Delivered a healthy baby girl on Wednesday at 38 weeks and 3 days. Woke early that morning after getting up 3 or 4 times to pee overnight when I felt a leaking, wet sensation I my pjs. Turned on the light in the bathroom (which I hadn't done for night time visits) to find blood in the toilet and in my undies. Got on the phone with L&D then passed large jelly-like clots while on the phone. They didn't seem too worried but had me come in. Once there baby was monitored and seemed to be doing great, which was the first concern. An initial vaginal exam confirmed bleeding (duh!) and they suspected my water had broken. Ultrasound made them suspect a placental abruption so we were told we wouldn't be leaving without baby.

The docs prepped us for being induced--went through all the meds and timeline. We called our families and our doula. My husband was just walking out the door to go get our hospital bags when another doctor came in and said the plan had changed. Baby wasn't doing as well anymore and while she was still fine they didn't want to risk anything and since I wasn't in labor yet, induction would be a long process. Instead, they were recommending c-section, and recommending it NOW. There was risk to baby and to mom. Our doula and the midwives on call all confirmed there was no other option. We asked for a minute alone, held each other and cried--out of worry for the baby, the potential risk if hemorrhage or complications to me, the loss of the birth we'd been planning for, and the sheer overwhelming nature of the direction our morning had taken.

Within 5 minutes the staff had me walking down the hall to get a spinal, 10 minutes later our beautiful baby girl was born while my husband held my hand and chatted to keep me calm. They discovered my placenta was already 25% pulled away from the uterus-so only would have gotten worse quickly AND that baby had the cord around her neck so labor very likely would have ended in csection anyway.

In all the prepping and planning I had NEVER considered that this totally perfect and easy pregnancy would end this way. I still feel overwhelmed by it all, especially now when I need extra help caring for her, but so thankful to the medical staff who made this all happen, my husband for being super dad through it all, and my daughter who is napping on my chest as I type.

Thanks for letting me share.