January 9, 2001
Chelsea Leighann Wilkins
The day Chelsea
was born...
was born...
I will never forget the day that Chelsea was born, I had waited 9 and 1/2 long months for her to come and boy was she
stubborn. Then on the morning of January 8th, at about 9:40 in the morning, my water broke. Being that this was my first
pregnancy, I didn't actually know that my water had broken. I kinda figured it had, but I called the Dr.'s office just to be sure. I
was told, that if I continued on in my day and it continued to "gush" then my water was indeed broken and to come to the
hospital, however, if it didn't continue to "gush" it was probably just my overtaxed bladder leaking urine. So being the
inexperienced pregnant woman I was, and not feeling any more "gushes" of fluid, I wrote it off as being my bladder. I called
my ex-husband Kevin at work and told him what had happened, and he came home to be with me. I wasn't having any
contractions so we decided to go walk around Target for a while to see if I couldn't get something going, I was already
overdue, and if I hadn't done anything by the following Thursday they were going to induce me. So we're walking around
Target, and still no "gushes" or contractions. So after about 2 hours of walking, we decided to go visit some friends in
Midlothian, where my best-friend's parents live. As I was sitting on the bar stool talking to Pattie (my friend's mother) I had to
go pee (typical pregnant woman) and when I rose up off the seat I noticed a very large wet spot on the seat. Now I knew that I
hadn't had an accident so all I could figure was that my water had indeed broken that morning and I was in labor. I
immediately called my mother at work and told her what was happening and got the number for my OB/GYN Dr. Payne. I
called Dr. Payne's service, as it was after office hours (about 6:30 p.m.) and was told that he would call me back promptly. He
did and when I explained to him what was going on, and what the nurse had told me earlier that morning, he told me to go on
to the hospital and they would check me out and see what was going on.
Fast forward about 45 minutes or so, we're in Dallas at Baylor in the Labor and Delivery unit. I explain to the nurse in my room
what had happened that morning, and what had happened during the day, no contractions, but a steady flow of fluid. So she
tells me they are going to do a test of some kind to determine what kind of fluid I'm leaking. The only way for me to describe
this test is it's kind of like a litmus test, where the strip of paper changes color depending on the fluid that it come into contact
with. She explained to me that if I was leaking urine the strip would turn blue and if it was amniotic fluid, the strip would turn
brown. Boy I was praying out loud for brown!! She asked me to drop my knees and cough to expell a bit of fluid, I did and
lo-and-behold a brown strip was in her hand. The race was on...
stubborn. Then on the morning of January 8th, at about 9:40 in the morning, my water broke. Being that this was my first
pregnancy, I didn't actually know that my water had broken. I kinda figured it had, but I called the Dr.'s office just to be sure. I
was told, that if I continued on in my day and it continued to "gush" then my water was indeed broken and to come to the
hospital, however, if it didn't continue to "gush" it was probably just my overtaxed bladder leaking urine. So being the
inexperienced pregnant woman I was, and not feeling any more "gushes" of fluid, I wrote it off as being my bladder. I called
my ex-husband Kevin at work and told him what had happened, and he came home to be with me. I wasn't having any
contractions so we decided to go walk around Target for a while to see if I couldn't get something going, I was already
overdue, and if I hadn't done anything by the following Thursday they were going to induce me. So we're walking around
Target, and still no "gushes" or contractions. So after about 2 hours of walking, we decided to go visit some friends in
Midlothian, where my best-friend's parents live. As I was sitting on the bar stool talking to Pattie (my friend's mother) I had to
go pee (typical pregnant woman) and when I rose up off the seat I noticed a very large wet spot on the seat. Now I knew that I
hadn't had an accident so all I could figure was that my water had indeed broken that morning and I was in labor. I
immediately called my mother at work and told her what was happening and got the number for my OB/GYN Dr. Payne. I
called Dr. Payne's service, as it was after office hours (about 6:30 p.m.) and was told that he would call me back promptly. He
did and when I explained to him what was going on, and what the nurse had told me earlier that morning, he told me to go on
to the hospital and they would check me out and see what was going on.
Fast forward about 45 minutes or so, we're in Dallas at Baylor in the Labor and Delivery unit. I explain to the nurse in my room
what had happened that morning, and what had happened during the day, no contractions, but a steady flow of fluid. So she
tells me they are going to do a test of some kind to determine what kind of fluid I'm leaking. The only way for me to describe
this test is it's kind of like a litmus test, where the strip of paper changes color depending on the fluid that it come into contact
with. She explained to me that if I was leaking urine the strip would turn blue and if it was amniotic fluid, the strip would turn
brown. Boy I was praying out loud for brown!! She asked me to drop my knees and cough to expell a bit of fluid, I did and
lo-and-behold a brown strip was in her hand. The race was on...
| The nurse informed me that in a case of spontaneous membrane rupture (my water breaking) they want the woman to deliver the baby within 24 hours, due to the increased risk of infection to mother and baby. By this time I'd already been walking around with a ruptured membrane for 12+ hours, so I had very little time to dilate and deliver. They started a Pitocen drip at about 9:30 p.m. and I thought I was going to rip in half the contractions were so strong. I had originally wanted to try to have her "naturally" without drugs, but the pain was so intense, as was the pressure, she had dropped so far into my pelvis because she was so late, that with every contraction I had the urge to push although I was only a few centimeters dilated. The nurse told me that for my safety and the safety of the baby I should go with an epidural, and so I reluctantly agreed. BOY what a relief!!! I could have kissed that Dr. when he started the drip! I was so numb to the pain and pressure, that before I knew it I was asleep in the hospital bed laboring away!! Around 4:20 a.m. my night nurse came in, doing her rounds before she left for the day. She woke me up and told me "I just wanted to check you before I leave at 6:00", she had woken me up so I was pretty much out of it and was like "whatever". The last time she had been in I was at 5 cm dilation. She had me drop my knees again, and said to me "Ok are you ready to have a baby", of course being that she had woken me up I was totally out of it and said "oh did I dilate some more?" She told me that I was at 0 station 10 cm dilation and 100% effaced, and the baby's head was only approx. 2 cm in (she barely got her fingers in to check the head and touched her head). I really gained consciousness then, and had to yell at my mother and ex-husband to wake up, as they had fallen asleep in the chairs in my room. A flurry of nurses and doctors came into the room and at 6:32 a.m. on Tuesday January 9, 2001 Chelsea Leighann Wilkins was born with a head full of brown hair. They wisked her away to the special care nursery because she had her cord around her neck so tightly that she was a dusky blue, but soon after I got to have my baby. It was the best and most proud moment of my life, when they brought that little pink squirming bundle to my room. From that day on I was wrapped around her finger tighter than ever. |
| The song playing is "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw |
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