Grady and Wren's birth story was far from how I pictured/hoped it would be. It's now been nearly 2 months since that eventful day so I am going to try my best to record it in its entirety without forgetting some of the chaos that was involved. I have a lot of detail to recall so I am breaking the story into parts. Please forgive any non-cohesive thoughts or errors as my brain is functioning with a lower than normal level of sleep.
Let me rewind to the Thursday night before their birth, May 3, 2012. As I was laying down to sleep on the couch, I began feeling major movement on the right side of my tummy, Grady's side. The movement was really uncomfortable and it kept me from sleeping most of the night. I could tell he was trying really hard to turn. My instinct told me that he was trying to change from his breech position to head-down (it would later be confirmed that my instinct was correct). After I felt him struggle for a while I could tell that he had given up and I noticed my stomach looked really lopsided.
On Friday night, May 4, 2012, after coming home from my friend Amanda's wedding rehearsal/rehearsal dinner, Tom and I sat down on the couch to relax and watch a little TV before going to bed. While we were watching TV, I started feeling intense pain due to more aggressive movement, again on the Grady side of my tummy. He was trying to finish the work he began on Thursday night. For nearly 20 solid minutes I was in major pain while he turned. We did not really know what it was and feared it was a contraction and the beginning of my labor. But because it lasted for a solid 20 minutes, we ruled out the possibility that it was a contraction. After he finally stopped moving, my pain let up and I decided to try and get some sleep.
On Saturday, May 5, I was a bridesmaid in Amanda's wedding. Because I was on modified bed rest, I took the whole day easy and I tried to relax and be comfortable despite the abnormally high heat for an early day in May. We got ready in a hotel room and I sat on the bed the whole time. With the exception of taking wedding party pictures and walking down the aisle, I was seated the majority of the day. After all the wedding day festivities, we got home really late, showered, and went to bed.
On Sunday, May 6, Tom was scheduled to play in the worship band, so he had to be at church early for rehearsal. I stayed home to resume my modified bed rest. Because I was worn out from the wedding activities on Friday and Saturday, I slept all morning. Around 12:00 pm I got up to use the restroom and laid back down on the couch. After I laid down, I felt a small gush of fluid. At first I thought it felt like I had wet my pants, but I had just used the restroom. In the back of my mind I feared it was my water breaking but I tried to talk myself out of that being the case. I went to change pants and felt more fluid leaking. I began to panic because I was only 32 weeks and 5 days pregnant and going into preterm labor was something I had feared through out my whole pregnancy. I called my dear friend Daysha, who had experienced preterm labor twice and she confirmed my fear and advised that I call my doctor/hospital and lay down to keep gravity from speeding things along. I frantically called and texted Tom repeatedly. He was playing in the closing part of the worship service and didn't hear his phone. After I couldn't get a hold of him, I called my mom and she and my dad came straight over. After service was over Tom noticed several missed calls and texts from me and called me back, I told him I thought my water broke, and he hurried home from church. My parents and Tom all arrived at the house around the same time. After they all arrived, I got up and frantically began to pack a bag. After I got my bag packed, I grabbed a bath towel, laid it down on the passenger seat of the car, quickly got in and we headed to the hospital.
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