What an eventful day this was! I had told CJ that he needed to drive to Galveston and continue on with his scheduled drill weekend. With one income and no idea what the future held, it was important we make the right financial decisions even in crisis mode. With him gone, my mother had to stay at our apartment with Bowie. Sidenote: my mom and husband rarely ever left my side during these long days and nights. I literally could not have made it through this ordeal, mentally and physically, without them. I have no concept of how taxing it has been on them to sacrifice so much in order to take care of me when I couldn't take care of myself. But I am eternally grateful that they were able and willing to do whatever it took to support me and never leave me alone. Ruminating in your own thoughts at this point was very dangerous! There are no words to express my gratitude, to them and to everyone who came to see me and helped during this process. I will delve more into that later.
Fast forward to 1 AM. I got up to use the restroom. I sat down and started "to go"....and even after I stopped, I was still "going". It took a moment or two through my sleepy haze to realize what was going on. I ran back to bed and called the nurse. She came in and confirmed my water had broke. This was Sunday, the beginning of my 31st week of pregnancy. I could NOT be going into labor this early; I didn't even feel any contractions for crying out loud! My husband was 5 hours away! I didn't have the nursery put together, I wasn't ready for this baby to come yet on so many levels, all which spun through my head very rapidly as I tried in vain not to hyperventilate. My mom was able to come to the hospital immediately and we called for CJ to start his journey back home as soon as possible. The monitors were showing Avery's heartrate was strong and consistant, and though I was having contractions now, they were fairly far apart. I was even told by one nurse that they might be able to keep me pregnant another few weeks! I almost wept I was so happy to hear this news. Apparently as long as your baby continues to pee, that means there is more amniotic fluid for her to survive in. I took solace in this....she could bake more! I willed my body to relax and think positive, non labor thoughts. CJ arrived as did my dad and step mom. I was hooked up to an oxygen mask and laid on my left side in an effort to calm everything down. That's when I heard Avery's heart rate slow. The nurse rushed into our room and flipped me over to my right side, explaining that with the lower level of fluid, it was easier for her to roll over on her cord and slow her heartrate. However, they assured me she was recovering nicely when they moved me and weren't concerned. This occured several more times, and each time it was more difficult to get her heart rate back up. The on call doctor (not my normal OB) came in and explained I should probably be prepared to have the baby within the week, depending on these heart rate drops. I was stunned. A week?!? According to the sonogram they had done earlier that morning, Avery was head down and ready to come out naturally when active labor began. Which wasn't far off after my water broke, Dr. Galusha informed me. Okay, I could do this. A week. A week in my stomach will do Avery wonders in the long run. I would do whatever I could (which in retrospect was nothing at all) to keep her inside me for just a little longer. At around 11 AM, I once more heard her heartrate slow and although 4 nurses and the doctor came in and hemmed and hawwed and moved me backwards and forwards and upside down, it took about 5 minutes to get her HR back to normal. I will never forget my nurse's face as she looked down and said, "Okay, this is what we thought might happen. We're going to move quickly and we're going to take her out now."
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