| My husband and I were starting to plan our wedding for July 19, 2003. In November, we discovered that our firstborn was planning on making an appearance around the same time. We happily changed the date to February 1. My pregnancy went pretty well until 23 weeks. I was cleaning the house when I started having contractions. Thinking of Braxton-Hicks contractions, I called my mother-in-law, who is a certified nurse midwife (CNM) and asked her about them. She said everything was OK as long as I wasn't having more than five in an hour. About 15 minutes later I called her back and told her I had had six since we talked last. She came right over and took me to the hospital. I was surprised because she is not an alarmist by any means. I arrived at the hospital at 3 p.m. or so. By 6 p.m. they were telling me I'd have to be flown by helicopter to a hospital over an hour away. Then I was worried. After spending a very, very long week there, they determined that my cervix wasn't changing and that I just had a uterus that liked to contract. A lot. So after being on bed rest for the month of April I was finally allowed to be up and around part-time. Keep in mind that I was contracting pretty much the next two months. Towards the end of my pregnancy they disappeared. Go figure. Then came borderline diabetes. Now, the only thing I craved the entire pregnancy was sugar. These cruel people were telling me to cut it from my diet altogether. Talk about torture! But I made it through. Towards the end of my pregnancy I was feeling pretty good, a little swollen and tired, but not bad considering. I went in for a checkup on July 15. While my wonderful CNM, Angie, was listening for my little girl's heartbeat it dropped down to 70 beats per minute. Angie sent me directly to OB for monitoring. Through an ultrasound it was determined that I had low amniotic fluid. The plan was to push IV fluids and induce labor in a few days when my fluid went back up. My daughter had another idea. I was only dilated a fingertip and wasn't expecting to have a baby for a few days. But her heartbeat kept dropping every hour or so. The nurse woke me up at 10:35 p.m. to tell me to call my family because they were going to deliver the baby by Cesarean section. I was half-awake and asked her, "Now?� "Yep, now." So I called and woke up my confused husband and told him who to call. My husband, mom and mother-in-law all arrived as I was being prepped. My best friend made it just before the baby was born. Emalyn Georgette was born at 12:14 a.m. on July 16, her father's birthday. Hopefully, this means he will be able to remember it! She was 7 pounds, 2 ounces, 20 inches long. She was an absolute joy! And she came home from the hospital on July 19, our original wedding date! I feel a little bad that I didn't get to experience labor. I know the women who have think I'm nuts, but it was something I was looking forward to. But I'm not depressed about it. I have a happy, healthy little girl, and that's all that matters. Thanks for reading my story. I learned so much from everyone else that I wanted to share mine. This story was written by Wendy |