adjusting to things, trying to manage my pain, and beginning to heal. How things went down took us all by surprise, but he's here now and I am so in love <3