The Birth Story (PG-13 version)

The PG-13 additions will be in teal.

It all really started Friday night (July 5th) I was getting a little uncomfortable on the couch after Mac went to bed and with too much thinking time I decided that my water had broke but it was just leaking. I did a quick test (you test by emptying your bladder putting some toilet paper in your underwear and laying down for 30 min. Then you stand up and give a little cough. If its dry your good if its wet there is a good chance its your waters) and realized I was incorrect and went to bed before my mind could wonder. Saturday brought my next ‘symptom’ I just felt weird and didn’t feel quite as much movement from her.  After a few talks with the midwife a day out at the farmers market with my mother in law and some honey stix the hubby brought me she got moving again and all was good.

Sunday got started like any other day but soon after lunch contractions started, they were intense but only about every 10 min so, not bad. However we did realize that they were bad enough I was no longer able to drive (since I would close my eyes and focus on breathing whenever they happened.) So after lunch with the in-laws and a night at Mac’s softball game I was back home and in bed, but I didn’t get much sleep I work up every 10-20 min with a contraction that was bad enough I couldn’t sleep through it. There was 1 exciting hour where the contractions went down  to 6-8 min apart and I was getting ready to call in but then they slowed down again.

Monday morning  Mac got up really early and went fishing with his dad. It was the first time he was able to get out all summer. I just bummed around all morning and timed contractions, still about 10 min apart. I was starting to get a little anxious, I don’t like not knowing what is going on and the fact that I had been having steady contractions for 24 hours with no ‘progress’ was weird to me. (Like I really know anything, lol.) So that afternoon my Mother in Law drove me to my normal 39 week check-up and there we found out that I was about 4cm dialted and 80% effaced which sounds like something but really dosen’t mean much when its your first pregnancy, espeaclly with contractions so far apart. They put me on the monitor to see for sure what was going on and really only saw 1 or 2 contractions. However my blood pressure was a little high and not coming down, so she stipped my membranes to see if she could speed up the contractions and sent me to the birthing center to be evaluated.

Again my Mother in Law drove me to the birthing center, this is a big deal because its in the city and was during the early part of rush hour, those are both things she dosen’t drive in….EVER. But she did great. As soon as they got me in my BP was back to normal (see my brian just needed time to process) and on the moniter they say contractions were about 8 min apart so they sent me home.

In the mean time I had called the hubby and told him to come home from fishing, they just got back so we told them we would meet them at my in-laws. When we got their Mom mad a great dinner and we were all sitting outside, it was HOT. Why didn’t we go in? Not sure, anyway I ate a little of the delishish Korean food but was pretty un-comfortable so we went home so I could sit in the tub. I was in the tub for an hour or two, and then out for a few hours but it was MUCH worse so I called the midwife. Contractions timed anywhere between 4-7 min but were climbing back up to the 7-10 min range….annoying. The midwife suggested I get back in the tub and take a tylonal PM so I could try to get some sleep before going in to give birth.

Wouldn’t you know we couldn’t find the tylonal PM we had just bought so Mac went on a wild goose chase trying to find an open store and ended up at Wal-Mart where he promptly fell on some blue stuff on the floor and hurt his wrist…go figure. Oh did I mention he was already burnt to a crisp from fishing and had sun stroke? Anyway he brought back the tylonal and it helped, between the big contractions I felt nothing so I tried to get some sleep. No luck I think I tossed and turned a little till I just couldn’t sleep.

Around 2 AM had to go to the bathroom, I called the midwife again to check and see how I knew the difference between going to the bathroom and feeling like I needed to push. We talked through a few things and decided it was a combination of contractions and needing to go to the bathroom, I should have started to time them again but I didn’t. However they were steady and now I know I was pushing…not going to the bathroom like I thought. So here is the thing apparently pushing feels a lot like a bad bowl movement and I knew that, so when I was talking to the midwife she told me to do an internal check (yep fingers inside the vagina) and see if I felt the head. I’m being 100% honest here I felt NOTHING it all felt normal to me. 

At 3 AM the hubby checked on me I said I just had to go to the bathroom (I did another check and this time things felt ‘swollen’ for lack of a better word) around 3:45 hubby asked again if I thought it was time to go in, I said yes. So he quick let the dog out and started the car. I tried to stand up, but physically couldn’t, so I sat back down and checked again….and felt her head.

Thats when everything started happening, I yelled at Mac to call 911 he picked up my iPhone and just stared at it, so I told him again call 911. He set down my phone picked up his and made the call. He gave the guy our address and went to unlock the front door for the paramedics, its a 1 min walk to the door and back. During that time I pushed her the rest of the way out and was just sitting there holding her between my legs, sitting on the toilet. Honestly at the point I felt great and soo clear. Cooper (our goldendoodle) was sitting right there and he come up and sniffed her and gave her a lick on the head.

She started crying right away so we didn’t have to worry about clearing her airway. Ryan walked back in saw her and froze, it was a great face. Then he told the operater that she was here. I told him she was ok and breathing and that is when they transfered him to a paramedic. He put the phone on speaker so he could follow his insturctions. Find a towel and a string wrap her up and tie off the cord. At that moment a cop walked in she helped me rearrange her and then right behind her came the paramedics and EMT’s. They clamped off the cord, let Mac cut it and then handed her to him in an emergancy blanket. Then they helped me up and we walked out to the ambulance. I sat down on the gurney and got to hold my little girl and all 3 of us took an ambulance ride to the birthing center.

It was an eventful start but we all made it safe and sound and we couldn’t be more happy with our little girl!

As soon as we arrived they took me to a ‘delivery room’ and before I even left the gurney I told them it was time to deliver the placenta. They brought in a nurse and with a little push from me and a small tug from her on the cord the placenta was out, honestly no big deal. Then the midwife came in, yep right after that we had to page her again…turns our her paging company failed. She checked me out and found that I had a level two tear this means it went through at least some muscle and had to be stitched closed. 

Also did you know they massage your belly every once in a while for a few hours after delivery? This is to encourage your uterus to contract fully, I didn’t know that. Its a little uncomfortable but its only a few seconds each time so really not bad. Also you will pass a lot of small clots afterwards and possibly a big one I’m talking baseball sized. I had one large one and it freaked me out a little till I knew it was a clot. The nurses may want to weigh the big ones so make sure to let them know.