I was pretty stubborn with this pregnancy and even though I was due December 4th, I was determined to have the baby in November. After all, keeping with the tradition in my family, we had a LOT of November birthdays, in fact all my mom’s siblings were born in November (not her – she was in May). And I have a bunch of cousins in November too.

That being said, I had a 30th birthday party about 11 days early and was given a gift certificate to a spa by my brothers and their wives. Andy’s sister told me that pedicures can bring on labor… so of course I was going to make an appointment for close to 38 weeks to see if it would start something, I also figured it’d be nice to have pretty toes in the hospital 😉

On November 18th I got the pedicure and that evening I lost my mucous plug! I was excited. The rest came out on Monday evening. Tuesday the 20th was my 38 week appointment and the Dr said I wasn’t dilated at all and the baby’s head though down, was not engaged. I was so bummed because I thought I’d see progress.

November 21st was my 30th birthday, I figured ok it might be a week or so before I go into labor and I was looking up tips on preparation for that. I had lunch at home with Andy, Mary Elizabeth, my mom and my friend Andrea. Everything was relaxed and fine. Later that day Andy wanted to go shopping with me, figuring walking would help too and then he’d take me out to dinner later. He wanted to leave at 2, but I told him I had to finish up my work so we’d go at 3pm. 3pm came around and I was closing up my laptop and going to get ready to leave. I stood up and felt like I had to go to the bathroom. I thought I didn’t make it to the bathroom- but when I got there I saw that it seemed I was leaking water…. And then I sat down and nothing. So I got up again and leaked, and I laughed and sat down again- nothing…. Got up and leaked, sat down and laughed. Andy was on the phone with work stuff, I asked him to hurry up in a quiet manner while laughing sorta. He thought I was losing it I think! He got off the phone and I told him what was going on, he gave me a towel and I sat there laughing because I was so caught off guard by this and excited too. I called my sister in law who wasn’t around and then my friend Andrea. She said yep sounds like your water is breaking and we giggled a bit and then I called the Dr. Sure enough she told me to come to the hospital….

Thus the adventure begins, and on my 30th birthday no less! We had things packed but had a bit of last minute stuff to add (for Mary Elizabeth and us) so we packed it all, ran around a bit and called my mother to tell her to meet us at the hospital. I of course being anal- fixed Mary Elizabeth’s hair and changed her because she was a mess. Then I realized there was baby stuff in the wash and didn’t want it to get ruined so I put it in the dryer- all this while my water was still in the midst of breaking!!

We got into the car and I sat on a towel, by the time we got there I was soaked but in good spirits. I was taken to triage and monitored for a bit. Mary Elizabeth stayed with us and my mom and Andy took turns with me. I wasn’t having any major contractions so I was in a good mood and not in any pain. I did realize that I needed to have major contractions though and waited to meet with my Doctor.

The OB came in to check me out and sure enough, no dilation- and head was still on the high side. Argh. So she said she knew I really wanted to try VBAC and would see how I was in the morning, told me to walk and do what I could to get labor progressing.

So I was sent to the L&D area and given a room. I was told I could eat until 12pm. Andy & I ate, we walked and walked and walked. We hung out in the room, we timed contractions. There was a point where they were regular and about 7 minutes a part and semi-strong but nothing where I was in pain, discomfort, or nothing where I couldn’t focus on other things. So I knew that it needed to get more intense and regular. Nonetheless it did not. I still had hoped that something happened – like the baby dropping down and maybe a little dilation.

At 5:45am, now on Thanksgiving- the Dr came in to check me. Nothing… not a thing happened. No dilation, the head was in the same position. She didn’t want to induce this labor – not this much- and not after having had a c-section, the risks were too high. So onward with the c-section. I wasn’t thrilled but what could I do- and really all that mattered was the baby’s health and as long as that was ok- I would be ok.

Now, I’ve had a c-section before, but I haven’t had one while awake (which is the norm today). So, I didn’t know what it was like. I had the spinal and they had trouble getting that situated, it did bother me a bit but not overly. Nothing I couldn’t handle at least. I was a bit nervous I’d feel the cutting or something but I didn’t. I did feel them pulling and pushing on my stomach and I did shake uncontrollably from the medications or whatever. I was so uncomfortable and very upset. I am usually tough but I didn’t feel so tough I guess. I hated the shaking and shivering and the warm blankets they gave didn’t help- I was trembling!

For a few moments none of it bothered me though, that’s when they took the baby out and I heard the crying and they showed us the baby and said he was a boy. I was thrilled, Andy and I were so happy and Andy held the baby next to me and I got to touch him and see his cute little face. I was so excited and overjoyed.

They then took the baby to the nursery and before they did they asked if Andy wanted to go, he looked at me and I nodded to tell him to go because I wanted someone to be there with our son- wow OUR SON!!

So I still felt kinda yucky and I was still shaking and now I was alone but it was ok. I just couldn’t wait for them to finish. The pushing and pulling on my stomach they were doing from before and now while trying to finish up… bothered me – between that and being medicated I felt very nauseous – so bad that I started gagging and coughing but I was scared to gag and cough because I thought it would interfere – but I guess they said it was ok. And they gave me more anti-nausea medication which did help after a bit.

Finally, they were done and I was taken to recovery and soon after joined by my husband and baby. The shaking subsided finally and as soon as little baby Andrew arrived I got to try breastfeeding him. To my (happy) surprise he latched on pretty well right away and we didn’t really have any problems with it other than figuring out how to position with the c-section but was showed by the nurse some tips until I was recovered.

All in all, it wasn’t bad and I was really happy because from that moment on I was not separated from my son. He stayed in our room for the 3 days/2 nights we were there and I did everything with him.

The OB was sweet and wished she had been able to give me the delivery I had desired but I told her it was all ok because he was there, happy, healthy and all that. She would’ve kept me in the hospital for 3 nights but I asked her to go home after 2 nights and knowing me and how well I do- she agreed. She told me that when she did the c-section my son was very comfortable inside snuggled up nice and high and he didn’t want to come down that she had to really push and pull him down and out. Yep he just wanted to stay inside! So that explains a lot for the labor issues and the pushing/pulling during the c-section.

We had a feeling all along that this was a baby boy, and we were right. We are in awe of how adorable he is and overjoyed to add him into the family. And seeing our daughter, Mary Elizabeth with her reactions to him and the bond that she has already created with her new brother Andrew is an indescribable and amazing feeling.

We are truly blessed to have such beautiful, wonderful children and will enjoy the continuation of the story of our little family 🙂