I was due on October 22nd and had a scheduled c-section for Friday, October 15th since Sean had decided to assume the breech position for the last half of my pregnancy. After realizing this was my only option, I was mentally and emotionally prepared to have a c-section. I had been seeing a back specialist and physical therapist throughout the pregnancy since I was having some severe pain on my sciatic nerve. When the school year started after labor day, I gave it a valiant two weeks and decided that standing on my feet all day, teaching high-school punks was more than I could handle in addition to my back pain and my broken foot (that I hadn't realized was broken yet, but was limping around on it for weeks). With a doctor's note excusing me from work, I was on medical leave and intended to rest until Sean's c-section.
With my 27th birthday on Saturday, October 2nd, Scott and I decided to throw one last party at our house and considered it Scott's last night of "debauchery" before our lives were about to drastically change. So, on Friday the 1st, I spent the first part of my morning cleaning the house and prepping for Saturday's festivities. I was alarmed when I went to the bathroom around 10am to find that I had passed what looked to be my bloody show. I ran off to the computer to Google the characteristics of what I had found on the toilet paper and was shocked to read that labor usually follows a bloody show within 48 hours. I freaked out. I called my mom to tell her all this and of course, she was on edge too. My dad was traveling for work and wasn't scheduled to be home for a week. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law were in Florida visiting family, and my father-in-law was supposed to leave that evening for the lake house Up North. I couldn't believe that if labor was supposed to come that weekend, more than half of our family wouldn't be in town for it! Not to mention that it was three weeks before my due date! My mom said she was planning on going to Macy's for an errand and would pick up some Chicken Caesar wraps for lunch at Macy's to bring to my house.
She came by around noon and by then I had just about finished cleaning. I desperately needed a shower, but figured I would do that after lunch when she went back to work. We were chatting at lunch about who was "on-call" that weekend from my doctor's practice. I stood up to get the calendar from the doctor's office in our den and felt a huge gush. I froze in place and my mom asked what was wrong. I told her I thought I peed my pants. She said she didn't think it was pee and I rushed to the bathroom to sit on the toilet while the rest of my bag of waters ruptured. I couldn't believe it was happening! I quickly called the OB's office and spoke to the nurse who informed me I needed to go to labor and delivery. My mom needed to run to her office real quick to grab her work for the weekend (luckily, she only worked 5 minutes away from my house at the time). I told her to go to her office and get what she needed and I would shower and throw my last minute items in the hospital bag. I also figured I would take my chances to see if Scott would answer his phone. Since he's a teacher, it's not always easy to reach him in the classroom or on his cell for that matter. Oddly enough though, it was his prep hour and he was in the office making copies for when he'd go on "maternity leave" since I had given him the speech that at 37 weeks he should be officially prepared for things to happen at any time. Little did we know...
I got a hold of him after calling twice and I was so excited to tell him that my water had broke and he needed to leave to meet us at the hospital. My mom came back, drove me to labor and delivery, and I was sent to triage. They did a quick swab to test for amniotic fluid. It came back positive immediately. They hooked up all the monitors, did a quick internal exam (I wasn't dilated at all), and told me that since I had just eaten lunch, they needed 6 hours before doing the c-section to let my food digest. Also, there were no available labor and delivery rooms and since I was heading to the OR in 6 hours, they figured I wouldn't mind just hanging out in triage. Time seemed to fly by! With my mom and father-in-law there to take shifts keeping us entertained, I was surprised when the doctor said it was time to go. Scott put on his scrubs, which we all thought would make a great Halloween costume, I said goodbye to my mom, and off we went.
It was very scary to be wheeled into the OR by myself. Scott had to wait in the hall while they inserted my spinal. My initial thoughts were that it was extremely bright, very cold, and there were a ton of people in there! The spinal was the worst part in my opinion. They had seen the x-rays of my back and knew how apprehensive I was going in about having a needle that close to where I had surgery on my back. However, they failed to tell me that while they are inserting the spinal, it's normal to feel "lightning bolts" of pain down one or both legs. When this happened, I screamed out in pain and immediately started crying. I assumed that they had hit a nerve and done further damage to my back. It took a while for me to calm down after that. They had the spinal successfully put in, they tied my arms down to the "cross", Scott was able to come in to the room at that point, and I just felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest. It was hard to breathe during the entire operation. I could hear the doctors and nurses having a conversation about their weekend plans, but felt the pulling and tugging of what they were doing. It wasn't painful, it just felt like a lot of pressure. It wasn't long before they were ready to pull Sean out. They asked if we wanted the mirror held up to see him being born and surprisingly, we both agreed. It was a wonderful moment! At 8:31pm, Sean Madden Ferstle was born! Sean cried and cried and it felt like an eternity before they brought him over to us from getting him cleaned up, weighed, and assessed. He was perfect. 6 lbs. 7 oz. 21 inches.
We went to recovery after that and after about an hour, we were moved to our Mother and Baby Care room upstairs. Since it was getting late, my mom and father-in-law left to go their separate ways, promising to visit in the morning. And we finally had our first few hours of alone time with Sean. We were both exhausted and not sure what to expect that night, but felt so very blessed that we had a healthy, happy baby and that my delivery went as smooth as it could.
So, tonight, the night before I turn 37 weeks, I'm going in with no expectations of going into labor tomorrow at all. I mean, how weird would it be to be at the same point in my pregnancy for delivering both of my sons. But, it just makes me feel nostalgic to the exciting day and night that we met Sean. He's changed our lives for the better and has brought such joy to my life, that I can't even imagine what having another will be like. I'm so excited and so anxious to meet Evan. It feels like the longest 9 months of my life. But, I know that he will come when he's ready. So, for now, we wait and wait knowing that this experience will be completely different, but just as special.
Such great memories!
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