Declan's Birth Story - Part ONE
7:18 PMMy prediction was that Declan was coming in the 37th week. I had Chloe at 37 weeks 6 days. . .so I just KNEW that Declan would be here around the same timeframe. 37 weeks 3 days I went into labor. The day began like all others - we got up, got ready...but when I sat Chloe down for breakfast at 8:24am I had my first contraction. Nothing too serious - just a small mild contraction but enough to get my attention. So I started timing them. On my second contraction 8 minutes later, my mom phoned me and immediately said "whats going on, I know something's happening?!". Mother's intuition, I tell ya :)
Until I knew 100% that I was in active labor, I told Jon to continue his day as normal and I'd just pop into the doctor to make sure Declan was doing ok. Earlier in the week a stand in Doctor (my Doctor was on vacation) said she thought Declan may have flipped from the breach position...but I was still cautious.
As soon as I arrived at the office, they did a stress test which confirmed contractions at 3 to 5 minutes apart. Again, the NP said it looked like Declan was head down but they were apprehensive that my labor would continue, so she told me to go for a long walk and see what happened and call back when I could not talk through a contraction. So, I walked and walked and my contractions continued to get closer together. 6 hours later they were 1 minute apart but I was still able to talk through a contraction. Because I wasn't in terrible agony I was hesitant on what to do. Should I expect the contractions to stop, like the Doctor was predicting...or should I go in a demand they check me every hour?! I wanted option 2 because I was feeling apprehensive as to Declan's position. I had been told twice that he was head down though...
Suddenly at about 3:30pm my contractions started getting stronger. At this point I was not waiting any longer, so we went back to the Doctors office. Sure enough I was progressing in labor and they ruled it baby time! I made the call to Jon to let him know that I was being transferred and for him to meet me at the hospital. As they were beginning the transfer to the hospital the Doctor on call decided to do a quick ultrasound to make sure Declan was indeed head down. This is when EVERYTHING changed! A quick swipe of the ultrasound wand...and Declan was BREACH! I so so so wanted a natural birth with Declan, add that disappointment with major pregnancy hormones, a good dose of worry and I was pretty beside myself. Picture big tears and lots of sobs!
I had my mom with me who was so supportive, and she held me and reminded me constantly that everything would be ok. The Doctors (whom seemed to multiple following the findings of Declan being breach at this stage of labor) were extremely concerned as I was SOO far along in labor that Declan could literally come at any time. So the normally slow, yet organized, transfer to the hospital became a frenzied rush to get me to the labor and delivery ward as quickly as possible. I was too upset to phone Jon at this point, so my mom called Jon and told him to get to the hospital in the quickest way possible - don't stop at go, don't collect $200. Only problem was...it was almost 5pm, Jon was on his way to pick up Chloe, and they were 45 minutes away when there is NO traffic....and on a Friday at 5pm...well you're looking at over an hour - and a baby ain't waiting for traffic to clear, folks.
Suddenly at about 3:30pm my contractions started getting stronger. At this point I was not waiting any longer, so we went back to the Doctors office. Sure enough I was progressing in labor and they ruled it baby time! I made the call to Jon to let him know that I was being transferred and for him to meet me at the hospital. As they were beginning the transfer to the hospital the Doctor on call decided to do a quick ultrasound to make sure Declan was indeed head down. This is when EVERYTHING changed! A quick swipe of the ultrasound wand...and Declan was BREACH! I so so so wanted a natural birth with Declan, add that disappointment with major pregnancy hormones, a good dose of worry and I was pretty beside myself. Picture big tears and lots of sobs!
I had my mom with me who was so supportive, and she held me and reminded me constantly that everything would be ok. The Doctors (whom seemed to multiple following the findings of Declan being breach at this stage of labor) were extremely concerned as I was SOO far along in labor that Declan could literally come at any time. So the normally slow, yet organized, transfer to the hospital became a frenzied rush to get me to the labor and delivery ward as quickly as possible. I was too upset to phone Jon at this point, so my mom called Jon and told him to get to the hospital in the quickest way possible - don't stop at go, don't collect $200. Only problem was...it was almost 5pm, Jon was on his way to pick up Chloe, and they were 45 minutes away when there is NO traffic....and on a Friday at 5pm...well you're looking at over an hour - and a baby ain't waiting for traffic to clear, folks.
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