friday, february 19th, i just wasn't feeling well. it was my last day of teaching before my maternity leave time started. by the time i got to school to teach, i thought i was going to puke. i was determined to make it through the last day of teaching with my sweet kids. i just kept having weird feelings and these little waves of nausea throughout the day. i blamed it on "last day nerves" and not wanting to leave my kids quite yet. so at 12:30, my kids left to go to art, and i just couldn't take the pain and weird feelings. i called the doctor to see what i should do, but got the phone nurse. i left her a message. i waited for a phone call back. meanwhile, our principal found out i was not feeling well and came in my room and told me to leave. he was sure that the doctor was going to go ahead and send me to the hospital. so i called momma to come pick me up and take me home. (josh was working and i told him i would keep him updated on what was happening) but the pain intensified and i just couldn't take it. so we drove in the direction of the hospital/dr. office still waiting for the phone nurse to call me back. (keeping in mind that i felt absolutely terrible for leaving my kids without telling them goodbye). momma sat in the car with me for about 45 minutes waiting for the phone call to see what we needed to do. i finally decided, with one huge stomach pain, that i needed to just go in the hospital. as soon as we were getting ready to walk in the hospital door, my phone rang. it was the phone nurse. i told her all my symptoms and she said to go on in since we were already there. i was admitted for dehydration and was having mild contractions, but only dialated to a 1. after throwing up about 3 times and 3 bags of fluid, they finally let me go home. i had the awful stomach bug. now....keep in mind that my diet consisted of clear fluids and crackers, toast, etc. for 2 days...not to mention the diarrhea that was really bad. i have nothing in my system at all.
fast forward....2:00 am sunday morning (february 21). i wake up with these awful cramps. kind of like the braxton hicks contractions, but a little worse. the pain is coming from my back. i think it's just the stomach bug still in my system and get up to walk around to relieve some of the gas/bloating pain. the pain stopped me in my tracks. i leaned over on the counter and had to breathe like they taught us in lamaze class. okay, the pain is gone now. i went in to tell josh what was happening...i layed back down in the bed and things just kept getting worse. my stomach would tighten, cramps from my back came around to the front with each contraction. so josh started to write down what time i had a what we thought was a "contraction" and how long each one lasted. at about 4:30, the pain was unbearable...i was screaming and trying to breathe through these pains. josh called my mom and told her he thought i might be in labor. momma quickly came over just to see (thank goodness she lives right across the street) and after about 4 of them...she was convinced that i was in labor. i kept second guessing myself...thinking that it was just the diarrhea and didn't want to be that woman who went to the hospital and got sent back home because it wasn't "real labor". (hey, like i'm supposed to know what labor pains feel like...it was my first time) but as each one got worse, i didn't care. i had to go to the hospital and find out what was wrong with me. so josh and momma got all my bags (luckily they were all packed and ready to go) and momma drove while josh coached me through the pains in the back seat. we finally got to the hospital about 7:30 and they put me in a room to check me out. 3 cm. dialated and 90% effaced. they told me to walk for one hour around the hospital. i walked 2 laps in 1 hour and right as i got by the nurses station, i felt something trickle down my leg...."josh, i think my water broke". josh told the nurse and i waddled (funny, now) as quickly as i could back to my room and she checked. nope. just some of the jelly they use to check you. well with the next contraction, my water definitely broke...a gush of water came out and just kept coming and coming and coming...."momma is this normal...it's still coming!!!" i was so scared. the nurse came in and checked me again. sure enough. water was broken and dialated to 5cm still 90% effaced. now they admit me and put me in the LDR. i really wanted to try natural...but holy cow...that junk hurts like nothing else...i begged for the epidural. 10:00 am - finally i got it and then they checked me again. 8 cm and 100% effaced. well the epidural slowed things down and i needed some pitocin to speed things up again. they told me to let them know when i started to feel pressure "down there". well, it was more like back pain and pressure at the same time. i could feel it through the epidural...not bad, but moms, you know what i mean. the doctor came in after i complained of this back pain and felt to see jake's position. she could feel him coming down, but he was a little to the side and she wanted a closer look, not to mention the back pain intrigued her a little and she really wanted to see what position he was in. they brought in the ultrasound machine and that's when we found out he was breech. so it's about 1:00 now and i'm rushed to the OR to have an emergency c-section. 1:28 pm, february 21, 2010...jake william slatten was born. 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. surgery went well and we had our family and friends to welcome us back into our room. they made everybody leave within 5 minutes of us getting in the room because of me just having major surgery. but wow...talk about a special delivery.
