Birth Story Time!
I've loved reading birth stories for years and I really loved reading them after I got pregnant as a way to prepare for labor. So if you aren't a birth story person, or you don't want to hear any interesting details... This blog isn't for you.
Short Story: Woke up at 2:30am, got to the birth center at 9:30am, and had a baby at 6:19pm
Longer story:
Starting at about week 35/36, I would have hours of contractions only for them to just stop. At 37 weeks 4 days, I had a day that I worked at a clients all day and had contractions all day about 7 mins apart. I thought for sure that that was the start of labor but then the contractions stopped. A week later at the same clients, the same thing happened again, I was there for about an hour and contractions started and lasted all day long. I was started to get super uncomfortable.
Wednesday (5/5) before birth, I had a midwife appointment in Indy. I had just told nick the day before that I was started to get depressed because I wasn't in labor and was very uncomfortable. That Wednesday morning I woke up and for sure though, she dropped. My pelvic bone and hips hurt so bad. I mentioned to the midwife this and she thought she had dropped too. She told me that she didn't think she'd see me at my next appointment but she could wrong. I talked to my midwife about being depressed. I was feeling really crappy.
Thursday(5/6) I really didn't feel good. I felt like I was getting sick. I went grocery shopping and shopping for mother's day cards. I really wanted Della here in time for mother's day but everyone was acting like I was going to go over and it made me so disappointed.
Friday (5/7) I went to my clients again and again my contractions started. They felt a little stronger but I 100% thought it was just false labor. I came home from work and really felt crappy. I decided that I was done timing contractions. There was a surprise birthday party for a friend of mine that night and even though I was having contractions and felt crappy, I decided to go in hopes that it would take my mind off my contractions. I went and I had fun but my contractions never stopped. In fact, they started getting closer. Still thinking they're just false labor, I went home and decided to walk on the treadmill. I could only make it 20 mins before the contractions made me have to stop. At this point, I hadn't even told nick that I was having strong contractions. Mostly cause I had been having contractions mostly every day for weeks and I was so disappointed. I went to bed thinking that I would wake up tomorrow with no contractions and no baby.
At 2:30am, I woke up to use the bathroom, and walking the 15 steps to the bathroom, I had 3 strong contractions where I couldn't walk through them. After using the restroom, I tried to go back to sleep but I was still having contractions. I finally decided to start timing them because I felt different than I had before. Laying there in the bed for about 45 mins timing them before I got up and moved to the chair. After moving to the chair, I kept timing them until 4am.
At 4am, I called the on-call midwife. She told me that it did indeed sound like I was at the start of labor. My contractions at the moment were every 2-2 1/2 mins apart lasting 45-60 seconds. so good contractions. the midwife told me to drink a big glass of water and to eat something. Then she said after I did that, to go take a bath or shower. Then try to sleep. To call back in a few hours if something changes or my water breaks.
Word to the wise: be careful what you eat. Cause you might throw it up later. lol People told me this. and I still didn't listen. I ate a package of trail mix and a newton bar. I would then later throw them up.
My contractions never stopped or slowed down. At 5am, I got out of the tub and tried to sleep on our loveseat. Eventually, I moved to the floor so that I could stretch out. I dozed between contractions from 6am-7am. I woke at 7am with a very strong need to poop. After using the restroom, I noticed that I lost my mucus plug. At that moment, I went to wake nick. I wanted him to wake so I pulled the blanket off of him. I scared him to death. I laid next to him for a few contractions and then he got up to take a shower. After his shower, while he fed the dogs, I called the midwife again. By this point, I couldn't talk through contractions and I really felt a ton of pressure on my cervix. She told me to go ahead and come in and get checked.
Nick loaded the car with all our bags and her car seat. Then we left. I asked Nick to not tell anyone that I was in labor. I didn't want anyone to know. I liked the idea of surprising everyone once she was born. I'm pretty sure Nick went 100 the whole way there. I was still having contractions and really wasn't paying attention. But I felt like I blinked and we were there.
We walked into the center and I got checked. I was 4 centimeters and 100% effaced. Angela the midwife, told us that we could go ahead and stay or we could go walking somewhere. Due to the pelvic pain, I didn't want to go walking. I asked if I could shower. She said yes but not to get into the tub until she said so.
I got in the shower and it really helped with the pain. After a while, I got out and tried laboring on the bed. Nick did some hip squeezes and they helped. I started getting nauseous and then threw up. I think around 11/11:30, Angela told me that I could get into the tub if I wanted to. After this, I lost track of time.
I labor in the tub for hours. It was painful. I started feeling like I couldn't do it. After a while, Angela called the on-call nurse to come in. It just happened to be my favorite nurse Meg. Meg did a really good job helping me cause after she came, it got really painful. Honestly, at that moment, I remember thinking this is like how Jesus felt on the cross when God left him. I really felt like I couldn't do it and that why was I so stupid for not getting the pain meds. But I didn't want to transfer because I wanted to come home that night. I didn't want pain meds but during a contraction, I couldn't imagine continuing the pain.
Things are super foggy but they go like this...
I finally got out of the tub and moved to the shower. After a while in the shower, I moved back to the tub. Then I was back to the shower. Meg told me let's check to see if you are truly 10, So I moved to the bed so angela could check me. Angela told me that I was 9.5. They said if I sat on the toilet, I could probably have a baby. I tried. They said to try it for 5 contractions. I made it through 1 and then I got back in the shower. After a while, Nick told me to try the toilet again. I did and boy oh boy. the pain got so bad. At some point, I felt a ton of pressure. I decided to try and walk back to the shower. It was all I could do to walk. I felt so much pressure. I must have said something to nick or the midwife cause the next thing I knew they were like "she's coming. You're so close."
I squatted in the shower and then I moved to all 4s to push but I just couldn't. I felt like I was going to blackout. So they told me lets move to the bed and you lay on your side. Nick either held my hand or my leg. I felt like I pushed forever but I think it was only 20 mins. The biggest thing was they would tell me to push when I feel the contractions and rest when I don't. Breathe when you don't have contractions cause I really felt like I was going to pass out. But I stopped feeling the contractions. Like as soon as I had left the toilet, I didn't feel a single contraction. All I felt was huge pelvic pain and pressure. The worst part of pushing was the pelvic pain. It hurt so bad.
She was born at 6:19pm. When her head came out so did her shoulders. She landed on the bed like a water balloon. They quickly passed her up to me. and it was the best moment ever! She didn't cry. She has hair and I couldn't imagine being more in love with Nick than at that moment. She was 10 mins old when we called everyone and told them. That was a lot of fun to shock all of them.
We didn't cut her cord for over 2 hours. Della and I were doing so well that at 9:30pm, they told us that we could head home around 10:30 instead of waiting until midnight.
It was so nice we got home at midnight and life was been amazing since. I'll write a blog post about my postpartum.