It all started on Monday, June 25th. I woke up early in the morning to go to the bathroom, and I discovered that I lost the mucus plug. (Yucky word, but that's what holds the baby inside and keeps things sterile in the womb). I was ecstatic because I knew this meant labor was close. My mom and my sister both had their babies the day after that happened to them. During the day on Monday, I was feeling small gushes of fluid coming out, and wondered if my water could be breaking. I was also very crampy all day. It felt like dull but painful period cramps. I ended up calling the doctor, and she wanted us to come down to Beaumont to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid. If I was, that meant we would need to induce labor right away! We excitedly packed up the car and drove down to Beaumont. About 3 hours later, Chris and I were sent home. I was definitely disappointed - I was ready to meet our little one - but I knew he must not have been quite ready yet!
I woke up the next morning determined to get things moving. I cleaned the house, moved some furniture around in the baby's room, took Maggie for some long walks, and even had some spicy Taco Bell for lunch!! I sent this picture to Chris as a joke, saying maybe it would induce labor. Little did I know what was coming... :)
Around 1:00 I went to Target to pick up a few last minute things for the baby. I started feeling much more cramping than usual, and some back pain along with it. CONTRACTIONS!!! :) I noticed the contractions coming pretty regularly, so I got out my phone to time it on the "Full Term" app. They were coming every 5 minutes.
I rushed home and called my sister-in-law, Andrea. By this time, the contractions were 4 minutes apart. She told me we should head to the hospital right away, especially since we live over an hour from Beaumont. I was hesitant to call Chris because I was worried this wasn't the real thing. I was having flashbacks to the night before when they sent us home, and I left feeling embarrassed and disappointed. Something told me I should call him, though. He must have known in my voice that this was it (even more than I did!) because he rushed home. About 5 minutes after I hung up the phone with him, I went in to use the bathroom before the car ride down. As I was sitting down I heard a loud pop, and then GUSH!!! My water broke! This time there was no question about it - that was my water for sure!
Chris got home around 3:30. I had our bags in the car, so we hopped in and we were ready to go. I texted my mom to tell her the news. She immediately left the movie theater where she was seeing Monsters University with my nephews (sorry we interrupted your movie guys!!) so she could head down to the hospital. Chris was flying down 94, my mom behind him, with his emergency flashers on. At this point the contractions were about 2 minutes apart and they were very painful! With each contraction, a little more amniotic fluid came out, too. Poor Chris was racing down the freeway at about 95 mph. At the rate my contractions were coming and the amount of pain I was in, I was certain that we were going to have little Baby Wallbank in the car on the way to the hospital! It was the longest 45 minutes of my life! (Chris made record time to Beaumont!!)
We pulled up to Valet, frantically left our car, and ran inside the hospital. The hospital staff saw us coming and pointed us in the right direction to the labor & delivery floor. I was soaking wet from my water continuing to break in the car, and was having very painful contractions every minute, so I must have looked like quite a sight! We arrived to labor and delivery, and the woman at the desk calmly looked at me and said, "Can I help you?" Um YES, I am in LABOR!!! I told her what was going on, and she handed me a clipboard of paperwork and told me to have a seat in the waiting room. WHAT!!
Fast forward about 2 hours and I had been admitted to my room and hooked up to an IV. I found out I was dilated to a 3 (I couldn't believe I wasn't further along!). The most wonderful doctor ever came in and gave me a gift from God - an epidural. Ladies, I don't know why you would ever give birth without one! It was fabulous!!! This is a picture of me in the L&D room after the epidural worked it's magic. All smiles. ;)
About 2 hours later, I had progressed from 3 centimeters to 8! They called my doctor to tell her to come to the hospital - it was almost time for Baby Wallbank to enter the world.
Then things started getting a little scary. I first knew something wasn't right when the monitors started beeping and 6 or 7 doctors & nurses came rushing into the room with their scrubs on. They yelled for me to get on my hands and knees and put on an oxygen mask right away. Chris had just gone down to the waiting room to update his family, and I was terrified to be there without him - what was happening? Was the baby ok? Why were the doctors wearing scrubs? I found out later that the baby's heart rate had dropped to an extremely dangerous level and they were prepping me for an emergency C-Section. Luckily, getting on my hands and knees put less stress on the baby, so his heart rate went back up.
The rest of the night is a bit of a blur. A similar scene happened two more times where I was ordered to quickly change positions and wear the oxygen mask. I felt a ton of pressure and told the doctor I really felt like I should start pushing. She examined me and agreed - I was dilated to 10 and was ready to push. Chris and my mom stayed in the room with me. During each contraction Chris counted to 10 three times, and I pushed for those 10 seconds. I was giving it all I had - I couldn't wait to meet our little guy! And on top of that, I was exhausted and ready to be done! :) I pushed like this for nearly 2 hours. Long story short, Benjamin was stuck inside the birth canal because he was in a posterior position ("sunny side up"). Due to this, he wasn't moving even after 2 hours of pushing. The monitors started beeping again, and I could tell by the look on my doctor's face that something wasn't right. She calmly told me that the baby was in distress, and that it was not safe for me to continue pushing with his heart rate rising and falling the way it was. She told me I needed to have a c-section right away.
While I was disappointed to hear this news, I understood that it was best for our baby. I also knew that God had a plan for how he wanted Benjamin to enter the world, and delivering him naturally just wasn't it. I wiped away a tear or two, and was ready. My handsome hubby put on his scrubs and we rushed off to the OR. I was given more medication through my epidural to numb me from the waist down. I could feel some pressure as the doctor worked, but no pain throughout the surgery. About 45 minutes later, at 2:13am, Baby Benjamin Jon Wallbank entered the world!!! He was 8 pounds 1 ounce, and 20.5 inches long. Although I wasn't able to hold him, seeing him in his daddy's arms for the first time was the most magical moment of my life. The tears in Chris's eyes told me it was the most magical moment for him, too! I have never seen him so emotional or so happy.
After the surgery was complete, Chris went with Benjamin to the newborn nursery while I was whisked away to the recovery room. I couldn't wait to be reunited with my sweet boy and to finally hold him! Unfortunately, I had to wait a bit, but it was all worth it in the end. He is finally here!!! <3 <3 <3
Benjamin Jon Wallbank had quite an eventful entry into the world, but it didn't stop there! I will write again soon about the rest of our week in the hospital with our brave little one. He was such a trooper!!
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