I felt it in my bones that my son was going to be coming early. Call it early Momtuition, but I knew weeks before his due date that at any moment he was going to make his debut into the world.
Little did I know how right I would be.
Just like how my pregnancy was filled with twists and turns, highs and lows, my delivery followed suit.
Because of my son's heart issues, the doctors monitored him very closely throughout my pregnancy, we had weekly appointments, sometimes even appointments 3 times per week with various doctors and specialists to track his progress.
But we finally made it close to the end of my pregnancy and then my son was breech, which means that instead of him being in the correct birthing position with his head down and feet up, he was turned in the opposite direction.
Babies should come out head first in a natural delivery so it was important for him to turn if I was going to have the delivery that I had been planning all these months.
I thought I had up until delivery for him to turn, but at my 34 week checkup my doctor informed me that if my son did not turn in 2 weeks then we would be scheduling a cesarean.
That was heavy news for me because I had spent months preparing to have a natural delivery without any drugs. I had my doula, started meditating on scriptures, all to help me prepare for the tremendous feat of labor.
Well, the 36 week mark came and went and he still hadn’t moved into the correct birthing position. I even went through a procedure called version to attempt to manually turn him around but, he had his own agenda and would not be moved.
Chapter One: 38 Weeks Pregnant, 4 Days Until Delivery
It was a Monday, an ordinary workday, or so I thought.
I was busy all morning between meetings and working at my desk, then around noon I left the office to get lunch. As I am walking across the street to Potbelly’s for a soup and sandwich, I felt a heaviness way down low in my abdomen. I felt was being weighed down so hard that I could barely lift my legs to walk.
That heaviness in my abdomen persisted the entire day, so I got in touch with my doula to get her advice. She said that this close to the due date, the baby could come at any time and my body is preparing to deliver.
Thankfully, I had my regular checkup with my OB the next day and hopefully I could hold it together until then.
Chapter Two: The Check Up
The next morning my husband and I went to the doctor and I described to her the heavy sensation I was feeling. As she examined me, her face went from flat to surprise. At 38 weeks pregnant, I was already 1 centimeter dilated. And due to my son’s heart issues and his breech position she was going to schedule my c-section for as soon as possible the next week to try to deliver him before my labor started on its own.
So I thought, that since we would have a scheduled date for my son to be delivered, that I wouldn’t need to go to my final ultrasound appointment on that Friday.
Thank God my OB insisted I not miss that appointment.
Chapter Three: 11/22/19 Special Delivery
The morning before my final ultrasound, I went into the office. Typically I work from home on appointment days because it became near impossible for me to get around. Traveling back and forth from the doctors to the office was exhausting.
But, I went in to the office this Friday because I figured it could be my last day before maternity leave and I wanted to ensure that all my deliverables were completed, my boss had everything he needed from me and that there were no loose ends.
Who knew that I had been having contractions the entire morning!
After work I met my husband at the doctor’s office, got strapped in for them to monitor my baby as per normal but, this time it took longer than usual.
The nurse presented my readings to the doctor and when she came back she said I was contracting and each time that I did, the baby’s heart rate dropped. So she called my OB and sent us right over to labor and delivery for additional monitoring. The last thing she said to me was, you might be having this baby today.
I was in complete shock. There go our plans for the weekend.
You see my husband and I had these grand plans for a special weekend. Our last weekend as a party of 2. We were going to watch movies, eat delicious food, nothing in our plans involved having a baby.
If this isn’t a case for don’t wait to do the things you’ve been putting off for tomorrow, I’m not sure what is.
So my husband and I rushed over to Labor and Delivery. And we weren’t in the waiting area for too long before they called us back and said we are delivering this baby tonight.
OMG!
I still had it in my mind that they were just going to do additional monitoring and maybe send me home. But the doctors did not want to take any chances – they were delivering my baby that night.
Chapter Four: Welcome To The World, Story!
The cesarean was a strange experience, I could feel the doctors touching, tugging and pulling at my abdomen, but no pain. A blue curtain blocked me from being able to see what was going on down below – not that I would’ve wanted to see anyway. And all I could see was my husband right by my side.
In the middle of the tugging and pulling at my stomach, my doctor says “Get your camera ready!” Then they dropped the curtain and I saw the cutest little slimy thing I’ve ever seen.
He was finally here, the little guy that I’ve held inside me for the past 38 weeks. The real life boy behind the ultrasound pictures.
After they cleaned him up, they handed him to my husband. It was beautiful to see the smile in his eyes as he stared in amazement over our little miracle.
The son that God gave to us and named Story.
Looking back, everything happened so fast, from finding out that I wouldn’t be able to give birth naturally, to scheduling a date for him to be delivered, to having an emergency c-section instead and then holding my son in my arms, I never got a chance to process it all.
And I still haven’t had a chance to.
Life is moving full speed ahead and I am hanging on for what I know will be the ride of my life.
Stay tuned…
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