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Home › Stories › First Baby › Premature Births > Born at 36 Weeks Gestation, Weighing 5 Pounds, 9 Ounces

Born at 36 Weeks Gestation, Weighing 5 Pounds, 9 Ounces

By Toni

I had a normal pregnancy up until my 32nd week and contractions came out of nowhere and hit me strong. I began feeling them at a pretty regular rate, and when I went potty I saw bleeding, which hadn't happened the entire 32 weeks.

I was at work with my mom. She immediately took me to the doctor's office, who sent me to the labor and delivery ward. There they kept me on magnesium sulfate for a week of bed rest and gave me two shots of steroids to strengthen our little trooper's lungs on the chance we didn't get it stopped.

Toward the end of that week, with my husband and I so exhausted from lack of sleep and stress, they began slowly taking me off of the IV. Once a lower level of medication was working to stop the contractions they sent me home to take several pills a day of Mag-ox. They seemed to help and hold things off until I was 35 to 36 weeks, when they came on strong about 1 a.m. May 3, 2002.

I tried to pace myself with breathing during that night and went to work as normal that morning. My mom sent me home because I felt terrible at about 9 a.m. I tried to rest but was up and down trying to find a place, any place, that was comfortable.

At noon on the 3rd I called her at lunch and told her this was it and we needed to go now. She made it to my house about 12:30 p.m. and we went to the doctor's office. I was 3 centimeters dilated and had a bulging bag of water. He sent me straight back to labor and delivery.

The nurses were simply awful, at first telling me I shouldn't complain, that it was going to get much worse. Keep in mind I was 17 years old and scared to death. Once we got past that and the new staff came on duty it went wonderfully.

When I reached 5 centimeters they gave me the epidural, which I would suggest to anyone! It was a real life saver. I didn't feel anything again after that.

I got checked into the labor and delivery ward at about 1:30 p.m. on the 3rd and received my epidural at about 5 p.m. when my husband arrived from work. At about 7 p.m. my labor had really slowed down, so they gave me Pitocin to keep things moving.

My water broke by 8 p.m. and I was at 7centimeters. I continued trying to rest myself up until about midnight when I was finally complete and ready to push. I pushed a total of three times and at 12:29 a.m. on May 4, 2002, our little angel was born. I was super exhausted but couldn't believe my eyes. All I could do was stare at this beautiful little girl my husband and I had created and waited so long to see.

She cried right away and was laid directly on my stomach to be cleaned up. She never had to be seen by anyone other than the nurse and my doctor in the room. She was super healthy and went home the following afternoon. We were so blessed!

She is now a 35-pound 3-year-old who is as sweet as sugar and as tough as a pine knot! I am 31 weeks along now with my second and we're just praying for a full-term baby because of the stress preterm labor causes.

Our faith in God and the wonderful medical staff made our baby girl's arrival wonderful regardless of what week it happened.

If you are reading this and are fighting with preterm labor, just try to relax and remember to listen to your body. Regardless of what you think you should be feeling, sometimes our little ones have their own plan and you need to pay attention to any change no matter how minor you think it might be. It could prove life saving in the end!

Good luck to all of you moms and moms-to-be! There is no better job in the world!

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