The first trimester passed pretty seamlessly. Oh, I was sick... But really nothing serious, and it went by quickly. Enter second trimester... and I felt awesome!! I had energy again, wasn't sick all the time, and was showing pretty early. (Ok, honestly, I got pretty huge pretty fast) Around 25 weeks, I started having regular contractions... so off to the hospital we went. They were able to stop my contractions, and put me on Procardia to keep me from contracting. It sort of worked... But we were back in the hospital 3 or 4 times for more regular contractions. I had started to dilate, so I was put on bedrest. (Yeah, bedrest... with a 2 year old at home... :/) My doctor started talking about contingency plans for if they weren't able to stop my labor before I reached full-term. I was still pretty convinced I would make it to at least 36 weeks.
So, on a Sunday afternoon (I was 32 weeks, 3 days) I was sitting on the couch eating chocolate chips while Jon mowed the lawn and Emma Cate took a nap. I stood up to go to the bathroom and take my bowl back to the kitchen and I felt a small gush of fluid. I went straight to the bathroom... and without going into too much detail, I was suspicious that it was my water breaking. I went and laid down. When I got back up 30 minutes later, another gush. I was still kind of hoping I had peed myself (though I know now, that was denial). Jon came in and I told him what was going on. He immediately started packing a bag of stuff to keep Emma Cate entertained at the hospital. I called the on-call doc and she said to go in (not surprised). Jon asked if I wanted to pack a bag for myself. I said no, I was sure that it was pee or something and they'd send me home. Haha....
At the hospital, they did a test. It was supposed to take 10 minutes to show the results, but after just 3 minutes it was clearly positive for amniotic fluid. That's when I panicked. My hospital doesn't have a NICU, so the doctor came in and said she was arranging transport to the big hospital about 45 minutes away. That was my first ambulance ride! Jon and Emma Cate followed, while my mom was making her flight arrangements so that she could help take care of Emma Cate.
When we got to the hospital, the high-risk doctor came in to talk to me. He said I would be in the hospital until I had the baby. If I went into labor on my own, they wouldn't stop it. But they also didn't want me going past 34 weeks, because of the risk of infection to myself and the baby. I had a round of steroid shots (I had already had one at about 28 weeks as well) and was put on magnesium for the baby's brain. Then we settled in. Thankfully, Jon was able to stay with me. My mom got into town and took over Emma Cate duty.
A couple days later, after I had finished the round of steroids, they took a sample of fluid to check on Juliet's lung development. If her number came back less than 5 (meaning a great lung maturity), we would go ahead and induce. Her number was 6.7. So we decided to push the induction back a few days and give her lungs some more time.
We had been in the hospital for a full week when they started my induction. It was a LONG week... But in some ways, it was kind of nice. Jon had been working insane hours and he was off all week and at the hospital with me. We hadn't gotten to spend much time together this past year, so it was actually nice to get to hang out.
They moved me to a Labor & Delivery room and gave me some stuff to help soften my cervix and maybe get labor moving. Almost immediately, I started having contractions. They didn't hurt really, but I was hopeful. I wanted to avoid pitocin if possible! 4 hours later, they check me again. No change, so I got another dose. Contractions were more painful after the second dose, but not too bad. 4 hours later, slight change! They went ahead and gave me the 3rd dose. Within half an hour, the contractions were awful... Every one more painful than the last. They were about 3 minutes or so apart. They came in to check me and declared me in active labor, yay!! I was in so much pain... And on top of it I was terrified about my baby and whether or not she would be ok. I decided to get the epidural. It's a pretty controversial thing in the mommy world, but I stand by my decision. I don't feel it made me less of a woman. I was dealing with pain on so many levels, both physically and emotionally. I could help with the physical pain, so I did.
Not that it worked. Well, it sort of did. It took on my right side, but not my left. So I still felt all the pain from the contractions, but it was concentrated on my left side. Odd feeling.... they came back in and re-dosed it. That helped, but I still felt quite a bit of pain on my left side. Once the epidural was in, my contractions slowed down quite a bit. That's pretty common. So, they started pitocin.
That was at 8am. At 9:30, I was checked again, and the doctor said I was 5-6cm. 10 minutes later I was talking to Jon, and told him I really needed to pee (they had to do in-and-out catheters since I couldn't walk). He called the nurse. She came in with another nurse as well, and they said they were going to check me and make sure that wasn't the baby I was feeling. The nurse checked me... Here's what she said: "Ok... looks like about 6. There's a contraction... and now you're at 7... 8... 9... ok, you're about to have this baby." O.o What?!? I progressed 4 whole centimeters in 1 contraction! So they quickly called the doc, gave Jon a gown, gave us hats and called to clear an OR. I had to give birth in an operating room, so that we would be right by the NICU. The doctor came running (my doc was in the middle of a c-section, delivering triplets) and hadn't even gotten into her scrubs yet. She ran out to change really quick and meet us in the OR.
They wheeled me down to the OR. By this point, I was REALLY feeling the urge to push. The pressure was incredible. I was in so much pain. We got to the OR and they told me to try not to push yet... Because of the triplets, the NICU team was all tied up. I think it was just a few minutes (probably less than 10), but it felt like a lifetime... All the doctors and nurses (there were several, it's a teaching hospital) were telling me to take deep breaths. Finally, they put my legs up and told me to push with the next contraction. I pushed a total of 3 times with each contraction. On the third contraction, I head the doctor say, "She's right there, good job! One more contraction and she'll be here!" I couldn't believe it! I had just started! On the next contraction, I pushed again, and there she was!
Juliet Camille- born on October 8 at 10:38 am- 5lb, 1oz and 18" long. An amazing size for only being 33 weeks!
Juliet came out breathing on her own! She gave us some beautiful cries. They took her over to the bassinet to clean her up and check on her. She didn't need oxygen, so they kept holding her up for me to see her. I had been told I wouldn't get to hold her for a couple days most likely, so when the nurse brought her over all wrapped up and put her on my chest, I couldn't believe it! She was so tiny... and completely perfect. I was able to hold her for a minute before they took her back. Jon stayed at her side the whole time.
Finally, everything was done and I was able to go to recovery. I was there for about 2 hours, then they put me in a wheelchair and Jon and I were able to go see Juliet.
Juliet has been in NICU for 5 days now. She's lost a few ounces, and is 4lb, 14oz. She has not had to have any breathing assistance. She's in an open isolette with a heater to help keep her warm. We're hoping she'll be able to try regulating her own temp soon. She has a feeding tube, but takes most of her feedings by bottle (breastmilk, I've been able to pump and bring in a good supply). Right now, she's jaundiced so is under the bili lights, but should be off those in a day or two. All in all, she is doing amazing! We don't know when she'll be home with us, but are trying to just take it one day at a time.
I expected to still be pregnant right now, so it's been kind of weird that I'm not. But we are so proud of Juliet! She is amazing... such a little fighter!
