Obviously I have good reason, but still, I know you're all anxious to hear how we welcomed our little girl into the world. Since the story is super long (and well, let's be honest... I'm long winded, so I'm going to give you all the details), it's going to be posted in parts. So, you'll have to stay tuned for the rest of the story.
Also, because this blog is also for Abby to look at in the future, as well as myself, for when times passes and I remember nothing on my own and need the help of technology, this story is going to include all the details, whether they be nice and neat, or ugly and dirty. Please use this as forewarning that if you do not care to know all the details, including the not so pretty ones, you might choose to stop reading now.
Journey to Abby
Monday morning, 2am, I suddenly awaken. It takes me a few moments to realize that I'm wet. Yup, I'm wet. Crap! I'm WET! I jump out of bed and race to the restroom! I'm too old to be peeing my pants, so I'm slightly freaking out that this is the moment... my water has broken. I'm also panicking because I know that once your water breaks you are supposed to haul booty to the hospital. This was, of course, NOT in our plans. Ideally, labor would start, we would labor mostly at home (G's parents house in Bako), and then towards the very end, we would haul booty to the hospital for the actual delivery. This approach would help us to avoid as much intervention as possible (yes, our plan was to deliver naturally using the Bradley Method).
Needless to say, I started worrying. What should I do? G was still sleeping soundly, and I didn't want to wake him until I had taken time to think things through and come up with some options. I went back to the room to check the bed, and sure enough there was a small spot on the bed. I bent to smell it to see if it was in fact pee, and I could stop worrying that it might be my BOG (bag of waters). But nope, it did NOT smell like pee, it didn't smell like anything in fact. I immediately went to the computer and began researching what to do when your water breaks prematurely. Of course, many and most suggest going to the hospital right away, simply because this is what the doctor's and nurse's suggest doing because of the risk of infection. However, I found a lot of research that supports waiting a while, and not rushing to the hospital, especially if you do not want any kind of intervention.
In fact, everything I read said that 95% of women whose BOG breaks prematurely will naturally start labor within 48 hours. Being careful not to put anything up the vagina will help ensure that you do not get an infection. Of course if you run to the hospital, the doctor's will do a vaginal check, therefore creating a greater risk of infection. They tell you that because they are using a sterile glove, there is no risk. But think about it, whether they use a sterile glove or not, the problem is anything going back up into the vagina; THAT is what creates the risk of infection, and when they do that check, that is just what they are doing, moving anything outside the vagina back up into the canal. So what wasn't a problem initially has now become a problem, and therefore you definitely need to stay at the hospital because your risk of infection has just gone up.
I even read a story about a gal who waited 3 WEEKS after her BOG broke before her labor started. She did not go to the hospital, but waited for her labor to start naturally, and ultimately she had a healthy baby girl. Let me tell you, I would not have waited that long, that seems a bit extreme to me.
Knowing that we wanted to avoid as much intervention as possible, I confidently opted to go back to bed and hope that my labor would begin while I slept so that we could go to the hospital in the morning, or at least later that day once contractions got close together. So, around 4:30am, I put a towel on the bed, hopped in, and succumbed to my dreams once again. Oh, I forgot, as I was getting into bed G rolled over and asked what was going on, I told him that I thought my BOG had broken, but to go back to bed, we'd discuss it in the morning.
Monday morning, 9 am. G and I both wake up, slightly freaked out, still. As we're sitting in bed trying to figure out what to do, I suggest contacting my Bradley instructor and asking her for advice. I sort of remember her saying that if your BOG broke first, to go straight to the hospital, so I figured I knew what advice she would give me, but I decided to call anyway. Of course, she did in fact suggest going to the hospital right away. I told her about all the research I had done and that I felt confident waiting. Because my BOG had not gushed out, but rather it was just slowly leaking; and because it was clear and not yellow/green to brown/black in color (which could suggest that there was meconium: baby's first stool), she felt slightly better about me waiting and gave me some suggestions about how to get my labor started.
- Go to the store and get some castor oil and make a shake. One part ice cream, one part orange juice (or something acidic), and 2 tbsp of castor oil. Because I was nervous about the use of castor oil, she had me use just 1 tbsp.
- After I drank this concoction, I was to take a very brisk walk. Up some hills maybe, and definitely do some curb walking.
- Then come home and rest for 10 - 30 minutes concentrating on seeing if any contractions were beginning.
- Take a shower
- Then go straight to the hospital whether or not labor had started, because by then it would be 12 hours since my BOG broke. She told me that she was not comfortable with me waiting at all, but that I knew my body and should pray and do what I felt that God was telling me to do.
None of this happened in this way. I failed.
Knowing that we were going to be heading down the Bako either way, we decided to pack up and get our things ready. We put all the last minute things into the Hospital bag and packed all our things in the car. We stopped by the church so that G could drop some things off and give the girls some instructions about the rest of the week, since he wouldn't be there. Then we stopped by the drug store for some castor oil, but we didn't want to buy a whole gallon of ice cream and orange juice and go back home. So we went to the coffee shop next door and asked them to make the shake for me. It was actually super good! They didn't have vanilla, so they used Pineapple coconut with the orange juice, super yum! I couldn't even taste the castor oil. We had lunch there and after that, it was time to head to Bako, no time for any brisk walk.
We got to G's parents house and decided that we would try to get things started naturally by doing the brisk walk, the curb walking; I also decided to have another castor oil shake since I had previously only had half the amount that my instructor typically suggested. We decided that we would not go to the hospital that night, but rather we would wait and go the next morning whether labor had begun or not. So, in the 100 degree weather, I ventured outside for my brisk walk. This resulted in nothing other than me becoming ridiculously sweaty and having painful leg muscles. Upon returning back to the house, my lovely husband was feeling a little better (I completely forgot to mention that he got sick the day before, on Sunday. He thinks he had food poisoning. Needless to say, I was praying Sunday night that nothing would happen until he felt better.... and of course, my BOG broke! So, in the midst of all this, my poor husband is trying to keep up his energy and spirits while feeling like he needs to puke). He had an umbrella in hand and took me out for another walk. This time I did all curb walks, it sucked! We came back, took a shower, and then went out for another walk with my mom. This walk around the block was much slower since my legs still hurt from the initial walk.
When we got back we settled in for the night and watched UP with all the parentals. At that point I started having different feelings in my belly, but I wasn't sure what they were. They mostly just felt like menstrual cramps. It made me realize that I was feeling them during the walk earlier and that they were coming every 10 minutes or so. But since I'd never had a contraction before, I wasn't comfortable labeling it as so; especially since everyone says that if you're not sure if it's a contraction, it's probably not a contraction, because... you'll KNOW!
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