Thomas's Birth Story, Part 1

I did not want to wait to write this post.  I want to try to recall every detail before I possibly lose them and I know that if I wait too long I might never get to it.

Let me start by saying from start to finish Thomas's birth was NOTHING like I expected.  NOTHING like I planned (though I wasn't all that into planning... no long birth plan here) and NOTHING like what I had prepared myself for.

God has a way of shaking things up to remind us that he is in control and BOY did this experience help me remember that.  God is in charge and He is GOOD!

So let's start from the beginning... it's going to be a long one... and I promise I will try not to include TOO many details.

Friday, 11/11/11 (MY DUE DATE)

Friday started as a completely normal uneventful day.  As much as I had wished and hoped that I would be in labor by Friday morning... alas, no such luck.  So, as I have done so many mornings I got ready and headed to school.  Again, all through the day I was hoping to go into labor, but the day went on as normal with know need for my "What to do if I go into labor at school" emergency plan.  On Friday afternoon I had a scheduled appointment with my midwife because she was a little concerned about the fact that my blood pressure had been higher than normal on Wednesday.  So I went in to have it checked and possibly have another non-stress test.  I expected to go in, have them check it, it be normal and I be heading home quickly.  Well, not so much... My blood pressure was still quite high and so my midwife sent me to labor and delivery at the hospital.  When the nurse came in to tell me this I probably looked completely shocked and confused because she quickly added "just for another non-stress test."  Oh... :( Ok. 

We headed over to the hospital and they hooked me up to a fetal monitor.  The nurse came in and checked on me every once in awhile and kept saying how beautiful Thomas looked (to which I kept whispering to him, "She means handsome, son.")  We ended up being in the hospital forEVER... or so it seems as you watch MANY couples come in and see many laboring women or support people coming and going, nurses rushing around and talking about how many babies were going to be born that day.  ON YOUR DUE DATE... and yours is not one of them.

I was told that I would have to keep a 24 hour urine collection (GROSS) and return in 24 hours to be looked at again, but that before I left the doctor who was on-call for my practice wanted to check me out.

As we sat and waited we were talking about how realistically MOST first babies come late and that we really had to mentally prepare ourselves for not meeting our baby for another week to ten days.

When the doctor was ready we walked into the exam room and she came in a few minutes later.  I had never met this particular doctor before but at once felt comfortable with her.  I knew she knew what she was talking about and she talked me through everything.  At this point I was still only about 2 centimeters dilated (which was how I had been for about a week).  Bummer I thought.  Then the doctor said these words (and I quote as closely to how I remember them...) "Ok.  So since we're concerned about your high blood pressure we have two choices.  1, we keep you here over night and induce you tomorrow morning or 2, we send you home and you come back tomorrow morning to be induced."

WHAT?  Never once had being induced really been laid on the table except when my midwife quickly had said at my last appointment that she knew I wanted natural and she hoped we wouldn't have to induce.  At the time I didn't even realize she was talking about because of the high blood pressure... I thought she meant because of going past my due date!

Because of the VERY high blood pressure that wasn't going down, the doctor was concerned about a condition called preeclampsia which apparently can lead to complications with the mother, not the baby.  The only way to resolve the issues is to have the baby delivered.  (BTW I later learned from my midwife that the doctor that decided to deliver me, "does not mess around with preeclampsia."  My midwife said she knew that when she heard that doctor was on-call she was going to induce me).

The reason she couldn't induce me that night was because (and this time I seriously quote word-for-word), "there is no room at the inn."  ALL of the labor and delivery rooms were full so if I stayed over I would be put somewhere else in the hospital.  That didn't sound too fun and I really liked the idea of one more night at home and since we lived close the doctor felt like this was a safe choice.  I would be induced 12 hours later... that meant that my little guy had 12 hours to decide to come on his own naturally.

Todd and I quickly called family and friends to let them know the news.  Though it was not the NATURAL way I had hoped, it was still REALLY exciting that we were about to spend our last night at home without a baby and that within the next 48 hours we were going to meet our baby boy!

We came home, ate some pizza for dinner and tried to relax.  We wen to bed and TRIED to sleep, though it didn't come too easily...

...stay tuned for part 2, labor and delivery.