Hudson Bradley’s Birth Story: Part 1
I’m still a bit in shock that I have this story to write, with all of its uncertainties and unexpected turns, but God’s faithfulness is woven into all the details. He knew. He wasn’t surprised or shaken. He had us in His hands the entire time.
So let’s rewind just a bit to the week before the birth day. We had just celebrated a great 35 week appointment. Hudson looked great on the ultrasound (although his size was starting to be a bit daunting when I thought about how big he might be at full term). My health checked out great as well and we scheduled a c-section date for Tuesday, July 12th. It was a super exciting day! We had an end goal, and no reason to believe we wouldn’t get there. After all, my uterus had already endured a quad pregnancy stretch, I had a transabdominal cerclage still in place, and everything was still going “vanilla”.
We celebrated as a family with a lunch out at Bub’s Burgers. Overall, I was doing well for the third trimester. I was definitely feeling it, but reminded myself often that even the tough days were nothing in comparison to my 3rd trimester when I spent hospitalized for 4 weeks with the boys.
The night of turning 36 weeks pregnant Brad and I had a kid-free night, thanks to some super thoughtful friends. We spent a night at a hotel nearby and relaxed. (We even joked that it was within walking distance of two hospitals if I went into labor!)
The boys had a great time with their best friend, Henry, while Brad and I had some great conversation and time off together. We exchanged silly face photos between the boys. (Little did I know that I would be needing that crazy expression in about 24 hours.)
I was able to float in the pool both days, which felt so great on my body. I went home feeling the best I had felt in weeks! I even commented on the way home to Brad about how relaxed my body felt.
That afternoon I rested in our quiet house, while Brad put together a Rock’n Play that we had picked up the day before. That evening Brad and I went to pick up the boys. On the way home I felt a lot of discomfort, which I chalked up to being in the car too long and the bumpy country roads. When I got home I took a warm bath and laid down, while Brad put the boys to bed.
At around 10pm as I laid on the couch, I knew I was having several contractions, but didn’t track them or realize there was any pattern. I assumed they were Braxton Hicks that would come and go as they had been daily. My stomach had been upset that afternoon/evening so I felt like that had triggered them.
As we went to bed around 11pm, I decided to track them on my app since they hadn’t calmed down. I couldn’t really decipher when they were starting or ending, if they were truly contractions or just irritability, or if they had a predictable pattern. However, I counted around 12 in the hour I monitored. As much as I wanted to deny them, I knew we needed to call into my on-call doc to get his input.
We called in, and there was absolutely no hesitation to have us come in. I had a hospital bag started and a list made, so I had Brad throw some things together purely “just in case” they decided to keep me overnight for observation. I was reluctant to head to triage, because I wasn’t really in any pain, just discomfort, and I hated to go in just to be monitored for a couple of hours. However, I knew better than to stay home and take any risk.
By now it was around 12:30am, and we had to find someone who would answer their phone and come over to sit with the boys while they slept. Thankfully our friend Karen got the message and headed over right away.
I left the house uncomfortable, a little nervous, and more worried about missing a night of sleep than truly being in labor…