Oh, Happy Day!!

Like I mentioned earlier, my due date was May 20, 2012. This was PERFECT because the last day of school was scheduled to be May 22! I did, however, decide to take off work beginning on May 4, just so I could get things ready here at home and get in as much last-minute rest as I could. :)

Towards the end of the pregnancy, my blood pressure was beginning to elevate slightly, and my feet were beginning to swell tremendously! I attributed most of it to the fact that we were having a very warm/humid spring here in Kansas, so I did my best to prop my feet up whenever I could. I also began teaching while sitting down... not my favorite, but I also didn't care to have ankles and feet the size of my calves by the end of the day!

On April 21, my brother's family, my parents, and us had a joint garage sale at my folks' house. We sat outside all day and collected money from people who wanted our junk - woohoo! My feet continued to swell as the day went on; so much so that my mom made me prop them up and she put bags of ice on them. I looked so nice as people came up to pay for their new treasures... a big ol' preggo lady sprawled out with bags of ice over her feet. Sigh. Oh well, it felt good and made my mom feel a little better, too!

That afternoon/evening as we were winding down and packing up, I started to feel... odd. I had pressure down *there* like I hadn't had before, and I was very tired. The pangs remained throughout the weekend, and on Monday, when I got to school and had a few different people ask me if I was feeling alright, I decided to call the doctor. He assured me it wasn't labor but essentially put me on bed rest once I was home from work - no dishes, no cooking, no cleaning, and feet up! I followed his directions on Monday and Tuesday, and Hubby was a superstar (as he was through the WHOLE ENTIRE pregnancy), and took over some stuff for me at home.

On Wednesday evening, we had our pre-admission appointment at the hospital so they could show us where to go when we needed to come in to have the baby and get some paperwork signed and such. I made a wise-crack on my Facebook page as we were heading up that "when they saw my swollen feet, they'd probably just go ahead and admit me right then and there." Well, that didn't happen, and after the appointment, we headed back home (about 8:30) and relaxed a little bit before heading to bed (about 10:30).

And then...

I awoke with a start at 11:30 - and quickly exclaimed, "Ummm, honey, I think I wet the bed!" I tried sitting up, but I couldn't without more fluid coming out, so Hubby so graciously got me a towel and I hopped/skipped/jumped to the bathroom, where I called the on-call doctor and he told me to come on in because my water had broken!! I was in a bit of denial - after all, it was only April 25 and due date wasn't until May 20! Our hospital bags weren't packed yet, the nursery wasn't finished (our furniture was actually scheduled to be delivered the afternoon of the 26th), and my long-term sub wasn't supposed to start until May 4!

As I was trying to let all of this soak in, I was telling Hubby where to find all the things I wanted in the hospital bags, so he was fetching all of that so nicely for me. I called my parents to let them know what was happening and told them I'd give them an update once we got checked in and knew mroe information. Then I decided I wanted to take a shower before we left for the hospital, just in case it would be a while before I got to take one there!

So... water broke at 11:30, and we got on the road about 1:00am to head up to the hospital. On the way up, I started noticing my contractions, but they weren't too bad. They were about 5 minutes apart, and they lasted about 1 minute. I was able to breathe through them no problem, but the talking ceased while I was experiencing one! We got checked in at 1:45, and very quickly they determined I was, indeed, in labor. When they did an exam, the nurse reported I was 4cm dilated and 100% effaced. On our way!! Then, she asked:

"Is he head down?"

"Yes... at my last appointment 2 weeks ago he was!"

"Well, I think he flipped. We're going to do an ultrasound to double-check, but I think he's breech."

"That explains the pains and pressures I was feeling last weekend!"

Baby had, in fact flipped... so C-Section it was for me!! Once hubby and I realized how quickly this was all going down, he called our parents and they all headed up as soon as they could - but not fast enough to see me before I was brought back to the Operating Room. After a very painless spinal and lots of hand-holding between me and Hubby, at 2:52am, my screaming little boy was held above the drape for us to see!! Baby Joey was 19 inches long and weighed 6 lbs, 6.9oz.

Since Joey was only 36 weeks, 4 days when he was born, he was technically considered a preemie baby and had to go visit the NICU for several hours. They just needed to monitor him to make sure that everything was okay, and it was! By that night, our sweet little boy was down with us and we were able to begin our time bonding as a little family of three! We were in the hospital for 3 days, and they were packed full of great visitors and friends/family oohing and ahhing over our little addition.

  

 

I cannot begin to describe how wonderful it felt to have my boy in my arms and his daddy by my side - this life of mine is truly blessed and we are so very lucky to have such a healthy, handsome boy!