I had a difficult day before our girl was born. I had been feeling a lot of lower pressure and mild pain but no contractions and nothing I felt was significant enough to go to the hospital for. We were leaving in two days to head back to Ohio and I had a doctors appointment as soon as we got back. I figured I would just wait and have him check me then. After all, I was only 32 weeks.
During the day on Sunday, we met Marshall's two brothers and their families for lunch and to say bye. We were scheduled to leave in 6 days to fly to Japan for 3 years. We got back to our appartment that evening and I was trying to help Marshall pack up our belongings. We had to be out that next day and there was still so much to do. I kept having to sit down because of the crampy pain feeling and even teared up because I felt so bad I couldn't help. He asked if we should go to the hospital which I replied no. I would see how I felt Monday and we would go from there. I decided to google my symptoms to just see what I would find, thinking in the back of my head "I won't believe google anyways because anything you research tells you you are going to die." What I did read about was placental abruption. This was common with cocaine users, high blood pressure, or hard impact to your stomach. Definitely couldn't be this.
I was getting frustrated I couldn't help pack and Lila was extremely tired. So Marshall sent us both to bed at 9. He continued to pack but wanted us to get some rest.
12:03 a.m. I woke up curled into the side of the bed with awful contractions. My first thought was, please God no.... It was more of a desperate beg knowing in the back of my mind what was happening. So, I decided to time them. 4 minutes apart. Oh Lord... we needed to get to the hospital. I woke Marshall up and since he was half out of it, he thought I said my contractions were 45 minutes apart... not 4 to 5. It was not until we got in the car and they moved quickly to 3 minutes that reality hit him.
We grabbed our precious sleeping Lila and threw her in the car. He put the hospitals address in the GPS and we were on our way. My contractions kept increasing in pain and length. They were coming 1-2 minutes apart as our GPS told us we were nearing our destination. We looked around in the pitch dark to find an old abandon building. If I wasn't panicking before, it was full blown now. He sped down the road to find a 7-11 and pulled in. Little did we know that the part of town we were in isn't safe during the day...let alone in the middle of the night! Marshall jumped out and asked some guy for directions. He gave us some... but 7 minutes later and we were nowhere near a hospital. We found another 7-11 and pulled up to a lady in a car. I yelled to her for directions to the hospital just as another contraction hit. I buckled into the side of the car and she frantically gave Marshall another set of directions. I was probably 8cm dilated at this point.
Annabelle was coming. I could feel her and my contractions were consistent giving me no break. We are literally flying to the hospital now, running every red light and stop sign. It was just like the movies. We see the hospital sign and fly into the parking lot. Marshall ran in first to tell them I'm in labor and then came back out to get Lila. I walked in and dropped to the floor in front of the reception desk. I yelled up I was having a baby and they brought out a wheel chair and took me into the back.
I think my first words to the nurse was, PLEASE give me an epidural. I had a feeling I was already too far along, but I knew the excruciating pain of a natural birth from Lila and did not want to do that again. So before they could take me back to labor and delivery, they needed to check me out in the ER and get my vitals. It seemed like FOREVER. The doctor checked me and felt her head...ready to come out. Exactly what I feared. They put me in a bed in between contractions because I was buckled over not moving during them.
They wheeled me back to L&D and the admin is there needing my info. I think I rattled it off so fast because my contractions were one after the other and I really didn't have a break in between to talk. Marshall and Lila walked in the room about this time. They were trying to get my IV in and Marshall said blood was going all over. Thank God I was out of it because that would have freaked me out even more. Poor Lila was in her stroller, eyes wide open, probably in shock from all the excitement. The nurses were asking me questions and all I really remember was wanting them to give me an epidural. They told me I was probably too far along for one, but once the doctor got there and examined me, I could maybe get one. A glimpse of hope... so I asked when he would be there. They told me he lived 30 minutes away so about that long. AHHHH! Are you kidding? No way. I'm not even going to be able to hold off delivering her til he gets here.
So, I am fully curled into the side of the bed. Marshall is holding Lila on his hip by now because she wanted out of the stroller and he is bringing me cold towels for my forehead. The nurses told me I could go ahead and start pushing because I told them I needed to. My water had not broken yet which was the only thing keeping her in. So I am laying there pushing...and terrified. I remember hearing the nurses start to whisper to each other that I was bleeding a lot (sorry too much info) and that Annabelle's heart rate was dropping. They were asking each other if they should break my water and deliver the baby now. They decided that was best since both of our lives were at risk. They let me know they were breaking my water and we were going to have this baby. So they did, and they flipped me to my back.
Within the next few minutes the doctor walked in the door and put his gloves on. He walked to the bed and within one long awful awful awful push, I heard the best sound... my baby girl cry. The NICU nurse was in the room ready to take her upstairs. They checked her out quickly in the room, wrapped her up, brought her over so I could kiss her sweet cheeks and took her away. No holding my baby, no idea if she was ok. Just the faith and trust in Jesus to protect her.
It was hours later that I finally received word about Annabelle. She was doing ok... on a CPAP oxygen machine and that they had done x-rays and everything looked ok... but time would tell.
Apparently, having a placental abruption which is what happened to me is life threatening for the mom and baby. The doctor had told me if we had waited at home just an hour or so longer, that both our lives would have been in jeopardy. Oh my. Thank you Jesus for protecting us!! The hard thing for me to wrap my mind around is that I did not have ANY of the symptoms of it. None... so I just have to trust that God kept us here in this way so I did not go into labor on the plane. That would have been really...really bad.
My next post is going to be all about the trials and journey of Annabelle's NICU stay! I promise every post won't be about my babies or this long. I'm really excited to start blogging again...especially since we will be overseas in a whole new culture! I hope to keep you all updated with lots of exciting posts throughout the months!