My name is Samantha Holland, this is the story of my first child’s birth. My pregnancy had gone great. I had no problems or issues. I felt great, not a trace of any kind of sickness. My only complaint had been my swollen feet. I was 34 weeks along. We decided to go stay at my in laws over the weekend. I woke up feeling the same as usual. I went to go to the bathroom and felt like I had peed my pants a little. I didn’t think much of it and continued to get ready to get in the shower. When I got out of the shower the same thing happened, I got out and felt like I peed a little. Every time I’d stand up I felt like I was peeing a little. I had heard bladder issues were normal in pregnancy so I didn’t think much about it. After talking to my sister in law I decided to call my doctor. I explained what was going on, he acted like it wasn’t a big deal and to call or get to the hospital if it happened to get any worse. I even asked if I should head to the local hospital to check for amniotic fluid and he said if I needed to I might as well get to the hospital I was going to deliver at. I thought it was strange that he wouldn’t want me to get checked but what did I know? I’d never done this before! My sister in law encouraged us to get to the hospital. So we decided to head to the hospital to be safe since we were an hour away.
As we drove there I stared out the window terrified about what was about what was going to happen. I was nowhere near ready to bring a baby into our home. I hadn’t bought anything for this little boy. Everyone told me to wait to buy anything until after my showers. All my showers were scheduled for the next week. I kept hoping I’d be sent home and put on bed rest. I was also very hungry and wanted to stop for lunch but I was too nervous to eat.
We got to the hospital around 1:30pm. By the time we got to the hospital I was completely soaking through my pads I had put on. I’d stop at every bathroom I could to try and get it under control. We got to labor and delivery and the nurse had assured me my water had most likely broke. She tested for amniotic fluid and checked to see if I had dilated at all. She then told me we’d be “good friends” by the time this baby got here. Sure, enough it was my amniotic fluid, I was at a 1 and 80% thinned. She called my doctor to tell him and he asked her if she was SURE it was amniotic fluid. Why would he even question it? She put me on the phone with him, he explained that I would be having a baby and everything would be ok. Knowing how early I was, I asked if there was any chance I’d be having a cesarean. He had no concern of that happening and put me at ease. I was told I’d be having the baby sometime in the next 12 hours. Then the tears came. I was so nervous, I wasn’t ready for this. I thought I had 6 more weeks.
They took me to my room and got me going on Pitocin. I was having contractions but I couldn’t feel them at all. I was told whenever I was ready I could get the epidural. I was planning on getting an epidural but I also wanted to feel SOMETHING. Not everything, but I wanted to at least experience the feel of child birth to some extent so I held off. The nurse left the room and my husband and I were left there in shock. This was really happening. We were having a baby. We called our parents and told them we’d be staying and having a baby sometime within the next day. There was no rush and they could just come when they could.
I don’t think even 5 minutes had passed when I started to feel cramping. The nurse walked in and I asked her if I was having a contraction. She looked at the screen and panicked. She got on the phone and called for backup. It was all happening so fast. The baby’s heart rate had dropped. The nurse had to put her hand up me to feel for the cord. I had what is called a “prolapsed cord.” The cord had gotten in between the baby’s head and the opening which was causing the head to push against it cutting off all the circulation. She had to climb on the bed with me and keep her hand up there to push the head away from the cord. At this point I was really wishing I had that epidural. They were moving me side to side and transferred me onto a new bed all while she was still there holding my baby’s head away from the cord. They wheeled me into the O.R. planning on putting me under to get the baby out. My husband was left in the hall not knowing what was going on, when my doctor came running down the hall in what appeared to be his golf attire. I think we pulled him off the course. He told him everything would be ok. Thankfully they were able to get the heart rate under control for me to stay awake during the procedure and they brought my husband in. He gave me a quick blessing and held my hand. I couldn’t feel anything, maybe a little pressure from the incision but it was all painless from that point on. I just remember feeling the tears falling down my cheeks. I had not planned on ANY of this. I wasn’t planning on delivering 6 weeks early, let alone ending up in and emergency C-section.
My baby was born. He weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 19.5 inches long, he was a good size for a preemie. They put him in front of me to see for a split second and rushed him out of the room for testing. As I was getting stitched up the only thing I remember the doctor talking to us about was what we had planned on naming him. I didn’t even have a name picked out. We had two we were considering. Nathan and Jason, but we were leaning toward Nathan. The doctor said Nathan was fitting given our situation. It means A Gift from God, and in our situation, he truly was. He was our little miracle. He survived and everything went as well as it could. I sat in recovery for a couple hours, my body was in shock so I was shivering like crazy. I still hadn’t seen my baby. I didn’t get to see him for about 4 hours after he was born. I couldn’t even hold him for longer. They had to do a 4-hour oxygen test to make sure he was breathing ok. In the end, he passed and I was finally able to hold him. He was brought to my room and everything seemed ok for the time being. The recovery was not fun. I was told as soon as I was allowed I needed to get up and walk so I didn’t get air bubbles, or gas pains. Nate ended up in the NICU that night, his oxygen levels weren’t quite where they needed to be. We were told he would most likely stay until his due date. Thankfully they were wrong. We were out of there in a week.
Nothing went as expected, and it was traumatizing for a first birth but everything ended up as well as it 
could have even having had a C-section. The nurses were amazing. They saved my baby. My doctor on the other hand, I wasn’t impressed with. Yes, he did the procedure flawlessly and that’s great, but had I not gone straight to the hospital, and waited “for things to get worse”, we could have had a completely different outcome. I was lucky to be at the hospital when the cord prolapsed.
The recovery wasn’t as horrible as I had expected, but the area around the incision was very tender for a long time, months, even years. Thankfully everything healed and I went on to have 2 more babies VBAC.