Part 2 : The Best Laid Plans
The next morning, my husband went to work early. I was up, lounging around in a robe and playing on the computer. At one point, I felt something like a “pop.” It didn’t hurt, and I didn’t pay much attention to it.

Until I stood up. Apparently the popping I’d heard was my water breaking, and it came out in an absolute flood. I stood there staring at it for a few minutes, thinking I was glad I hadn’t been at the grocery store!

I called my husband at work, and he was in an absolute panic. “Did you call the hospital?” he asked. I hadn’t. The birthing classes we’d gone to said you didn’t have to until labor pains started, and I hadn’t had any yet. So, I hopped in the shower, and when he came home he was running around like a madman. Thankfully I had already packed a suitcase. He called the hospital, and they wanted us to come since my water had broke. It was a 5 minute drive, but my husband still insisted on speeding.

The first hour was pretty uneventful. I felt great, and we were both so excited. Then the labor pains started. I have never had such pain in my life. Nothing in the classes really prepared me for it at all. I tried to breathe, but I was wracked with spasms.

The nurses wanted to hook up a monitor to check on the baby’s vitals, and once they had that inserted they hooked it up to a machine. It also showed when I was having a contraction (they were about 10 minutes apart at this time).

My husband was watching the monitor at one point, and as I was moaning in pain, he astutely said, “Oh, the monitor shows you’re having a contraction.”

“No shit!” I screamed. I wanted to strangle him!

As the day progressed the pain became worse, and I wasn’t dilating all. I don’t think I’ve ever had so many different hands in my vagina in all my life as every 30 minutes a nurse would come into check. It definitely made me lose my shyness. The nurses suggested an epidural, and despite the fact that I wanted to do it naturally, I gave in and let them give me the spinal shot.

That worked wonders. I couldn’t feel anything from my waist down, and now I sat with my husband and watched the contractions on the monitor.

As evening came, I still wasn’t dilating, and the hospital called my doctor. He determined that the cord was holding the baby inside, and there was no way I was going to deliver vaginally. At that point (and, unfortunately not earlier in my pregnancy) he told me he couldn’t do the surgery, and he’d have to call in the surgeon on duty.

When the surgeon came in, he held out his hand and introduced himself with “Hi, I’m Dr. Sheen, and I’ll be cutting you open in a few minutes.” They wheeled me down to the surgery room and gave me a spinal shot, then laid me down on the table.

My husband sat by me and held my hand, and they had a divider right below my breasts so he couldn’t see the surgery. I was freezing cold, and the table was freaking me out. It looked just like the tables you see on TV when the convict is being executed by lethal injection and they have him strapped down to the table. The nurses wanted me to stretch my arms out to the side, but I couldn’t do it. I promised not to move my arms, and my husband held my hand as the C-section began.

I couldn’t feel a thing, except at one point there was a lot of pressure on my chest. Then I heard my son cry, and it was the most wonderful experience of my life. I got to see him, and then I lay there holding my husband’s hand while they sewed me back up. At one point early on the doctors bumped the screen, and my husband went a bit pale. He gripped my hand a little harder for a while, until 45 minutes later when I was back in one piece. He later told me he could see my organs piled on my chest while the doctors were putting everything back (hence the pressure I felt on my chest).

While I had really wanted to have a natural birth, in the end everything turned out well, and I have a beautiful, healthy son. My daughter was born the same way, and I have no regrets.