Jonah's Birth Story - Part I

On Tuesday, I spent the day cleaning the house.  I did all my normal weekly cleaning and a little extra.  In the evening, I did some laundry and ran the vacuum cleaner.  I wore myself out with all the work.

(TMI alert!)
Then, as I was bending down to get something out of the dryer, my water broke.  Of course, at the time I wasn't sure that it was my water.  It wasn't a huge gush or anything.

I didn't continue, so I went about my business and went to bed.

In the morning, I woke up around 7:30 am and it happened again.  So, I tried to call the birth center.  I got their answering service and as soon as they answered, the call disconnected.  I went back to sleep.  A little while later, I got up and it happened again.  I tried to call the birth center from that time until 9:45...with the same problem.  I would be on hold for around 7 minutes and then, when the woman from the answering service said hello, the call would disconnect.  By 9:45, I was extremely frustrated.  I tried every phone number that I had for  FamilyCare with no luck.   Finally, at 9:45, Jo, the secretary at the birth center, answered the phone!

I had an appointment for later that day at 3:45, but when I told her what had happened, she said I should come in right away.  I made it there around 10:30.

The midwife there was Rebecca White.  She tested me to see if the fluid was amniotic fluid, and it was.

Now, the problem is that if you don't go into active labor without 18 hours of your water breaking, there is a chance of infection in the baby.  I had already had my water broke for close to 15 hours.

So, they tried to get my labor started naturally...but it didn't work.  I wanted it to start naturally because I wanted to have Jonah at the Birth Center.  They won't induce labor there.

They sent me home, told me to eat a good lunch....and if I didn't go into labor on my own, I had to go to the hospital to get induced.  It didn't happen on its own.   At around 2 pm, we left to go to the hospital.

I was taken to a labor room and they said I was about 1 cm dilated.  They first broke my water more, since it was only barely broken.  I walked around the hallway, trying to get things started on their own.  Nothing happened.  So, they hooked me up to monitors and gave me a hep-lock IV in my hand...and started the Pitocin at around 6 pm.

Soon enough, the contractions started coming.  They were really easy at first because I wanted to start the Pitocin off really slowly.

Honestly, I don't remember much from between 6 pm and 12:15 am.  One thing I do remember is that I'm super-glad that my doula, Carrie-Meghan was there with me.  She met me at the hospital and was with me all night.  During my contractions, she would do just about anything and everything to make me more comfortable.

~To Be Continued~