Emma

I am 23 years old and i was pregnant with my second child. Things were going great during the first trimester and that was very exciting for me, during my first pregnancy i had nothing but problems from the very beginning. I have always wanted a boy then a girl, and I said that if I got a girl this time I would be having no more children.

Everyone told me that I was going to have another boy and I believed them, but to my surprise I found out I was having a GIRL! My husband cried out of disappointment and I cried out of pure joy. My husband loves our daughter but was nervous since he knows nothing about woman or girls lol.

Anyway by my second trimester I was having really strong contractions, the doctors didn't think anything of it they said it was Braxton hicks contractions. One night in my 22ND week I was having contractions that were getting stronger and closer together once they were about every 5 minutes I headed to the hospital....

sure enough I was in LABOR! I had to have medication to stop the contractions and thankfully it did. I had a internal ultra sound done to measure my cervix and the found that it had shortened significantly.... they sent me home with the orders to be on complete bed rest ( only getting up to go to the restroom or take a 5 minute shower). Mind you I had a 2 year old at home...

I had my mother take my son most days and the other days my mother in law would come over to wait on me and clean my house. I hated it! I was 24 weeks pregnant went I was admitted to the hospital for three days, because I had gone into labor AGAIN!
This time they put me on medication to stop contractions and steroids to help the baby to develop. After three days everything calmed down and a week later I was taken off bed rest and instructed to take it very easy, my cervix had even gone back to almost normal length.

Other then being fat and completely miserable everything was going pretty good, the doctors said the baby was doing great and looked like she was going to be a big baby. Then at 34 weeks It was Thursday May 22ND at 5 pm i was walking up to my mothers door, my grandma was in town visiting and I went to see her, and my water broke.

I was shocked I wasn't having any contractions. I called my doctor and asked if I could wait a couple hours until I came in, since my water was clear and I wasn't having contractions she said it was ok.

I was set on not having any drugs...with my last pregnancy I had to be induced and Pitocin is EVIL, seriously those contractions were so fast and so strong I thought I was going to die and I didn't want to go through that again. So I went to Target and made my hubby park as far as he could so I could walk and try to bring on some contractions, and I hadn't bought a car seat yet and I didn't trust my hubby to buy the one I wanted.

Now my family thought I was crazy because here I am with my water broken wearing one of my sons diapers LOL walking around target buying baby stuff. When I was in the isle looking at car seats I was standing next to a woman who was 8 mos pregnant when I had my first strong contraction, I doubled over in pain....

That poor woman was so freaked out! At that point we decided it was time to go to the hospital. When I got there they did an ultra sound and found that I had very little amniotic fluid left and they want to get things going. At this point I wasn't having anymore contractions I begged them to give it more time... after an hour there were still no contractions and the baby wasn't showing activity like they want to see so.......

they said the last thing I wanted to hear PITOCIN. They started the drip and the contractions came fast I was in excruciating pain for hours, I finally decided that someone had to come in and check me because if I hadn't made any progress I needed an epidural.

They came in to check me and I hadn't dilated at all I was still at 4 cm and 70 % effaced that is where I was when I came in. I was devastated because I wanted to have a natural birth with no pitocin and no epidural. I waited another hour then opted for an epidural.

I asked them to give me as little as possible because I didn't want to be completely numb, I was numb for my son and I couldn't feel anything , it was hard to push and know when I was having contractions.

The epidural helped me to relax a little and that must of been just what I needed because I turned to tell my hubby that the baby was coming when the nurse and mid wife ran into my room because the baby's heart rate had dropped and wasn't going back up.

They wanted to check me and when she pulled up the sheet I heard her say "Hello baby Emma" I was so excited, the baby was crowning and it was time. This was the best experience I had, one pediatrician form the NICU, a nurse, and the midwife, the light was dim, everyone was calm and quiet.

My midwife sat at the end of my bed she didn't have to break it down . No one was counting and telling when to push, no one was holding my legs back, I let my body tell me when to push. Sure enough my daughter was born at3:34am on Friday May 23rd 2008 after 10 and half long hours of labour.

She was 5lbs4oz 17 in long. They let me see her for a few seconds before they gave her to the pediatrician. I was so worried about her since she was born 6 weeks early. I saw them giving her oxygen, they told me she was fine but they needed to take her to the transitional nursery. She was breathing too fast and they wanted to get her breathing regulated and her blood oxygen level up.

20 minutes later the nurse came in and said she was perfectly fine and as soon as I get in my new room I will be able to get her. At 5 am the nurse brought me my beautiful little girl, told me she was hungry and then left. I panicked... I planned on breastfeeding and I forgot everything about babies and feeding them, lol I think it was due to pure exhaustion.

I had a hard time because Emma was a preemie she had a hard time feeding from a bottle or breast. But things started going good when I noticed she was yellow.... she had Jaundice. I was sent home with My little girl 36 hours after giving birth, the Jaundice went away after a week, and she is now 6 mos old weighing 16lbs and is 21in long.

I am truly blessed that everything was ok and she was healthy, I hear so many horror stories about other mothers giving birth to children at 34 weeks and having to go home without them because they are in the NICU and have serious issues.
Overall I loved my birthing experience, comparing it to my first if I have another child I will definitely go to a midwife! Thanks for reading my story, I do love telling it LOL.
Sincerely, Krista May