Her Story

FYI: This post is long and will probably be pretty detailed. No harm if you feel like skipping it! :)

On the evening of February 22nd, Aaron and I went bowling with a new 2LT, his wife, and their one-month-old daughter. We only played 1 1/2 games- I was so tired halfway through the second game and my back was really hurting. We decided to call it a night and head home. As we went to bed, I began to feel contractions, but I had been having them on and off the past two weeks so I didn't think much about them. I continued to feel them throughout the night and in the morning, they were a little stronger than the contractions I had previously been having.

I decided to go to the YMCA to workout with my friend Belinda. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical machine. At the time, my greatest concern was how Gabe would handle being in childcare! He cried hard for a few minutes but then he relaxed and wound up doing great. Because he was so relaxed I walked around with Belinda while she lifted weights. When we finally left around 10:30 am, I was having some pretty good contractions. Aaron was on his way home for lunch because he had forgotten his ID card at the house.

When Aaron got home, I showered and finished packing my hospital bag "just in case." Our plan was that Aaron would head back to work, I would drop Gabe off with Belinda and then I would go to the hospital and get monitored to see if I was in "early labor." As I finished packing, I decided these contractions were hurting way too bad for me to drive and they were coming way too often. They still weren't regular, though, which made me think maybe it was false labor. I would have 2 or 3 in a row and then not have anymore for another ten minutes. Aaron called into work, Belinda showed up at 12:30, and we headed to the hospital.

Once we arrived we had to register and then we were sent up to labor and delivery. I walked the whole way and told Aaron not to be too excited because we'd probably be sent home with orders to rest, drink water, and take Tylenol. I was put on the contraction monitor at 1:16 pm. We had a scary moment when the nurse couldn't find the heartbeat. She finally did and then she decided to do an internal exam. She pulled back, looked shocked, and said she thought I was 7 cm but because she is a new nurse she wanted someone to come back her up. I looked at Aaron and just laughed. Another nurse came in about 3 minutes later, checked me, and said I was 8-9 cm and the head was right there. I asked for an epidural and they said it was too late- I almost cried. This is graphic but at this point I started begging her to let me go to the restroom. I had been having a semi-upset stomach in the morning and I really needed to go! She adamantly said "no way honey, you'll have the baby in the toilet and we just can't have that!" She called the doctor in. Even though my doctor works in a building connected to the hospital, he didn't have time to get here and the doctor on call (my doctor's partner) is the one who wound up delivering me.

In the two minutes that it took for her to call him, I had a REALLY strong urge to push. I didn't during the first contraction, but I may or may not have cheated on the second one and pushed :) It hurt so bad not to. I was starting to get panicked because these contractions really hurt in my back and I was in a lot of pain. With Gabe I had terrible back labor, even with the epidural, and pushed for five hours. I was SO SCARED the same thing would happen with Claire. I would start to cry during the contractions but once they quit I was fine. The doctor showed up before the next contraction and had me push- my water EXPLODED everywhere, it was so funny. Two more contractions later, some pain and a little unintentional swearing (oops) on my part, and she was here! She was born at 1:36 pm- 20 minutes after we arrived!

The room was packed because she was a preemie baby. The NICU team was standing by. She did cry a little at first which was a relief. The NICU team took her and cleaned her up a bit and then went to the normal nursery, where she stayed for a couple of hours while they checked her out and waited to see if she would have any problems. While she was there, Aaron called our families and my parents hit the road to come visit for a few days and help out with Gabe. I had an easy after birth and only a grade 1 tear. My recovery has been incredible- I was up and walking that evening, have no pain, and feel great. It is completely opposite, in almost every sense of the word, than my pregnancy and labor with Gabe. I would've left the hospital yesterday, but we're still waiting on Claire to be discharged.

As of last night, she weighed 5 pounds 5 ounces and is finally nursing well. She has to be supplemented with formula because she is so tiny. She is doing a car seat test right now, where she sits in the seat for an hour and they monitor her oxygen to make sure it doesn't drop (a common test for preemies.) If she passes, I think we'll be heading home in a few hours! She is a tiny little thing but so sweet. She only cries if she is naked and sleeps almost all the time right now. We're so glad she is here and healthy... now we just can't wait to introduce her to Gabe! (Children under 4 aren't allowed anywhere near the babies during RSV season so he has only seen her one time through the nursery windows.) We're anxious to reunite our whole family. I'm sure that will be a whole separate post :)