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| A few days before I gave birth, in our newly finished bathroom. |
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| My last ultrasound, the Friday before David was born. |
Ryan was in his OB clinical rotation and was being graded for the semester that day. We got up and got dressed and I was feeling achy and just uncomfortable. I was wondering to myself if this was early labor, which I knew could last days. I didn't say anything to Ryan about it as I wanted him to be able to focus on his clinical and not be distracted with wondering about how I was doing at home. Plus my mom and my sister both had longer labors, so I expected things to slowly progress. I was scheduled for an OB appointment in the afternoon anyway and the doctor wanted to discuss induction, which I continued to be opposed to.
I made Ryan breakfast and ate myself. He left and I sat down on the couch, quite tired, and just wanting to rest. I was having a lot of back pain. Around 10am it dawned on me that my back pain was intermittent. They were contractions. I was in early labor. I called my mom and she told me to try to rest as much as I could and to keep her posted.
I got myself dressed and put on makeup. I was a nervous excited, knowing that I would finally be meeting my baby soon, but also that I would have a lot of hard work to do first. I text Ryan that I may be in early labor, but things were moving slowly.
I tried to sleep, and I just couldn't get comfortable no matter how I laid or how many pillows I surrounded myself with. So I took a hot bath in the whirlpool tub, which provided relief for my back. I relaxed and almost fell asleep in the tub many times, but then I would have a contraction and that would wake me right up. When I went to the bathroom, I realized that I was losing my mucus plug. I was definitely in labor. I text Ryan the update.
Ryan came home for lunch and I was hungry. He gave me half of his lunch which had been eggs and toast. I ate it all and he refilled my water, and went back to the office. Things were definitely progressing, and I would get a lot of contractions when I moved, and I really just wanted to rest and find a comfortable position. Ryan was soon home again after picking up his brief case from the OB office. My mother in law came over and tried to help, but she and Ryan having conversation as I was trying to focus on relaxing and breathing was very distracting and upsetting.
Ryan relaxed and let me labor. He may have even taken a nap. I had a contraction timer app on my phone, and other than timing my contractions, I lost all sense of time. I had a lot of back pain. Around 6pm I was done, and wanted to go to the hospital. Ryan was taking his time getting ready, and this really bothered me. After being downstairs laboring most of the day, I walked up the stairs and was very uncomfortable and waiting on him to be ready.
Sometime after 7pm I got in the car. It was super uncomfortable and I was having a ton of back labor. I had to sit with my fist in the middle of my lower back to even be able to stand the car ride. Every bump brought intense discomfort. I was relieved to be at the hospital, and it brought a sense of calm, evening being seated in the wheel chair as we got checked. I stopped paying attention to what was around me at this point, keeping my eyes closed most of the time.
My mom met us in triage sometime around 9pm, and I felt more calm with her there. The hospitalist checked me and said I was "only" three centimeters dilated and that they me need to use pitocin to speed things up. He was unfamiliar with a natural, intervention free birth and I immediately didn't like him at that point. Him checking me also ruptured my water, and it slowly oozed with each contraction. Ryan and the charge nurse went over our birth plan, indicating as minimal intervention as necessary, who understood a "natural birth" much better than the hospitalist, and used the Bradley Method for her own 4 deliveries.
My friend Suzanne poked her head in, and it was a relief to see her. She asked me if she wanted me to be her nurse, which I did. She was assigned to another patient already, but would be with me at 10pm.
I remained in triage for a while with the fetal monitor attached as they wanted to see a few cycles of baby boy's heart rate going up with his movement through contractions.
Finally I was moved to a room, and my sister, Lissa arrived, after putting her children to sleep. I had to have an IV, but at that point, I had stopped eating and drinking so I was dehydrated. With two tries and blown vein, they got the IV in. My mom spoon fed me jello and sips of Sprite or water between contractions. With each contraction came extreme pain in my back, and Ryan and Lissa took turns putting pressure on my lower back, which provided enough relief to get through them. I was super thankful that no one asked me if I wanted an epidural, because I definitely didn't.
Suzanne, my nurse friend finally arrived and I was super glad. She suggested I get into the tub. It did help, but I still needed Ryan to put pressure on my back with each contraction. Lissa would rub between my eyes if I started to tense up, and would breathe with me if I started losing a contraction, which was very helpful. I was in the tub an hour or maybe two. I remember my mom commenting that it was after midnight, and the 14th, so the baby would not be born on the 13th.
Suzanne checked me again, and I think I was at an 8. She suggested that I try to change positions to get the baby to turn to help with my pain. I agreed. It was even more painful, but I had to hold a two different positions for a few contractions to get the baby to turn. And he did.
And then I was done. I said I was ready for it to be over. I was ready to meet my baby and I did not want to do this anymore. Remembering what I learned in my Bradley class, I was hoping that this was transition. It was.
The doctor came in and I was excited, as his presence meant it was about time. He checked me and said I was almost there. I started to feel "pushy" and moaning through the contractions and I was ready to push. He said I could if I wanted to. I did.
Pushing felt so much better than laboring. And there was a brief break between each contraction. He coached me through them, and I really appreciated that as I had no idea how to birth a child. I remember pushing and pushing and wondering why it felt like noting was happening. I was super determined at this point. It was about 7 contraction cycles that the baby was finally crowning. They showed me in a mirror, and my baby didn't have much visible hair.
I pushed again with all my might, and his head was out, I pushed again, perhaps even harder, and I heard the doctor and Lissa yell for me to stop. Someone was in front of the mirror and I couldn't see what was happening. I was hoping that baby was out. The cord had been wrapped around his neck twice. And then he was crying and being handed to me. It was done. He was a little purple, but perfect! The majority of the pain was over and I had the most amazing reward!
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| Trying to get my first look at my baby! |
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| Our first family photo! |
Everything that happened after that was somewhat of a blur. I put him to my breast and he latched right on. It was so amazing to hold my baby boy. Child of my womb, that I have prayed so many years for.
Ryan was over the moon, and I think we were both in awe. I held him a while, and then I delivered the placenta and was being stitched up as I had torn. It was getting quite uncomfortable, as they kept commenting as I would move that they forgot that I did not have an epidural and I could feel everything. I handed our little bundle over to Ryan to hold, skin to skin.
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| Father, Son bonding time |
We were asked what his name was. And we didn't have one yet as a week before he was born, Ryan decided the name we were going to use, wasn't quite right.
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| My mom holding her newest grandson. |
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| Brand New David! |
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| Aunt Lissa holding her newest nephew! |
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| Enjoying every moment! |
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| Our precious David John |
