I was pretty confident that May 31st was my due date, but officially (aka according to my doctor) it was May 28th. Either way, I figured baby wasn't coming until June because I had heard most first-time moms go past their due date. I'm not sure of the validity of that rumor, but it turned out not to apply to me.
On Monday, May 21st, I subbed for a math teacher at Coffman High School. It was a relatively easy day of work, and when I finished I stopped at a friend's house to chat before heading to my 39 week OB appointment. After the typical blood pressure/weight check and an extremely uncomfortable cervical check, the doctor determined that I was not dilated yet and sent me on my way. I made my 40 week appointment with the receptionist who said, "If I see you next week..." I replied, "Don't worry. I have a feeling you'll definitely be seeing me." From there I went straight to the gym for my Monday BodyVive class, a low-impact whole body group fitness class. That evening I was feeling especially uncomfortable, but I attributed it to that lovely cervical check and possibly my workout. As I crawled into bed at the end of the day:
Michael: "You're going to have the baby tomorrow."
Me: "Don't do that. Don't do one of your prophecy things where you say something and then it happens."
At 5:15 a.m., I woke up to go to the bathroom and discovered that my water had broken. At least I was pretty sure, but since the nurse at our birthing class told us that it is common for women to mistake the baby squeezing your bladder and causing you to leak with the bag of waters breaking, I thought I'd wait a while. I fed the dog, let him out, and picked up around the house just in case, and then, sure enough, I experienced a mini gush of "water." After waking Michael up with the news, I finished packing our hospital bag. We ate a quick breakfast, got ready, and quickly headed to Dublin Methodist Hospital.
In triage, the nurse was getting ready to run a test to confirm my water had broken when there was a big gush, and she said, "Yep, that's your water. Let's get you up to labor and delivery." We had arrived at the hospital shortly before 7:00am, which meant the nurses were just going through a shift change. I was very encouraged when my labor and delivery nurse, Kristy, told me it was her goal to get the baby delivered before the end of her shift.
shortly after arriving in L&D |
sitting on a birthing ball, breathing through a contraction |
checking my email while sitting in one of the various poses |
By 2:45, the nurse said I was 10cm and ready to push. An hour and fifteen minutes later, at 4:00pm, Joel Emerson was born weighing 8lbs. 3oz. and measuring 21in. - absolutely perfect in my eyes.
love at first sight |
The following day was our three year wedding anniversary. Even though the hospital food was pretty good, Michael ran out to get us Chinese food to celebrate. He brought back three fortune cookies, so Joel got his very first fortune at only a day old:
After two nights in the hospital, on May 24th, we took our new little bundle of joy home. We feel so blessed and thank God for His goodness and provision.
1 comment:
awww! yay! congratulations! what a great birth story. =)
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