On Thursday evening, Brad was at work and I went to visit my parents at their house for a bit. I ate a piece of pizza while I was there and just hung out. Not really thinking anything would happen. My last doctors appointment (Monday) I was still a fingertip dilated and 70% effaced. Anyway...I went home because Brad was done with work and I needed to start dinner. As I walked in the door, I felt a little gush "downstairs". I didnt think too much of it since it had happened before and it was nothing. Well this time, it was a little different. It kept coming and coming and when I went to the bathroom, it was actually pink. Thats when I realized that it was my water breaking. I called Brad up and told him what was going on (he was stuck in a little traffic on the way home), finished up my packing, and hopped in the shower. By the time he got home, I was about done and he finished up with the dogs and packing and we went on our way.
We got to the hospital around 8:00PM and got checked in. They have these little strips of PH paper called Litmus Paper that they use to test if someones water has broken. Once I got the heart rate monitor and contraction monitor on me, they tested to see if it had broken. When they touched the paper to the outside of me, it turned blue like it was my water but when they put it inside to check close to my cervix, it stayed the same yellow color like it hadnt broken. They put a towel under me so they could check and see if anything was still coming out. An hour later, they came back and checked again. When they tested the fluid on the towel, it turned blue but when they tested my cervix again. it didnt change. So they checked to see if I was diliating and I was the same as my appointment on Monday. They then decided that it wasnt my water that had broken and they didnt know what it was and sent me home. I was convinced that it was my water but oh well.
On Friday, I worked like a normal day. Had a couple of slight contractions but nothing real crazy. I spotted pretty much all day that day but I figured that was from the internal exam they did and not anything else. Nothing eventful to speak of and I slept pretty well that night. On Saturday, Brad and I work up around 9:30AM and I decided I wanted to do something that day to pass the time and not dwell on when I would go into labor. We decided on carving pumpkins. We went out to the Ring Farm out here and picked out a few with my parents and my sister then went back to my parents house to carve. I had a few contractions that day as well and Brad decided to order the UFC fight that night and invited my brother over as well.
The fight started at 8PM and I was still having contractions from time to time...like every 30 min or so. By 10:45 when the fight was over, I was having them every 20 min or so. I decided to go to bed early, thinking they would go away when I was sleeping since they werent crazy intense. I never got to sleep. By the time I finished getting ready for bed, they were 15 min apart. Brad came to bed a half hour later and I still couldnt sleep. They slowly got closer together until they were 6-7 min apart at around 2AM. I ran a bath around 2 hoping it would help and seeing if they would go away (I didnt want another false alarm). I stayed in the bath for about 45 min and the contractions progressed to 4-5 min apart. Brad then realized that I hadnt come back to bed and came in to check on me. Together we decided to go into the hospital since I wasnt sleeping anyway. We packed up the little stuff we had unpacked since our trip on Thursday and walked out the door around 3AM.
We got to the hospital around 3:30AM, got checked in and got a room. They hooked me up, checked everything and did an internal exam. I was almost 2cm dilated and contracting pretty well on my own. I thought that since I was only 2cm, they wouldnt keep us. Well, I was wrong! They decided that since I was contracting really well on my own and my due date was so close (I was 39w 5d) that they would keep me and we would be leaving with our baby! My first nurses name was Beverly and she was great. I was trying to go natural so she basically left us alone unless she really needed to bother us. She took my blood for lab work, set me up with a heparin lock and let me know to call her if I needed her. At that point, Brad went out to the car to grab our bags and called family to let them know what was going on. I called my parents and they came over right away. Brad called his family and they left Pickwick right away. Everything was becoming more and more real.
Around 4:30, Beverly came in and checked me again...I was already 3cm! Since my mom's labor with my sister was so long (42 hrs I believe), I thought mine would be long too....not so much! After that check, Beverly left us alone and the contractions got more and more intense. I was really feeling them in my back and they were spreading to my lower stomach. The pattern of them was pretty weird. Instead of the 5 min apart, 60 sec long contractions all the books talk about, I would have 3 in a row and then a 3-4 min break. They were pretty rough. By the time the nurses had a shift change (7AM), I was mentally and physically done. I was tired and in pain and I was ready to give in and get the epidural. My new nurse (Sue) was amazing. She came in and told me that she completely supported me going natural and wanted to know what my plan was and how she could help. She realized that the baby was sunny side up and causing me back pain and knew it would be hard to push him out if that was the case. After a lot of going back and forth, I told her I wanted the epidural and she completely understood and got everything set up. She checked me and I had progressed to 6cm! She got some fluids into me and called the anesthesiologist to get things going. Once the epidural took, I was a completely different person. I could move my legs and could feel some things but no pain. I was happy and ready to go. I got my second wind and was feeling much better. Right around the time the epidural was getting finished, Brad's parents arrived after a long drive. We all got to hang out for the next few hours. Sue put me in a few different positions to get him to turn around and it worked! He turned his little self around and made things much easier later on when I started pushing.
It was around 8:30 by the time the epidural finally took and everything was good. Sue came in and checked me again around 10:00 or so and I had only gotten to 7.5cm. She decided to start some Pitocen to get the contractions going again and by 11:00 I was feeling pressure like I needed to push. So I had her check me again and I had gotten to 9cm. Around 11:25 I was at 10cm and ready to go! Sue got everything set up in the room and called the doctor. Brad decided to take a quick shower while she got everything ready and we started pushing around 11:45. Sue was amazing and really coached me through everything. The whole time we were there, the baby's heartrate would drop whenever I was on my back so she had me pushing on my side. As soon as Dr. Stafford got there, his heartrate came back up and everything was perfect. I pushed for around 30 min total and James Bradley Abel Jr was born at 12:13PM. He didnt cry much...not even when they stuck his heel to take blood or anything. He still doesnt scream or anything...just fusses a bit. He had a little cone head and has a little weird thing with his foot (it was sitting funny in the womb so it almost touches his shin but it is getting better) but he is so amazingly perfect.
He weighed 6lbs 12oz and was 19 3/4" long. Brad was 6lbs 10oz and I was 6lbs 14ozs. He is the perfect mix of both of us. So far, he is eating pretty well and sleeping okay. I have the feeling tonight is going to be interesting because he has slept pretty much all day. Anyway...here are some pictures of my bundle of love, Bradley. We are so incredibly lucky and happy to have him in our lives.
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| Heading Home! |
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| One of his first pictures. |
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| So sweet! |
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| 3 generations of James Abel's |
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| Burrito Baby! |
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| Lovin my little man!! |
