*Warning: this is really long...
I had an appointment with my midwife the morning of my
birthday, October 5, 2015. When she checked me I was dilated to a 3 and still
80 percent effaced. I had dilated 1 more centimeter since the week before. My
midwife said she thought that it would be soon, but not to get my hopes up in
case it was still another week or two away.
That night I was having such strong Braxton Hicks
contractions that I had a harder time sleeping than usual. They eased up a bit by the time morning came,
but I had crampy feelings in my lower belly and lower back. Of course I was
Googling early labor symptoms all morning wondering if today was going to be
the day. I was hopeful, but trying not to get my hopes up, just like my midwife
said.
Around 3:00pm I started getting mild contractions. I went
about my chores, trying to be as relaxed as possible to make sure I wasn’t
getting the contractions just from over-exerting myself. After feeling several
in a row, I started watching the clock a little more carefully to see if they
were regular or not. By 4:00, I noticed the contractions were coming about five
minutes apart, but were still quite mild. I casually texted Darrin asking if he
would be annoyed if I made him come home and it was a false alarm. Of course he
said he would come right away, but I told him to hold off another 30 minutes so
I could make sure they were still regular contractions.
4:30 came and I told Darrin he should probably come home. If
this would be anything like my other births, baby would come fast and I didn’t
want to wait too long to get to the hospital. I certainly didn’t want to give
birth in the car!
I started dinner for the kids and texted my neighbor that I
needed to head to the hospital and would bring Logan and Bennett over soon.
Darrin got home around 5:00 and we calmly got our things together, dinner
ready, and the car loaded while I breathed and swayed through the contractions
that were still about 5 minutes apart. We dropped the boys off at our neighbors
house with their plates of dinner.
The ride to the hospital was relaxed, but I was still
nervous that this was a false alarm. My other labors came on fast and strong.
We decided to wait until my progress was checked at the hospital before we had
Darrin’s dad and stepmom come to get the boys. We got to the hospital at 6:00.
At the hospital, they led us to our room and eventually got
me connected to monitors. After getting some information, the nurse had to
leave for a bit. When she got back, she checked me and I was at a 4. The nurses
changed shifts, so I met Des, my nurse for the birth. They had me connected to
the monitors for close to an hour before she let me get off of them so I could
walk around. She checked me again and I was only at a 4 and a half. What?! I
had only progressed half a centimeter in more than an hour? I told Darrin that
this might be a long night. That was around 7:30.
Darrin and I started to walk down the hall to go see the
babies in the nursery. When we saw a large empty room we thought maybe we
misunderstood where the nursery was. It turns out it was just empty J We turned around and I
started getting stronger contractions, ones I didn’t want to walk through. We
headed back to our room so I could sit on the exercise ball. The contractions
kept getting stronger. I was getting nervous that I would have a really long,
hard labor. I was planning on a non-medicated birth, but I was starting to get
worried that I couldn’t handle it. The contractions got strong enough I had
Darrin push on my back through them.
The pressure felt so different than with Bennett’s birth, it
was more toward my back. I told my nurse that I felt like I was already having
urges to push. She told me my bag of waters was coming down a little so that
was probably why I felt that sensation.
The contractions were getting even stronger and I was barely
getting any relief between them so I decided to lie down. Darrin stepped out to
get some more water for me when I had a strong contraction and pop went my
water. It was really loud and exploded everywhere. It surprised both Des and
me. Darrin got back and was standing nearby when Des started changing the
sheets on my bed. That just bugged me because she kept having me move my legs
or body so she could get the new sheets on. Then she had me switch to my left
side, which was so miserable. Contractions were right on top of each other and
I was yelling through them. I was gripping the bars on the side of my bed
through the contractions and thinking I couldn’t do this.
The midwife on call showed up and came up to my face and told
me how well I was doing. She moved toward the bottom of the bed and was talking
with the nurses when all the sudden I felt his head and said, “he’s coming!” As
I spread my legs, I heard sounds of surprise from the midwife and nurses in the
room. The midwife said, “I guess I’ll do this one gloved!” and I pushed again. “There’s
his head,” I immediately pushed again. “There’s one of his shoulders. Maybe you
should put your legs up…” As I started to put my legs up, my body just knew
what it was doing and pushed again. (All these pushes during the same
contraction) Baby was out! I felt such a quick release of pain that I was
relieved. I had done it. He was born at 8:43pm. I had gone from a 4 and a half
to him being born in about an hour.
He was a little purple when he came out and they set him on
my belly as they stroked him trying to get him to breathe better. I heard
someone say something about taking him and I almost started crying and said, “no,
don’t take my baby,” I wanted this baby to stay with me. Darrin cut his cord
and they took him to the infant bed to check him out.
After a few short minutes
he started breathing better on his own, so they placed him on my chest.
That moment was just as beautiful as I had imagined.
Finally, a healthy baby that I could just hold for as long as I wanted.
