Andrew's birth story: A week of prodromal labor

The story of Andrew Gideon Sanders' arrival left to me to write would have been very different. I'd have woken up one day with mild contractions, perhaps 10 minutes apart that intensified into the 5-1-1 pattern, at which point I'd have called my doula so we'd have her support at home, labor as long as possible at home and get to the hospital before it was too late, to be told that I was ready to push the baby out. God had very different plans for us. Memorial Day weekend arrived and I noticed that my Braxton Hicks contractions that I'd been having since about 16 weeks pregnant seemed to have intensified a little and had a more regular pattern. I let my doula Desirre know what was going on and she had some suggestions to make them go away. On Monday, the 28th of May, Will and I went out to enjoy what we knew were one of our last days before becoming parents to two. We walked around Target and I had a few contractions. Nothing I couldn't keep walking through but definitely different from the Braxton Hicks. I also saw some evidence of dilation and effacement, namely the "bloody show". This put our excitement in high gear because we knew that when we saw that with Liam's pregnancy, we were holding him within 48 hours. Again, I kept Desirre posted. She told us it was definitely something to be excited about and to go about our day and enjoy. We went to my favorite Korean food place for lunch. Contractions continued and so did our excitement. We went back home and told our babysitter to be on high alert for calls from us as soon as contractions intensified and got closer together. Instead, they faded away. Tuesday came and I didn't really experience many contractions. Early Wednesday morning, however, I woke up at 3.30 am with intense contractions, more evidence of dilation and feeling like I did in early labor with Liam. I had another "today is the day" moment. At 7a.m. we decided there was probably no point going to my regular OB appointment and decided instead to take Liam to the park so I could walk around and see if contractions would get closer together. Will took the day off from work thinking it would probably be his first day of paternity leave anyway. I walked around the park, contractions stayed 10 minutes apart but were pretty intense and the pressure was making it harder to walk. We decided it was best to go home and get some rest. The contractions began to get farther apart throughout the day and less intense. It was quite frustrating. Our babysitter was on standby again. Will had taken the day off from work. I was bummed. This continued on Thursday but this time I sent Will to work with instructions to forget that I was even pregnant, go about his normal day and I decided to ignore the contractions. They came and went all day long, anywhere from 10-30 minutes apart. I decided not to really time them unless they got closer together. Some felt like the early labor contractions with Liam, some felt more intense. Thursday night the contractions got more intense at around 11.30pm. I couldn't sleep through the contractions. They were incredibly powerful and I found myself writhing in bed every 20-30 minutes. I was frustrated that they would neither intensify to where I could believe I was actually in labor, nor would they go away and let me rest. After hours of trying to sleep through them, I called Desirre at 3.30 in the morning. She suggested pelvic rocks and the open knee chest position to help either organize the contractions or make them go away. I did those for about 30 minutes and by around 5am they got "wimpy" enough so I could rest through them. I slept well until 7 and felt so much better. This continued for a few more days. I had an appointment with my OB on Friday the 1st of June. Will and I had decided to decline a cervical check because we felt we'd been riding on false hope all week and being told I was 4-5cm dilated would only make that worse. Dr. Hovenga (who is awesome) said she was OK with whatever we decided but listening to what was going on, she wouldn't be surprised if I had 4-5cm of dilation behind me. She said she was on-call on Sunday and hoped I would deliver then. She didn't think I'd make it to Monday still pregnant. Friday night I went through another intense spurt of labor. My sister in law Rachel had just arrived that night for a 2 week stay to help us with Liam when we went to the hospital and support us after Andrew's birth. While I now had peace that my firstborn was taken care of, I didn't want to go into labor her first night home and also have Liam wake up to us gone and suddenly finding his aunt at home and being confused about what was going on. My mind was not ready to work with the contractions and I found myself fighting them, hoping to make it through one more night. But this time nothing helped. Pelvic rocks, open-knee chest, walking around... I just had to ride the waves until they dissipated the next day and I was able to get some rest while Rachel and Liam bonded. Seeing how well they were doing made me feel so much at peace and ready for labor when it came. On Saturday night, Will and I spent some time in prayer just thanking God for His provision. Knowing our son would be well taken care of if his brother chose to arrive soon was an incredible blessing. I also felt the need to just surrender to God's plan and invite Him to rule over every detail of Andrew's birth. Sunday morning, the 3rd of June, I woke up tired after another night of prodromal labor. I found myself wanting to retreat into a quiet, dark place. Will hung dark sheets over the blinds to make the room extra dark and I tried to nap between contractions. They were coming anywhere from 20-30 minutes apart but this time they had a completely different intensity to them. The contractions were long - around 1.5 minutes each time and forced me out of bed to work through each one of them. As the day wore on I was getting quite tired. I found myself wondering how I would cope if these intense contractions were eventually 5 minutes apart. With each contraction I could feel the pressure on my bones and baby moving down. The contractions felt like those I had experienced during transition with Liam. I wasn't sure I'd make it through active labor at this rate if I couldn't work through the "mild" early labor contractions. At around 4.15pm I called Will to help me through a powerful 3 minute contraction. It was nothing like I had ever experienced until the last few minutes before Liam was born. I couldn't believe I was still not in active labor. It was frustrating. Also I was starting to make guttural sounds and shake with the contraction. Will was alarmed. He called Desirre immediately and her doula instinct kicked into high gear. She told us to head to the hospital. I was pretty sure we'd be sent back because my contractions were still 8-30 minutes apart but at this point I wanted answers. Thankfully we didn't have another contraction until we got to the hospital door at about 5pm. Someone brought me a wheelchair and Will wheeled me into triage, shaking and trying to breathe through the contractions. I started to explain to the nurse that my contractions were still far apart. She said "but you are shaking, something's going on, let's get you checked". It took 3 nurses to get an estimate of what my body was doing. But they determined I was at least 6-7cm dilated with a bulging amniotic sac and baby at -1 station. In other words, I was in active labor after all and baby was almost here. Desirre had a strong inclination to get to the hospital to meet us there at 5.20 instead of waiting for a phone call update from us. I'm so glad she has these instincts (clearly God's voice) and listened to them because I definitely needed her support. Suddenly we had gone from not knowing when this early labor would progress into active labor to being told we were very close to having the baby. I felt like a burden was lifted. Now I knew things were as intense as they were going to get and suddenly they felt so much easier to work with. I began to smile between contractions and relax and really enjoy things. I had just been told that if they broke my waters then, I'd be able to push the baby out very soon. It was surreal. Meanwhile Desirre suggested that I squat into the next contraction. I did with Will's support and Desirre applying counter pressure on my back. Will and I prayed for peace about making the decision to break my water because I didn't want to get stuck at 7cm and need more interventions. We felt we had the peace of God and called Dr. Hovenga in to break my water. She came in and when she checked me found me already complete and baby at 0 station. No worries about stalled labor anymore! It was time to push. I was still in a state of shock and denial while pushing. Just a couple hours ago I didn't even know I was in active labor and here I was minutes from holding my baby. Sure, my contractions didn't get close together but each one did the work of 5 contractions. No wonder they were so intense!!!! At 6.45PM Dr. Hovenga broke my water and I began pushing. Baby Andy arrived at 7.09PM and stole our hearts immediately! After he was born, things were a bit crazy but God was still in total control. I had to receive a bag of pitocin in the delivery room because of some extra bleeding. When they wheeled me into the mom and baby unit things didn't improve and I ended up passing out. The nurses were incredible about handling things calmly and staying on top of the situation. Another bag of pitocin, a cytotec suppository and a shot and the hemmoraging was under control. Baby Andy is a healthy baby and everything we prayed for. In the end, I also got the labor and delivery I had wanted. I labored at home, got to the hospital with just enough time to get settled and have the baby and Liam was well taken care of!