The Arrival

Hard to believe we are past the one month point especially as my official due date was last week! As I seem to still be saying, it all seems completely surreal! Already up to 6 pounds 3 ounces, she is growing like a weed and we are out of preemie clothes.

It’s hard to imagine our lives without her this past month and as unexpected as her delivery was I am grateful for the extra six weeks of snuggling our little beauty!

A week before Grace’s arrival, with absolutely no idea we would soon be meeting her!

This month has flown by perhaps because of the craziness of her arrival, the lack of sleep, or trying to adjust to our new routine with a babe in the house. To me it feels like it has only been a week or two since she was born.

On New Year’s Day I started having some abdominal pain and cramping while we were eating dinner. I didn’t think a lot of it figuring it would probably go away. We tucked the boys in and prayed our rosary with them. With the cramping continuing to increase I found it difficult to be in a position where I wasn’t in pain.

I started to become more concerned about what may be happening as the pain grew in intensity and was constant, not giving a single moment of relief. After texting two of my sister-in-laws, one who is a nurse and the other who just gave birth to assure myself that I wasn’t over reacting, I finally called the hospital.

They told me I needed to come in, if the pain was moderate my husband could drive me, but if it was severe they would send an ambulance. At the time it was moderate. So we called a friend to come and watch the boys and then headed in, thinking we would be back in a couple of hours.

I didn’t have any of my delivery bags packed nor did I think that this was it, but I threw in a couple of granola bars for Aaron, relics of Blessed Mother Teresa and St. Gianna and the camera just in case.

The nurse told us to go to the hospital furthest from our house, about 20 minutes, because it had a NICU. To us delivering that night was just a passing thought and the possibility of giving birth had not sunk in.

The pain got tremendously worse during the drive and seemed like an eternity trying to get there. Not only did the pain increase, but also the anxiety of wondering whether our baby was okay and what would happen over the next few hours. We prayed an emergency novena of Memorares as I tried my best to keep my mind from succumbing to fear.

By the time we pulled up to the emergency room entrance I couldn’t stand up straight or walk, the pain had become severe. I was wheeled up to labor and delivery and soon filled with relief as I heard our baby’s heartbeat. The nurse suggested that perhaps I was dehydrated, which can cause the uterus to flutter resulting in pain. They hooked me up to an IV and began to run some test to begin eliminating what may be causing the pain.

I was having contractions in addition to the constant pain, but was only dilated to a one. After eliminating the normal culprits, it became a sit and wait game to see what would happen. The cause of the pain was narrowed down to dehydration, pre-term labor or placental abruption.

The doctor would not let me have any pain medication nor drink water in the case I would need a c-section, which at the time seemed silly. No way am I going to be having a c-section tonight, I am sure they will just send me home in a few hours.

The pain continued to increase like nothing I have ever felt before. I tried my hardest not to think about it and offer it up the best I could. The game changed around 2:00am when I started bleeding and the diagnosis became placental abruption. Everything happened so fast that when the nurse came in and said I would probably be having a c-section within the next two hours, I am not even sure I had time to process what was happening.