My original due date was May 30th and my scheduled c-section was set for Memorial Day, May 27th. This wasn't our first choice for the date of delivery, but I had to work around my doctor's schedule and available surgery openings. In the meantime, I had weekly doctor's appointments to gauge the baby's growth and my progress. The baby was definitely getting bigger and I was starting to become quite uncomfortable. I jokingly asked my doctor at what turned out to be my last appointment with him if I we could just put a catheter in right now?!
My 38 week check-up was on May 15th, late in the afternoon. My doctor told me that the baby was "still floating," and assured me for what seemed like the millionth time that this baby was "never going to drop" and that I would "never dilate on my own." The baby was just too large for my bone structure -- much like Sophia. Everything was still set to deliver on Memorial Day.
This third time around, I was a lot more relaxed on a lot of things ... I knew that we had time to set-up the pack 'n play and car seat after the baby was born. My mom helped me organize some outfits (keeping in mind that we still didn't know if we were having a boy or girl) and I had mentally planned my hospital bag, which I was going to pack that weekend.
The plans changed though.
The next day after my doctor's appointment, in the middle of night, I woke up to use the bathroom. This customarily happened every night around 2:30 am. This time was no different. As I rolled over to get out of bed (which was becoming increasingly harder), I felt my water break. I woke Steve up to tell him, and his response was, "Are you kidding?" Yeah, like I would kid about something like that.
I tried to get out of bed as quickly as I could so that the gush that I was experiencing wouldn't ruin the mattress and carpeting. In my attempt to get to the bathroom as fast as possible, I slipped on the linoleum. Luckily, I was ok, but it took me a minute to recover from everything that was happening. And all that I could think about was that I didn't have my hospital bag packed.
Steve called my soon-to-be sister-in-law and asked if she could come over and stay with the girls (who were sleeping soundly, oblivious to everything that was happening). She said that she could be there in 40 minutes. I got in the shower, assuring Steve that we had plenty of time. And I was mentally planning what I was going to put in my hospital bag once I got out of the shower.
Well, the contractions started right away -- and they were coming FAST (3-4 minutes apart). As soon as I got out of the shower, I told Steve that we needed to go to the hospital NOW. Forget about the hospital bag; he could pack some things for me later. And we couldn't wait for Alyssa to get to our house. We called a neighbor across the street and she came over right away to wait until Alyssa got there.
We grabbed the bare necessities (cameras, phones, my purse) and left. We arrived at the hospital at 3:45 am and went directly to triage. I had called them on the way to let them know how fast these contractions were coming and that I was planning to have a c-section. Once the nurse checked me, we were all stunned to learn that I was dilated to an 8! Yes, me -- the one that was "never going to dilate" was almost ready to push! And all of this within an hour of my water breaking.
The nurse asked me if I was sure that I wanted to have a c-section. She was convinced that I was so close to delivering that I could probably have this baby on my own. I told her no. We knew from past-experience that I have a small hook on my tailbone, as well. And that hook presents additional problems when trying to deliver a baby.
From there, the staff moved very quickly. I was prepped for the operating room and the doctor on call (not my doctor) was paged.
Within one hour of arriving at the hospital, Jack Stanley was born via cesarean section at 4:48 am on May 17th. He was 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 3/4 inches in length. And he was absolutely perfect.
While he was smaller than we anticipated (smaller than Sophia), he was also born two weeks early. Had I carried him to term, he probably would have been closer to 9 lbs., like the doctor was estimating.
To me, one of the best parts in all of this was the surprise of not knowing the gender of the baby. It's ME that likes to be surprised, and Steve went along with the idea for our first two children. This third time around, he admitted that he wanted to find out early and know the sex of the baby ahead of time. I was SO disappointed because I was sure that he would slip up by accident and it would ruin it for me.
At our 20 week ultrasound, Steve asked the sonographer to write down the gender on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope. He wasn't sure when he was going to open it, and he promised that he would tell me when he did; he wouldn't tell me the gender, he would just tell me that he now knew. He also promised that he would never tell anyone else and would try his very best not to give me any indication one way or another.
After all that time, Steve never opened the envelope.
I was sure that this baby was a boy (just my gut intuition) and Steve was sure that it was a girl. And so, like with our previous two children's births, Steve was standing there as the baby was pulled out and he got to be the one to tell me what the baby was. It is such a special moment.
The only thing that I was disappointed about was the fact that that day was Samantha's last day of preschool. While there was nothing special planned that day at her school to conclude the school year, I had wanted to take the girls out for lunch and ice cream to celebrate. As it turned out, I wasn't able to do that, of course.
When Sam woke up that morning (and Alyssa was at our house), Sam asked immediately where we were. Since Jack was already born, Alyssa was able to tell her that we were at the hospital and that she had a new baby brother! She was SO excited.
Later that morning, Steve left the hospital and headed home to grab a few things for me. Then, Sophia and him picked Sam up from school (showing all of Samantha's friends the pictures of Jack on his phone), before coming up to hospital.
Meeting Jack for the first time:
Holding Jack all by herself:
Sophia fell in love with him instantly:
My one request at the end of the pregnancy was that Steve would try to bring the girls up to see me at the hospital every day. I missed the girls terribly and wanted to be able to go home as soon as possible. Steve kept is promise; in fact, he brought the girls up to see me TWICE each day.
One of my favorite pictures:
Jack and I were both doing very well and were able to be discharged in the afternoon on May 19th. I was SO happy to be able to come home and settle into our new "normal." The girls were even more excited (I think) to have their new brother home and to have their momma back!
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