Now to give a little backstory, I went into labor with Ellie when I was 37 weeks and 6 days along. Since I had been *planning* to pack my bag at 38 weeks, I was totally unprepared, just throwing things into a duffel bag while in intense back labor!
So this time, I was determined to be ready. I packed my bags, created an "in labor" checklist for my husband to follow, discussed babysitting options......and waited. And waited. And then waited some more. By my 39 week appointment, I was shocked I had gone this far. As I ate dinner with S after my appointment, I complained that I was going to be the only pregnant woman to just stay pregnant for ten years. Later that night (can you tell where this is going?) I felt a contraction as I was menu planning for Shabbs. Unlike my Braxton-Hicks contractions, this one hurt. I didn't want to get too excited, so I gave myself time, and kept on menu planning. The contractions got more and more intense, so I decided to call a babysitter and our doctor and doula, just in case.
The next hour was a blur--I tried to breathe through contractions on the couch, accepted that I was indeed in labor, and we got everything ready to go. As an aside, this contraction app was awesome and super helpful!
My first contraction had been at around 9:45, and by 11:00 we were heading to the hospital. We met our doula there, and checked in. By this point, I was measuring 5 cm but I was in extreme pain--as with my first labor, I had terrible back labor. I waited (very impatiently) for my epidural--by this point it was nearly 1:00 AM.
And this is the part where things got a little too interesting--as the anesthesiologist came to give me the epidural, I felt a strong need to push. Sure enough, I was fully dilated. However, the baby's heart rate had started rapidly dropping when my nurse stepped out for the epidural. I could tell my doctor was concerned as she urged me to focus and get the baby out immediately. I was terrified at the thought of having to do that without an epidural, but I focused and was able to get baby M out in a single contraction.
When he was born, he wasn't crying, moving, or breathing on his own. My doctors determined that I had had an placental abruption and the cord had been wrapped around his neck several times. It's still terrifying to think of what could have happened had we not been in the hospital when I had the abruption--especially since I delivered baby Moshe only about 3 hours after my first contraction.
Moshe spent the next 8 days in the NICU, getting treatment to help him recover his rough start. It was very difficult seeing him connected to so many wires, and being unable to care for him. I didn't see him until hours after his birth, and didn't hold him for nearly a week. And to be honest, I think I'm still processing all of that.
Eight crazy days after his birth, baby Moshe finally came home:
And met his (very excited) big sister:
The weeks since then have been a blur--newborns tend to do that to you:) As I'm still figuring out I feel about the birth and everything that happened, it feels good to share it.
So tell me, are there any stories YOU struggle with sharing?
