Zach was born 11 days early and I am pretty positive it is because I got the stomach flu. It all started with Jackson getting the flu and I thought I was in the clear, it had been 7 days. I was wrong. It hit me really hard and I was sick for an entire day when I started having contractions. Josh's parents took Jackson in the morning just to give me some time to rest. Although that's hard to do when you're running to the bathroom all day long! The contractions continued throughout the day but weren't getting stronger or closer together so we just stayed home and I tried to rest as much as I could.
Finally around dinner time, I decided I had to get something to eat and Jackson needed to eat too. Josh was supposed to be at a group meeting for his class. Jackson and I head out to Panera, at this point my contractions seem to be getting stronger but are still around 10 minutes apart. We get to Panera so I can get some chicken noodle soup to go when all of a sudden the contractions start coming every few minutes. The girl in front of me can't decide what she wants to order and is taking FOREVER to place her order. It's finally my turn and I tell them what I need and I'm trying not to double over or be sick in Panera! We finally get our food, the longest I've ever waited for soup I swear! Then we make a pit stop at McDonald's so Jackson has something to eat too.
When we get home of course the soup tastes horrible and now all of a sudden the contractions are at 2 minutes apart. I sent Josh a message to come home and Josh's mom to come and pick up Jackson. I pack up the rest of our hospital bag and about 30 minutes later we are on our way to the hospital.
At the hospital they tell me I'm still at 2 cm, the same as my doctor appointment the day before so they are maybe going to send me home. When she is checking she notices a lot of fluid, and asks how long that has been happening. I tell her I have no idea, I have been so sick I can hardly control my body. They run a test an indeed my water has broken. They are concerned that I don't know when it first happened because they don't want the baby in there if it has been more than 24 hours.
In comes the doctor and the nurse with the Pitocin to speed up my labor. Next comes the anesthesiologist with the epidural. The epidural only takes on my right side so I can feel everything on the left. Really a strange feeling! So for the next 2 hours I'm laying on my left side trying to get the epidural to "flow" to the left. I have to keep calling in the nurse because there is so much pressure, then I call her because I feel like I have to push.
The next thing she tells me is the doctor is still in the operating room finishing a C-Section. So I need to wait and not to push. Really?!?! I have heard people say this has happened to them but seriously is that really something you should tell a person that has another person about to come out of them? I don't think so! Fortunately it was only a few minutes and the doctor comes running in. I push 2 times and then Zach came into this world. 3 1/2 hours after we got to the hospital. Not too bad, though I wouldn't say that at the time!
Funny thing the entire time I was in real labor I was not sick, but from then on I continued to be sick for 2 more days. It was miserable but luckily I had a sweet new distraction to keep my mind off of it!
