During my pregnancy, I planned on having my baby at 40 weeks and no later. So when my 36 week appointment came and I was dilated to a 2 and 50% effaced, and the doctor told me I could technically have this baby at any moment, I lived every day like I was going to have this baby.... talk about the longest, most miserable 4 weeks of my life:)
I was determined to have this baby on my due date. I had heard lots of crazy things to do to get labor started, but nothing I did worked: I ate spicy Mexican food, walked on curbs, hiked, walked on the highest incline on the treadmill, and taught hip hop and ballet till I was 40 weeks pregnant, etc. On September 8, the day before my due date, I walked on the treadmill on the highest incline for 35 minutes! I thought this would do the trick for sure. The next day was a rough one to say the least; I felt so bad for myself that I had to wait longer than 40 weeks to have my baby. I think I laid in bed the majority of the day. Poor Drew had to stay around me for those miserable, drawn-out 24 hours.. I was so ornery, and cried most of the night away; I was convinced I was never going to have this baby.
The next morning (Monday) I went to my 40 weeks appointment. I asked Dr. England out of desperate need to strip my membranes, but since I have Group B strep, he told me he couldn't. He did the pelvic exam and found that I was dilated to a 4 and 75% effaced. He left me depressed after he told me that we could schedule an induction date for Thursday if the baby still hadn't come by then. On his way to schedule the induction, I noticed a lot of liquid leaking down my leg. I stood up and more was trickling out. I couldn't believe it!! Maybe this baby would come after all! I nervously went out to the hall and told the nurses; they were so ecstatic. They told me that it had been a few months since someone's water had broken in the office and they were so excited. THey ran up to me, hugged me, told me to call Drew, and sent me over to labor and delivery.
I was in complete shock. So many emotions flooded to the surface. I was so embarrassed because I couldn't stop crying, and my voice cracked as I was trying to talk to them. I called Drew's cell phone about 4 times, and of course he didn't answer. I decided to call his work phone and a Brazilian banker answered the phone. I asked him to speak to Drew and he told me he was busy. I then told him my water broke, and he turned to Drew in his broken English and told him "Drew your water broke!!!" hahaha Drew rushed out of there as fast as he could and drove immediately to the hospital thinking I was going to have the baby any minute.
Drew got to the hospital hoping he didn't miss anything to find that I wouldn't have the baby for another 12 hours. The nurse put me on pitocin to get the contractions started, but there was a whole lot of waiting around until I progressed further. A while later the nurse did another pelvic exam, and felt a strange bubble by the baby's head. I was still at a 4 and around 90% effaced. She had another nurse come in and check, and as she was doing it, they found that my amniotic sac had only ruptured before and the rest came gushing out. It covered the nurse! After that things started progressing a lot faster, and before this point I thought I could handle going natural and that this whole delivery thing wasn't too bad. After the rest of my water broke, there was a night and day difference between the intensity of my contractions. The amniotic sac had been acting as a cushion so I couldn't feel the whole pain of each contraction.
The nurse asked if I wanted my epidural yet, but again me thinking I was tougher than I was, denied it. I looked across the room and saw what looked like a torture table with scissors, and instantly changed my mind. The anesthesiologist walked in minutes later. For some reason the epidural didn't feel like it was working. I could easily move my legs side to side, and could feel each contraction get worse and worse. There was so much pressure it felt like I was going to burst open!! I thought I could handle it, but then they got so bad I called the anesthesiologist back in for more medicine.
A few scary things happened that made my mom and Drew super nervous. I think I was too drugged up to realize what was going on. The baby's heartbeat kept dropping with each contraction, so they filled me back up with a saline liquid and a IUC or something like that, to try and stabilize her heart. They were then worried that the baby turned face-up, so they had me turn and lay on each side for 15 minutes to see if that would help turn the baby face down. But Marlee's heartbeat was still dangerously low. Then they thought her umbilical cord was either too short, or wrapped around her neck so they were worried about me delivering her. The Nurse called Dr. England and he told her to take me off Pitocin and they talked about giving me some sort of shot and possibly doing a C-section. So they took me off of the Pitocin and my contractions slowed way down, and thankfully Marlee's heartbeat went back up.
My cute dad was praying for 2 straight hours at our house for me. He felt an impression that my Grandma Allen was with me helping me along the way. I am so thankful for him, and know that my Grandma was there with me.
Dr. England came in straight after the phone call, and delivered 3 of his patients (including me) within a two hour span and went back home. I was his last patient to deliver. He came in at 11:00 p.m. and told me we had an hour to push this baby out before September 11th came. Drew didn't want our baby to be born on September 11th, and the doctor didn't want that either. Throughout the delivery he kept telling me to "get angry" and "push harder, " but I was so exhausted I thought I was either going to pass out or that my eye vessels were going to burst from pushing so hard.
Marlee finally came at 11:55 p.m., 5 minutes before September 11th. Woo woo! They immediately cleaned her off, put the cream over her eyes, and layed her on my chest. I broke down and started sobbing and my whole body was trembling as I looked at her. It was such a surreal moment. It felt like I was watching the whole thing in 3rd person. It was such an emotional overload that I couldn't even wrap my mind around the concept that this was my sweet little baby.
