At my appointment on Thursday, April 19th I was able to see my favorite OB. He delivered Lily (even though his shift was over and he could have gone home) and even though I had scheduled my c-section with him for April 30th he was completely in support of me attempting a VBAC. During the appointment I had a few contractions and even though I hadn't made any progress he seemed optimistic that I would not make it to my due date.
After a full week of contractions and false labor I begrudgingly dragged myself to my 39w appointment on Friday, April 26th. I was SO sure that I had made progress and that my OB was going to be able to do a membrane sweep to get things moving. All of my ducks were in a row. My sister had arrived to take care of Lily, the house was clean, the bags were packed, and I was feeling excited and rested. To my complete and utter disbelief I had made no progress and my OB expressed concerns that my cervix was "extremely" posterior. He was unable to confirm the baby's position by palpation so he ordered an ultrasound to get a better idea of what was going on. The ultrasound tech confirmed that Ben was face up and that the back of his head and his shoulders were pressing hard on my cervix. She also estimated that he weighed between 8.5 and 9 pounds. After looking over the ultrasound notes my OB sent me home with a sympathetic smile and said, "Anything can still happen."
On Saturday Matt and I had plans to attend our best friend's 30th birthday party. His birthday celebration coincided with the Alpha Theta Sigma Chi reunion. Tickets to the reunion banquet were pricey so we were thrilled to be able to meet up with so many of our favorite people before hand and not feel like we were completely missing out. I was on my feet for several hours at the bar but I was feeling great (seeing so many old friends really was fantastic) so we decided to make a full night of it and join a smaller group of people for dinner. It was a long walk to the restaurant and I noticed a few contractions as we walked, but I was quick to dismiss them. I had been having contractions for two weeks after all. About fifteen minutes after sitting down to dinner I started to feel "off". For a few brief seconds I thought I might faint and I "pushed the panic button", meaning I grabbed Matt and told him I needed him to get me out of there. We walked to the bathrooms and it became apparent to me that I was not going to be able to stay. I had several more strong contractions as we quickly said goodbye and we started the long walk back to the car. Matt wanted to get a cab but walking made me feel more in control so we walked the 20 minutes back to the car.When we got home my sister and Matt started timing my contractions. I intentionally avoided looking at a clock so that I could be more certain that this was not all in my head. Between 9 and 10 o'clock my contractions were exactly 8 minutes apart, almost to the second. Some time between 10 and 11 my contractions started to fluctuate between 7 and 5 minutes. I decided to take a shower and try and get some rest. There is no doubt that we all assumed I would not make it through the night and that we would be on our way to L&D. The next thing I knew it was 5am on Sunday morning and my contractions had stopped completely.
Sunday went by slowly and for the most part uneventfully. I had a few strong contractions but nothing we could time. On Sunday night we had a delicious dinner and I mentally prepared myself for surgery the next day. Going to bed knowing that I would be having surgery and a baby the following day was totally surreal.
On Monday April 30th I got up and showered around 7:30am. I was excited and anxious to leave for the hospital and get the show on the road. Around 8:45 Matt and I kissed our sweet little girl goodbye and headed off to the hospital. I was feeling very calm and just excited to meet my little boy. Matt was noticeably more anxious! Everything at the hospital went smoothly. We were checked in right away and by 9:30 I was changed into my gown and hooked up to my antibiotic IV. Our L&D nurse took care of me after Lily was born and seemed to recognize us almost right away. (I actually think she recognized my handsome husband) While I laid in bed and waited for the anesthesiology I had several very painful contractions, even the nurse commented that I was "in labor".A little after 10am our OB came in to check on me. I told him about my weekend excitement and he immediately offered to check me one last time to see if I could be induced. After a painful internal check, nothing, no progress whatsoever. To be honest at that point I was neither surprised nor disappointed. I am happy that I can say with 100% confidence that I (and my OB) did everything possible to attempt a VBAC and it just wasn't in the cards.
At 11 am on the dot Matt and I were walked down the hall to the operating room. Walking into my own surgery was one of the most surreal experiences of my life! Dingle had to wait in the hall while I was prepped and given my epidural. Just like with Lily, the hardest part was sitting still while it was put in place. The procedure itself was not painful. I did get VERY nauseated a few minutes after I was numb and dry heaved a few times, which when you are laying on your back, unable to move, is a sort of terrifying. The anesthesiologist was excellent and comforted me right away and gave me something to ease the seasick feeling. Within a few minutes the room was bustling and Matt was allowed to come in and sit with me. We talked quietly to pass the time but for the life of me I can't remember what we talked about. Everything about this c-section was different than last time. It was laid back and quiet. I was calm and very aware of everything that was going on in the room. Both my OB and the nurse gave us frequent updates and let us know at 11:30 that the baby was going to be born any minute.
A few minutes later the OB told Matt to look over the curtain and watch his son take his first breath. Benjamin Daniel was born at 11:34am and came out screaming at the top of his lungs. I cried like a baby as I watched Matt smile over our little boy and cut the cord. Very quickly the nurse got Ben cleaned up and wrapped so that Matt could bring him over to me. While I was being stitched up I whispered sweet nothings into Ben's ear and kissed his perfectly chubby cheeks. The first words I said to him were, "Sweet baby boy, I am your Mommy and I could not love you more."I couldn't resist the urge to ask my OB how things looked "in there" in regards to my previous surgery and scar tissue. He assured me that everything looked great, so of course I pushed the issue further and (sort of) jokingly asked when I could get pregnant again. Everyone in the room laughed and my OB just shook his head.
Just after noon Matt, Ben and I all moved to the recovery room together. Ben's temperature was a little low so we did some serious snuggling under a heated blanket, which I didn't mind one bit! My blood pressure was very low (80/45) so we had to stay in recovery longer than I would have liked but by 2 o'clock we were taken back to our room where we immediately called my sister so that she and Lily could come and meet our sweet little boy.
so much love for you guys... all of you. hugs, kisses and smooshes.
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