Let's just say, we are really really lucky...

So, remember last week when I was talking about the false labor contractions I was having? Well, the same pattern contractions (8-10 min apart, 1 min long) happened Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night all starting around 9 at night and going away when I went to bed around midnight. So frustrating, especially when it wasn't actually helping me dilate any more at all. (I was still a 1 on Monday - Ugh!) The only thing that was changing was the amount of pain that was going along with the contractions. By Tuesday night, I was not comfortable, to say the least. So here's how it all went down...

Tuesday night - 11:30 pm - I went to bed thinking they'd go away like every other night.

3:00 am - I wake up dreaming about timing contractions. Pretty sure if I'm dreaming them, they're still happening. ;)

3:30 am - After going to the bathroom (and passing the mucus plug - sorry that's gross) Bart and I realize that tonight is a little different than the other nights. The contractions are now 6 min apart and really painful (+back pain). We decide that despite the fact that it's probably another false alarm, we might as well go to the hospital and get checked out 'cause it's not like I'm going to be able to go back to sleep anyway.

4:00 am - We arrive and are put in a room and hooked up to monitors to see my contractions and her heart rate. I'm considered Triage at this point and they say I'm still only at 1.5 dilated, despite the fact that my contractions are 4 min apart now and really painful.

5:00 am - They say they'll hold me for another hour, but if I haven't dilated more by that time, they will just send me home with pain meds. Awesome.

5:30 am - I am really nauseous and start to feel like I'm going to faint. I do faint and Bart grabs the nurse, who then grabs about 6 other nurses and start working on me.

~Sometime between 5:30 and 5:45 am - I've crashed and the baby has crashed. My blood pressure was ~70/40, which is really bad, and they can't find her heart beat. They give me oxygen which brings me back, poke me with lots of needles and make me move into a bunch of different positions to help my blood pressure rise and the baby's to rise as well.

~ between 5:45 and 6:00 am - They decide for an emergency c-section, shove a bunch of consent forms in Bart's face and wheel me out of the room leaving him absolutely distraught and helpless. (With an emergency c-section, the husband isn't allowed in because I'm completely out with anesthesia. I'm awake but totally out of it, just praying to Heavenly Father that she'll be okay. The doctors get me ready, and while doing so, Isla's heart rate has returned to normal so they decide that I don't need the 'emergency' part of the c-section and we can just do it with an epidural. This way Bart can come in the room while they take her out and hold my hand. I'm releaved that I'm seeing lots more smiles on the doctor's faces and finally, after the epidural (which was amazing) Bart came in and sat by me.

6:10 am - Isla was born! They pulled her out and she cried and I cried and Bart cried. It was a miracle, a whirlwind of dramatic craziness, but it ended fine. She had had the cord wrapped around her body and neck ~5 times and the placenta had been tearing, so those two things plus me fainting meant trouble.

Moral of the story - Trust your instincts about when to go to the hospital. We were sooooooo lucky that we left when we did. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if we hadn't left for the hospital when we did. Needless to say, Heavenly Father loves us and wanted us to have her after all we've been through. I'm so glad the doctors and nurses were so quick on their feet and level-headed. We are so blessed to have gotten through with only a bikini cut and 22 staples. Oh my!