Labor?? Five weeks early??

So November 11 was just a normal day with a normal doctor's appointment scheduled, but little did I know that my life would forever change that night. After my first pelvic exam at the doctor's office, I learned that I was 2 cm. dilated and 90% effaced. But I was told not to worry and that I could easily walk through the rest of my pregnancy that way. That was not to be. I got home and my water broke 45 minutes later. Cramps (contractions) soon followed, and by 10:00 that night I was at the hospital for a labor check. Contractions were more frequent and intense by this point, so they decided to give me some Nubane to take off the edge and hope to delay or stop labor. Again...not to be.

By 11:30, I was writing sub lesson plans to send with Dan to school as I finally resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't leaving the hospital and that my little guy was on his way. At 12:30 when they moved me to a maternity room, Dan left with my lesson plans and decided to swing by home to pack a bag and to shower. By 1:45 I was giving the nurse Dan's number to tell him to get here. I was 8 cm. dilated and contractions were coming every 2 minutes. Thank goodness he walked in as she walked out. What hurt the most wasn't the contractions but the pelvic exams by the nurses. They couldn't tell whether Bear was breech (he had been 2 weeks earlier at my ultrasound), and it seemed that the little part of him that they were checking out was definitely not his head (come to find out in another hour, it was his little pee pee).

Dr. Brazus walked in at 3:45 and asked if I wanted to do this or have a C-section. Knowing that my mom was able to deliver me naturally (I was breech...she took no drugs...and I was full term), gave me the confidence to say, "Let's do this."

I started pushing at 4:00 and by 4:21 had my little guy on my stomach as they cleaned him up.

They whipped him away for his APGAR testing and then to the nursery to get him on oxygen since his premature lungs weren't doing the best on his own. Before they could leave with him, I asked if he had Down syndrome, and our pediatrician confidently answered no.