It was 3:45 on Friday morning. I was back in bed after one of my usual middle-of-the-night waddles to the bathroom, about halfway back asleep. And then, I felt something.
trickle, trickle
I immediately knew what was happening, and my first thought was, save the mattress.
OK, stay perfectly still. Carefully move the pillows out of the way. Gently roll the hips off the side of the bed. Start to stand up.
GUSH.
My OB said there’d be no missing it if my water broke, and holy wow was she right. Woke M and had him get me some towels, which were soaked alarmingly fast. This was a totally new experience for me – my water didn’t break with my last pregnancy. But damn, it just keeps coming and coming… especially when you’re carrying as much as I was.
Our first call to my sister-in-law didn’t wake her up, so the lucky winner of the middle-of-the-night contingency lottery was my friend Rebecca, fellow mom to 3.5-year-old twins, and only four weeks less pregnant than me. While we waited for her to arrive, I just kind of stood there, soaking towels, and trying to calmly tell M what to do next. We debated waking the kids to warn them that we were leaving, but worried that it was close enough to morning that they might not go back to sleep. Decided to just leave them be.
Contractions started slowly on the short drive over to the hospital. I dripped my way into a wheelchair while M parked the car, and up we went to Labor & Delivery. From that point on, it was pretty standard surgery prep. An IV, some antibiotics for group-B strep, and the various pre-op indignities. When you show up in labor for a repeat c-section, they don’t wait around.
It was, of course, all quite surreal. Sure, logically I knew that I was very pregnant, that the arrival of my third child was imminent, regardless. But still, it’s very strange to sit there and wait for surgery, wait to meet the baby.
Being my second time at this particular party, I felt overall a lot more relaxed and lucid. While I’m sure it was helped by the fact that I had gotten some sleep before heading to the hospital (not so much last time), I also was just more calm, more aware of what was going on and what was coming next. Even if I was shaking a little with anticipation.
Rolled into the operating room, stayed as still as I could for the spinal. Wow, is that a strange feeling, as the entire lower half of your body goes numb. This time, I had a bit of a reaction that I hadn’t had before. It felt like the numbness was creeping all the way up my body, ears ringing, a little nauseous. The anesthesiologist noticed it before I even put it into words, and put a few doses of something into my IV. A minute later, I felt significantly better.
They started the surgery so quickly, I was worried they were going to completely forget to retrieve M. But there he was in his blue paper scrubs. Again, I felt so much more with it than my last c-section. No pain, just lots of strange pressure and other sensations.
At 6:53 in the morning, out came Eleanor Margaret, along with another tidal wave of fluid (seriously, it had been going for three hours, how was there still more fluid in there?).
She didn’t cry.
In fact, I learned later, she was not particularly inclined to breathe on her own, either. The nurses did the first few breaths for her, and when she decided to join the party, she sounded like she was under water. Not surprisingly, I suppose, she had a ton of fluid in her lungs. Apgar scores were a highly unsatisfactory 5 and 7.
I got to see her, briefly. M got to stand with her while the nurses worked, and she weighed in at an impressive 7 pounds, 11 ounces (at only 37 weeks, 6 days). But then, while they were still putting me together, off she went to the special-care nursery.
To say I was disappointed to return to my recovery room without a baby would be a dramatic understatement. This was, to say the very least, not how I was hoping this would go.
I was wheeled in to see her on my way over to my postpartum room. Her head-full-of-dark-hair was under a plastic bubble, with some extra oxygen and humidity blowing on her. Color was better (not purple anymore), muscle tone slightly improved. Breathing on her own, but you could hear her trying to work through all the gunk.
The short summary, 36 hours later, is that she’s doing a lot better than yesterday morning. She’s still in the NICU, and I’m re-acquainted with the hospital-grade pump. I’ll be back later to talk more about what we’re up to (why yes, my hospital got wi-fi since I was last here, can you tell?). But in the meantime, I just wanted to introduce you to my my new daughter, Eleanor Margaret.
She’s quite something.
Congratulations! Eleanor is absolutely beautiful! And I love the name–classic and timeless.
Many congratulations to you, M, Daniel and Rebecca. She is so beautiful and I love the name.
And ya, the water breaking thing – crazy weird feeling! I can only imagine how it must have felt with all that extra you had.
Hopefully little Eleanor makes her way out of the SCN soon and you can ditch that pump. How often are they letting you breastfeed her?
Wow she is one beautiful baby!! Congrats!! Here’s hoping she can come home with you soon:)
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Congratulations. Eleanor is breathtaking! What a beautiful tiny face.
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Congrats! I’m glad she is doing well. Completely understand the disappointment~my first went to the NICU right away as well and spent 4 days there. Never had him with me in my room. Apgars were 1 & 3. Had to be resuscitated when he was born. He’s a completely healthy 10 year old now, though. Would never know the start he had.
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Congratulations! She is beautiful, as is her name. I hope she has a speedy release from the NICU, and gets to meet her older brother and sister ASAP. I’m sure they’re dying to meet her!
Congratulations! She is a gorgeous little girl!
Congratulations! Wow, the ultrasound techs were sure right about the hair. She is lovely. Hope you are getting some rest while you can.
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Congratulations! Hope Eleanor is out of the NICU soon. Best wishes to you and your family!
WOW! Congratulations! She’s beautiful! I’m so excited to read about your new journey as a singleton Mama! BTW – I never got around to writing about my labor story with Jax but it is strikingly similar. Maybe I’ll write about it sometime
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Wow, she’s beautiful – look at all that hair! (Not that you haven’t heard that a few dozen times.)
Hope she clears the NICU soon – I can only imagine how disappointing it must be when you expect all to go “well” with a singleton.
Oh she’s so sweet! Add my prayers to the rest that she gets out of the NICU soon. Can’t wait to hear more about her! Congrats to all of you.
Congrats!!! I’m glad you are doing well and I know Eleanor will be out of the NICU in no time.
Congrats! love the hair!
Congratulations! She is absolutely beautiful!
Congrats – she’s beautiful.
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Congratulations !!! She’s so cute !! And, I must say, I’m impressed with the blogging in the hospital … that is multitasking taken up a notch
)
I love the name Eleanor. My oldest daughter has Eleanor for her middle name … in honor of my grandmother who is 98 (99 in June).
Congrats again … can’t wait to hear more and see more pics … Hope you are doing well and your new little one is out of the NICU soon.
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Congratulations! She is beautiful and I love the name.
I will keep you all in my thoughts and I hope she is out of the NICU soon.
Congratulations!!!! She’s adorable! Hope her NICU stay is short!!
precious and perfect and lovely!! And a beautiful name to go with. Congratulations to you all.
Eleanor is going to cherish reading her “birth post”. She is jut beautiful and will be kissed often on those awesome cheeks.
CONGRATS!!! What a gorgeous baby girl.
Hope you can ditch the pump and get your little lady home soon. Thinking of you!
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Congratulations!! She’s gorgeous. I hope your NICU journey is very quick this time. So excited for you!
Congratulations! She is beautiful! It’s wonderful to hear she is doing better today!
My water also broke on the morning I was scheduled for a c-section for my twins. I was also surprised at all the fluids. It never stopped and there was soooo much! Can’t wait to hear more!
Congratulations! Love the little face, and the name of course! I’ll be praying for a quick recovery for both of you.
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Welcome to the world, Eleanor! And congratulations to mom, dad and big brother and sister.
Congratulations Daniel and Rebecca on a new baby sister! They must be so excited, and you must be thrilled! Congratulations to everyone in your family, and welcome to the world Eleanor Margaret.
You’ll have to change your title bar now!
She is so beautiful! And what a gorgeous head of hair. Congrats!
Congratulations! She’s gorgeous! Hoping she has a short NICU stay and can come home with you!
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Congratulations!! Crazy, I miss one day and little Eleanor is here. Ok, off to read the NICU post. Hope you are doing well.
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She is so beautiful. Congratulations! I love her hair;)
Congratulations!! your daughter is beautiful! and the name is great! I hope you get re-united very soon~
Congratulations mama! She is so beautiful and I love her name. Praying for you two being together very soon!
[...] know, and those who don’t have probably guessed: my beautiful daughter Eleanor Margaret arrived three weeks ago. And that means, among many many other things, that I can finally show you her [...]
Oh! I just found out. Congrats, and best wishes to you and Ellie! Welcome to the World Ellie!
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