Madison's Birth and Labor Story

On 12/27, I had started getting contractions and by 5pm, I was having 4 contractions an hour.  I started timing them but they were pretty random.  I notified my nurse and doctor and they told me to let them know when I starting having 6 an hour.  So the next few hours went on and my contractions fluctuated from 3-4 an hour.  By 2am on 12/28 I had 5 and they were pretty painful so I let my nighttime nurse know. She came in and put me on the monitor and wouldn't you know it, I only had one on the monitor during the entire 35 minute monitoring session and the contraction I thought was so painful, only registered in the 40s. She had asked if I ate anything that would make my stomach sour and since I had only been eating hospital food we joked that I may have gotten food poisoning.  I had texted Matt to come up to the hospital to keep me company but he never received the text...he was sleeping and I didn't think it was entirely necessary to call him and wake him up. I tried to go to sleep and ending up getting a 45 minute nap in before the contractions came back.  At this point they were way worse and I found myself sitting on the toilet, wondering if I had food poisoning or if the baby was really coming.  By 5am, they were really bad so I called Matt.  Even if it was food poisoning, I needed someone to cry to. 

By 5:40, I rang for the nurse and she and Matt walked in at almost the same time.  I was basically squatting next to the bed and the nurse was asking, "Why didn't you tell me you were in this much pain sooner!" They got me back into the bed and she put the monitor on me and NOTHING was registering. The monitor was reading a nice 20-23 reading all the way through.  The nurse was utterly confused.  Here I am begging for an epidural because my contractions were right on top of one another and yet, there were no contractions registering. I just started crying because now I thought something was really wrong with me, like my placenta tore or something else that could be causing the pain but not the contractions. She ran to get the doctor and at 5:55am, the doctor came in, checked me and said, "We are having a baby". I looked at Matt and told him, "Whatever happens, I need that epidural".  Like a great husband, he promised he would make it happen, even though (he confessed later on), he already knew it was too late. 

The doctor and the nurse wheeled my entire bed to the operating room (I had to deliver in an operating room because Madison was going to be a preemie) and while the doctor stopped to put on her paper scrubs, I told matt to go back to get the camera. While he was gone, I asked for the epidural one last time and the doctor looked at me pitifully and said, "This baby is coming right now. Two pushes and she will be out", so basically I got my answer.  By the time I was shifted over to the operating table bed, the doctor asked if I wanted to push, but Matt hadn't come back with the camera yet. However, as soon as I saw him enter the room, the pushing began.  On the second push, her head came out and by the third, we had a screaming baby.  It was over by 6:18am. 

I don't think I have ever been so excited to hear a baby scream.  It meant her lungs were functioning and that was all we were hoping for during the two weeks I was on bedrest.  We had made it to 33 weeks and 4 days gestational age so she was a good 6 week premature. She weighed in at 4 lbs, 5oz and 17 3/4 inches long.  We were so grateful she was that big.  I didn't think I was going to get a chance to hold my baby after delivery, but I did. It was an amazing feeling.

She was taken to the NICU right after and Matt got to see her while I was in recovery. Look at how small she is comparied to Matt's hand (yet still at great size for her preemie status).

 After my one hour recovery time, I was wheeled back to my room and because I didn't have an epidural, I was given free range, so I showered and both Matt and I headed down to see her.

 By that night I was able to hold her and they had reduced her oxygen support.  They had already introduced her to formula and by that night, she was eating 30-35 mls (about 2 oz) of formula.

We are so grateful for all the love, support and prayers we have received over the last 2 1/2 weeks.  I'm not sure Matt and I could have gotten through it without our moms coming down to help out and all the texts, emails, gift packages, phone calls and FB comments from our friends and family.  It definitely strengthened our resolve and helped us maintain our sanity at time.

We are so excited to have her here and to see that she is doing so well in spite of being premature. She is such a strong willed little girl already. She is going to fit in wonderfully :-)