Eventually,
Ben left for work and I got up to start the day. I showered, ate breakfast and
headed out the door to run some errands. As I was walking down the stairs to my
car, a Hispanic guy was walking to his car… saw me and said, “Good Morning”…
then looked at me again as he patted his stomach and said, “God Bless your
baby!” It was so sweet and unexpected; it almost choked me up and totally made
my morning! Once in the car, I headed to Salvation Army to see if I could find
any newborn clothes in good condition. Everything looked picked over and very
worn so I left and went to Target to pick up a few things for my birth center
bag. I got a nursing bra, hand sanitizer, baby wipes etc. I felt good knowing I
was getting things packed four weeks ahead of schedule (or so I thought).
I called Ben
right away and told him what had happened. I asked him to meet me at the birth
center if at all possible. I called my mom, Ben’s mom and my Aunt Kim as well
to let them know what was going on. I then called my friend Jan who lives close
by and asked if she could come pick me up and get me over there. Thankfully she
was available and rushed over to our apartment to get me. Once we got to the
birth center, Ben showed up and Leslie, one of the midwives checked for
amniotic fluid and felt my cervix. It was definitely amniotic fluid but my
cervix was still closed. She called Dr. Pierce at Allen Presbyterian Hospital
and informed him of what was going on. He told her to send us to the ER and
have them bring us up to Labor and Delivery. While all this was going on, I
felt fine… no contractions or anything… just leaking, feeling as though I was
peeing myself constantly!! We hung out in triage for a little bit waiting for
them to admit me and to check on things. Ben’s mom showed up while we were in
triage which made us feel better. I was so nervous because Leslie had felt my
stomach and said she was certain our baby was still in a transverse position. I
was mentally preparing myself for a c-section and thinking all of my preparation
through the Bradley classes, chiropractor etc. was out the window. The
anesthesiologist even came in to speak with me…which really made me un-easy. I
remember feeling as though I should have better prepared myself for the
possibility of a c-section. I knew from day one that it could very well be a
possibility due to any kind of emergency etc. However, at the same time, I knew
that whatever was necessary to get our baby here happy and healthy was what
would have to happen. Dr. Pierce came in to feel my stomach to see if he could
tell the babies position. He too said he feels transverse but ordered an x-ray
to confirm. The x-ray technicians came in, did a quick x-ray and went to see
the results. The Dr. came back in and said, “Well, it turns out your baby is
head down.” “What?!”… I started crying. Needless to say we were shocked,
excited, and all the thoughts of c-section left my mind and I was back to
thinking about our original plan, to have a non medicated, vaginal birth. Leslie
was shocked too, there was never really a point in my pregnancy where we
thought he was head down so hearing the news made us wonder when he decided to
make his move! I remember Leslie saying, “Not that I don’t believe them, but I
am going to go have a look at that x-ray and see what they are seeing.” She
came back and once again confirmed that our baby boy was in the proper
position!
The Dr.
checked my cervix (that hurt like heck!!) and it was at a one, so he put a
probe on the baby’s head to keep track of his heartbeat and they strapped a
contraction monitor on my stomach. Once my room was ready they allowed me to
walk to my room and get situated. Dr. Pierce said that he would give my body 12
hours to start labor on its own. If it didn’t start after 12 hours I would have
to be induced. My contractions kicked in around 4:00pm or so. They weren’t bad
at all… just tight cramps. I was still able to talk to those who were in the
room with me and they weren’t very distracting. Once we noticed the
contractions coming every 3-4 minutes, we called Amy (the other midwife who
would be in charge of my delivery) and Shelly (our Bradley class instructor and
Doula). They showed up within the hour and it was SO good to have them there! I
immediately felt more comfortable! Around 5:00pm I was encouraged to get up and
walk around through my contractions. I remember feeling like walking was the
last thing I wanted to do but I got up anyways and walked around in my room and
I would stop and lean over the counter when a contraction came to get through
it. I then tried rocking on a birthing ball for a little bit and eventually
ended up back in the bed. 
I wanted to
get up soon after the delivery. Once the adrenaline calmed down a little bit, I
was ready to get up and shower and walk around etc. I felt so good! The nurses
wanted me to take it easy and stay in bed for at least an hour while I received
more fluids from the IV. As soon as that hour was up, I paged them to come to
the room and let me up out of bed. They thought I was crazy to want to get up
so soon but I was ready; besides, I needed to go to the bathroom anyways. They
took the IV out and let me get up. I was a little stiff but was able to make it
to the bathroom on my own and showered with a little help from my mother in law
who stood on the other side of the curtain just in case I needed anything. It
felt SO good to be up and showering an hour later after a non medicated,
natural vaginal birth. Walking was a little uncomfortable because my tail bone
was pretty sore after bearing down so hard but I was still able to get down the
hall to see our sweet baby boy. 
William
Benjamin Ivy was born exactly 4 weeks early on Thursday, May 17, 2012 at
12:46am. He weighed 4lbs. 12.4oz. and was 17.5 inches long. He had to have a
CPAP for 4 minutes after birth in order to stabilize his breathing pattern but
was weaned to room air right after. He never needed an IV or antibiotics while
he was in the NICU. He was hooked up to a heart and lung monitor just so they
could keep an eye on him. They put a gavage feeding tube through his nose to
ensure he was able to eat properly. They used formula at first until I was able
to get down there and begin breastfeeding. Ever since I introduced him to the
breast he was interested and latched on well for his first few times. As my
milk was still coming in… he received food from the gavage tube but was at my
breast during the feeding so he could associate that with his tummy getting
filled. Once my milk officially came in
we were able to get rid of all formula and use 100% breast milk. I was so glad
to get rid of the formula knowing that my breast milk is custom made for our
little guy and being a preemie (especially) was just what he needed. William
was in the NICU for a week and a day. Thankfully they offer a boarding room for
parents whose babies are in the NICU so we stayed at the hospital. We thought about
going home to our own bed but since I was feeding around the clock we figured
it would be far too stressful to be away from him. It was a long and
emotionally exhausting week. We never expected to go into labor so early and
never expected our baby to have to stay in the NICU. When we got the news that
he would be going home it was much sooner than we were expecting. We were at
the point of just taking it one day at a time and not focusing on a discharge
date. As soon as the nurse practitioner
said he would be going home I started crying. I was so, so happy to hear that
we would finally be able to take our sweet baby home. He roomed in with us that
night and we took him home the next day. 
