birth story, part one

Sep 29, 2011

I keep saying I’m going to tell the story of the day Owen was born, and I keep getting stuck. How do you tell the story of the day your life was changed forever? When I get stuck, I tend to think in terms of lists - times, dates, bullet points and such, and so that’s how I’m going to tell this story!

{our bags, all packed up for the external version just in case I went into labor}

August 23, 8:30am - the external version

Because the bug was still very much breech, we had an external version scheduled for 8:30am this morning. Still a full two weeks before his due date, they wait as long as possible to do versions in case mom goes into labor.

Note to all moms of breech babies - this procedure HURTS! I watched the videos, knew what I was in for, and yet I was shocked by the pain. Every woman feels these things differently, and I’m sure my situation wasn’t helped by my size or the lack of space the bug had inside me.

Approximately 10 minutes of pushing and shoving on my belly later, and Owen wasn’t moving. We sort of figured this would be the case, and so scheduled the c-section for Friday August 26th!

After an unsuccessful version, they monitor you for 30 minutes to an hour to be sure you’re not in labor. Lucky me, I got to eat breakfast while we waited. No contractions, no water breaking, and we were set free to enjoy our day! We set about running a few errands, knowing we were going to be parents in just a few short days!

3:00 pm - after a nap

After our errands, some lunch, and a bit of television, I laid down to take a nap. Having your tummy shoved on and then running a bunch of errands can be exhausting for someone as pregnant as I was! Leaving Zach on the couch, I snuck upstairs around 2pm to take a quick nap.

Around 3pm I woke up and felt …. well. For lack of a better word, I felt like I had leaked. Knowing women sometimes pee a little this late in the pregnancy, I simply headed off to the bathroom and then downstairs to tell Zach what was up. We sat around, but no more leaking so … pee? That’s what we assumed!

By 6pm, I had started feeling a bit strange. Not crampy, no more leaks, just strange, like everything was about to change somehow. But nothing was happening, and after talking a bit we both figured I was just freaking out due to the version. It was time for dinner, so we headed out to Buffalo Wild Wings for a last Tuesday night trivia and wings night.

8pm - heading home early

While we ate, I kept feeling like I had to pee, but then … nothing. After eating, and halfway through the trivia game, I started to feel super strange, like I was about to pee myself again. Zach made a promise to me that if I didn’t feel good, we could head home, and so we did.

In the car, I kept saying I felt weird, like something wasn’t right. Zach asked if I wanted to go to the hospital but I said no. After all, I wasn’t having any labor symptoms and the nurses said I wasn’t in labor after the version. I was overreacting, and I knew it.

Once home, I again told Zach I felt super weird - maybe I was in labor and didn’t know it? He sat next to me on the couch and said, “Your body will tell you when you’re in labor, and it’s not going to be a whisper. It’s going to be loud, and you’ll know for sure when it’s happening.”

In agreement, I asked Zach to pull me up off the couch (because I was that pregnant. Don’t judge.) so I could head upstairs to pee. As he did, I felt a huge whoosh of liquid run out of me and down my legs. “I think my water just broke! Can you tell?!” were the exact words I said, standing there soaked through my pants in disbelief!

Folks, our birthing class teacher told us that when your water breaks, most of the time it’s just a trickle if it even breaks at all. That surprising whoosh of liquid like in the movies almost never happens. And there I was, standing in our family room surprised by the movie-like whoosh of liquid pouring out of me. It was time to have a baby!

{part two, coming soon}

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