Abe’s birth didn’t go as planned.
I know that most births don’t, and no, I didn’t have a “birth plan”.
But still, it didn’t go according to any plan we might have had.

Abe came 3 weeks early, on March 26, at 37 weeks and 1 day gestation.
My water broke on its own, at home, at 5 am.
I had had approximately zero Braxton Hicks contractions before then.

Only about 10% of women have their water break spontaneously outside of the hospital, and about 80% of first-time moms go overdue. I was ready for this. I had told myself I was going to be overdue, so I was expecting to give birth around then end of April, as I was due April 15. I was expecting to at least labor somewhat at home, before going to the hospital.

Instead, we hopped in the car and made it to the hospital by 6 am.
When I got there I was only dilated to a one, and was about 50% effaced. I wasn’t feeling any contractions, although the monitors told us I was having them — just small ones.

When I had him, I was still only at a one, and I had progressed to about 80% effaced.
I had him via a cesarean section.

Only 7 hours after my water had broken, after only 6 hours at the hospital, and only about 2 hours of actually feeling contractions, he came, at 12:04 pm.

I hardly felt contractions, but even then, Abe wasn’t tolerating those well.
So, after a few hours of monitoring, we made the decision, guided by my OBGYN, to have a cesarean, instead of waiting out labor and putting more stress on baby, and having to have an emergency cesarean anyway.

I had him in a cold, sterile room. I was nervous, and contracting, and unprepared. I wasn’t mentally ready to have this baby, much less have him via a c-section, after not really even experiencing any labor.
It was strange and scary.
And I felt a little cheated.
{Wasn’t I supposed to feel pain and cry and push this little babe out of me? Wasn’t I supposed to earn this?}

But in reality, I did “earn” this. Regular normal and delivery pains may not equal c-section pains, but they are both unpleasant, and neither one makes you less of a mom.

I am so thankful for Kyle, who rubbed my back and held my hand and wiped my tears as this was happening; for my nurse, Shannon, who was so good at what she did but who was also a bit of a joker, so she made the mood light, and she also held me as I got my spinal block; for my doctor, Dr. McCrummen, who came in on her day off to monitor me and deliver my babe; and for the anesthesiologist, Rich, who explained everything to us about the procedure he was going to do, who make sure I was as comfortable as possible in the OR, who took our first family picture, and who was there to comfort me and tell me what was happening before Kyle could come in.

So no, things did not go according to plan. And I had a cesarean, and it was weird, and scary, and unexpected. BUT, he came. Abe came. And he came safely, without any complications {aside from the small scare he gave us that resulted in our decision to have the c-section}.

And that is all that matters in the long run.

First family photo, March 26, 2014.