Thursday, July 21 (2 weeks before my due date)
8:00pm
Enjoyed a nice Vietnamese dinner with Cohen and my Mom. We talk about the upcoming events and Cohen points out my belly looks different, an odd shape-kind of sideways (this will make sense later on).
10:00pm
Cohen and I get up to leave the house to get some frozen yogurt and I discover my water has broken (I think). I tell Cohen of the happening and his eyes get huge and he says "Its time to go!?....what"....then he starts pacing the floor and waving his shirt around to fan himself "oooh I'm gettin hot" I couldn’t help but laugh. Watching us run around for 20 minutes and get absolutely nothing accomplished would have been comedy. Somehow I managed to call the Doctor to see if she wanted me to come to the hospital (she did). So we decided to put the clean sheets on the crib (Cohen even ironed the crib skirt), get into comfy clothes and try and pack a bag. The tricky thing was not knowing if we would be coming home that night or in a few days. I wish I had that stupid bag packed ahead of time. I kept thinking NO she can’t come yet we are not ready! Cohen and I had a list of about 20 items that we were going to get done on the upcoming weekend-which included purchasing things like a diaper bag. Sigh, We tucked Salty in for the night and gave her love. And drove to the hospital in a daze.
11:20pm
Arrived at the hospital and was checked in and taken up to my room to be evaluated. Now the funny thing is I had scheduled the coming Monday to go and have the “hospital tour” and there I was thinking… hmmmmm guess I can take that off the calendar. Walking into the room I was thinking to myself is this it, is this where we are going to have the baby. Since I was still in shock and denial that it was happening 2 WEEKS EARLY, I tried not to get myself too psyched out. I looked over at what I thought was a baby warmer cart and got nervous.
11:50pmish
The admitting nurse says I am not having the baby tonight and that I will be going home soon.
Friday July, 22
12:30am
After a lot of intake questions and a positive amniotic fluid strip it is determined that the baby is on her way and I should settle in for the night. The nurses then predict her arrival mid-day. I am told to lay down and sleep and get ready to walk the halls in the morning. My contractions were strong but inconsistent.
1am-3am
Major labor pains ramp up! I went from having the lights turned off and settling in for one last sleep to sitting straight up in bed gasping for air. I looked at Cohen and said WHOAH-that’s crazy pain! I felt the pain in my entire body. When it would start it would spread so hard and intense I mostly reached one arm in the air and held my breath (which you are not supposed to do). I ordered my first layer of pain meds and quickly realized they were of no comfort. So I told the nurse I was ready for my epidural. LIKE READY RIGHT NOW GET THE #*&##*&(*#&*$$# THING HERE NOW!!!! Cohen holds my hand and keeps me positive.
3am-4am
Laboring, throwing up (during which the nurses and Cohen discuss what it looked like and what we had for dinner LOL), epidural, OUCH. Nurses check my labor process and I am at a 7 and oopsie the baby is discovered to be breech/head up. Everyone starts apologizing and is shocked that it was not caught sooner. *2 days previous I had been checked at my doctors appointment and she was head down.* We are told that we will be having a c-section since the baby is upside down and there is not enough time or fluid left to turn her. Now the staff tells us she will be here in about an hour via c-section in the operating room as soon as the on call Doctor arrives.
Cohen wrote this on Facebook (Totally made me smile when I saw it later)
You are amazing!
5am
I am taken to the operating room and prepped for surgery. My anesthesiologist puts warm blankets around my head and neck. Cohen and I discuss what to photograph. I tell Cohen not to worry about pictures/videotaping the delivery. I want him to fully be present for the delivery and enjoy it and not worry about pictures.
I didn’t feel any true pain during the delivery. I felt some discomfort locally, like someone had their elbow pressing down on me near my lower left ribs.
5:55am
London Amelia Jay is delivered. Cohen announces as they are pulling her out that she looks like a chicken, a white chicken. His eyes are as big as I have ever seen them. Then for the next two hours feelings of love, shock and true bliss settle in. Cohen carries London to the nursery for her evaluations. The doctor orders and x-ray of her right collar bone to determine if it was fractured during delivery.
November 8, 2011 5:00pm
