Broken Water!
I am at this moment by my dear wife’s hospital bed at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh as she is resting before what is sure to be a long night of delivering our baby!
Sarah was not due until October 30, but today at 9:30 am she noticed a leak in her umm… “radiator” and tried to call her mom. Her mom didn’t answer. She tried to call the place where she’s been going for prenatal care, but they did not answer either. She tried calling me 3 times, but I did not answer. I was at work at my school and was actually taking a run around the track and then showering in the locker room. I finally picked up the phone as I was dressing myself and lacing up my boots (I’ve been wearing my army boots around to break them in) and I had that thing going on where you work out then get out of the shower and try to get dressed but it’s all steamy and you’re still sweating and it’s really annoying so when Sarah called I was like “hold on a second! geez!” and kept on lacing my last boot! Then I felt stupid when she told me she thinks her water broke, and she might need to go to the hospital. Well there was nothing to do but leave work early, go on home and bring her over to the hospital! When your water breaks, it breaks and it’s kind of the “point of no return” for having your baby. If the baby doesn’t come soon, it has a great risk of infection.
So I came home and Sarah was coming out of the shower. We started packing what we needed and getting ready to go (the baby’s bag was already packed but mine and Sarah’s wasn’t). There was such a feeling of excitement and nervousness as we packed–it felt like we were packing for a great trip we just won and the plane was leaving in an hour or something. We arrived at the hospital at about 12:50 pm and they took Sarah right up to triage. They confirmed her water was broken and told us Sarah was going to be put on this medication that induces contractions and labor and that we would probably have the baby very late tonight or early next morning!
It is now 10:00 pm and we are patiently waiting. Sarah’s contractions were growing more and more painful throughout the day and so we decided to get her an epidural. We had planned for her to have it anyway and we are very glad so far we elected to have it. Sarah was such a brave girl to get it and we are proud of her! Our families have come and visited Sarah, 3 at a time, but now they have all left. We don’t need them to spend the long night in the hospital–we are fine with it being just the 2 of us when the baby possibly comes at 2 or 3 am and we can just call them and tell them the news.
Everything looks good. The baby has come down and they say the head is right up there and pushing up on the cervix. Sarah’s labor is progressing at a good rate and she is reasonably comfortable. There has been a great many phone calls buzzing out across the world and now it seems like everyone including people in Europe and in China are now praying and awaiting the news of the delivery. We are blessed with so many caring friends and family members! Sarah and I have prayed together as well as Sarah and her family. She looks so beautiful on that bed in that hospital gown, about to have my baby.
Praise the Lord for his blessings and pray that we make it through the night with no complications. Joy comes with the morning.
