On September 23^rd, the day after my due date, I had an Ob-Gyn appointment. I was just as dilated (1 cm) and effaced (about 90%) as the previous week, but the baby was lower. She thought it could be any moment now (but she had thought the same thing for the last 3 weeks). We talked about an induction by October 1^st if I hadn’t gone into labor yet. Funny, my due date was my nephew Marcos' birthday, and the potential induction date was my nephew Ben's birthday.

That day, at the Doctor’s office, I was scheduled for a baby’s heartbeat monitoring for 20 minutes. It ended up being about an hour because the Doctor didn’t like some of the heartbeat dips. She asked me to go to the hospital for a more in depth monitoring. I came home, picked Betsy and Andy up and we went to Mount Auburn Hospital. I thought this was going to be the day, but the monitoring was normal and they sent me back home.

I went to work the next day, but fell very uncomfortable. Contractions were getting stronger. That night, on Wednesday September 24^th at about 10PM, I started to time my contractions, and they were regular and about every 5 minutes apart, although sometimes longer. I waited until 2AM to call the hospital, and to my surprise my doctor was the one on call. She thought that this was probably it, asked me to wait one more hour and if they were still going every 5 minutes, to go in. They slowed down from time to time, so I kept waiting. After a completely sleepless night, I called the hospital again at 10AM and they asked me to go in. Now it’s Thursday, September 25.

Betsy, Andy and I got to the hospital at about 1PM, and when they checked me I was only 2 cm dilated, but 100% effaced and they saw the dips in the baby’s heartbeat again. They asked me to stay. We went to the labor and delivery room, with no medication other than fluids through an IV and antibiotics because I was Strep B positive. They were monitoring the baby’s heartbeats, and it was not looking great. At about 5 or 6 PM the heartbeats were looking better and they gave me Pitocin to get things going.

I had been with regular contraction for 24 hours now, and at 10PM on Thursday I finally asked for an epidural. What a difference that makes! I was completely pain free, and I was able to sleep a little bit.

All night they kept monitoring the baby’s heartbeats, and they got scary at times. At 7AM on Friday, September 26, the Doctor came in and told me “Karen, we need to talk.” Things looked dangerous (baby's heartbeats dipping to 60 even without the Pitocin... they should not go under 120), and she thought I needed a c-section. I’ve had a very good pregnancy with no complications, and I wasn’t ready for that. I wept. A LOT. I really didn’t want a c-section. I asked her if we could wait another hour. She said my hour had passed an hour ago. The baby was under stress, and if I refused to get the c-section then they might have had to do an emergency one, which is bad for both mommy and baby. Grudgingly I accepted, and they took me to the OR. Andy came with me. Betsy had to stay outside. In a matter of minutes I had my beautiful baby in my chest. It was so stupid to be so afraid of the c-section. All I wanted was a healthy baby, and that’s what I got. His heartbeats were bad because he had his umbilical cord around his neck and head, and every contraction was clamping it. There were no issues with his heartbeats after the delivery. Baby Jacob Sebastian Gettings was finally here, and he was perfect!

They could’ve chopped me up in 100 pieces, and as long as they stitched me back together it would have been ok (but they didn’t J). The operation went very well, and recovery was much better than I had feared. I got to stay at the hospital for 4 days, which was also a blessing because the nurses helped me a lot, especially with breastfeeding. All in all, I would do it all over again… 33 hours of contractions, major surgery, all the stress… if the outcome were the same: a wonderful and healthy baby!