Evelyn's Arrival - Part 1
Time is just speeding by and Evelyn is 4 months already. I want to make sure I type this story out before I forget it. I never thought I would be one to share this, but here goes. So if birth stories aren’t your thing (they were never my thing until I had a baby, go figure) skip these next posts.
June 21st, in the late evening, I sat down to do my “kick count”. It was kind of a joke to do the kick count because my little mover would never take more than 10 minutes to get all 10 kicks. Except that night it took almost an hour. It was strange and unlike our kiddo who just the night before was kicking like crazy. I tried not to let it bother me too much and be that crazy first time mom. I was worried but I told myself that maybe she was just sleeping or running out of room.
The next morning I was getting ready to head to the studio to get things done and also to finish shopping for a birthday party we were attending that weekend, I was a bit frazzled to try and get it all done. As I was getting ready, Drew called and asked if I had felt the baby move at all. I was in such a rush to get ready, I hadn’t realized I had not felt her move. At this point, I went into full blown panic mode and skipped the “cup of juice” they tell you to drink to get the baby to move and went for the bowl of ice cream instead. I was going to give this kid the biggest rush of cold/sugar I could to get to her to start moving. It took 2 hours to get her to 7 kicks so I immediately called labor and delivery. I was just shy of 39 weeks pregnant at this point and so they told me to come in immediately. I didn’t realize this meant we could potential come home with our daughter. I was just anxious to make sure she was alright.
I was trying to stay calm so I texted Drew that they want me to come and that they said he should probably come with me. Drew usually takes 15 minutes to get home from work. He was home in about 5 minutes that day. I don’t even want to know how he did that. Once he got home, he started to load up the car and wanted to rush and get there. I did my best to stay calm and relax, there was a better chance that everything was fine and that I was going to be sent home.
As soon as we got in, they got me into a monitoring room.They checked the heartbeat and it was still strong. Whew. I might have even cried when I heard it. So they decided to do an NST. Non-Stress-test and they explained to me that as long as we saw rolling hills on the mointors and no straight lines, that everything was fine and I was going home. The test lasts about 40 minutes. The first 20 had rolling hills, and I was starting to get anxious. I was grateful things were looking good but I knew something wasn’t right. My daughter went from one extreme to the other in less than 24 hours. Even though I didn’t “know” my daughter, I knew her! And this wasn’t like her. The second 20 minutes was a straight line. The nurse came in and saw the test results and said I was going home.
I was stunned and honestly, I was scared. I hate telling people they are wrong but something wasn’t right and my daughter’s well being was in the balance. Now they always say, “mother knows best”. And at this point in my pregnancy, I realized that I knew best for my child and I wasn’t going to let anyone tell me otherwise. Including professionals.
I think the nurse realized that I wasn’t happy and I asked to speak with a doctor. The doctor came in and agreed it wasn’t a great result but that it was still okay. I told her I was uncomfortable with going home because I felt like something was wrong. Luckily this doctor was awesome and didn’t hesitate or make me feel silly. She asked if an ultrasound would reassure me and I said it would. As soon as the image came up and we saw our Evelyn on the monitor, the doctor said “oh, you’re having this baby today.” Even though deep down I knew this was a possibility, I was still stunned when I heard this.
Apparently, there is supposed to be 5 cm of amniotic fluid around the baby. Evelyn was down to less than 2 cm. At some point, I had a slow leak in my water and I just didn’t notice. To my defense, it was super hot and I probably just thought I was sweaty like I had been my entire 3rd trimester. I had even joked the week before to Drew that I thought I was leaking amniotic fluid. He asked if I wanted to go to the hospital but I was determined not to be “that” woman who confuses gas for labor. First timer here, didn’t realize I actually was right and probably should have gone to the hospital! Oops! I wasn’t in active labor but Evelyn was running out of fluid to move around in. At 39 weeks, there is no reason to risk infection and leave the baby in. So it was time to meet our kiddo!
I’ll take a break at this point but I do want to say, I am so grateful that those mommy instincts kicked in. When it comes to doctors, I’m usually very compliant and non argumentative but I’m so grateful that I spoke up. I don’t even want to imagine if I went home and never said anything. I was worried I didn’t have those “instincts” but they are there apparently!
