Captain’s Log … 9/7/19 1:33am. I’d been having contractions for weeks and I even had a false labor episode a few days prior. My contractions woke me up and when I tried to go back to sleep, I got hit again at 1:38am with another one. I got up to pee, and when I wiped I noticed blood. I knew today was the day that Emerson was deciding to be born.
So, we make our way out and start driving to the hospital…. until I realized that I forgot my wallet and everything for registration… so we turned around to grab that – and THEN we were on our way.
Once we got to the hospital at around 3am, Jonah dropped me off at the ER entrance while he went to park. I walked through the ER (slowly) towards the elevator and then went up to Labor & Delivery. I had a few contractions in the halls and had to stop to take a breath before continuing on. It was a ghost town in that particular part of the hospital, so I had visions of my water breaking in the middle of the hall and no one there to help… lol.
I finally reached the desk and was signed in. They showed me to a room and Jonah came in after me. Mind you, I knew that at this point I wanted a repeat cesarean and I did NOT want to VBAC.
So, my vitals were taken, the monitors were strapped on, my veins were blown from trying to get an IV in and we were ready for the doc to come in!
Aaaaaaand then my water broke around 6am … and just kept flowing. My water had never broken before on its own, it was always manually broken, so in the back of my head I always wanted to know what that sensation felt like. Well, I got my wish. I was 4-5 cm dilated and 100% effaced at this point and the doctor still wasn’t there yet. After my water broke, my contractions went from every 4 minutes to every 2 minutes and they were super fast and furious. Am I pushing this baby out? I was NOT prepared.
I’ll write a post about why I opted for a repeat cesarean later.
Our doctor comes in and sits and chats with us for about 30-45 minutes until the OR is prepped for us. We absolutely love Dr Bootstaylor. I felt very safe and cared for with him and this is our second cesarean with him as our doctor. He gets it.
They walk me to the OR and get started. I had a mirror to be able to see it ALL and I couldn’t have been happier about it. Jonah took pictures and video and we were so excited to welcome baby girl Emerson earth side.
I stayed in the hospital for all of a day and then I asked to be released. The hospital care here in Georgia isn’t amazing, or at least it hasn’t been amazing the last two times I’ve had a baby, and I recover better at home. Jonah is the most amazing husband and father and he’s so incredibly helpful that I just need to be around him and our girls to feel better.
* DISCLAIMER : it is not normal to be released from the hospital after 24 hours of having a cesarean. I have a progressive doctor and I’ve always healed quickly after each cesarean. I am not a medical professional, nor do I think everyone should leave the hospital so soon after delivery. This is just my personal experience.
The baby blues have hit me hard this time, and I’ve been M.I.A while I sort some things out. I’ll write a post about that later as well.
Do you have a similar birth story??
xo,
Crystal
