Disclaimer: This is a birth story with all the gory details. If you don't want to read about blood, cervix or discharge...Don't read!
February 10, 2018
This story really begins at 36 weeks pregnant because that is when my cerclage was taken out. I was told over and over about the risk of this pregnancy and how this baby was going to be early. After 36 weeks, it became an agonizing waiting game. Not only was it hard to wait, but the daily contractions and bleeding made me constantly wonder, "is this it?"
To everyone's surprise, I made it to 40 weeks! But on that morning something was different.
You see, it was normal for me to get contractions in the evenings and throughout the night. It was such a tease but then I would wake up after a night of contractions to being just another day pregnant. I would go about my day not feeling much of anything until bedtime when contractions would pick up yet again!
On the morning of my due date, the contractions I had been feeling all night continued into the morning which was very odd. So, I decided to start keeping track of them. I warned Ryan when he got home from work that morning that I was feeling contractions all morning and how strange that was.
But Ry went to bed and Sam and I went about our morning. He played happily, I started a big patch of spaghetti sauce for supper that night (HA!) and I continued to time contractions. Sam's tantrums had taken a back seat and he was honestly wonderful that morning as pains would come and go. I really cherish that morning we had together alone for the last time before baby arrived.
Around 9 AM, I got in contact with my parents for just a morning chat. I wanted to casually figure out if they would be home that day just in case this was the real deal. When they mentioned they might go to the city to visit my Dad's sister who had just had surgery, I thought maybe I should mention what was happening with contractions. I told them I thought they could still go and I would be in contact when they got back. Likely, I still had LOTS of time.
They decided against going but I told them I would go ahead and get Sam's stuff ready. They convinced me they would take Sam so that I could focus better on relaxing and gearing up for baby. Again, I thought I had lots of time because the contractions were fairly far apart. I told them I would bring Sam up around lunch and we would enjoy lunch with them.
At shortly after 10, things changed. All of the sudden the pain of the contractions became more intense and they suddenly were 3-4 minutes apart. I sent them a text and told them they needed to come and get Sam. I woke Ryan up at 10:30 AM and told him it was time to get ready and to do it fast. With the way things had picked up, I wanted to give us lots of time to get to the hospital that was over an hour away.
We hit the road around 11 AM after Sam was successfully picked up and Ryan was awake. I still couldn't believe it was time and still thought maybe it was a false alarm. Would the next time we were at home be with two kids? We were going to go see!
Stay tuned for Part 2....
