The Birth Story Part 1

It has taken me awhile to write this mainly because I was unsure if I wanted to share it. The reason for this is that I know quite a few pregnant ladies right now and did not want to influence them one way or the other with this story. This is just my experience and know that it will be different for every other pregnant woman out there, just like this birth story was completely different from my other four.

It all started in the late afternoon of the 22nd. I was having some braxton hicks contractions that were not going away with lying down or changing positions or any of that. But, they were very erratic. Sometimes they were 15 minutes apart and sometimes they were 3 minutes apart. They were not painful just annoying. I didn't say anything to Jonathan about them. I made dinner and was just going about my regular duties. Jonathan had church meetings that night and so I went and relaxed in my bedroom for a bit. They started getting a bit stronger but still no pattern to them. I really thought it was all false labor. I mean I still had 18 days to go. My two oldest had been gone that whole week on trek. They were to return around 9:30.
Jonathan had gotten home from his meetings about 9:00. I than decided to let him know that I was having some very irregular contractions. I told him not to worry it had to be false labor. My kids returned around 10:00. As I was listening to them speak of their adventures, I started having some mildly painful contractions. They were painful enough that I needed to concentrate on them and block others out. But, I still had 18 days to go. I kept telling myself it was false labor. I did not have any type of bags packed. I hadn't even preregistered at the hospital. I was going to do that on Monday at my next doctors appointment. So, I convincingly told myself that it was false and went and laid down.
As I was laying there I felt like I had just uncontrollably wet my pants. I have a very strong bladder so knew that it was something more. I stood up and called Jonathan in the room. I told him that I thought my water had just broken. But, I was unsure because it had never happened to me before. So, I started walking into the bathroom and well lets just say that I than became very sure that my water had broken. I started to panic. I wasn't ready for this. I still had a few weeks to mentally prepare for this. My babies had never been more than 5 days early. I than started to cry... I don't know why. I guess it was because the reality of the situation hit me. There was no turning back now.
I called my midwife to let her know that my water had broken and that I wanted to stay at home for as long as I can. She told me that I needed to go and get checked to make sure everything was okay. I wasn't really very happy about that because I knew they would make me stay. In hindsight, I wish I would have followed my own instincts and stayed home for awhile.


To be continued....