I’m Waiting Till It’s Time – Mason’s Birth Story Part One

I’m Waiting Till It’s Time – Mason’s Birth Story Part One

It’s December 22nd, 2013 and my fourth child Mason was born on December 8th at 6:28 AM.  He entered this world on a cold snowy day, early in the morning just like I did (according to my mom I was born at 6:23 AM).  He’s two weeks old today and I wanted to share his birth story on my blog.  In the picture above I’m 39 weeks and I decided to start the story there.

At 39 weeks pregnant I went to my doctor’s office (December, 5th) for my weekly check up.  It’s one of those practices with several doctors and you see who ever is on call in the office and hospital that day.  Today I was seeing a doctor I hadn’t seen before, he walks in the room almost an hour late because the couple before me was pregnant with their first and they wanted to ask him questions.  Yes he took the time to sit and answer all their questions, which is great for a first time mom but I was upset I had to wait so long and of course I’m sure so was some of the other patients as well.  I digress – so he enters the room and says “It looks like you’re 39 weeks today and if you want to induce you can have an Elective Induction.”  Then he shakes my husband and my hands and waits for me to answer.  I look at my husband, looked back at him and asked was there something wrong that I wasn’t aware of, he says no your chart looks fine but you can be induced at any time.  I said no I’ll wait.  I’ve been induced twice before, with our first child because my OB wanted to make sure she was the one delivering my baby because of all the complications I had during pregnancy she didn’t want me in any one else’s hand.  The second time was with our third child due to preeclampsia.

I wanted to wait my due date wasn’t until December 12th so I just wanted our son to enter the world when he was ready.  The doctor asked me about induction three more times during my five minute check up.  My answer stayed the same.  When I was getting my next appointment scheduled the receptionist asked was I getting an induction date I told her no I was waiting.  Even when I got home from my appointment my family was surprised I didn’t want to be induced instead of waiting.  The next couple of days I tried to get my final ducks in a row.  I tried to stay hydrated and rested and made sure both our bags were packed and ready to go.  I was getting braxton hicks contractions for the past couple of weeks but now they started to last a little longer and was a bit more intense but it surely wasn’t labor.  My back ached and my feet were always sore and swollen.  Saturday came and by then I was wobbling everywhere I went.  My hips were so sore and my joints were aching so I tried to sit around and relax.

My husband came home from work about 7 PM, and I guess I must have looked like I was so tired.  He asked how I was feeling and started to help with the kids.  We decided to order dinner because I wasn’t feeling too well.  The braxton hicks contractions were getting stronger and stronger and when dinner arrived I ate a little bit but I was so tired I decided I wanted to go lay down and get some sleep.  My body was trying to tell me something and I assumed it was that I needed sleep.  I laid down at about 8:30 Saturday night and quickly dosed off.  Then I was jolted out of sleep at 11:15 that night, I was in the middle of a very strong contraction and it pulled me out of sleep.  I waited for it to pass and when to the bathroom, after using the bathroom I went back to bed and less than five minutes later I was having another strong contraction.  After it passed I tried to go back to sleep thinking it’s more braxton hicks, I called my hubby who was in our living room watching a DVR college football game from earlier in the day to come sit with me, hoping talking to him would help be go back to sleep.  I laid back down and would get contractions, I sat up and still I was getting contractions.  I wanted to try to wait but then I thought of the other kids and the longer I waited the harder it would be to wake them in the middle of the night to drop them off at my mom’s if I was in labor.

Finally at almost midnight I decided it was best to head to the hospital for a labor check.  I called my mom to tell her we were going and soon after we dropped the kids off and picked her up and we were heading to the hospital.  My husband and I were the only ones that could got to triage, so my mom waited in the waiting area while the triage nurse did all the checks to see if i was in labor.  The nursing tech came in and did the basic checks and told us the charge nurse would be in soon.  A few minutes later she came in asked me a series of questions and then she checked my cervix.  When we were at the doctor’s office on Thursday I was less that 2 centimeters dilated,  70% effaced, when she checked it I was 5 centimeter dilated, fully effaced at station -1.  She said my contractions were sporadic and I could go home if I wanted.  I looked at her like she was crazy, I asked why would I go home and she explained that the policy is they have to give me the option to stay or go home till my water broke, they didn’t want me to feel like I was being forced or they were not giving me options.  I told her I wanted to stay and also let her know I planned to get an epidural as well, she said okay and was finishing my paperwork when she asked me if she could retake my blood pressure.  Just like that I knew something was wrong.

I’ll stop here for today.  Come back to read the rest of the story