The Birthstory: Part 1

I have a strange fascination with reading other people's birth stories. I don't know-they just interest me. So here’s mine.

The week that I had David, Josh was in California all week. We had gotten a notice from our HOA a week before telling us to clean up our weeds in the front lawn OR ELSE! We had until Thursday to get them cleaned up, so I spent a couple hours in the morning and then again in the evening on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday trying to clean them up.

On Thursday I woke up feeling not good. Just kind of achey all over and no energy. I assumed I had done too much in the yard and decided to take it easy that day. My lower back was hurting, but it had been hurting for a couple of months. I thought it was just because I was pregnant and dealing with a 17 month old baby at the same time. I had been trying to get the chiropractor for a couple of weeks hoping that would help, but just never found the time.

I was seriously exhausted on Thursday so I made sure to try and nap when Carden did, but my luck is always bad with that. Of course he only wanted a 45 minute nap that morning. I tried to put him down again in the afternoon but again, no luck. I was so exhausted that I put him in his crib and started crying, begging him to please take a nap so mama could sleep. He was surprised by my crying and was quiet for about 5 minutes, but that's all. So I brought him downstairs and laid down on the couch while he watched a movie.

It was when we were watching the movie that I noticed every time I stood up I had a contraction. No pain at all though. Throughout the evening I noticed them more often, but again they were painless and only happened when I was moving. I started to get a little nervous, so I went upstairs and researched Braxton Hicks contractions. My contractions were identical to what I found, so I managed to talk myself out of being too concerned.

Josh came home about 6ish and we played in the yard and went on a walk. I was still having lots of contractions and talked to him about it, but didn't want to make a big deal over anything. That night I took a bath and made Josh give me a back massage and surprise! the back pain was gone! I still had some contractions, but I felt sooo much better, had energy for the first time all day, so I decided that I was just fine and didn't worry anymore.

That night I woke up around 4 am and realized that a contraction had woke me up and it hurt. I can remember being surprised and thinking that this was not good. The contractions were all in my back at this point. I felt my stomach during one of them and it was completely soft, just my back was contracting. I knew that preterm labor could be in your back, but it just was so confusing to me that my stomach wasn't contracting at all. I decided that I would just go to the doctor first thing in the morning and tried to go back to sleep. Of course that didn't happen and I started to time my contractions, just for the heck of it. Surprise! They were 9 minutes apart. It was about 5:30ish and Josh was awake by then, so I called the doctor and talked to the on call nurse. She told me to get to the hospital ASAP and reminded me to go the hospital where we had Carden at (about 15 minutes from our house). There is another hospital right by our house but they can't handle preemies.

Josh and I tried calling his parents, but couldn't get a hold of them. Carden was still sleeping so we decided I would just drive myself to the hospital. I was pretty sure that nothing was wrong. If they were real contractions they would just give me some medicine and tell me to take it easy for a few days. No big deal. So I brushed my teeth and hair, changed my clothes, put on a little make up, and finally got in the car to head to the hospital.

To be continued....