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Birth Story: Monday morning - PROM (premature rupture of membranes)

Rupture of Membranes - 5:15am April 21st

After a rather disappointing birthday (mine, obviously, not the baby's) and Easter day (we had been hoping that the baby would be born by then!), I went to sleep at about 2:00am. I got up at about 5:15am to use the bathroom, which is pretty much an hourly ritual at this point. With all that practice, I've gotten pretty good at finding the bathroom in the dark, so I hadn't turned the light on. The liquid just kept coming, so I turned the light on. Luckily, I never leave my bed without my glasses on (even in the dark), so I could see what was going on. Sure enough, my water had broken!

I sat there in shock for a moment or two (I had been sleeping, you know), and noted that I had also lost the rest (I imagine) of my mucus plug. It looked like it was time to have a baby! I was pretty excited, and started shaking. In my newly wakened state, I couldn't remember if we were supposed to call the midwife when the water broke, or just when contractions started, so I went to the car and dug up the instructions. More liquid was leaking out of me this entire time, thus confirming my broken water theory.

I had been planning to let Travis sleep until I needed him, so that at least one of us was well rested, but the paper did say that I was supposed to call the midwives and I wanted Travis to be the first to know that something was happening, so I went in and kissed him awake. He said, "How are you?" Odd thing to say at 5:15 in the morning to your wife, but he was a little groggy, I imagine. I said, "Good. How would you like to have a baby today?" He said, "OK! Are you having contractions?" I hadn't noticed any, but I did tell him that my water had broken, and that there was no question about that!

We went back to the waterproofed bed, and he timed my contractions so we could tell the midwife when we called her. I was shaking a lot, with excitement, and was also very cold (extremely unusual for me right now). Surprisingly, though, when Travis told me to relax, I did! Some deep breaths really helped. I still couldn't feel the contractions at all, so we had to keep poking my belly to see when they were there. They seemed to be coming every three minutes, for about 30 seconds each. The paper the midwives had given us said that we should go to the hospital when they are four minutes apart, lasting a minute each, for at least an hour. Despite how close these were together, I believe that they were still Braxton-Hicks.

We paged the midwife on call, who happened to be Cindy. She had been sleeping, of course, so I apologized, but I'm sure she's used to it. She asked if I wanted to go to the hospital, but really, I didn't feel the need for that just yet. The midwife office opens at 9:00, and she suggested that I head in to be checked to be sure that I was in labor, but I don't really see the need for that. It will be clear when I'm in serious labor, I think. She asked if the amniotic fluid was clear (discolored would indicate muconium, which would be bad), which it was, and if I had felt the baby move, which I had, so she said that everything sounded like it was going well.

I am astonished by how much liquid I can produce. Amniotic fluid replenishes itself every 20 minutes, so I just keep making more! After talking to the midwife, I did see some blood in the fluid (she had asked and I said no), but that is normal and not something to worry about. We went back to bed and tried to go to sleep, but Travis just had to make me laugh (with some entirely inappropriate comment), which of course made more amniotic fluid seep out, which of course made me laugh harder. He is so darn funny. Not much sleeping went on. I 'rested' for about two hours, then decided that I was just too hungry to sleep.

I went downstairs to have some toast and cereal, and found that I was just producing too much liquid! I mean, I knew that amniotic fluid replenished itself, but I didn't know how much! I nearly killed myself slipping on the wet kitchen floor, which just made me laugh more, which made more come out... well, you get the idea. It was a very amusing morning.

I called Travis down to make breakfast for me, because clearly I wasn't capable of safely operating in the kitchen. I felt much better having eaten, but was still leaking so much that I decided that the only safe place for me was the shower. I took a shower and got somewhat dressed, and started writing this birth story.

At this point, no real contractions, just mild cramping. I've lost 2 pounds since I woke up at 5:15, which gives you an idea of how much liquid I've been leaking. I've been drinking a lot of water to replenish myself. I may try to go back to sleep, though I doubt that I could at this point. We're pretty excited!

I just talked to someone at the hospital, who said that we can't have the room that I wanted. Now I'm a little disappointed. The one that I wanted was farther away from the nursing station and thus more private. She claims that the LDRP rooms are soundproofed, but I disbelieve her. We'll put them to the test, I'm sure.

So, that's the story up to 11:00am. Things are not moving very quickly at all. I was feeling a little bit like I was having menstrual cramps earlier, but they have subsided. Now we're just hanging around the house, showered and packed and ready to go. We may go to rent some movies pretty soon (and return the ones that we have), whenever the video store opens.

Hopefully something more will start happening soon, because if I don't start having serious contractions in the next 20 hours or so, they'll start talking about inducing contractions to get them going. They don't like to let you go more than 24 hours after your water breaks, because the amniotic sac was what was protecting the baby from infection all these months, and once it is gone, so is the protection. I guess I'll go walk on my treadmill. That's supposed to keep things moving (provided I don't slip on all the fluid, of course)!

I can't believe that we'll be having a baby sometime today or tomorrow! Incredible!

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