Madden's Birth Story

This is going to be VERY long but I wanted to write down Madden's birth story more for my benefit to remember later on. So if it is something others don't want to read or is a bit too much information for your liking feel free to skip it.

Madden's early arrival was a bit unexpected and definitely a surprise as I've previously stated!

At my 36 week appointment for the Strep B test my Midwife checked my cervix to find I was already dilated to 3 cm. Although she warned me we might not see any more progress and I could stay at 3 cm for a couple weeks so not to get my hopes up. I was definitely happy to have that much progress already from just the Braxton Hicks contractions and light cramping but I figured if anything I might go a few days early, nothing sooner than that.

It all started on Sunday July 22 at 36 weeks 6 days pregnant. We had plans to have Jordan, Steph and the kids over to our house for an early dinner to hang out before MJ's arrival, see baby Stella again and to show off the nursery. Dave and I decided to make a run to the grocery store in the morning. After spending a good hour at Hy-Vee and stocking up on groceries for meals for the rest of the week, we were making our way to the car in the parking lot when I thought I felt my water start leaking!

Unsure if this was really my water leaking or just an increase in discharge or me peeing myself we went home to hang out a bit and wait. Dave unloaded the groceries while I changed clothes. Shortly after, another trickle. Since I wasn't having any contractions yet and it was just a small amount of fluid leaking so far we waited. I still wasn't entirely convenience it was truly my water leaking, I was in a bit of denial! I figured it would stop and we would be able to continue our day as planned, plus I already had my next appointment scheduled for the next day first thing in the morning and I would be able to have them check me then.

For the next 2 1/2 hours I went about doing a few loads of laundry, folding and putting away clothes, picking up the house, and loading the dishwasher. In that time there were more small leaks with some gushes of fluid in there as well. I resorted to wearing a pad so I didn't have to keep changing my clothes. Once I had to change that a few times, I figured I should probably call the on-call Midwife to see what we should do. Since I still wasn't having any contractions yet, just a bit of tightening every once in a while but nothing even like the Braxton Hicks I've been feeling the last few weeks, I figured they would tell us to wait until they started or give us a timeline that if nothing happened we should come in. Instead, the Midwife on-call,  Beth, told us to make our way to the hospital now and she would inform Labor and Delivery to expecting us. I was shocked and still in denial that this really could be it!

Dave was laying on the couch just drifting off to sleep when I told him the Midwife wanted us to come in to check to make sure if my water is indeed leaking or not. He jumped up immediately and asked what we needed. Apparently this is why they suggest you have your bag packed around 35 weeks because although I had some basic toiletries packed in my bag, I had nothing else. No clothes for me, nothing for baby and nothing for husband. Still in no hurry, we packed up what we thought we needed and got on our way.

We checked in with registration and was first sent to the Triage around 3:30pm to confirm if my water was leaking. After a good hour in Triage it was determined that my water was leaking for sure but was only partially broke and I was 4 cm dilated. We were officially admitted to L&D however reality was not setting in we were really having a baby!! Once admitted we were taken to our room to settle in. I was hooked up to an IV and wireless monitors to monitor baby's heart rate and my contractions. Since I still wasn't having contractions we decided to walk the halls for a bit and I requested the birth ball to sit on while we waited for Beth to make her rounds and come check on us.

Finally around 7:30pm Beth came in to check me, I had only dilated to 4 3/4cm. Even though we hadn't officially wrote down a birth plan I knew I wanted to do everything possible on my own to move my labor along and to avoid being given pitocin. We decided Beth would break the rest of my water, which wasn't hard to do, to see if my body would naturally start progressing and bring on contractions. We figured we would have quite a bit of down time for that to happen so I let Dave leave to go get something to eat since we didn't really eat lunch at all and had no idea how long this could be. He also was going to call and inform both our parents their grandson would be making his appearance sooner than expected!

Of course soon after Dave left I started to have contractions! He called me on the way back to see how I was in which I informed him he needed to get back asap as my contractions started to get a bit strong and were about 3-5 minutes apart already. I spent the majority of my time during active labor on the birth ball, leaning forward against the bed while Dave rubbed and massaged my back during each contraction. This was the position that felt best for me. Within only a few short hours the contractions got a whole lot stronger, I tried to hold off as long as possible through them before deciding on the epidural. I wait it out until I was checked again at 10:00pm in which I was almost 7cm dilated. Since you never know how long you can be at one point I decided to go ahead with the epidural at that point. While waiting for the anesthesiologist, which took an hour, I got into the whirlpool thinking the water and the jets would help relieve some pain.....it did not. I think it actually made me feel even more uncomfortable with the pressure again my back. Finally at 11pm I was able to get ready for the epidural.

Unfortunately the epidural only partially worked! After an hour it only took care of any back pain I had been having and my thighs were numb (not that that mattered!). My contractions were so strong and coming so fast that I still felt everything in my abdomen, right where I didn't want to! My wonderful nurses were going to wait until Beth was done assisting a C-section to ask both her and the doctor what other pain relief options there was for me. By time Beth was available, she checked me once more and I was already 9 3/4cm dilated, not nearly enough time for any other drug options. I was already feeling the urge to push on which she told me to just go ahead and start pushing when I feel the need while they got ready. I started pushing at 1:49am and Mr. Madden arrived into the world at 2:10am on Monday July 23, 2012. He was immediately placed on my chest for skin-to-skin contact where he stayed while they cleaned him, Dave cut the cord, and the placenta was delivered. I was able to try breastfeeding within that first hour. Madden nursed for 20 minutes on both sides even though he slept off and on but he did latch and we could here him swallowing which the nurses said was awesome since he was 3 weeks early.

By time Beth and the nurses got me stitched and cleaned up, I showered and baby was cleaned, measured and weighted we were taken over to the postpartum wing at 5:00am. Both Madden and I were checked out once more and we were finally able to settle into our room at 5:30am. We were all completely exhausted to say the least!! We tried sleeping until visiting hours started at 8am however that was a lost cause after just experiencing labor and welcoming our child into the world, it was all I could think about and replay in my head.We were finally released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon as a family of three.