Porter's Birth Story

Since I went early with Eden, part of me was expecting (and kind of hoping) to go early with Porter as well.  Dr. Gass wanted to wait to start my cervical checks until 35 weeks, but after hearing some of my symptoms, he decided to check me right before 34.  I was dilated to 2cm and 50% effaced, so I was put on “couch potato” rest.  That was about as fun as it sounds with a 21 month old to take care of and a house to nest in, but I tried.  At our 35 weeks check up, I was 2.5cm dilated and 80-90% effaced, but Dr. Gass didn’t seem concerned.  In fact, he seemed to think we’d make it to at least 37 weeks!  I had my doubts, but who am I to question the doc!?

On Thursday, July 21^st, we had our 36 week check up with Dr. Gass around 4:30.  I was 3cm dilated and 90% effaced.  He said that we could go weeks like this, or he might see us over the weekend.  He mentioned that he was going out of town at the end of the following week, so I politely asked Porter to come before his vacation, so that he would be the one to deliver her!  She sort of listened to those instructions…

I cramped on and off that evening through a yummy dinner at Red Lobster and putting Eden to sleep for the night.  Some cramping following checks is normal, so I wasn’t too concerned because they didn’t seem to be getting too close or too regular.  Around 11:00, I decided that maybe I should begin to time these “cramps” (otherwise known as contractions) to see just what we were dealing with.  They were around 4-5 minutes apart and lasting up to 30 seconds.  They didn’t hurt that much, but I didn’t think I could sleep through it, so I went to my happy place, the bathtub.  I woke Jeremy just in case he woke in the night wondering where I was and started to get in the tub.  As soon as I stuck my big toe in, Eden woke up! Of course.  I got her from her room and laid her down in our bed, so that she’d be close to Jeremy in case she woke up again.  I relaxed in the bathtub timing my contractions until around 1:30 or so when I decided I probably needed to wake Jeremy up.  They were every 2.5 minutes apart at this point.  Truth be known, I was kinda hoping that my water would break in the bathtub!  I thought there would be less clean up that way! J  It had not broken when I woke Jeremy up, so I was on the fence about even going to the hospital yet!  Jeremy would want me to make sure you knew that when I woke him up, I was blow-drying and straightening my hair!  I told him if we were going to the hospital, I wanted to be clean and for my hair to look good!

He convinced me that standing up to make myself look pretty was probably making my contractions worse, so he “highly encouraged” me to go sit in the recliner to see if they slacked off.  I begrudgingly appeased him, and they did lengthen back out to about 4 minutes between them.  Once we decided that we were for sure going to the hospital, I began to stress about what we were going to do with Eden!  The Buntons had graciously offered to manage Eden no matter when I went into labor, but I didn’t want to bother them on a possible false alarm!  We decided that we would take Eden, and let family tend to her while she slept in the van.  Jeremy called his parents to let them know we were on our way to Labor and Delivery, and I called my mom.  Since we had had dinner together, she knew I had been having cramps.  In a wonderful effort to not have history repeat itself, she had gone to bed fully dressed with her phone in a glass measuring cup to increase the volume.  It worked because she woke up and answered on the first call!  In fact, she and Mammaw beat us to the hospital this time.  Eden stayed asleep about ten minutes after we traded her off, and then entertained everyone in the waiting room while waiting on baby sister!

We pulled in to the hospital around 2:45 or so and made our way upstairs.  Since I had not been to L&D for my non-stress test yet this pregnancy, I had to answer a blue million questions about all sorts of random information.  This was particularly not fun while dealing with moderately painful contractions and still trying to remain polite.  I rated my pain scale at about a four.  I was finally allowed in the hospital bed following a urine sample sometime around 3:00.  The nurse, Morgan, checked me and determined that I was only 4cm dilated and 90% effaced.  I was pretty disappointed in those numbers because I was not enjoying those contractions one little bit.  She left the room to let Dr. Gass know I was there and to see how he wanted to proceed.  She came back in a few minutes later to let me know that we would have a birthday party at some point that day, but that Dr. Gass did not want to give me any medication to help me along, and he wouldn’t break my water for me until 8cm.  After that another nurse came in to take a blood sample and start my fluids.  She took (what seemed like) forever!  She did say that after the lab got my blood sample, they would be able to give me the epidural in about an hour.  With each contraction, I kept telling myself that I could make it until they brought the meds!  I signed all the forms for everything, and the waiting game began.

Jeremy was great during this time.  He got me a cold washcloth and prayed with me because he knew I was nervous about the earliness again.  We had both said that whenever she was healthy, she could come on out, but when that’s reality, you start to get worried!  I couldn’t talk through the contractions, so I was awesome company!  Jeremy texted our moms to let them know that they could come visit, if they wanted to.  I really felt like I needed to pee throughout this whole time, but they had me hooked up to so much that I decided to wait until I couldn’t wait anymore.  I also felt like my water might break if I jostled it too much too!  Sometime after 4:00, I decided I couldn’t wait to pee any longer.  I tried to time it between contractions, but that was almost impossible.  The bathroom was super hot and stuffy (at least to me), and I ended up feeling extremely nauseous.  I told the nurses that I thought I might throw up, and I was rewarded with a lovely barf bag and some liquid medicine in an oversized coffee creamer container.  I think she also gave me some Zoforan in my IV.  As I was attempting to not puke (if you know me at all, you know the lengths I will go to to NOT puke!), I had another contraction that caused me to have to sit down and then there was an explosion. Yes, an explosion!  I do not use that term lightly, y’all.  It sounded like a t-shirt cannon went off, and it felt like I shot a tennis ball from my body!  Jeremy came back around the corner to see what had happened, and he says my eyes were as big as saucers!  I asked them if I had just had my baby in the toilet.  They laughed and said no, but I was dead serious.

This is where the whole tone of the room changed.  They wouldn’t let our poor moms in, so they had to hear all of this commotion from outside the door.  Morgan instructed that I had to get to the bed now!  I protested the fact that I didn’t think I could move, but she reiterated that I had to move now.  There were words thrown out like “ruptured” and “anterior lip” (which sounded like rip in the heat of things!).  I was scared for myself and the baby.  They tried to get her back on the fetal monitor, but they weren’t having any luck, so they threw that thing to the side.  Morgan checked me and shouted that I was 9.5cm.  She said “we’re going to have a baby,” and then kept shouting to call Dr. Gass and to call nursery.  I didn’t ask, but I knew that there was going to be no epidural at this point! L Our room filled up with about 7 different nurses all doing who knows what tasks!  Jeremy had told mom that if she wanted to see me to do it now.  I, however, did not want to see her when she came to the foot of my bed!  I thought my placenta had ruptured or tore or something, so I thought the fluids I was covered in was blood.  I did not want my momma to see me like that, so I (definitely not) kindly told her to go away!  I was laying on my side at this point, squeezing my legs together, and trying to make it through the pain.  I was embarrassed, but I stated that I felt like I had to poop!  Morgan yelled at me that that was pressure from the baby, and I could absolutely NOT push!  I didn’t know how not to push…at that point, it was like telling myself not to breathe.  She tried to coach me through deep breaths on the contractions, and I did okay.  Throughout the next contraction, I focused on breathing deep and no pushing.  I thought I did pretty good on that one!  However, on the next contraction, I couldn’t contain the pushing sensation!  She tried to get me to breathe like I was blowing a feather in front of my face, but it was not happening!  She yelled that I had to be on my back while grabbing my legs and throwing them in the stirrups!  At this point, I felt pain relief when Porter’s head came through and then her body in the next wave.  She began to cry out in the same little billy goat cry her sister had, and I immediately felt emotional relief as the worries for her safety eased!  I had made it with no epidural and no true pushing!

All of this craziness happened in four minutes.  Four. Minutes. That’s all it took from my water exploding in the bathroom to having a sweet, baby girl!  The nurses clamped the cord, and Jeremy cut it, even though he thought they were going to forget to ask him!  They began to ask each other what Dr. Gass did as they were collecting all the appropriate samples and such.  We delivered the placenta, and then Dr. Gass walked in!  He looked at me and said, “that was fast!”  He had made it to the hospital in less than ten minutes from their phone call, but he still didn’t make it in time for the action.  He said I had a tiny tear and put in a couple stitches while they completed all of Porter’s measurements.

She was perfect! Born at 4:21am. Weighing 5 pounds and 12 ounces. Measuring 18 and ¾ inches long.  We had some skin-to-skin time, and she latched on right away!  The nurse said she had a little fluid in her lungs, but at the 30-minute check that was sounding much better! Our family came up to visit two-by-two while we were waiting for a room.

We are so blessed to have had two early births and no NICU time!  Thank you Jesus!  Now to get the hang of this family of four thing!!

*Side note – this story is much more exciting and entertaining when told in person by Jeremy!  Just ask him! J