Baby J was a week old yesterday! So hard to believe that he is here and that he is one week old! Many people have asked for me to share my labor story, so here it is! Please no judgement for the labor decisions that I made.
Shortly after Miss A turned one, my husband and I talked about trying for number two. About this same time DH changed jobs, was driving almost 2 hours to and from work, and we put our house on the market. So baby plans were put on hold. About six months later, after an awful time at his job, it was mutually agreed that it would be best for him to leave and we found ourselves in a horrible position...me as a SAHM and him without a job. Again, baby plans...no go! Lucky for us, his old job was jumping at the gun to get him back and his time unemployed was quite short. Finally...baby plans GO!
With Miss A, we got pregnant the first month we tried...that was not the case with baby number two. We tried month after month with no success. It was a kick in the pants to wait so long to start trying, doing the responsible thing and getting jobs and finances in order, and then not get pregnant when we finally could. Months and months went by, many friends and family members announced pregnancies, and I still was not pregnant. It was extremely rough and emotional for me. I watched as Miss A just got older and the gap between my kids spaced further and further and wondered if baby number two was ever going to come.
As late September came, I woke one morning after having extremely vivid dreams. I had the same dream three times...I got up, peed on the stick, and it said pregnant. The dreams had me almost shaking with excitement, but after seven months of trying and countless negative pregnancy tests, I was most definitely cautiously reserved. So just like in my dream, I got up and went into the bathroom to pee on the stick. I only had one left and I had promised myself that I was going to wait to use it as I was not buying any more that cycle. Almost instantaneously, the digital stick read "pregnant" and if I had not just peed, there might have been a puddle on the floor...I was so excited! I had to contain myself a little bit though...Miss A was still sleeping right across the hall!
Since my husband was already gone for work that morning, the first person I told was Miss A. She had no clue what mommy was talking about and just kept asking to go downstairs for her breakfast! LOL! I talked to my husband a few times throughout the day and it was CRAZY hard not to tell him. He was coming home early that day and I knew that Miss A would be waking about the time he got home, so I put her down for her nap in her "Big Sister" shirt that we had bought months earlier for the time when she could wear it! My plan worked perfectly...Miss A was waking just as DH pulled in the driveway. So I told him to go get her up and I followed with the camera. It took him a minute to see it, but when he read her shirt he just lit up and asked if I was pregnant...YES!!! :)
Pregnancy was smooth sailing, just like my pregnancy with Miss A. No morning sickness, no problems, no complaints. The only trouble I had was being pregnant tired and chasing Miss A! But other than that, I had absolutely no issues!
As my third trimester approached, I started to get a little anxious. At 32 weeks with Miss A, my blood pressure started to go up. So not surprisingly, my 32 week appointment this time was very stressful for me. Thankfully, my blood pressure and everything else checked out just fine and remained perfect until 39 weeks. At my 39 week appointment, my blood pressure was up a tiny bit which bought me a Non-Stress Test and some blood work, all of which came back perfect, so there was no need to induce or do other crazy stuff.
On monday June 4th just two days before my due date, I had an appointment with my midwife and good friend Jill. We talked over my Non-Stress Test and the lab work and decided that there was no need to induce. She checked me and I was still 1-2 cm dilated. So she stripped my membranes and stretched me to 2 cm. Neither of us knew that this was going to do the trick as well as it did!
My appointment was at 4:30 so it was a little after 5:00 before we were headed home. The whole drive home I was amazed at how crampy I was. But nothing surprised me more than when we got home and I went into the bathroom to pee and was excited to see TONS of blood show! I had a feeling right then that we were in for a long and wonderful night!!
We ate dinner and something told me that I should go take a nice relaxing bubble bath. Yes! This mama at 39 almost 40 weeks pregnant got into the bathtub for a GLORIOUS bubble bath and I even shaved my legs! My husband took Miss A to the playground, so I just sat in the tub and soaked all of my aches away! It was after my bubble bath that the cramping started to get more regular!
Around 9:00 that evening, the cramping still felt very period-like but it was definitely coming more regularly and I knew that it would either intensify or stop. So I laid on the couch and watched some TV with my husband and just tried to relax. But 10:00 the cramping was coming closer together, but still not incredibly strong. So I decided to go to bed and try to sleep. I was still having a ton of bloody show and was getting pretty sure that this was the real deal.
After laying in bed for an hour, unable to get comfortable and sleep, my husband and I started to discuss if we should call my mom. My mom lives an hour and a half away and is our babysitter. So we had to get her mobilized with plenty of time to spare as she is an hour and a half away and the hospital is 45 minutes away. That means from the time I called my mom, it would be more than 2 hours until I got to the hospital. This fact made me nervous the entire pregnancy.
He thought that it was too soon to call her, so I again tried to lay down and rest. By 11:30 I just knew, and I called my mom and got her moving. I told my husband to go to bed and get some sleep and I also tried to sleep. But it was not happening. Eventually, I got up and started pacing in the living room. The cramping was no longer cramping, they were full blown contractions. After every contraction I would check the clock counting down the time until my mom got there. An hour and a half is an ETERNITY when you are in labor!!! At 12:45, I woke my husband so that he could get a shower and get dressed and I got myself dressed and ready. I had it perfectly timed that my mom pulled in the driveway just as we were all ready to go! I have never been so happy to see her face as I was at that moment!
The drive to the hospital was difficult! Being strapped in a seat belt in the car when in labor is just evil! One more reason why I wish home birth was more of an option in Pennsylvania!! I was contracting every 2-3 minutes, breathing through my contractions, and clutching the arm rest. We just could not get there soon enough!
Finally we arrived at the hospital (where I worked as an L&D nurse, so it is more like going home). Since it was almost 2:00 in the morning, we had to go in through the ER where they quickly got me in a wheelchair and up to L&D.
My dear friend Ang was working that night and decided to be my nurse! She got me back to the birthing room and checked me, I was only 2-3 cm. Really? As hard as I was laboring, I thought for sure I would have made more progress than that! So I walked the halls, sat in the rocking chair, anything to try and be comfortable. Around 4 am I knew something had changed. The contractions were coming even closer and they were much more intense. So I asked Ang to check me again and I was 4 cm! Woohoo! This IS the real deal!
I had thought about going completely natural, but I was extremely tired and I wanted something for pain. So after Ang started my IV, I got some Stadol (IV pain medicine) and got some much needed rest. Around 5 am, Ang came back to check me again and I was 6 cm. I had an epidural with Miss A, and by this point I was ready for my epidural. So we called and got anesthesia to come in. Best decision I ever made!! After my epidural was placed, Jill (the midwife) came in and checked me and I was 7 cm. My epidural had me pain free, so they turned off the lights and let me get some much needed sleep!
The next thing I knew, Jill was back to check me again. I was completely numb from my epidural. She checked me...I was complete and his head was basically coming out. The only thing holding him in was the fact that my water wasn't broken yet. I was shocked, I couldn't feel a thing and yet there was a baby coming out of me. I couldn't do anything but laugh! So they got everything ready for delivery and we were cracking jokes and laughing hysterically...it's so fun to deliver where you work; among friends! Jill broke my water and he crowned, so she told me to push. I couldn't feel anything, but I did my best to push. I stopped and asked if I was even moving him. They all laughed at me and said his head was half out! LOL! Ok then...so I pushed two more times and he was out and on my belly! It was the most peaceful and amazing birth I could have ever imagined! <3
Laying there, with my little boy on my chest...it was just amazing. A completely pain-free and almost effortless birth...I could not have imagined it! It was absolutely beautiful! And he is even more beautiful!
He was 7 pounds 12 ounces and 20 inches long! And the perfect addition to our little family!
It's hard to believe that he is even here, let alone a week old! Miss A is an amazing and very protective big sister and we are all doing fabulously! More to come from Baby J in the coming months!
Beautiful story!! Congrats.
ReplyDeleteStay hydrated: sip on water between contractions.
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