My water broke at 3:30 in the morning on December 17, 2010. AHHHH!!!
I got up to go to the bathroom and I felt a gush of warmth. I paused to make sure I really felt something and then another came. And another! I woke up H and we went to the bathroom. I was shaking like crazy, probably a combo of cold and “holy shit this is actually happening.” I hadn’t had any contractions but we called my midwife who said to go back to sleep and call her when contractions were 5-1-1. H got me some dry undies and I put on the embarrassingly large overnight pad and went back to bed.
Ha! Like H or I could go back to sleep! Right. Plus I was pretty sure I was having contractions but they just felt like really, really strong menstrual cramps. We both got out of bed and as soon as I stood up it was like the flood gates had opened. My ginormous pad didn’t help one bit! H had to get 2 towels, one for me to wipe off my legs and use to get to the bathroom and one to wipe up the floor! In case you’re wondering: The fluid has no odor but is yellow and kind of thick-ish. And now I know where all my mucus was. But I never saw the plug.
We set up camp in the living room. I ate something and started to take my antibiotics (I had tested positive for strep B). We started timing contractions and there were 3 minutes apart and lasting for about 45 seconds (which by the way, it didn’t feel nearly that long, I thought it had been more like 10 seconds). So were were like, “ummmm…..already?” I called my doula and she said that sometimes in early labor the timing of contractions can mimic later stages of labor but since I was talking to her with little trouble it was unlikely that I would be having a baby anytime soon. Damn! Fast labor would be *awesome*! She told us to stop timing them and to get some rest.
After that H is snoozed away on the couch. I attempted to rest but couldn't Baby just started moving around again (after much thrashing earlier this evening. Oh, and I didn’t go to bed until 2am. Oops!) I wasn't sure how often the contractions were coming but they weren't really increasing in intensity yet and I’d been able to breathe through them fairly well. I noticed that if I grabbed something and held onto it it increased the tension in my body and I was not able to let go of the pain as easy. I am concentrated on relaxing my entire body when another contraction came. Oh, and when they ended it is a HUGE relief and I went back to feeling completely normal, like nothing was going on.
Around 6am I woke H up because the contractions felt like they were getting closer together and they were definitely more intense. We started timing again and they were about 2 minutes apart, lasting for about 45 seconds. H called our midwife, Sara, and she said that she would call back in an hour. In an hour they were two minutes apart and lasted for about 60 seconds so she said she was going to make her way over to the house. We also called our doula and she said she’d be there as soon as she found someone to take her kids (they happened to cancel school that day).
I got up to go to the bathroom and I felt a gush of warmth. I paused to make sure I really felt something and then another came. And another! I woke up H and we went to the bathroom. I was shaking like crazy, probably a combo of cold and “holy shit this is actually happening.” I hadn’t had any contractions but we called my midwife who said to go back to sleep and call her when contractions were 5-1-1. H got me some dry undies and I put on the embarrassingly large overnight pad and went back to bed.
Ha! Like H or I could go back to sleep! Right. Plus I was pretty sure I was having contractions but they just felt like really, really strong menstrual cramps. We both got out of bed and as soon as I stood up it was like the flood gates had opened. My ginormous pad didn’t help one bit! H had to get 2 towels, one for me to wipe off my legs and use to get to the bathroom and one to wipe up the floor! In case you’re wondering: The fluid has no odor but is yellow and kind of thick-ish. And now I know where all my mucus was. But I never saw the plug.
We set up camp in the living room. I ate something and started to take my antibiotics (I had tested positive for strep B). We started timing contractions and there were 3 minutes apart and lasting for about 45 seconds (which by the way, it didn’t feel nearly that long, I thought it had been more like 10 seconds). So were were like, “ummmm…..already?” I called my doula and she said that sometimes in early labor the timing of contractions can mimic later stages of labor but since I was talking to her with little trouble it was unlikely that I would be having a baby anytime soon. Damn! Fast labor would be *awesome*! She told us to stop timing them and to get some rest.
After that H is snoozed away on the couch. I attempted to rest but couldn't Baby just started moving around again (after much thrashing earlier this evening. Oh, and I didn’t go to bed until 2am. Oops!) I wasn't sure how often the contractions were coming but they weren't really increasing in intensity yet and I’d been able to breathe through them fairly well. I noticed that if I grabbed something and held onto it it increased the tension in my body and I was not able to let go of the pain as easy. I am concentrated on relaxing my entire body when another contraction came. Oh, and when they ended it is a HUGE relief and I went back to feeling completely normal, like nothing was going on.
Around 6am I woke H up because the contractions felt like they were getting closer together and they were definitely more intense. We started timing again and they were about 2 minutes apart, lasting for about 45 seconds. H called our midwife, Sara, and she said that she would call back in an hour. In an hour they were two minutes apart and lasted for about 60 seconds so she said she was going to make her way over to the house. We also called our doula and she said she’d be there as soon as she found someone to take her kids (they happened to cancel school that day).
