Well, not everything goes as planned.  I know this… So does, I don’t know, the rest of the world.  My little Mr. was expected to be with us on July 14th, 2012.  That day, as you well know, came and went.  My doctor was dead set that I would have to be induced the Monday after my due date (July 24th) and set up an ultrasound and NST (Non-Stress Test) for Friday, July 20th, 2012.

Well so begins my story about how our beautiful son entered our lives.  Hector had to work that Friday, so around 7 a.m.ish he gave me a kiss, wished me luck at my appointments and off to work he went.  I had no doubt that I hadn’t progressed too much and thought I’d be home that night to enjoy some time with my husband.  I even made plans for the whole weekend.

Around 10:30 I packed up my puppy, Oso, to spend some time at my mom’s house while I went for my tests.  My dad dropped me off at the hospital and I met up with my mom for my ultrasound to check baby’s position and fluid levels.  The ultrasound was uneventful.  My fluid was on the lower end but still OK for baby and to be expected for as far along as I was (40 weeks 6 days).  So up to labor and delivery for a non stress test we went.

In the Triage room we got hooked up to fetal monitors and were asked to sit tight.  The monitors were on me so they could monitor Evan’s movements.  My mom and I chit chatted, watched my belly bounce, and watched a little (horrific) TV.  The nurse came back in and mentioned that she saw that I was having contractions and asked if I felt them.  I told her they were no different than the Braxton Hicks contractions I had been feeling a great deal of.  The other thing she had noticed was that Evan’s heart would slightly decelerate with a couple of the stronger ones so she wanted to keep me a bit longer to see if it was fluke or a trend, she then got on the phone with my doctor, Dr. Martinez.

We were in that room for about an hour, and my dad walks in!  He is so sweet, he had wanted to pick me up from the hospital (so my mom could go back to work) realized he left his phone at home, and had to find me in the hospital.  He did such a good job!  Meanwhile, the nurse was still on the phone with my doctor, and my test was running a little on the longer side.

The nurse walks in and says I have good news and bad news.  The good news is, the baby is fine, I noticed a few more decels but he quickly recovers.  However, Dr. Martinez feels that as you are so far past your due date and they will induce you Monday anyway, he doesn’t feel that you should wait any longer… So we are keeping you.  My. Heart. Sank.  Hector wasn’t here, my things were not with me, my house wasn’t clean enough… But!  I was going to have my baby in the next couple of days.  Things progressed so quickly from this point it was freaky.  They started preparing my room, and I used a landline (our phone service didn’t work, and my cell battery was almost dead anyway) to call Hector who was at work.  After what felt like the longest wait ever, Hector answered the phone and I told him, “Babe, they are keeping me, you need to come here.”  Hector’s voice was shaky and he repeated to me “Jen, all the air just left my body and feel very light headed” – He told me he would hurry home and pick up everything and meet me at the hospital.

By now it was about 3:00 p.m. My mom and I were hanging out in my room and waiting on my “last meal” – Here was the lowdown on what was going to happen (or so I was told).  At 6 p.m. they were going to start me on a drug called Cervidil, to ripen my cervix (they had not checked me at this point so they weren’t sure I had progressed at all) and that medicine was to say put for about 12 hours.  At 6 a.m. they would hope that I’d be a centimeter dilated,  and at that point the doctor would decide on if I could have breakfast or not and they would start pitocin after that.  I was warned that sometimes this doesn’t work and they have to do a FEW rounds of it (yep, Cervidil 12 hours, pitocin, cervidil 12 hours… pitocin) which sounded absolutely awful but I remained calm.  My best friend told me that things went smoothly for her as soon as she relaxed and got into the zone.  I told myself that I would follow in her very wise footsteps.  So the nurse told me, make sure you eat up tonight.  In my head I was thinking… Yeah sure, eat up!  Because that is what I want to do right now.  I ordered a personal pizza (with mushrooms), fruit cup and orange juice… My gosh it was terrible but I ate it anyway figuring it could be my last meal until this time the next day.

I ate my dinner, chatted with my mom some more, got an IV put in (the nurse did an AWFUL job, but whatever) and FINALLY (after several “where are you?!!?” phone calls) Hector showed up.  I was told to get up and walk at around 5:00 p.m. because once the Cervidil was put in, I would have to stay put for at least an hour.  So I got up with my mom and we walked the hallway for about 45 minutes. I got back to my room, and waited for the doctor.

Dr. Martinez walked in and was super friendly and awesome, he told me what the nurse had told me early about what the Cervidil would do.  He then checked me.  I still was not dilated but he said I was 50% effaced and my cervix was long, so I had made a little progress since my last appointment.  He put in the medicine and told me to get some rest.  He told me he would see me in the morning.

My mom, dad and Hector were sitting around and we were all just talking a bit and my mom decided she would go home and get some rest.  I didn’t blame her at all… I told her she should go home!  I mean, sounded like nothing was going to happen in the next 12 hours and she and my dad could rest up and see me in the morning.  I also figured I would need rest and so would Hector so they left at about 7:00 p.m.  The whole time I was hooked up the fetal monitors and was still getting very regular braxton hicks contractions.  They were like little hills on the monitor and my little Evan’s heart looked great.

I was restless.  When the new nurse (Erica) walked in around 7:30 she asked if I wanted to get up and use the washroom.  So I got up after being unhooked from the monitors and used the ladies room 😉 – I remember thinking, 24 hours from now I could be holding my little man.

The sunset of 7/20/2012 view from our room

I hate to leave this post like this, but I’m making it Part I as it is such a long post.  I also hear my little munchkin in the background making little “Mom, I’ll want to eat soon” sounds.  So stay tuned for Part II of my birthstory!!