Let me take you back in time to the birth of my son. I had a rather uneventful pregnancy if I do say so myself... it was my first pregnancy and I was so happy! My due date was June 20, 2006 and I was excited to have a summer baby (it's great for birthday parties).
I was at a luncheon at work on April 11 and one of the ladies was asking how I felt and I gave the usual, "I feel great and I can't wait to meet him" comment. My only complaint was heartburn, man did I have heartburn! But if that is my only problem, I have nothing to complain about.
5 o'clock rolls around I am driving home from work... it was a gorgeous day I remember. One of those days that the sky is extra blue, the sun is warm... not a cloud in the sky. I was just so happy! I arrive home about 5:30 PM, get out of the car and start walking to the door. As I am walking I feel something and, oh my gosh I think I just peed! Mind you I am about 7 months pregnant at this point. I was so grateful to be at home so I could change.
I remember standing in the kitchen eating some leftover raviolis over the sink and I felt like I peed again. I thought what the heck is going on? If I can't hold my urine I am NOT going back to work tomorrow. So I was off to change again and decided to go to the store to get those Poise pads. I though I just couldn't stop peeing! I felt great, just wet, ha!
Maybe about 6:30 my husband Mike calls me... he had to meet someone after work and wouldn't be home until about 7 pm. I started laughing and I told him that I thought I had wet my pants. He was like "what?" and I told him what had happened.
After Mike got home and another 3-4 clothing changes, I decide to call my OB/GYN. It is after hours at this point so I wait for a call back. The doctor calls and I tell her that I think I have lost bladder control. She said to come in and get checked out, and I should be in and out in about 30 minutes. So I told my husband I was going in and drove myself the the hospital to get checked out.
Turns out my water broke, well Premature Rupture of Membranes (PROM)... same thing. So I am laying there as she is telling me that the goal is to keep me pregnant for 48 more hours. I'm sitting there thinking 2 days??? I still have 10 weeks to go! I was very calm, it was weird. It was so surreal. They needed to transfer me to another hospital that has a Level III NICU, luckily it is close to my house. So, we called my husband and told him to meet me at the new hospital at around 11 pm.
They admitted me to the hospital and hooked me up to an IV and antibiotics and also gave me steroid shots to help the baby's lungs, colon and prevent bleeding in the brain. I got the shots every 12 hours for 48 hours. In the hospital I was on bedrest. I was allowed to get up to use the restroom and shower, but that was it. No walking around, I couldn't even be pushed around in a wheelchair.
I had an Ultrasound the next morning and they checked the amniotic fluid, there was one small pocket of it left. The sac would never seal up again, but fluid would be produced every time the baby urinates and then just come out. They had me on a baby heart monitor and contraction monitor for the first 48 hours, then they decided to only do it twice a day for about 30-60 minutes each time. His heartrate was good and I had a few contractions which I didn't feel a couple of days. There was talk about having to have a C-Section if the baby didn't tolerate the contractions well. I did not want to have one of those!
April 23... 12 long days later I woke up at 4 am with mild contractions. My nurse came in about 15 minutes later to do her routine check and I told her that I was having some. She said to call her back in when they were stronger and regular. I tried to fall back asleep but I couldn't. I kept trying to time my contractions which seemed long and frequent. Meanwhile, around 5:30 am I tried to call my husband at home, no answer. By 6:15 am my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and I was in disbelief. The nurse put the monitors on me and then I got very nauseaous... she said, yeah you are in labor. I threw up 3 times over the next hour or so. I was starting to get more uncomfortable. So I am frantically calling my husband in between contractions at home and on his cell phone. I knew 2 of his friends were staying at the house that night with him, so I was hoping someone would get the darn phone.
By 7:30 am I called my sister and she said she would be up as soon as she could. My parents had left for a 2 week vacation the day before so I knew they wouldn't be there. By 7:45 I was in so much pain I asked for pain medicine and they said it was too late. They gave me my first internal exam and I was fully dilated and the baby was ready to come. They moved me on a different bed to move me to the birthing floor. In the elevator on the way down I said I think they baby is coming right now. They said don't push! Keep breathing!
My sister was waiting outside the elevator and she came in the room with us at about 7:55. They paged 3 doctors and we were waiting for one to show up and when I saw him in the room I knew that I would get to push soon. Well 3-4 pushes later little Michael John was born at 8:15 am weighing in at 3 lbs 12 ounces and 16.5 inches long. As soon as he was out all pain went away, it was so weird! He let out a cry and they showed him to me very quick and then cleaned him up and did his little tests. When they were done the nurse held him next to my face for what seemed like 15 seconds and then he was whisked off to the NICU. I never did get a hold of my husband until 9:45 am. He didn't believe me when I told him that I had the baby. He is very upset that he missed the birth, but I told him not to worry about it and that I wasn't mad at him.
Little Mikey was doing very well considering how early he was. He could breathe on his own and did not require assistance. He was being fed through a feeding tube at one point but eventually moved to bottles of breastmilk and tolerated it well. His lowest weight was 3 lbs 7 oz and he did have jaundice, those seemed to be the things that were keeping him in the NICU. Meantime, I finally got released from the hospital and I could not wait to get out! They don't know why my water broke early, and they may never know. No infection, no diseases, no accidents, no clue... it just happened.
Finally, 3 weeks later on Mother's Day we got the good news that we can take him home! We were so excited!
Today, Mikey is a thriving 17 month old toddler. He started walking about a month ago and man can he move!
