It was December 11th 2018, a typical Tuesday morning for me. I woke up, got ready for the day and headed to work. Early in the morning at work I started experiencing a kind of pain I had never felt before in my pregnancy thus far. I sent Brandon this text message at 10:54 AM.
Hey. I’m at work. And I’m just filling you in, because I think that I should. And I think that I’m going to be fine, because I am going to force myself to be fine, because I’m not mentally or physically prepared for something not to be fine. But I just wanna let you know that I am experiencing a lot a lot of pain in my lower abdomen. And it’s a pain and a feeling that I’ve never experienced before. And I’m just trying to keep an eye on it and trying to take it slow. But I don’t know what it is. I just thought you should know.
Brandon told me to tell my doctor. I was hesitant to call my doctor’s office because I was at work, and if they told me to come in, I couldn’t, because I was at work! I couldn’t just leave work. My bladder was feeling constantly full, so I kept trying to use the restroom to see if that would help relieve the pain. It didn’t. I started to notice this pain that I was feeling was coming and going. Coming and going. Coming and going. I noticed the pain was starting in my lower stomach and then going towards the same area in my lower back. I remember my birthing class instructor, Pat, saying that contractions start in one place and end in another. I thought to myself, Coming and going. Starting in my stomach. Ending in my back. Could these be contractions? I don’t know. How am I supposed to know?! Hopefully these are just braxton hicks. Finally, I called the doctor. I called the doctor’s office, it was 12 PM. The office was closed until 1 PM for lunch, so I decided to call back later. Around 2:30 PM I finally got through to talk to one of my doctor’s nurses. I told her about the pain that I was experiencing, and asked what I should do. I told her I thought I was having braxton hicks contractions, but wasn’t sure. She didn’t have any good advice for me. She asked me if I was experiencing any vaginal leakage. No. She asked if these pains were consistently five minutes apart. Uh, no. And lastly, she asked me if I could feel any fetal movement. Um, I think so. I was so overwhelmed. I didn’t know what I was feeling and I just wanted her to tell me what it was. But she couldn’t. She told me to keep an eye out for those three things. Vaginal leakage, pain five minutes apart, or not feeling fetal movement. If I started to experience one of those three things, then I needed to come to the hospital and go straight to labor and delivery. I continued about my day, still feeling those pains, but not experiencing the “three things to look out for”. I started to track the pains. Time them. They were not consistent. They were coming and going sporadically. Twelve minutes to nine minutes to three minutes apart. My work day was finally over. I told Brandon I wanted pizza for dinner, because I needed comfort food. I headed home to Brandon and Lilee, and decided to call my mom on the drive home. I went on to share with her the day I had had. Everything from the physical pain I was experiencing, to the emotional fear of going into labor early, to the conversation with my doctor’s nurse. My mom went on to tell me that I was most likely just having braxton hicks and that some women even have braxton hicks for weeks before delivering. She told me that I would know if I were having real contractions or if I were going into labor. How would I know that?! I’ve never done this before! I haven’t been through this before. How. Do. You. Know?
I got home to Brandon and Lilee and we ate our pizza together as a family. All the while I was still having these weird pains, but still not experiencing the “three things”. After dinner, I went straight to bed, thinking I could use a good night’s sleep. If only. I had a really hard time sleeping. Around 4 AM the pain started waking me up and keeping me up and affecting my breathing. I started to feel scared. Was this labor? It couldn’t be. I was only 35 weeks. But why hasn’t the pain gone away by now? I laid in bed trying to keep my mind from going there. Finally, at 6 AM Brandon got up to get ready for work. I told him I was still feeling these pains, and so I decided to now start timing them. For 35 minutes, they were exactly five minutes apart. I was scared. Yet, I still didn’t know what I was going through. I still didn’t think I could be going into labor. I called my mom crying. I told her how I was still experiencing the pain, and how the pains were now exactly five minutes apart. My mom tried to console me, and told me that I wasn’t going into labor. She told me that if I was having real contractions I wouldn’t even be able to talk on the phone. I got off the phone with her, and decided I would call the doctor’s office and see what they think I should do. If they thought I should come into the hospital or not. I told Brandon to go work, because I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know if I would even be going to the hospital or not, and I didn’t think he should miss work if what I was experiencing was just nothing. Brandon continued to get ready for work and Lilee was now up getting ready for school. I called the doctor. I couldn’t get through, then finally someone from billing answered the phone and told me that she would have the first nurse that gets in at 7:30 AM call me right away. Brandon left and went to work. Lilee comes into our bedroom and sees that I’m upset and scared. I told her we needed to pray that her brother, Hudson doesn’t come today. She looks at me calmly and confidently states, “I don’t think he’s coming today. He still has 5 weeks!” I looked at her and said, “I hope not.” We packed up her school things and got in the car to take her to school. On the drive to school, I was still having the pains. I dropped Lilee off and the pains seemed to maybe be getting more painful. It was now past 7:30 AM and I still hadn’t heard from one of the nurses. I decided then and there, I was just going to drive myself to the hospital. I told myself that I would just go to the hospital, get checked out, get told I was having false labor contractions and get sent home. I told Brandon of my plan, and told him there was no sense in leaving work if they were just going to send me home. So I told him I would just keep him updated. It was 8 AM and a nurse finally called me back. I told her that my pains were five minutes apart and had been consistently since 6 AM. I told her I was already on my way to the hospital, actually that I was parking, and she told me she would call labor and delivery and let them know that I was coming. I parked the car and walked into the hospital, headed straight to the elevators and went up to floor 3.
Labor and delivery. The nurses let me in, and took me back to an exam room. They had me undress and put on a gown. Then they had me lay down in the bed and they hooked me up to a monitor that would check Hudson’s heart rate. They told me his heart rate was normal. I asked the nurse if what I was experiencing were false contractions. She still couldn’t tell me. The nurse asked me how my cervix was at my last check, and I told her that I hadn’t yet had my cervix checked yet and that I was scheduled to do that at my 36 week appointment in just one week. I texted Brandon and updated him. The nurse told me they would get me all checked out and would do an internal exam soon and left the room. Brandon texted me and said, “Okay I’ll leave immediately and get our stuff if it’s go time.” I told him to still hold off because I still didn’t know anything yet and that they still hadn’t done an internal exam yet. I texted Brandon and told him how nervous I was. He told me he loved me and to hang in there. I told him I was scared, because I wasn’t ready, and he tried to relax me. Finally a doctor came in. She told me she was going to do an internal exam and check my cervix. She checked my cervix and told me I was 4 cm dilated. I instantly started crying. She told me not to worry, that I could just be having pre-term dilation. She told me they would monitor me closely over the next hour to see if I progress at all. She then told me, she would be sending an ultrasound tech in to do an ultrasound. The ultrasound tech came in and performed the ultrasound. I could hear the disappointment in her voice when she told me that Hudson was breach. The look in her eyes and the look in the nurse’s eyes told me that this wasn’t good. Immediately they looked at me with compassion, and the nurse told me that it was time I called my husband and tell him to get here. They told me that if I continue to progress that they would have to perform a C-section. The tears just kept coming. I got on the phone with Brandon, trying to talk behind uncontrollable tears. I told him that my biggest fear was coming true. That our son was breech, and that he would most likely have to be delivered surgically through a cesarean birth five weeks before his expected due date. Within 20 minutes Brandon was by my side at the hospital. By that time it had been one hour since they first checked my cervix. The nurse came in and checked my cervix again, only to find out that I was now 5 cm dilated. I was in active labor. They immediately called my doctor and they told us that we would be having a C-section today. I called my mom and I called my dad to tell them what was happening and to tell them that today they would have a grandson. Moments later my doctor walked into the exam room, she looked at me and said, “So we’re having a baby today!” I looked at her with tears in my eyes and said, “I guess so.” I was so overwhelmed. I was so upset. I was so scared and felt so unprepared. I was not ready. I still had five weeks, and I desperately wanted those five weeks. I didn’t have anything ready! My hospital bag wasn’t packed. I showed up to the hospital empty-handed with not an ounce of make up on, with my hair five days dirty and in a gross bun. My house was not prepared for our son, his things were not ready. It just was not time.
If you know me, you know what a planner I am. You know how much I thrive off of a set schedule and a strict plan for big moments. Let alone was I not ready, but I was also so devastated at the fact that I would have to give up my hopes and dreams of having a natural delivery. Throughout my pregnancy, birth did not scare me. It was something that I looked forward to. Something that I was excited to experience alongside my husband. A moment we could forever share, a sweet moment of strength and victory. I couldn’t wait. I knew that I could do it, I knew that I was strong enough to get through it, the pain didn’t scare me. I was
ready for it. I was prepared for it. And in seconds that was ripped away from me.
My doctor looked at Brandon and had him put a gown over his clothes, and told us that she would be taking me back for surgery right away. She then looked at me and told me that she could try to flip Hudson, but that she didn’t think it was safe with me being in active labor and seeing how quickly I was progressing. I didn’t want to, but I told her OK and that I understood. And then, she told me she would see me in the operating room.
They took me to the OR by myself at first, gave me the spinal, and laid me on the operating table. The anesthesiologist told me that to my left would be the area where they showed me my baby for the first time, and to my right would be where my husband would be. Then Brandon came in and sat by my side. They began the surgery. The surgery itself went great. I felt no pain and everything happened quite quickly. But still I laid there scared. I didn’t know if my son would be OK. Brandon sat there and watched as they delivered Hudson. As I’m lying there I hear my doctor say “He’s got blonde hair!” and I hear the other doctor say, “Yep! He’s definitely a boy!” I expected to soon see my son to the left of me and to hear his precious cry. But then I heard my doctor say, “He’s a little stunned.” And then the anesthesiologist came to my left side and apologized and said that they wouldn’t be bringing Hudson over to me. They immediately took Hudson over to the side of the room to be analyzed. It was then that Hudson immediately started crying. Brandon was able to leave my side and go be with Hudson. Everything checked out, everything was fine with our sweet boy, and the next thing I know Brandon walked over to me with our son in his arms. All I could do was cry. This perfect little boy that was growing inside of me for 35 weeks was now in the arms of the man that I loved with my entire being. The world stopped. Hudson Brooks Lundberg was born on December 12th, 2018, at 10:58 AM. He was 18.5 inches long and weighed 4 pounds 11.6 ounces. After closing me up, they transferred me to a bed and laid my son on my chest for the very first time. All I could do was cry. They wheeled us out of the operating room and up to the recovery room. In the recovery room while doing skin to skin, the nurse noticed something off about Hudson’s breathing. He was making these grunting noises, which apparently was a sign that we wasn’t getting enough air through his airways. A doctor came in and took him off my chest and put him on the CPAP machine. He was only on the CPAP machine for about 20 minutes before he was finally able to regulate his breathing on his own, and he was able to come back to me for more skin to skin. After two hours in the recovery room they moved us to the postpartum floor. Here was where Hudson got to meet his Mimi, his Papa, his aunties, and his big sis. We savored those moments. Throughout the day, during the nurse's routine checks, they noticed that Hudson’s blood sugar was getting lower and lower. Later that evening when checking his blood sugar they saw that is was 29. The nurse told us they would need to take him to the nursery and perform a more detailed and accurate test to check his blood sugar. After doing so, she brought him back to us and told us that his blood sugar was now 27, and that she was sending the on call pediatrician in to come and talk to us. The pediatrician came in and talked to us about how crucial good blood sugar was for brain development, and with Hudson not being able to keep his sugar up on his own they would need to admit him. Just moments later at 11 PM they came in and took him away from us to admit him into the NICU. Hudson’s blood sugar was 14 when they admitted him into the NICU. Hudson got to spend the first 12 hours of his life with his family who loves him so deeply, and for that we were so thankful!
We got to bring Hudson home on December 22nd, 2018. He spent the first 10 days of his life in Nationwide Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Those 10 days were some of the hardest days of our lives, but every day he got stronger. And every day we got stronger. We got stronger as his parents, as husband and wife, and as a family. Bringing him home was one of the best joys we’ve ever experienced. God chose us to be his parents, and we are so thankful. He is so perfect and we all love him more than words can even express.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read about our journey! And thank you to everyone who prayed for our precious boy. We love you! XOXO Lydia Grace
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