Well, as some of you may know, I am or was a surrogate. I will tell the story of how I became a surrogate on another day in another post. 🙂 For now, I will tell you the story of the birth!
It was Thursday night, we were all in bed. It was a sort of stormy night. My husband and I were asleep in bed, and the kids were in their room in their beds. I am jolted awake by our daughter, “Mommy! Mommy” I’m scared of the thunder!” Which at the time, it wasn’t thundering outside that I could tell, but that was okay. Our son was right next to her too, so she must’ve woken him up or they both woke up because of the storm, not completely sure. But either way, they were both there. It was about 2am on Friday morning at this time. So they both get in the bed with us, and while I’m pretty big already with the pregnancy, and we have three dogs who like to sleep with us in the bed, as well – there wasn’t much room in the bed. I was literally hanging off halfway! So I wasn’t very comfortable!
So after a few minutes of snuggling with the kids, and making sure they were okay, I got up and went to the couch. My husband did work that day, so he had an alarm set to go off around 5am. So a couple hours later, which wasn’t out of the ordinary, I woke up and I had to go to the bathroom! #pregnancylife right?! Anyway, at first, it was just a trickle that fell out, and then another one, and then I had to “jump” off the couch (as well as I could being 36 weeks pregnant and huge haha) to run to the bathroom! But as soon as I stood up from the couch, I could feel more trying to hurry out.
I barely make it to the bathroom and I have gushes of liquid flowing out of me. And I mean, gushes! It was seriously like out of the movies gushing! It was cool and not cool at the same time! Especially since we still had a month to go. I wasn’t super worried that he’d be a “preemie” size with how big I was and how active he was and everything, but still – being a month early is still early!
Anyway, my water breaks, I’m trying to figure out what all is going on, since I never experienced my water breaking, especially not like that! I always heard “It’s not like it is the movies!” I get towels to clean it up and google what all consists of water breaking and what it “looks” and smells like and everything just to confirm that it is my water and not something else and then really needing to rush to the hospital. Everything said it would be clear and be odorless. So I smelled it and it was odorless, definitely didn’t smell like a urine smell. And I would change my underwear, and within a couple minutes, I would be drenched again! I probably went through 3-4 pairs of underwear in like an hour.
Also during this time, I texted my Mother-in-Law since she’s a nurse, asking if there was a way to know for sure if it was my water breaking and not just uncontrollable peeing. And she said how they have test strips at the hospital, but other than that, not really. And then after a few minutes, I called my doctors office after hours number, and told them what happened, and they said they would call the doctor on call, which thankfully was my doctor, and then he’d call me back within the next 30 minutes. Which was more like 5-8 minutes when I got a call back! So again, I told him what happened, and he said “If you think its your water, you need to come to the hospital and get checked. And if it is your water, we will be delivering today.” And I said “well, okay.” And then we basically hung up.
At this time, it was 4:58am, and my husbands alarm for work was about to go off. I wake him so his alarm wouldn’t wake the kids since they were in the bed next to him. My words? I said “Brandon? Umm, so I think my water broke!” And his response? “Oh great!” Haha! Not exactly what you want to hear when you still got a month to go!
I was sort of still in denial about it being my water, and didn’t really want to go to the hospital and it being a false alarm, even after all that, I knew it probably wouldn’t be! But you always have that thought of “please be a false alarm!” Even though you are 99% sure it’s not! So while still texting my mother-in-law, I asked if we could bring the kids over while we go to the hospital and get checked and everything. Which I knew she wouldn’t say no, haha. But still, always nice to ask, right?!
So my husband and I talk, while he is getting ready for work. He said, he’ll take the kids to his moms then go to work, while I go to the hospital and if it’s baby time, to text him and he’ll head over to the hospital! So I packed a few things into a bag in case it was time, not really sure what all I was grabbing since I was trying to be quick. And I did eat a small bowl of cereal, that way I wouldn’t be starving depending on what it was and everything. By the way, don’t do that! Not recommended! Haha! You’ll find out why later! Anyway, so I drove myself to the hospital. And yes, I had to grab a towel to put down on the seat so I didn’t drench the car seat! Haha! Also, please don’t judge us for him still going to work and my driving myself to the hospital while I was technically in labor! It worked out and it’s how we worked it out to do it!
Anyway, I’m driving myself to the hospital, and during this time – no, I’m not feeling any contractions at the time, just very wet from the water! Haha! And maybe a bit anxious! But that’s also to be expected! So I get to the hospital about 6am. Go to the ER desk and tell them what happened and that my doctor said to come and all that jazz. So she called up and said alright, you can go on up to Labor and Delivery. And another worker who also works on the L&D floor came by, and he took me, the employee way – said it’d be shorter! I was like “Oh, guess I caught ya just in time, then!” He said “I’m actually a little late!” to which I responded with “Yeah, I’m a little early!” Haha making a joke! He chuckled! But anyway!
Got up to L&D, they got me in the waiting area, where they monitor you and baby and do the swab to check if its amniotic fluid and such. And she also checked my cervix to see if I was dilating or anything, and she said she didn’t even feel the water bag or anything and that I was already 4cm dilated and contracting every 2-3 minutes.. At 36 weeks pregnant! It’s been quite the morning! And baby boy was ready to come now! And while they have the bands on me monitoring everything, I did start to feel some hard cramping pains/contractions.
So I started asking the nurses, if I should text my husband to come to the hospital. And they were like “YES!” So luckily he didn’t work too far from the hospital. He was at work for about 35 minutes before coming to the hospital! Haha! He said that he put his jacket on, and the guys at work said “You cold?” And he said, “Nope, looks like my wife decided to have the baby today!” And they were all like “OHHH!!!” Haha and when he told me that, I was like “I didn’t decide to have the baby! He decided he wanted to come now!” Haha! Trying to blame me! Tsk tsk!
So hubby gets to the hospital and they’re already prepping me to go to the OR, they had to push back another C-section that was scheduled, to do mine first, because of all that happened and how fast he was progressing! So he got to the hospital around 7am, and about 10 minutes later, they were rolling me back to the OR to do all the other stuff, the spinal tap and all that! He said that he didn’t even have his little gown and all that on, before they came to get him to come in the OR with me. They were fast! Also, coming back to that bowl of cereal I had – during the surgery, my blood pressure dropped, which it usually did because of the meds they give for the surgery and everything, and this one had a little something extra – my bowl of cereal. I ended up throwing it up at the beginning of the surgery! Not fun, by the way, when you’re on an operating table and being operated on! But after that, I was better for the most part. Felt a little lightheaded through out, but that’s mostly to be expected. So pro tip: Don’t eat anything before going into the hospital to possibly have a baby, even though you may “think” it’s a false alarm! Haha.
Anyway, and then at 7:58am on April 19, 2024, little baby boy was born at 8lbs 2oz, 19.5 inches long! So from the time my water broke, it was less than four hours that baby was here!
Don’t I just look so great here?! 😂
This whole thing, this whole experience with the water breaking was something else! But all in all, the surgery went well, and everything went smoothly, besides my little throwing up! 🤮 😊Baby was here safely and healthy and that is what mattered! I was good also. Now the really fun part – recovery. I’m very thankful that it was my doctor that was on call though! He’s been my favorite through out all three of my pregnancies! Thankful for my in-laws who were able to take the kids during this and for everyone who has checked on us through out! Thank you! 😊
Adventures Of Motherhood 