It was Monday morning and I had just arrived at work after crawling my way through morning rush-hour traffic. As soon as my bottom touched the chair, my phone rang. I answered and was greeted with the comforting phrase: “Honey, my water broke.” Mixed emotions ran through me. Was this really it? We were only 34 1/2 weeks into the pregnancy. According to the doctor, we still had 5 weeks left.
Rachelle described the water breaking as “a gush of about a cup of fluid that just spilled out.” She called the mid-wife, who ordered her to lay down with a panty liner on and check over the next few hours to see if she’s still leaking. The basic premise was to ensure that she is, in fact, leaking amniotic fluid. I told Rachelle to also call me after she’s “researched her findings”.
About an hour and a half went by and she was still spilling stuff. The doctor told her that it was time to go to Labor and Delivery. I left work and headed home to pick up Rachelle. This was it… I think.
We arrived at Elmer Hospital with many uncertainties. Did my wife’s water really break? Was she in labor? Were we going to leave the hospital as parents? The hospital staff shuffled us into the Triage Room where they plugged Rachelle into a fetal monitor so they could observe. They also stuffed some sort of paper strip into her underwear so they could confirm that the fluid leaking was actually amniotic fluid.
About a half hour later, the nurse entered the room and asked Rachelle if she’s feeling any tightening. My wife responded with “a little bit” and the nurse informed us that, according to the monitor, Rachelle was having contractions. The contractions gradually became more intense and frequent.
The doctor decided that an ultrasound was necessary to determine the amount of fluid remaining in the womb, and the approximate weight of the baby. If there wasn’t enough fluid and the baby was large enough they would deliver her.
Over the next few hours Rachelle was hit with: a huge IV needle jammed into her wrist muscle, a blood test, a vaginal exam, two needles to try to stop contractions, an internal exam involving some huge metal device (I didn’t inquire about this one), another vaginal exam to see if the cervix is dilated, and a lovely catheter. All the while I just stood around like a big, useless dope just getting in the way.
After over 11 hours, and countless intrusive procedures later, they decided to put the ax on delivering that night. They thought that 34-35 weeks was a bit too early, and would like the baby to get at least another 2 weeks of “womb time” in before extracting her. The shots eventually ceased the contractions, and it was determined that Rachelle did not break her water after-all
I left the hospital feeling relieved, disappointed, and starving. Relieved because our baby will spend some more time maturing her lungs, disappointed because the selfish part of me was hoping I’d be able to hold her in my arms that night, and the starving part because neither one of us had eaten since 8:00am that morning.
I would like to mention that Elmer Hospital’s Maternity Ward has a fantastic staff. They did the best they could to make my wife feel as comfortable as possible. So far I highly recommend it to anybody who plans on delivering in the South Jersey area.