Warning: This is a BIRTH story. There are parts of this that might be a bit TMI so be forewarned, if you choose to read it... there might be moments that are a bit too much information for you.
Tuesday morning started just like any other morning in the Young house. Steven left for work early, Kenzie was awake but chatting away in her crib, and I was ignoring the fact that she was awake (since she was happy) until 7:30. Just as I always do, I got up right around 7:30 and went to the bathroom before getting ready to prep to get Kenzie up. This is where our lives started to take a turn and deviate from the norm. After I finished going to the bathroom I went to stand up and something else (barely) leaked out. Now, being 9 months pregnant and as of Tuesday, officially 1 week from my due date, my initial thought was that I had actually just peed on myself because I didn't take the time to make sure that I was entirely done. It was weird, yes, but I didn't worry myself too much. I then walked around the house prepping for the day. That includes getting Kenzie's morning milk ready (as well as my chocolate almond milk.... I LOVE that stuff), opening blinds if Steven didn't before he left, and putting the milk in our room so Kenzie and I could have our normal morning snuggle time while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Curious George. While I was doing all this though, I was noticing that I felt like I was still leaking something. It was so slow though and I just wondered if it was pee. I've seen the movies before... your water is supposed to break in a huge gush, send you in to immediate labor, and let you pop out a baby in about 30 minutes (read: maybe an hour real time according to the movies). Yeah, I've seen those movies. I also know though that your water make break in a gush... or it can trickle. Uh oh. This was all seeming so ridiculous to me though because I had just been to a prenatal appointment the day before and was only "barely" 1 cm dilated. I was still lamenting the high probability of losing my shot at a VBAC. I wasn't ready for this. So, I went to get Kenzie up, brought her in to the room, and put on a pad and underwear to lay down. Apparently when you think your water has broken you are supposed to put on a pad, lay down, and after about 30 minutes stand up and see if you have soaked the pad or have any sort of gush.
While spending my morning laying down next to Kenzie watching Curious George, I called my mom. See... her water broke twice. Once as a gush (me) and once as a trickle (my brother). As the story goes, her water was so slow to leak with my brother that I even told her (in what I'm sure was the most adorable 5 year old way ever) to not worry because I sometimes had accidents too. Talk about coming full circle on that one. As soon as I told her what had gone on that morning she said "Kristen. Your water broke. Call the doctor." Steven had already told me to call the doctor. I had to wait about 15 minutes until they opened though so I continued to lay down and wait. Just before calling I stood up to see what I would experience. Nothing happened really. I didn't have any noticeable leaking. Now I had convinced myself that I had, in fact, peed on myself and everyone around me was put on high alert, code red for pee. I still called the doctor though and they said they could get me in at 10. Not knowing what actually was going on I decided to leave Kenzie with our amazing neighbors so she wasn't with me. I knew that if my water had broken, I would not be allowed to go home. I also packed up my suitcase and labor bag. After all... if my water was broken that must mean things were progressing and I would likely get to try for my VBAC... right?!?
We were now at the point that Steven was waiting on my call to determine if he would need to leave work, my mom was waiting to find out if she would need to clock out (she works from home) and start heading to Orlando, Steven's parents were waiting to determine if it was go time and they would head towards our house as they were going to watch Kenzie while I labored... or whatever was going to happen, Aunt Juju and Uncle Eric as well as Uncle Rick were waiting to hear word on if their nephew would be arriving today, a few friends of ours were also waiting to hear if we would be becoming a family of four... All for what I had convinced myself was pee.
I got to the doctor and realized that now I was starting to leak again. That's when I knew something weird had to be going on. When I left my urine sample I noticed that my leaking had become really muscousy. I made mention of that to the doctor. I remember him reminding me that he had checked my cervix the day before and they use a lot of jelly to do so. It could be the jelly remnants that I am seeing. So, he had me strip from the waist down and climb up on the table. I put my legs up and my doc just said, "Kristen, there is a lot of fluid here. I don't even need to check this." The nurse smiled knowingly (before making him test it just to say they did what they were supposed to do) before saying "You know what this means." Did I? Could someone say it out loud? I'm not quite sure I'm following.
Yep. I became one of the 10%. My water broke. Did you know that only about 10% of women experience their water breaking BEFORE labor begins? How did this happen? I guess putting everyone on high alert was worth it. With one call (to Steven) the ball was set in motion to start this thing TODAY. Will was going to be here before the end of the day.
Now, what about my VBAC hopes? When making sure it was my water breaking, my doctor also checked my cervix. I had gone from "barely a fingertip" to about 1 cm. Not a whole lot of progress. I was also really high and thick. I won't detail what that means for anyone that isn't already sure, but just know that it is about as far from ready to have a baby naturally as one can be. We signed consent for a c-section but also had the discussion that if my body "exploded in to labor" over the next few hours then we could re-assess the situation. I ended up needing to wait for the c-section for quite a while thanks to that almond milk in the morning. I got scheduled for 5:30 and was told to go the hospital as I would need to be monitored for the remainder of the day. When your water breaks you open yourself up for all sorts of infections. Additionally, because of my prior c-section I needed to be monitored well to make sure I didn't have any issues before we go to surgery time.
I packed up into my car and headed the mile or so to the hospital. By myself. Steven elected to go home first to make sure everyone was situated and he would meet up with my mom to drive back to the hospital together. I can't really fill everyone in on what happened on their end at this point because my new concern became the contractions that were now starting to show up periodically. I ended up being allowed to stay in a labor room as opposed to sitting in pre-op for hours. The major plus to this was that once my mom and Steven arrived at the hospital they were BOTH able to come sit with me instead of just Steven which is what we initially expected. It was amazing having them both there with me. I ended up having some pretty major contractions. They would stop me dead in my tracks and I would often naturally end up in a squatting position as it was one of the most comfortable ways to experience the contraction. I also had a ton of back labor. When the back labor would get bad, I would get on the floor and use the bed to lean forward to relieve the major pressure on my back. While my contractions were pretty difficult, they were no where near being consistent. I would have one that would last for a minute and a half, then have 3 minutes of nothing, then another one that would last 30 seconds, then 8 minutes of nothing, repeat at weird intervals. My mom was great about putting counterpressure on my back when I asked. Steven was super supportive. I have no doubt that if I had continued to labor naturally, they would have been an amazing support system. As we waited for the moment to come that I would be taken down to the OR prep area I vacillated. Should I ask them to check my cervix just to make sure that nothing had changed... or maybe something had and we could let my body handle it a bit longer to see how it worked out. Then I would think... no. Just do the c-section. That's what we're here for. I so wanted that VBAC though. In the end, they came to get me and something in my head told me to let go of my VBAC idea and embrace that c-section. The Lord works in mysterious ways. So, through tears (of nervousness... the second time isn't any easier) I was wheeled with Steven by my side to the OR prep area. We joked with our nurse and the anesthesiologist. I pretended like this was no big deal to me. What? Just a normal Tuesday here. Having a c-section. Water broke this morning. That's the norm right?
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| Squatting after a contraction ended. You can tell it ended because I'm smiling. |
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| Soon to be Mommy and Daddy to TWO |
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| My Mommy supporting me before the c-section |
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| Waiting for the anesthesiologist to show up so we can get this show on the road |
It took a while to get my epidural in correctly. I remember hating that part the first time. I still despise it. Once I was all hooked up we waited for it to take effect and for my doctor to arrive. When he finally got there (on time... I just felt like I was waiting FOR-EV-ER), we talked about how my contractions had been really inconsistent and I basically told him that it was what it was. We were doing the c-section and we might as well get moving. I was wheeled into the OR and prepped. Steven was brought in once I was prepped and we sat side by side (okay... I laid there) and waited to hear our little guy cry. I remember some pressure in my first c-section. This was far worse. These two doctors were leaning into me and pushing things around like no other. It was enough to make me short of breath. You don't feel pain... but you do feel pressure and you can be a little thrown around. As we are waiting I hear the other doctor say, "I see one... two.... three... are you kidding? Four." My initial though was that he was going to make a joke about hidden twins or something. Until he hit three and then questioned himself. My doctor said in the most serious voice at this point, "Kristen, his cord is wrapped around his neck four times. It is the best thing ever that we didn't let you labor."... and then Will cried. Boy did this kid have a set of lungs on him. It's always one of the most amazing sounds you will ever hear. One the heels of learning his cord was wrapped four times... I cried like a baby. Our little miracle had arrived and was doing well. Had I attempted to continue to labor with him like that and had I started to push, I would have likely ended in an emergency c section and would have been knocked out. Who knows what dire consequences Will might have experienced?
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| So swollen! A lot was because of the cord being around his neck. |
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| This kid has the LONGEST fingers and toes |
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| My first time meeting my son! |
So, at 6:04pm, William Bryant Young entered the world. Clocking in at 7 lbs 7 oz and 19 3/4 inches long, he arrived with a serious set of lungs and a 42" cord that had decided to wrap itself not once, not twice, not even three times, but four times around his little neck. As an aside, did you know the average length of an umbilical cord is 20 inches?!? Seriously. I should call up The Guinness Book of World Records and see what they can do for me.
I learned later that because of how he was positioned in there with the cord I had to have some additional muscles in my stomach cut instead of only being stretched and suction had to be used to remove him as they could not get him into the proper position to simply pull out. He now has a subdermal hematoma on his head. Basically a pooling of blood that causes a bump. He could have it for days, weeks, months, or even longer but eventually his body will re-absorb the blood and the bump will go down. His APGAR scores were great and he passed every test with flying colors. They did have to test his glucose because he was shaking quite a bit but everything was normal.
He is our little miracle baby. I said the Lord works in mysterious ways. There was a reason my body decided it was never going to go in to labor. A reason my water broke, and a reason something told me just before getting prepped for the c-section that I didn't want to ask them to check me any more "just in case." Just one day before I was so upset about the potential loss of my VBAC. Now, I am so thankful for procedures like c-sections. They might have saved our little guy from having some major issues... or even saved his life.
We are so excited to now be a family of 4! I will be writing up posts in the coming days about Kenzie meeting Will and how we are adjusting to our new situation. For now, I'm going to go love on my family.
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| The new Young Family |
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