A, J, L & C - Our Family Story

I had my regular 34 week check up today and even told Joe not to worry about coming with me because the doctor wasn't going to do much. When I arrived for my appointment, my doctor was running a little behind so I went ahead and got my weekly progesterone shot. I mentioned to her that I had been feeling a little bit of pressure, but it was probably the way he was sitting. Only because of my history of preterm birth did she decide to check me - her face said it all. I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. She immediately wrote paperwork to send me home on bed rest and sent me upstairs in a wheelchair to be hooked up to the monitors to check for progression. All the while, I'm contacting Joe that he should start moving towards the hospital as I wasn't sure what to expect.

By the time I made it upstairs and the nurses connected me to the monitors, I was 4cm and 80%. They gave me a shot of magnesium (helps slow the progression) and called EMS to transport me to Sacred Heart (unfortunately Navy is not equipped to handle premature babies and I was "lucky" that Liam came out strong otherwise he would have been transfer to Sacred Heart right after birth). Joe arrived at Navy Hospital as I was being pushed into the ambulance. Although, it all seemed to be moving so fast, I remained calm and felt I was in good hands. I started contracting every minute during the ride to Sacred Heart and insisted on getting an epidural.

I was settled into labor and delivery with my epidural set in. I was progressing and then in the late afternoon I stalled out at 6cm and 90%. It was because of the progesterone and magnesium were doing their job and set it to slow things down. I still contracted and after countless check ins from nurses/doctors, reruns on HGTV and nothing but ice chips...they decided to break my water.

On Thursday, March 21st at 7:00pm they put the epidural back in and broke my water. Things progressed fast and I only had to wait on a doctor (there were 12 other deliveries going on at the same time - three of which were multiples). After trying to hold out as much as possible and only have the epidural work on my left side of my body...I delivered Colin James Schlosser at 11:04pm. He weighed a chunky 5lbs, 9ozs and 21 inches long.