Charliebabe's Grand Entrance

Oh, my sweet Charliebabe.  You have definitely entered our hearts and lives with a bang.  Here's the story of her entrance.

To begin, I had dreams she was a girl during my pregnancy and I could not, for the life of me, picture a boy!  I was also fascinated with reading c-section delivery stories and had a nagging feeling at the back of my mind that I would end up having one.  I had dream Tuesday, January 7th she was breech, asked doctor the next day at an appointment, but she said the baby was head down because of heartbeat location.

I started maternity leave a week early even though I had only returned to work on Thursday due to snow/cold days.  I realized just how tired I was while working on Thursday and luckily had a meeting with my long-term sub that afternoon.  I woke up on Friday feeling like I was getting a cold and decided to pull the trigger and declare myself dunzo.  Thank heavens I have an awesome principal who trusted my judgement and allowed me to make said decisions on my own.  My mom and I went to get pedicures on Saturday so that I could have pretty feet and also to rub my ridiculously swollen feet and ankles.  On Monday I upgraded Matt and my phones (Is that correct grammar??  That sounds funky...), bought a new freezer, cleaned the garage, organized my laundry, and helped Matt cook dinner.  I even told Matt that I thought I might be nesting.

My water broke at 7:15 pm Monday, January 13, 2014.  It wasn't quite like the movies, but it was definitely a surprise!  It felt a bit like I had peed my pants.  I was more concerned with whether I got any in the bed because I REALLY didn't feel like changing the sheets for the second day in a row...oh the things that pass through your head. 

I took a shower to ease the "gross factor" and to be clean for the day or two ahead since I didn't know how long everything would take.  Once I had done that I called the doctor who told me to come in right away since I had tested positive for Group B Strep.  I was admitted to the hospital at 8:45 and in triage until 11:00 pm.  I was dilated to 2 cm when they checked me in triage.

They had me labor through the night to see if I would start contracting regularly on own.  Nope.  So, I tried to get some sleep.  I noticed that the baby passed meconium sometime during the night.  I was hopeful that it wouldn't be a problem since my water had broken so long before.

They started me on pitocin at 8:00 am and I was still 2 cm.  I climbed into the tub and spent the next few hours in the dark bathroom trying to take my mind off of the time and the pain.  I kept draining some of the water and filling the tub back up with fresh hot water.  The nurse joked that I was going to be completely pruned by the time I delivered since I stayed in for so long.  

I thought I was dying around 10/10:15.  I knew in the back of my mind that I was in transition and most likely very close to delivery.  The nurse told me that I would have to get out of the tub for her to check me which prompted me to tell her that if she didn't want to carry me she would have to get me something to take the edge off the pain.  My contractions were so close together that I barely had time to get from the tub to the bed without being in the throes of one. 

I changed my mind and begged for an epidural at 10:15/10:30.  Sitting still while dealing with contractions was HORRIFIC.  It's a good thing that Matt was right there with me or I probably would have screamed my head off at the effort.  I may or may not have told the anesthesiologist that I loved him...a few times.

Once I was comfortable (which was pretty dang quickly...epidurals are awesome) I got checked and was dilated to 10 cm.  No wonder I thought I was dying.  Then, the nurse checked me for the first time since being in triage.  (They don't check continually if you water has already broken to keep from introducing bacteria.)  While getting checked nurse exclaimed in a very surprised tone, "Oh!"  I grimly said, "The baby's breech, isn't it?"  To which she replied that she thought she stuck her finger in an ear, a mouth, or a rectum.  My dream from the week before was confirmed when an intern did an ultrasound.  (Funny enough, he plays a role in a couple of weeks as well...small world.)

I was able to say goodbye to mom, dad, MIL, and FIL and got a chance to pray with my dad before they took me in.  They brought into OR at 1:00.  I was shaking so badly and crying so hard they warned me they could slip and give me a bad incision if I didn't calm down.  They began and Matt wasn't there yet which really freaked me out.  Matt arrived and began talking to me about school to keep me calm.  HE WAS AMAZING.  He watched the whole surgery, even the part where the doctor showed him my insides.  I kind of forced him into that since I wanted him to be the one to tell me what gender the baby was.  

Charliebabe (Charlotte Josephine) arrived at 1:12 pm crying like a banshee.  We all realized after the fact that it would have been cool if the doctor had waited two more minutes and delivered her at 1:14 on 1-14-14.  The doctor said my uterus is heart-shaped which might have affected her ability to turn.  From the shape of her head we can determine that she was NEVER head down. 

She looks just like the baby I saw in my head, hair and all.  It's amazing how that works.   

We adore our girl.

Jordan