Aubrey's birth story:
As you all know, we had a c-section scheduled for Thursday, 8/5 since she was in a breech position. Well, our baby girl decided that wasn't soon enough!
Sunday night (8/1), Jason and I went to bed a bit late since he had to close that night. I had gotten use to not being able to sleep - part due to discomfort, part due to the growing anticipation - and Jason was still wired from work, and not able to sleep. At about 1am, he gave up and decided to watch TV in the living room. I suggested that he take a benadryl. He was skeptical, thinking it would keep him awake. But I assured him that it usually makes people drowsy.
Around 1:30am, I realized he still was in the living room, so went to check on him. He said that the Benadryl had him a bit wired, and that he might be up a while longer. I used the bathroom (important to note!), and then crawled back into bed. As I turned over to grab an extra pillow, I felt a warm gush of water. It took a second for it to sink in that my water had just broken!
I yelled out Jason's name, and that my water had broken. He thought I was joking until he saw the bed. Neither of us realized how much water was involved in the process of the water breaking! And, it wasn't just one gush. It was like a faucet that was left on for a while. (My apologies if that's too much information for you).
Jason became nervous, and ran around the house to pack his bag (I had luckily just packed mine before going to sleep!), get me fresh clothes to put on, and to get grab my cell phone so that I could call the doctor. Meanwhile, I'm in the bathroom laughing hysterically, in disbelief of what was happening! I think the nurse on call thought I was calling in a prank. I explained that my water really had just broken - I just was in such shock!
Once we got to the hospital, a nurse asked me, "so you think your water broke, huh?"
I told her, "no - I KNOW my water broke!"
She said many people are convinced that their water broke, but that about 50% of the time, they are mistaken. Jason and I were both confident we were not on that end of the 50%. She said it could have been that the baby pressed on my bladder, making a little gush. I explained that I had just emptied my bladder, and that it was no small gush! She was still skeptical, and did a test to see if it was amniotic fluid that was still leaking.
To our surprise - the test came up negative. They told me my water didn't break. I told them I thought the test was wrong. There's no way my bladder could even hold that much water!
Our doctor (who was on call at the hospital, thank God!), told the nurse to have me lay flat for a period of time. She said that if it was amniotic fluid, the remaining fluid would collect inside of me if I laid flat. They could then take a better sample.
So I laid there for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, my parents had arrived at the hospital, and a combination of them and a chair that made farting noises each time Jason sat in it, kept us all awake and excited. All except Jason - the Benadryl finally kicked in, so he was having a tough time being as energetic!
When Dr. Hooi joined us in the room, she went to examine me and take a sample of the fluid. She had barely started her exam when the water that had pooled together came gushing out (to a smaller extent than before). "It's confirmed" she said, "your water definitely broke!"
She did an ultrasound, which revealed that our baby was still in a breech position. She said we'd be having a c-section within an hour!
After walking back to the operating room, the anesthesiologist had me sit on the edge of the operating table, hugging a nurse so that I could lean on her shoulder. He gave me a spinal tap (or something like that), which is a lot like an epidural - I was completely alert during the surgery, put was numb from the waist down. The main difference is that the spinal tap goes into affect within 5 minutes, and wears off quicker than an epidural.
After I was numb, Jason joined the room and stood by my head. He was able to peak over the curtain on see small pieces of the surgery. It took some time for them to cut through all the layers, but then I started feeling a lot of pressure and tugging. Jason got teary eyed, and told me they were pulling Aubrey out. They raised her enough (and lowered the curtain a bit) so that they could hold her up, and I could see her. It was such a special moment!
They quickly cleaned her off and swaddled her, and then brought her over so that I could hold her for a couple minutes. They then whisked her away to the nursery to get checked up by the pediatrician. Jason went with them, and the nurses kept me up to date with what they found.
She came in at 7 pounds, 2.6 ounces, and 19 1/4 inches, and was born at 5:48am.
Since she had a c-section birth, she had initial problems breathing. This is very common with c-section babies, since they were not "squeezed" out of the birth canal, which clears out their lungs and helps them to breath at birth. Due to this, they kept her in the nursery for about three hours while they gave her oxygen.
I think it was almost 9am when they transferred me to our postpartum room, and then brought in Aubrey to join us. I loved holding her, and couldn't stop staring at her! We tried breastfeeding for the first time, and she took to it right away (although we're of course still getting use to this - it's definitely not easy!). I couldn't believe the instinct that babies are born with, and counted myself lucky that it wasn't more difficult.
So that's it - that's the story of how she came into the world. It was a whirlwind of a night, and one that Jason and I will never forget!
