I was sitting at my computer making Easter cards for my family and friends. I needed to use the restroom like most pregnant women do. When I wiped I noticed a mucousy discharge. I got very nervous because I had never had that with my other children. I called my mother-in-law right away like I always do when something goes wrong. She told me that she didn't know if that was normal or not and I should call my doctor. I called to see if I could come in that day and the receptionist told me they were very busy. I asked to talk to the nurse who knew my previous problems. She said I needed to come in right away. So I showered and called my mother-in-law and went in thinking I would be home that night. Got to the doctor's office, signed in sat down and began reading a Parents magazine while waitng to be called. A few minutes later I was called and went back to the examining room. The nurse came in and I explained the situation again. Undressed and waited for the doctor to come in. The doctor came in, examined me and told me I was pregnant, very pregnant and he thought he was seeing a miscarriage happening in front of him. The membranes were bulging through the cervix. He read my chart and said he didn't know how the other gynocologist could have missed the baby when he examined me earlier. He led me into another room to do an ultrasound. I started crying because I knew something was wrong. When he did the ultrasound, sure enough there was the baby kicking and looking very healthy. He took a few pictures and told me I was about 23 weeks along. I laid there in disbelief and started to cry again. He ordered me to go to the hospital so my mother-in-law drove me there.
I was admitted at the hospital and they took me in a wheelchair straight to labor and delivery. They put me in a labor room until they had me stabilized. Then while in bed they rolled me down for a more extensive ultrasound. The ultrasound came back fine. The baby scored a 7 out of 8 on the test they do. They put me in a room and I was to stay flat on my back. They were hoping that everything would fall back into place and hoping I could carry the baby for at least another three weeks. The three weeks were to give the baby more time to develop lungs so it could breathe on it's own. They moved me to a regular room with a window and told me I would be staying for awhile. They gave me a due date of July 28th and told me I would stay there until then if necessary. I was fine with that because all I wanted was a healthy baby. Everything was fine until Saturday evening, March 30, 2002 around 6:15 p.m. I called my mother-in-law and told her I needed her to get my husband and come to the hospital because things had changed. They came right away and I told them my water had broke and the doctor was inducing labor. He came in and gave me two syringes of Pitocin gel on my cervix. Shortly after the nurse came in and told me they didn't want me in any pain whatsoever and asked if I wanted anything for the pain before it came. I told her no (being stubborn like I am) and waited for the pain. Within 45 minutes the pains started and I asked for the medicine. She came back and gave it to me and my labor was from there on until 5:40 a.m. I was lying there in pain not knowing if my baby would live or die. Family members all came to the hospital to help comfort me. During this time my church family was praying for me. They kept giving me medicine for the pain and I went in and out of sleep. |
