It was a normal Saturday morning for us, we didn’t have any real plans, but to get a few things done around the house before this little girl was going to join our family. It was September 5th and we were scheduled to be induced on the 9th, so we figured we still had some time to get things done before her arrival. Boy were we wrong.
Here in Utah (Midway to be exact) there is a festival that everyone raves about: Swiss Days. My wife hadn’t been since she as little, and I’d never been. I sounded like a fun idea and we had nothing else to do, so we headed up the mountain enjoying the fresh cool air and Nixon enjoyed seeing the cows and horses as we drove to our destination.
My wife was feeling fine, but if you have ever been pregnant you know that your bladder isn’t always the strongest. You tend to leak frequently and basically get used to the feeling that you’ve pee’d a little. As we parked and were walking (what seemed like miles) to the event she felt that maybe a bathroom stop was in order. We stopped and by habit she was sure to check that there wasn’t any blood or weird color.
It’s funny, when people talk about their water breaking everyone has a different story. Is gushes out like a fire hose, there can be some blood or discoloration or it’s a slow trickle. We didn’t know what was happening and decided to keep on trucking.
We finally arrived at the event only to find it was packed. People everywhere walking through rows of booths that had all kinds of hand made crafts. We can be pretty picky and were looking for favorites that we follow on Instagram. We knew something was different about the day when we decided that we should head back to the car and hadn’t bought ONE THING. We buy something anywhere we go and to not buy a thing we knew we were thinking something was happening. Also by this point my wife was wet to her knees and totally unaware of how it happened like a little trickle. We stopped by the bathroom again and same thing, no colored discharge or blood but totally soaked underwear.
As we walked back to the car, my wife called her mom and I called my sister, two people that we knew had had their water break before. Of course, neither of them had experienced anything that we were experiencing. My sister said that if we were worried to just call our doctor. Not thinking that it was really a broken water but being safe, we called our OB and their answering machine said that if you think your water had broke to just head to the hospital and get checked.
We quickly called my mom asking if she would meet us at the house to watch our son just so we could head to the hospital to get things checked. We were an hour away from home and figured we had time to hustle home, grab a snack and just incase we were admitted put our bags in the car. My wife was completely ready with her bag, our son’s bag to staying at Grammie’s and the Bringing Home Baby bundle with all the things we would need for a newborn’s arrival.
We walked into the women’s center of the hospital and said that we thought our water broke, but weren’t sure. They took us to triage and asked my wife to put on a gown. She had basically stopped leaking and figured that it was a false alarm, but when she put on the gown, out came the fluids. It was hilarious! Trickles down her leg like she’s just wet her pants. We quickly wiped it up with paper towels and waited.
Just our luck we were set up with a nurse in training and so they took every single precaution and triple checked to make sure her water had officially broke. It was official and they admitted us. We were going to have this little girl and luckily had everything ready for her arrival.
Lets get a little personal for a second. Before we were due, my wife was tested for Strep B and tested positive in her urine, but negative when she got the blood test. So when we were admitted the doctor had wanted her to be on a antibiotic just to be safe. Because of that, we wouldn’t have the baby until after 8:00 pm because you have to have two doses three hours apart.
They then transferred her to a delivery room and started her on a low dose of pitocen. The on-call doctor decided to puncture her water sack because we hadn’t seen or felt a big gush of water and wanted to make sure the baby’s head wasn’t blocking the way. That brought on contractions and my wife being the tough girl that she is, tried to hold off on the epidural as long as possible. She is a little stubborn and every contraction I would laugh because of the faces she’d make, both of us knowing quite well that she didn’t have to feel them. Finally she caved and received the epidural. We had one more dose of antibiotic to finish so it was a total wait game from here.
When it was finally time, the doctor came in and couldn’t be more excited for us. We all started talking and suddenly got on the topic of going to Hawaii and what famous people we’ve met there. The doctor told my wife to give one little push to get the baby to flip over. After that push, she was ready to come out. He kept telling us about how he met Harrison Ford and what a nice guy he was and as he was talking he saw that a contraction was coming and said, “Let’s skip this one so I can finish the story.” It was absolutely hilarious. He kept talking and as he did so our little girl wasn’t going to have anyone put her on hold. Slowly she started coming out on her own and the doctor decided he could finish the story after.
Quickly her head was out and he told her for one little push just to get the shoulders out. To put it simply, our little girl was ready to be welcomed to the world. It was absolutely beautiful and crazy at how easy number two was instead of what it’s like when you have your first baby.
All in all, we were stoked to have our little girl here with us. She is already such a joy to each individual in our family. Our son smothers her with his excitement and tender kisses. He couldn’t be happier to have a little sister to celebrate life with. Mom is doing absolutely fantastic, while I on the other hand am a complete mess. I have quickly gone back to my old ways of being over protective, but luckily for all, I have definitely mellowed out some.
At the end of the day, I am the proud father of a million dollar family and can’t wait to make it a billion dollar family…okay, maybe I can wait a little.
