Where to begin? You may or may not have heard I had a baby very unexpectedly by an emergency c-section in Utah. Without Darren there. It wasn't fun. It was so unexpected and not at all how I planned or imagined in my mind. It's still hard to wrap my mind around it all.
Let me start off by telling you my original birth plan. First I was going to give birth without an epidural. I have had an epidural with my other 4 births and really wanted to give birth naturally. I had been reading Hypnobirthing and doing research on natural births. My doctor, Dr. Laury, was amazingly supportive. He has been the best OB I have ever had. He taught hypnosis and was going to work with me throughout my labor. I even had Darren on board. I had everything planned. I was going to have Enya playing, LED candles glowing, essential oils, and my doctor helping me to relax. I had played the scenario over thousands of times in my head. I was going to be so calm. I was going to impress Darren. I was going to give birth so easily. I had it all planned perfectly. It was going to be the smoothest birth my doctor had ever seen! Obviously it didn't go as planned.
I was 36 weeks pregnant. I went to Utah to go to Education week with my mom, Laura, Marilyn and Malinda. I would also get to see Christina and Julia's new house. Having a baby in Utah was not what I expected to happen at education week. Not at all. Early labor has never been a problem in my family. It would be quite the opposite. I was born 2 weeks late. Paul was 10 days early. Ellie was born on her due date. I was induced with Kyle. With Gabe I was doing jumping jack and everything else possible on his due date to get myself to go into labor. No luck, I got induced after his due date. Out of my mom's 39 grandchildren Luke is the only one that has been born preterm. What am I saying? I was completely confident that I would not go into labor 5 WEEKS early. I even went to my doctor before I left and got his ok. He checked me and the baby was head down and I was good to go. I was due Sept. 18th and my doctor was leaving town Sept. 21st. My biggest worry was going over my due date and going into labor after Dr. Laury left town. Having my baby early hadn't even crossed my mind.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Education Week were amazing- like always. Wednesday evening after classes I was laying down on a bed in Laura's basement. I was on the phone with Darren telling him about my day. As I laid there I suddenly felt some water leak out. I thought, "what the heck was that?" I got up to go to the restroom and see what was going on and more water came out. I knew immediately. I told Darren, "my water just broke, seriously, my water just broke! Darren, I'm not kidding!" Darren said calmly, "ok, it's going to be ok." I don't think he believed me at first. I went into the bathroom and water had soaked through my pants. I stared in disbelief. Was this really happening? Could this be a dream? There is no way this was real. But there it was. A huge spot of water soaked through my pants. It had to be. I started to hyperventilate. A million things ran through my mind. Excitement, curiosity, fear, how to get Darren to me, having a baby without my husband, why this was happening, had I done anything wrong? My mind was racing. "Darren, seriously, my water is broke. There is no other explanation. I am 80% sure my water broke" Darren told me to calm down. I calmed down even though I didn't really want to. I wanted to completely freak out. I was going into labor and my husband was 10 hours away. How could this be happening? This doesn't happen to me. I don't have early labors! I have late babies! I said, "Ok, listen, I am going to go walk around and see if more water comes out. You start looking for plane tickets. I'll call you back in about 5 minutes" I hung up the phone and went upstairs.
As I was going upstairs another bunch of water came out. I yelled to Gordon (Laura's husband), "Gordon, do you have a towel? I'm pretty sure my water broke." He looked at me and was like- no way. I told him I wasn't kidding. He brought me a towel. I asked him to call Laura and my mom and tell them to get home. This was what I heard him say on the phone, "Hey, you guys need to come home, Emily's water just broke,"... silence "no this isn't a joke,".. silence "no I'm not kidding." I had to laugh. Gordon was great. Thank goodness he is a doctor and so level headed. He knew just what to do. He asked for my insurance card and looked online to see which hospital took my insurance. A few minutes later my mom, Laura, and Malinda walked through the door. It was actually a really happy, funny moment. Everyone was like- what is going on?? Did your water really break? They could tell it was real when they saw the towel between my legs. It was like my 3rd towel I had soaked through. Everyone was talking at once assuring me everything would be ok. It was kinda crazy. My kids all came in and there were like 10 kids and 6 adults all talking like crazy and 3 dogs barking and chasing each other around. My kids were freaking out and asking me all sorts of questions. I felt like it was a crazy dream. I just walked around talking to everyone not sure what to do. Gordond said, listen you have got to get to a hospital. The Payson Hospital and the Mt. Timpanogos Hospital takes your insurance. Payson doesn't have a NICU. Timpanogos does and since you are so early you probably want to go there. Then Darren called and said the same thing- get to a hospital!
Ok, I had to clear my mind and start packing. It wasn't hard since I was living out of a suitcase anyways. I grabbed a bunch of stuff, said goodbye to my kids and we left. I had no idea what would happen or when I would be back. It turned out I never went back to Laura's. I would be spending the next 10 days at the hospital. Laura drove me and my mom and Malinda came in another car.
At this point it was really fun. We were having a great time and I couldn't believe I was going to see my baby soon. I started to get really excited and felt like everything would be ok. I was going to have my baby! We were laughing and having a great time as we walked in. It was actually a lot of fun! I was so thankful to have my mom and sisters there. We took this picture on the way in. Notice the towel between the legs :)
