The Birth of Eden - part 4

(continuing)

No, no, NO!! 
This is not happening! My water did not just brake! 
Not today! Oh God, please, NOT TODAY! 

My husband is so sick he won't even wake up, I don't have anyone to watch my son, and my MIL will be here in the morning. Do I drive myself to the birth center? I don't have one ounce of energy left in me. You know what, change of plans, give me that epidural!!

I was in tears when I called J to tell her what was happening. She told me that it wasn't my water, when your water breaks there is a lot more water than that. She told me it was probably my cervix softening that was causing me to leak (sorry sor the TMI, might as well get over it or stop reading). She told me to try to relax and go to sleep, and take it easy the next day because I could go into labor any minute now.

When I laid in bed, contractions started coming, but they were different this time. They were a lot like the contractions I had when I was given pitocin, just not as intense. But they were definitely not Braxton Hicks anymore. I prayed and prayed some more and eventually I was able to fall asleep.

The next morning, my MIL and SIL got here (yay!), I also had some bloody show and lost my mucus plug (google it if you wanna know what that is, I don't want to gross you out). I also kept leaking that water, I even had to wear pads. I called J to tell her what was going on and she told me to STOP WORKING AND GO TO SLEEP! I could go into labor any minute now and she didn't want me exhausted when that happens. I took it easy through the rest of the day and contractions died down.

I woke up in the middle of the night anxious, I couldn't fall asleep. My MIL was here, Ryan wasn't sick anymore, we were in the new house. And now the clock was ticking for baby to come in 2013. So I decided to watch youtube videos on exercises I could do to get baby to drop, and accupressure points to get labor started. So I was doing all that while watching "extreme couponers" in the very early morning. When I laid down to go back to sleep, contraction started coming, and they were even more intense. Just out of curiosity I started timing them. Every 5-8 minutes apart. But eventually I was able to fall asleep for a couple hours.

When I woke up there was a wet spot on the sheets. I had leaked that weird water so much that it got my sheets wet! What the heck is going on? Is it my water or not?

So I called J and she told to meet her at the birth center at 11 am, she wanted to check me to find out what was going on. At that point I was thinking she was going to keep me there to have the baby!! And contractions kept coming but they weren't really intense. Ryan and I were frantic trying to get the birth center bag and everything else ready for baby to come. I just wasn't ready to have the baby quite yet. I didn't even have time to unpack Eden's things!

At the Birth Center, J tested that weird liquid and it really was amniotic fluid, but she said my bag of waters was still intact. there was a nice layer between me and baby, so baby was still protected. She said that it was probably the outter layer of my Bag of Waters that was leaking. She also checked my cervix and found out I was about 4-5 cm dilated, my cervix wasn't as soft as she thought it was (which is good), but baby was still high, and to my panick, she started to turn posterior for the first time in this pregnancy. J told me that when a contraction came I should get on all fours or lean over something to help baby turn.

She told to go home and wait for labor to start on its own.

At this point, I was starting to doubt that contractions were ever going to pick up. I did have to have Pitocin with my first after all.

Ryan and I left and we went to Target to pick up some final things for Eden and walk around to help labor get started. I had some really intense contractions while walking at Target! We left there and went to Panda Express to get some spicy food, spicy food is supposed to help get labor started.

*pause #1* I kept thinking what it would have been like if I went to the hospital. They would have kept me there and started me on Pitocin to get contractions going. I probably would have needed to epidural, be trapped on my back, and baby would have turned even more Posterior. I was so happy and at peace that J gave my body the time it needed to go into labor on its own.

We went home and Ryan made me stop unpacking and go to sleep, save my energy for when labor starts. So I took a nap and contractions stopped, but water kept leaking.

When I woke up, Ryan and everybody else were just leaving to go to McDonald's but I decided to stay. I really wanted to finish organizing baby's things, hanging her clothes and all that. And I was also determined to get labor started for real now. So I got my breast pump out and started pumping and bouncing on my yoga ball while watching "Deadliest Catch".

That's when things got intense.