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Week by Week

Alex

It all started and ended very quickly. For being one who isn't very good at handling pain I can't believe that I did it without drugs. I woke up the morning of January 13th around 10:30 am and went to the bathroom, then headed out to the kitchen for some breakfast. When I got there my panties we soaked. I knew I hadn't wet myself, so I went back to the bathroom and got a pad. This isn't what I had expected when or if my water would break. There never was a gush of fluid, just a steady leak. So I called up to Labor and Delievry, they said that yes this could be my water and I needed to come in to be checked. So I called my husband at work and told him that I thought that I should go to the hospital. He said that he would be home shortly, but after he asked me if I was sure. I told him that this is the first time for me so, no I am not sure. He came home and we left for the hospital. It was around 11:45 am when we got there, we signed in and had a seat in the waiting room. We are a military family and they check all of the Labor and delivery paitents in though the same exam room. It was a very busy day in the L/D area. We waited for a little over an hour, while we were waiting I started to get some contractions and was pacing the floor of the waiting room. My husband started to get upset about this, all the other ladies were staying in their seats and acting like nothing out of the ordinary was going on. While we were there I also went to the bathroom about six times. Finally they called my name, but then all they wanted me to do was to lay down on my left side on this very uncomfortable exam table and get hooked up to the monitors for a while. They then fianllly checked and told us that YES!! My water had broken, so there was no going back now. This is when my husband went downstairs to get me admited and get my bags. We hadn't brought them up with us because we were sue they were going to send us home. They told me that I had to stay in the exam room for a while because there was not any Labor rooms available at the moment. But that some one had just delviered so I wouldn't be to long. When they moved me I told them that I didn't want to be hooked up to the monitors anymore, it just made the contractions to hard to deal with. That is also when they came in to draw my blood and start an IV, which I really didn't want but I was told that if I wanted any drugs that I would need an IV. I told her to go ahead and start it. Then they told me that I could get up and walk around for twenty of thirty minutes, but I had to stay in my room because they were to busy today to have me walking the halls. Finally alowed out of the bed, they also told me that I was five centimeters dialated and if I felt the need to push at anytime to buzz the nurse. While this was all going on my husband got me admited and tried to get my things out of the car. The first time that he went down to get them, he forgot the keys. The next time he got halfway back and realized that he had the wrong bag. I needed my labor bag not my overnight bag. He finally got back up there and tried to call our family which live 1300 miles away, his mother wasn't home and he forgot my mother's phone number. He did get a hold of his father who would call everyone back home for us. Talk about a nervous husband. When he finally got back in my room, I was up walking the room. This is when the medical student that was helping my midwife came back in the room and told me that the anestologist was there now if I wanted my epidural. I said that I thought I could handle it right now. Right after she left my husband asked me if I was sure about not wanting the drugs. I told him that I was scared about having a needle put in my back, he told me that he understood and was rubbing my back though the contrations. I then got a monster contraction and sent my husband out in the hall to find the nurse to tell her that I had changed my mind and wanted the epidural NOW!!!! By the time that he got back I was pushing the call button for the nurse. He wanted to know what I was doing, I just told him that I needed to push. She came in and I told that I need to push. She got a glove on and checked me, I was fully dialated and at a station +2 ready to go. They gave my husband some scrubs and told him to get dressed right away that we were on our way to the delivery room. When we got in the devlivery room they got every thing set up really quickly. I only had to push for three or four contrations and my son Alexander Thomas was born. He weighed in at 6lbs and 10ozs at 20 inches long. It was the happiest moment of my life. I was also very lucky to get out of there with only a few skid marks. I can't believe that he was born at 2:59 pm only four and a half hours after my water had started leaking. I did have some problems after the delviery with bleeding. I ended up losing quite a bit of blood later that evening and have to stay an extra night in the hospital. Although we are all fine now and I wouldn't change a thing.