London Claire: The Birth Story, Part 1

This is probably going to take me awhile to finish, but the baby is quasi-napping in her pack 'n play so I might as well get started. We're approaching two weeks and it's about damn time I share the story of how this little angel came into the world. As I mentioned in a disclaimer early in my pregnancy, there's no such thing as TMI here, so if you're easily offended, now's your chance to just "X" on out of here. I mean, it's a birth story. It's beautiful and miraculous but it's also pretty gross in some parts.

As y'all know, I was ready to not be pregnant anymore. "Ready" is probably the understatement of the year, but whatever. I was more than a little anxious to meet our princess, and get her out of my belly. But, with some encouragement from mamas who had been in my shoes not too long ago, I had embraced the idea that I could easily go until 42 weeks and was trying to make the best of it. I very much did not want to be induced if I could avoid it (what is it they say, God laughs when you make plans?), mostly due to my immense fear of having a C-section. So Ben & I spent the weekend before my due date experimenting with all the "natural induction methods" that have been the subject of old wives' tales for decades. We walked around the mall, I got acupuncture, we ate spicy food, I got a pedicure, we had sex (if you've ever been 9 months pregnant, you know this resembles the efforts required of Olympic athletes). But aside from a few contractions here and there, L showed no signs of coming any time soon. And honestly, that was ok with me.

Fast forward to Tuesday, 6/19: My due date. I woke up at 6am to pee (a normal occurrence at this point) and felt a little more discharge than normal, but honestly didn't give it much thought. We headed to work, where I was the subject of stares that were somewhere between pity and shock. I noticed more-than-normal discharge throughout the morning and it had a pinkish tint, so I assumed I was losing my mucus plug. As I started to walk into an 11:00 meeting, I felt a small gush, excused myself to the restroom and decided that perhaps this was something worth checking with my doctor about. Even though they said I didn't need to come in any earlier than my previously scheduled 2:45 appointment, I didn't feel like I should be at work if something were to "go down" so I grabbed Ben out of a meeting and we stealthily headed home.

Since we had a few hours before the appointment, we decided to make the most of it by getting lunch and getting my nails done. After we got home, Ben mowed the lawn and I shaved my legs "just in case" today was the day. I was having mild contractions very sporadically so neither of us legitimately thought I was in labor - I remember telling Ben that it couldn't be, because I was too calm. But we grabbed the hospital bags - again "just in case" - and headed to the doctor's office. After nearly an hour of waiting, Dr. Segal (my favorite doctor of the practice) finally came back to see us, just in time for me to have left several large puddles on the examining table. He immediately saw the leaking and told us we were going to have a baby - oh my gosh, finally! My emotions were a mix of excitement and disbelief and nerves, until he tested the pH - not amniotic fluid. Then he did an internal exam - not dilated, not effaced, not in labor. My emotions were now a mix of disappointment and frustration, and still some disbelief. But praise God for a thorough doctor, who insisted on an ultrasound to check the baby's fluid levels - still normal, still not in labor. And then, for good measure, he asked if he could do one more internal exam, just to be sure. He again walked back in the room just in time to see another large puddle on the table, to which I exclaimed "SEE! I'm not crazy!", and this time, the test came back positive - it was, in fact, my water leaking and Dr. Segal told us yet again that we were going to have a baby. Only this time, I knew somehow it was real. Tears welled up in my eyes, and my husband & I headed over to Labor & Delivery to have a baby.

...to be continued