35 weeks = DISCHARGED!!!!

You read that right! I'm blogging from the comfort of my couch, legs propped up and Baby C wiggling away. I'll be spending a lot of time camping out on this couch and as well as going to the OB, well, a lot. 

First things first - I cannot thank everyone enough for their support and prayers.  I know Baby C is at a good gestation right now, but I am desperate to get her to full term.  I want the very best for her, and right now is just a tad too early.  I would love for her to be born and for her to go right into my arms, instead of right to the neonataologist (as, I was explained, she would be had I given birth to her during my hospital stay). 

Ok, so what happened? How the hell, Krystal, did you not know you were in labor?

Easy.  Kinda. This isn't my first rodeo.  I know what contractions feel like.  I didn't feel shit. On Tuesday the 27th, the only thing I felt was a sharp constant pain in my upper right side of my uterus.  Turns out what I was feeling was the aftermath, or the soreness, of tiny contractions.  

 I called my OB's office around 7:30 pm.

"Are you having contractions? "

"Nope."

"Sounds like it's nothing, maybe a uti, but with your history let's send you to labor and delivery."

Called Tim and the FD, who weirdly thought I was crying on the phone (I wasn't), and he tore his locker apart looking for his truck keys. He never made it back to clean up, but his buddies took care of his stuff. He also drove like an insane person to the he hospital,  assuming I was in labor even though I was sure I wasn't. Guess his father's intuition is better than my mother's intuition. We should have taken the captain's offer to have him drive me to the hospital int the ambulance. Damn. 

On the way there, just like on the way to the hospital when I was in labor with the boys, I was sure that this was indeed nothing and I was going to make Tim buy me food on the way home.  The whole thing was deja vu, from calling Tim at the FD to come get me, to him worried, to me thinking this was all nothing. 

Well, we know how this ends. I was in labor. Resident OB gave me the world's most painful cervix check (what the fuck did she think she was going to find, gold?) and excitedly told me I was 4 cm.

I let out an Academy award winning "what?!" - a mix of shock, terror, and despair. After I sat up to give her what was surely a look that made her feel guilty as shit, I wanted to call her a liar. I sank back into the hospital bed and cried. 34 weeks and 5 days is a blessing, for sure. But I wanted more for my little girl.

They explained to me that the small, inconsistent contractions I had been having for a couple of weeks  - what were chalked up as Braxton Hicks - could have actually been dilating my cervix.  Or, this could have been contractions that started today, small ones, that I never noticed because I was too busy moving around, cleaning, etc. Either way, wtf. 

They wheeled me into a delivery room, since by then my contractions were a couple minutes apart (still pretty oblivious to them at this point, although now I could tell I was having them). They prepared the baby warmer and set up for delivery.

But then the weirdest thing happened. Around 6 am on the 28th, my body stalled. I was 6 cm dilated and 50% effaced. And then it was quiet.

My brother in law brought baby girl two Bibles to put her footprints in, just like he did when we had the boys. My sister in law brought her a blanket, hats, and cute preemie clothes.  Our pastor called checking in on us. We were preparing to welcome this little girl into the world. Everyone expected labor to jump start again at any minute.  My OB was convinced I was not making it until the next day.

And then things got even more quiet on the monitors.  Today, one of my OBs (I have two) checked my cervix.  I had gone from 6 cm to 4 cm dilated, and my cervix was still closed (although it was just a little).  I had no active contractions in over 24 hours. The nurses and doctors were baffled.  At 6 cm dilated, this was the "point of no return."  But my body stalled out, and it is buying baby girl more time.  I think it is Conner and Ben looking out for their little sister - and I also think it is all the prayers from all you wonderful ladies :)

So, after having contractions for about 12 hours in the hospital, letting 4 different doctors fist my vagina to check my cervix, being put on a "clears" diet that made me lose some noticeable weight, and laying in the most uncomfortable hospital bed ever for 40 hours, we are home.  Hopefully, we can stay home for a couple more weeks, or at least until February 1st (I would love for her not to share a birth month with her brothers). 

And, because I know people were anxious to meet her - here is a sneak peak: