Disclaimer: As this is meant as a personal record of the birth, details are NOT left out. Feel free to skim, or skip story entirely...
Thursday Jan 5th.
At 8:00 am I was getting breakfast for the boys when I felt something funny, and wondered if my water was breaking (wishful thinking). It was my mucous plug. I got excited thinking today could be the day. I jumped online to see what the stats were on timing after the plug was dislodged. It said anywhere from hours to 2 weeks afterward. I calmed myself down and reassured myself that at least my body WAS preparing, and probably still knew what it was doing. The night before, I started to have some crampy pains, and Evan and I took a long walk to see if we could get things started. Nothing else happened, but with Henry, those crampy contractions started a few nights before he was born, so I knew things were starting to happen.
The contractions started about 8:45 am, and continued throughout the morning, though not consistently. They were practically painless, so I figured they were taking the place of the Braxton Hicks contractions I never really had this pregnancy. I got busy with last minute things. Laundry, cooking ground beef, vacuuming and mopping floors, and dealing with the boys, who thankfully left me much to myself during the day. The contractions continued all day long and only got consistent during lunch time- every 15 minutes. The rest of the day they were anywhere from 10-40 minutes apart. They slowed down during the afternoon. As I kept in touch with Evan and Ruth (my friend/neighbor) during the day I said, “probably Saturday.” I went to Activity Days and came home, had dinner, and at that point, they started to get more painful. Not more frequent, just stronger. Evan had book club that night, so I had him help me with getting the boys ready for bed and packing a hospital bag (just in case) until he left. I got through a couple more contractions while I put the boys down. We had explained to them that if they wake up and Grandma is at the house, that means the baby came. I told Evan I’d only call him IF we were headed to the hospital.
I immediately laid down after the boys went to bed. 7:45. I called Ruth, thinking the contractions would slow or stop since I was changing my activity. I had one contraction while on the phone with her. Since she was going to watch the boys, I told I’d keep her posted. We talked about labor with Henry and how this was actually very similar to his, and that got me thinking about how soon this baby really could be born if this was the case. I started texting Melodie (another friend/neighbor-also a L&D nurse), asking her if she thought this could be it, and to see if she could come check me. I told her I’d let her know later. I decided to take a hot bath.
In the tub, I got comfortable and played games on my phone. I called my mom and explained my situation, and that if I am having this baby tonight, I'm letting her know it could be any minute, but that I’d wait until we were headed to the hospital to have her come. I wanted to have my water broken so the labor would go faster, and I wanted to get to the hospital before transition this time. I shaved my legs and had Melodie come at 10:00 pm. She talked to me about my labor, also called “prodromal” labor and she explained that it was normal for some people. She also reminded me that with each baby, your body requires less contractions and less frequency, because the muscle is already strong.
She checked me and I was at 6cm and 95% effaced. I guess we were going to the hospital! She called the hospital and told them I was coming. I called my mom and told her to head down, and texted Evan, hoping that by now, they were wrapping up Book Club anyway. He came home, we packed a few last minute things, took the monitor over to Ruth’s, where I had a pretty good contraction, and left for the hospital.
I had one contraction in the car before we backed out of the garage, and no more until we pulled in at the hospital, including stopping so Evan could give me a blessing, and none until we got to our room. SO AWESOME! That’s 4 total in 1 hour. 11:15 pm. When the nurse checked me, I was at a 7. Couldn’t believe it. She told me this would go fast, and that she was surprised my water hadn’t broken already, as it was very bulgy. Dr. Nance showed up at 11:45 pm, and checked me. 9cm. I had had 2 or maybe 3 contractions in that time, but none so bad or long I had to moan or really concentrate for.
He broke my water, and there was meconium in it. They called in the respiratory NICU team to check baby out upon birth. That meant I wouldn’t get to hold him right away. I was okay with that. They tried to give me IV’s 2 times, and finally after they infiltrated, they called in another nurse to do it. That’s when transition hit. I was laying on my left side. The nurse was waiting for me before she tried a 3rd time with the IV. This was the contraction I was dreading and waiting for. It lasted about 5 minutes and I was moaning and wondering how long it would go on, and how many more it would take before I was complete. I am happy to say that was it. I could feel a little pressure toward the end, and I could feel the baby had moved down far enough to be ready. I thought maybe one more contraction like that would be all I’d need. I had a small one, and then the Dr. checked me and said I was ready to go. I really couldn’t believe it. They got me ready, but I never felt the urge to push. During a small contraction, we got started, and I forgot how painful this part is! I pushed a total of 3 times, all during one contraction, and he was out! He cried a lot initially, and everything checked out well. He was born at 12:11 am. That brings all my labors to 15 hrs each. I guess we have this thing down! Oh, and except for the11 minutes technicality into a friday morning, all my babies were born on thursdays! (their choice!)
