I had just gone to my 32 week prenatal visit, and finished working for the day, when I began having contractions.  I had not had any other contractions up to this point, so I figured that it was false labor.  They went on for about two hours, but were not regular, and would change between 12 and 20 minutes.  I called the hospital to see if maybe I should come in.  They told me no, that those were probably just the false labor contractions, and I should just rest.

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I slept most of the night, but occasionally I would wake up and feel another contraction.  I still thought that this was normal, because it only happened about every two to three hours.  When I woke up in the morning, I felt something wet, and found that I had lost my mucus plug.  I did not actually know what it was, but I was scared, and so I ran and got dressed and drove to the hospital.  I was not having any more contractions at this point, and had not for a while as far as I knew.

When I got to the hospital, the doctor saw me quickly, and told me that I was four centimeters dilated.  What!!!  I got really upset.  It was supposed to be at least two more months before the baby was supposed to come.  They admitted me, took me to labor and delivery, and immediately started doing all kinds of things to me to stop the labor, even though I was not feeling any contractions.  They hooked up an IV (magnesium sulfate), gave me a shot in the thigh (terbutaline), and gave me some pills (blood pressure pills, a new thing they had found to stop contractions).  They told me that they would begin giving me steroids to help the baby’s lungs, and that I would have to stay in the hospital.  It seemed like there were about ten people in the room hooking me up to this or that, but I was so worried for my baby that it was mostly a blur.

After the barrage of medical personnel left, and I laid there, alone, I was exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally.  I felt stupid for not coming in sooner, and I was not sure what would happen to my baby.  I closed my eyes and began to pray, and then I fell asleep.  Just before I awoke, I felt hands on my side.  They were warm and soothing, and I could see light coming through my eyelids as I began to wake up.  I opened my eyes, and no one was there, but I knew that my son would be okay.

This was far from the natural birth that I had hoped for, but I wanted to do the best thing for my baby and let him cook a while longer.  I lasted in the hospital for about a week, and then finally one day, the contractions did not stop.  I labored for an entire day, just laying there in bed, hooked to IV’s, monitors, and a catheter.  I had not had any formal training on how to birth naturally, so I just did what felt right.

I lay on my side, closed my eyes, and tried to sleep and relax.  I breathed slowly.  The contractions were not very strong, and I was not sure if they were even dilating my cervix.  A nurse came in to check on me, and my water broke.  Oh yeah!  It was really going to happen.  My doctor came in and checked me and told me that I was fully dilated and we could get this baby out!  I was very excited, but horribly scared.  I did not really know how to push correctly, so it took a while to get things moving, but within 45 minutes, we had a son.

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He was in perfect health, but just a little small at 4lbs, 13oz.  He was the spitting image of his dad, and had bright red hair, which he still has to this day.  I was overjoyed and laughing and crying all at once.  It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life.