On June 5th, my due date, I had my last OB appointment at 9 in the morning. My OB was very surprised when I came in and was at 5 cm and 60% effaced and asked if I wanted to be admitted to the hospital. For the past 2 days I had been having contractions but they weren't painful at all. That morning the contractions had started to become a little uncomfortable, but they weren't painful. I told my OB that I really was fine. She told me that as soon as the contractions became painful I should immediately go to the hospital because she didn't want me having my baby at home or in the car. She said the baby would probably make her appearance within 24 hours.
When my appointment was over, I called Sam at work and gave him the update. We decided that it would be best for Sam to come home with me and hang out just in case my contractions got worse and I wouldn't be able to drive. By the time we got home (10:30ish) my contractions were becoming more painful, but Henry was acting really tired so we laid him down for a quick nap. Sam and I had a quick lunch and started gathering all of our hospital gear and doing last minute chores like putting the laundry in the dryer and sweeping the kitchen floor.
Every time I had a contraction, I would think, "we should probably get going because we still have to drop Henry off at our friend's house and get to the hospital, which will probably take about 30 minutes." But then the contraction would end and I would think, "Ok, I'll just do a few more things really quick and then we'll go." This happened a couple more times, with each contraction becoming more intense. I told Sam that we needed to get in the car and go right then. We dropped Henry off at our friend's house, and finally made it to the hospital at about noon.
This picture is in the hospital parking lot. I was having contractions but I was just so excited that I was going into labor naturally and that our little girl would be here soon!
On the labor and delivery floor, I told the receptionist, I think I'm going into labor. She asked how far apart my contractions were and I told her I didn't know but that a few hours ago I was at 5 cm and my contractions were painful. She said, "let's get you checked in really fast and into the delivery room. It took quite a while to do that in my opinion, even though we had pre-registered. When I was in the delivery room they checked my and I was at a 7 and 100% effaced. They then had to ask me tons of question and taking a blood sample while I was laying down, and all the while my contractions were getting really strong.
I had decided that with this labor and delivery I wanted to try to have a natural birth, although I wasn't opposed to receiving medicine or an epidural. I also didn't want to be laying in bed while my contractions were happening. I wanted to be moving around or on a birthing ball.
Once they were finished I used a birthing ball, which really helped make the contractions manageable. After a while I felt like the birthing ball wasn't helping as much so I stood up and swayed back and forth. They checked me again and I was at 10 cm and 100% effaced. Another contraction came while I was standing and swaying and Sam and I heard a pop and then a huge gush of water soaked Sam's shoes; my water broke! It was such a relief of pressure. They had me lay down and start pushing. I was pushing for about 20 minutes and then our sweet, little girl was born at 1:51 pm. She had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, but it was a blessing that it wasn't too tight and that she is a healthy girl. We are so blessed!
She is posing for her first photo-shoot.
Her first bath. She didn't fuss at all when it was happening.
She is just perfect!
Now we're a family of four; it's hard to believe!
During my pregnancy, a friend of mine suggested that I read the book "Hypno-babies". I checked it out from the library and started reading it, but I didn't make it very far before I had to return it. To summarize what parts I did read, it talked about how fear of giving birth can cause physical responses in your body that will actually make labor and delivery progress more slowly and be more painful.
Throughout labor and delivery I tried to stay really positive and take one contraction at a time. I believe that this attitude helped make this labor go so well and helped me have a natural birth. I really didn't feel like I was in that much pain at any point. I didn't scream out in pain, yell at anyone, or cry. I was breathing deeply, holding Sam's hand and having him talk to me. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I'm so thankful for all of Sam's support.
