On a crisp fall morning in September of 2015 I became a mother for the third time to a beautiful 8 pound, 3 ounce baby boy. His birth story is a little crazy, but it’s his story and I love it.
Last week of pregnancy
My labor and delivery story starts about 5 days before he was born. That afternoon I had what felt like a real contraction. And then I had another one. This continued for some time and then would stop.
The contractions continued the next day, the day I turned 39 weeks. I went to my appointment and found out I was 3cm dilated. Contractions were showing up on the monitor, but an hour later I was still 3cm dilated. I went home and the contractions continued, however they were not consistent. The contractions were ranging anywhere from 2-20 minutes and the pain level was staying about the same.
Two mornings before he was born the contractions were starting to get a little more painful. I decided to go into labor and delivery to get monitored. They confirmed that I was having real contractions but they were not doing anything. I was still 3cm dilated after an hour of contractions. That is when I learned I had prodromal labor. This means that I was having real contractions that weren’t dilating me. Basically you feel like you are in labor, but you aren’t. AWESOME!
I went home that day with painful, inconsistent contractions that weren’t doing anything. All that day and into the next day I had contractions that were still very inconsistent, but painful to the point that I could not fully take care of the kids. My husband took off work to take care of the kids and we had no idea how long this prodromal labor was going to last for.
More Prodromal Labor?
The next morning, the prodromal labor was starting to get worse. I was having more contractions and the pain level was rising slightly, but the contractions were still very inconsistent ranging from 2-20 minutes apart.
That night I couldn’t sleep with the contractions so I decided to watch a movie. Without realizing, I had fallen asleep in the chair and woke up with a more painful contraction at 11:30pm. I had a few contractions like this and then I didn’t feel anything for over 20 minutes. The doctor had said the contractions would get to 5 minutes apart when it switched from prodromal labor to real labor. They weren’t 5 minutes apart so we decided to go to bed.
I didn’t sleep much and at 1am I had an even more painful contraction. At this point the contractions were still very inconsistent, but the pain level was increasing. I sat in the bathtub for an hour with contractions from 5 minutes, 12 minutes, 7 minutes, 20 minutes, 12 minutes, etc. At 2am I decided that I was in too much pain to sleep and too exhausted to stay awake. I wanted to go to the hospital for medication to help me sleep.
At 2:20am we got in the van. While driving I didn’t have a single contraction. I felt completely fine and wanted to go back home and sleep. My husband wanted me to at least get checked so he decided to keep going to the hospital. We got the hospital and I still did not have any contractions. I got out of the van and started walking across the parking lot. Suddenly I had a huge contraction which I had to squat down for and my water broke.
Labor and Delivery
It was the coolest popping feeling and gush of fluid. I really thought I was having more prodromal labor so it was a shocked and a relief when my water broke. I was in labor. Then the hard and painful contractions started.
It was now 2:45am, the nurses quickly got me into a room and checked me. I was 8cm dilated. Not just 10 minutes prior we didn’t even know I was in labor and contemplated going back home. There were nurses everywhere getting things ready for the delivery and the baby. The contractions were coming fast now and were very painful.
At 2:55am I felt intense pressure, I was 10cm and it was time to push. After only being at the hospital for 23 minutes, our son was born at 3:08am. It’s crazy to think I almost had my husband turn the van around a go back home. I only officially knew for 23 minutes that I was actually in labor.
First moments as a boy mom
He was here and still could not believe that I just had a baby. I asked if he was a boy. After having two girls before him I had to confirm that I actually just had a boy. It was an instant bond. I was still trying to wrap my mind around what just happened. I kept saying had we gone back home instead of going to the hospital he would have been born at home.
It took me a couple of weeks to be okay with how his labor and delivery went. I feel like the prodromal labor robbed me of the labor part of my birth story. I was a little nervous that I would have prodromal labor with my next baby. That story is a special one. Read it here.
Read my other birth stories here!
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