My Birth Story – Part I

Story time!

It’s Monday, July 24, 2023 and maternity leave is set to start in less than two weeks. I am excited as I have started to wrap things up at work and I am looking ahead to focusing on organizing the baby’s nursery, washing the rest of the baby clothes that are 0-3 months, setting up toys, putting away baby clothes that are 3 months and up, etc.

I get ready for work as usual (I start work at 9 am and I am working from home) and go to use the restroom and notice some clear liquid on my underwear. I don’t think much of it and just notice it and then start work. About 2 hours pass and I need to use the restroom and notice some more clear liquid again. I then google it and per google, it could be watery discharge which is normal. I decide to keep working. It’s now lunchtime, 12:30 pm, and I use the restroom again and more clear liquid. I decide to let my husband know and how it’s been showing up since this morning and he suggested I call the nurse advice line just to be cautious. [He later told me he knew what it meant but didn’t want to worry me].

I call the nurse advice line and speak with the nurse and she goes, “It’s probably nothing but if you’d like, you can go to the hospital just to make sure.” I let her know the hospital where I am supposed to delivery is about a 30 minute drive and she said it wasn’t anything emergent and I should be fine to go to my designated hospital. I thank her and tell my husband what she said and he replies, “I think we should go.” I give a little push back and he continues to lightly insist so I give in and say, “Okay fine, we’ll go. I’ll let my job know that I will be out for the rest of the day.”

I teams message my medical assistant and clinic manager and I start packing up. For whatever reason, I decide to take my hospital bag with me which had been packed a week ago. It also happened to be the baptism of my goddaughter so I remember telling my husband, “after the hospital, we can go straight to the baptism.” I take the gifts that I had bought and put them in a bag.

As we are getting in the car to leave, my husband casually says, “I think we should go to Pomona Valley Hospital, it’s closer.” I reply back that the nurse said it was fine and that we can go to Queen of the Valley. He makes a slight scowl and starts the car. As we were on the freeway, I said, “Okay, fine, let’s go to Pomona Valley.”

We head to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and I check in at the OB floor as earlier instructed. They then triage me and place me in a small room. I am texting my husband every step of the way as they had him wait in the OB waiting room. I decide to not text my parents and sister just yet as I was convinced it was nothing and we’d be leaving shortly. Mind you, my parents were in Mexico visiting family.

I am attended by a resident and I let her know whats been happening and what the nurse said when I called the nurse advice line. She says okay and tells me it’s probably nothing. I then see her talking to who I assume is the attending and then she comes back shortly after and says they’re going to do a pelvic exam.

They do the pelvic exam and the cotton swab they take out is black. I look at the resident and ask what it meant (I don’t remember feeling concerned). The nurse then said it means a rupture of my membranes. I don’t fully capture what that means and I ask if I can leave soon. The nurse says no and leaves. She then comes back and I ask again how much longer until I can leave and she goes, “you’re not leaving anytime soon.” I ask if I will be capable of returning to work tomorrow and then she stops and looks at me and says, “You can’t go home. You need to stay until you deliver.”

My son’s estimated due date is September 7, 2023.

To be continued….