We had a great appointment and my dr and I went over my birth plan. I'd had some anxiety because I was planning a natural birth and she had been a little resistant to some of my requests. But that morning she had actually conceded and agreed that I had done my research well and that she was willing to help me reach my goals. She did a cervical check and noted that I was dilated to a 3. She guesstimated that baby girl would probably arrive the next week sometime.
We left the dr and headed to Chipotle for lunch and then drove back home to Ardmore. I started having contractions again at lunch off and on. Nothing that I could track really but very uncomfortable.
By mid afternoon I was pretty uncomfortable with back pain and off and on contractions but it still wasn't anything to make me think I should start tracking it. I made spaghetti for supper and afterwards thought maybe I should track some contractions but it was still pretty inconsistent. I also wasn't convinced it wasn't gas pain. I was really bloated from all the yummy food I had stuffed in my face all day.
So from about 6pm until 9pm I was pretty distracted with helping get Silas ready for bed. The longer it took, the more uncomfortable I became. But by this time I had stuck on the whole "it's just gas" notion and wasn't letting go. My friend Nikki often calls me Scarlett. As in Scarlett O'Hara of "I'll think about that tomorrow" fame. I am really good at denial.
Around 11pm I started chatting with some friends on Facebook. And mentioned that I had lots of tummy pains and couldn't lay down comfortably. After lots of questions, they began trying to convince me that I was actually in labor.
By midnight, I decided to humor them. I started tracking contractions and by 12:30pm, I realized maybe they were on to something. My "gas pains" were 2 1/2 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. I was officially in labor. Whoops.
I quickly updated my friends and they lovingly and firmly insisted that I get my butt in the car and make the drive to Norman NOW. I didn't need much convincing at that point. I decided to wake Andrew up.
Now, I was at this point having a hard time walking and Andrew was asleep in Si's room. So I decided to call his phone. Andrew is normally a very light sleeper. So after two phone calls and a text with no response, I was feeling a little desperate. I didn't have a bag packed. I couldn't walk. I was starting to panic. So I texted Nikki.
Nikki just happened to be awake and immediately texted me back. She was on her way. Knowing she was coming and they she would stay with Si, I knew that I needed to try and get Andrew up. So I slowly made my way to Si's room and quietly called Andrew's name.
I said Andrew's name in varying levels of volume about 3 times. The third time he lifted his head, looked at me, and rolled over. At which point I hissed loudly at him to wake up. He finally stirred and I told him that I thought we needed to go to the hospital. Twice. He finally accepted that I was serious and jumped out of bed.
I made my way slowly to the bedroom to sit and Andrew began running back and forth from room to room with his bag and basically panicking. Nikki arrived shortly after and realized that someone needed to infuse some calmness into the situation. Bless her.
Nikki helped me grab some clothes and gave Andrew a pep talk. We were in the car and headed to Norman at 1:20am. By this time I was genuinely concerned that I may birth this babe on the side of the road. I was in a lot of pain and couldn't talk much. I started to panic a little to be honest. Strangely, Andrew was now pretty calm and collected. Or at least he'd managed to get to a place of not showing any panic. Haha.
I called the hospital and told them I was on my way. The rest of the car ride was spent crying and trying not to scream. Around Purcell I stopped trying not to scream and started, as Andrew put it, yell-praying. I also started fighting the urge to try and push.
At this point, Andrew had been driving fast but not enough to be unreasonable. But when I started yelling, he decided to risk having highway patrol follow us to Norman. Which was also when we hit construction and a flashing sign informing us to " Be Prepared To Stop".
"We can't stop!",My ever astute husband declared. "I know. I know. ", I moaned. More yell-praying happened on my part.
Once we turned onto Tecumseh road in Norman and the health plex was in sight, I began to have some inner calm. I knew that we had made it and I could just focus on having the baby I had been holding in for an hour....oh yeah. We pulled up to the ER entrance at 2:20am.
Andrew parked and ran into the hospital to grab a wheel chair. The lovely security guard meandered on out with it. (Seriously. He was slooooow. Andrew had to keep asking him to please hurry.) Mr. Security Guard parked the wheel chair about 3 feet from the car and stood there encouraging me to walk over and sit down. Andrew tried to move it closer but the lovely man pulled it back and assured him that he "would navigate". After a minute or two Andrew finally helped me stand up and move.
Andrew went to park and I was wheeled up to the desk. I informed the nurse that I was in labor and felt like I needed to push and that labor and delivery was waiting. All of this came out fast and loud. She asked me to calm down and began asking me a bunch of questions. I cut her off and repeated that I needed to go to labor and delivery. She kept asking questions. In exasperation and pain, I screamed. Another nurse ran out from the ER and asked me what was wrong. I told her and she told Desk Lady to wait for my husband.
At this point, they started wheeling me to labor and delivery and I had to encourage my chauffeur to move a little more quickly. There may have been more screaming.
At labor and delivery, I reminded them that labor and delivery was waiting and that I didn't need to go to triage. But they informed me that they were still taking me to triage. I began to lose my cool a little. (Yes, the previous screaming was me being calm. I know. )
Two triage nurses appeared and rolled me into a triage room and started trying to remove me from the wheelchair, which I was desperately clinging to at this point. No way was I letting them put me in triage.
The nurses explained that I needed to be checked in and monitored and then if I was in active labor, they would move me to labor and delivery. I yelled that I had already called, was told to come straight to labor and delivery, and that I WAS GOING TO START PUSHING SOON! And then I screamed again. And didn't stop until we hit the labor and delivery doors.
We were met by a labor and delivery team at the door. One of my triage nurses told them that I "thought" I was in labor and they couldn't calm me. The head nurse on the l & d team asked my name and they told her. "You mean the gal from ardmore?!" I yelled," yes! Yes! I need a bed! Please! I'm going to push soon!" The triage nurses were informed that they should have brought me right away and I was moved very quickly to my room.
One nurse helped me get undressed and into the bed, while another started the process of checking me in and taking my vitals. They decided to check me real quick. Andrew walked in as the nurse shouted," um, she's at a 7 and 100% effaced! Get Watterman in here now!" He said it was like watching a volcano erupt. Controlled chaos everywhere.
The on call dr from my dr's office, Watterman, arrived and the nurses started going over my birth plan with her hurriedly. She told me she would check my dilation and go from there. Then she popped my water. Which I had specifically said I didn't want. My contractions instantly became more painful. And they'd been pretty terrible before that. I'm not gonna lie. I yelled at her. I was so angry. Andrew even said very firmly, "you didn't ask. You just did it. We aren't ok with that. " Watterman quickly apologized and said she thought she had told me she was doing it. She decided to step out for a minute so I could calm down because I was pretty upset.
A minute or two later, my body went on auto control. I grabbed Andrew's hand and told him I was pushing. The nurse said," oh no. We have to wait for the dr. Don't push. ". I pushed. Then I pushed again. The nurse again," no! No! Don't push! Stop pushing! Get the dr NOW!!"
Dr. Watterman robed up and watched as I pushed three more times and the nurse caught Alice at 2:59 am. I had completely blocked the nurses out and trusted my body and its Maker. I figured, there were ten people in the room. Someone would catch her.
They immediately put my babe on my chest and waited for the cord to stop pulsing so they could clamp it and Andrew could cut it. The nurse helped me get my robe down so we could do skin to skin. The next hour or so was spent nursing and holding my babe.
The minute she was out, I felt 100% fine. Seriously. I am still in shock. When they took her for a bath, I got off the bed and went to the bathroom without assistance. It was amazing. With silas I was incapable of anything for days because of all the drugs in my system. This was such a night and day experience.
Another huge difference was that Alice latched on and nursed like a champ. No extreme weight loss, tears, or fears about this little lady's eating. That's for sure!
We ended up having to stay for 48 hours simply bc the group b strep swab my dr had taken Thursday didn't have results back. It was a long stay. Alice was given a clean bill of health and I was rocking recovery on just motrin. We wanted to be home and we were missing Silas so much. We were finally released on Sunday afternoon and it was a sweet homecoming indeed.
So there ya go. From gas pains to labor to the longest, fastest drive to Norman ever to 1 hour and 5 pushed later, a healthy little babe was born. True to her nickname, our Firefly arrived in just the blink of an eye but that blink was brilliant and shiny and magical. (Yes, I said shiny. If you got it, we can be BFF's ;) ).
