The birth story is not long at all so I'll go back a week or so and go from there. On Monday the fourth, I was having some lower abdominal pain. I knew it wasn't labor but I didn't know what it was so Arthur and I went into the Labor & Delivery Triage Dept. at the hospital and they assessed and monitored me. Sure enough, not labor. They did check to see if I was progressing at all and I was at the typical 38 week three centimeters, 60% effaced, that many women are at for the last month of their pregnancies. They didn't, however, have an explanation for the discomfort so they just unhooked me and we were on our way. Wednesday rolled around and I headed to my 38 week appt. The baby hadn't been moving around as much as he usually did so I mentioned it to my caregiver and she said, "Well now that you've told me that, I'm gonna have to send you up to get monitored." I thought, oh great, here comes the girl that has anxiety (who doesn't really) and thinks something is wrong...again. So up I went and got all hooked up. They did notice the low/decreased motions of the baby and about an hour into the monitoring, they had me gulp down a bunch of juice. 20 minutes before they let me go they noticed an increase in movement and were happy with that so they unhooked me and off I was...again. Oh and I was still at a three and 60%.
Now, here comes the morning of the 11th. I started having mild contractions at around one and they continued every 4-5 minutes for three hours. So I finally called, cuz I didn't want to be THAT girl again, and they said I should come in. So we went in around 4:45-5ish and got hooked up and the nurse checked me and said, "I'm sorry hon, but you're closed." I sat there, a little confused, and thought, WHAT?! I'm closed??!! Just a few days ago I was at a three. Well, after a few frustrated tears were shed, I asked her to explain and she did a great job helping me understand what my body was doing. I wasn't closed, I was just not allowing the baby to move down anywhere. So, once again, I was unhooked and sent home. Poor choice of words lady for a hormonal pregnant mom.
Too long?! Well, I'm just getting to the real story. Wednesday, the 13th, I woke up at 2am and was having contractions. Nothing too substantial so I thought I just lay for a few minutes and see what happened. They got painful really fast. I hopped in the shower thinking that maybe the warm water would ease the pain....but, alas, it did not. At around 3 I went down stairs and Arthur came down and asked what was up. I told him the contractions were pretty intense, but I was not about to be THAT girl...again. So, I watched the timing pretty close and when the contractions were about 2 1/2-3 minutes apart I went up and told Arthur. By this time, I was swaying and doing everything I could to ease the discomfort. I had no idea what was about to happen.
We got in the car, and I got into the most comfortable position I could, and told Arthur to drive quickly yet cautiously. We got to the hospital at 4:05am, Arthur did his job, and the L & D Triage nurse came and got me and had me lay in one of the beds and she checked me. All the while I was having contractions and they'd work around those. I was so fearful of embarrassment and very concerned she was going to say, "Sorry hon, but you're closed." It only took half a second for her to start getting other nurses together because I was complete. WHAT?!! I couldn't believe it. I was feeling the pressure but I had no idea something like this could happen so fast. They wheeled me into my room and the doctor said that if she broke my water (yes it was still intact), things would happen really fast. Sure enough, I wanted to push as soon as that bag of water went everywhere. She asked me not to push....WHAT?!!!, lots of questioning their judgement ;-)...apparently there was still a little bit of cervix that needed to move with another contraction so I did my darnedest not to push (it felt impossible) and at 4:22am big boy Jett Christopher was laying on my chest and crying those beautiful new baby cries. He was 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 1/2 in. long. It was such an amazing, emotional, scary, exciting, among other crazy feelings, experience. Within in a couple of hours I was moved to my recovery room and spent a lot of time getting to know this little guy who had just come and busted his way into this world.
We were released on Thursday the 14th after a 36 hour stay, which was awesome. At first I felt like I wanted to stay as long as my insurance would let me but after being there the full day and night, I was ready to be home to be with my family, which kept on going while I was gone, and start adjusting as soon as I could.
Maya with her Mama and baby brother.
The new and improved Yuan clan!!
Little Mr. Jett...chubby bunny.
