If you’ve read my previous post…it’s ok to laugh at me after you read this one. Looking back, I was definitely having some hormonal emotional release and clean-out on the Saturday before Roslyn was born. I mistook it for despair over not laboring naturally. Little did I know what would happen the following night!
Get comfy. This is long.
I had a good long cry in the shower on Saturday evening and went to WalMart to buy hair bows and sibling gifts. (This was after a fruitless trip to my favorite baby boutique for the same items, which only compounded my negative feelings earlier that day.) I went by myself because I just needed some alone time. I took my sweet time and walked around the store for probably an hour or so.
On Sunday, we got up and went to church. I wore a dress I had worn for my birthday dinner date in August. It is not maternity but functions well as such. It also did little to hide the size of my 41w1d belly. This was not my first time going to church services post-due date, but I had never gone past 41w before!
People did remark on the fact I was “still there” but I really had a happy outlook on it and knew that I could not stay pregnant forever and would go in the next day for an induction. The other expectant mother at our congregation had given birth on the previous Friday, so I was once again the last pregnant lady standing. I was so proud of myself for not crying or melting down at any comments or discussion about my gestational state! I didn’t wear mascara just to be safe, though.
We ate lunch at my parents’ house as is our custom and then went home for group naptime. I thought about leaving my older kids with my parents, but decided we ALL needed a good solid nap before the week, so we went ahead and all came home. All day on Sunday I had been having random contractions but nothing routine or timing-worthy. I had a glorious nap and woke up feeling very refreshed and rested.
We went to evening worship services and then out to dinner with our dear friends so the kids could have another normal routine item checked off for the week (they love eating with THEIR friends, too!). I had a nice burger, fries and even ate a cookie for dessert. For a week I had been craving terrible things like milkshakes, cupcakes, donuts, buttered yeast rolls…things I had not been eating but that now sounded amazing. I think my body wanted to carb-load. I had lost 3 lbs in the last week, so that probably had something to do with it.
We had the kids’ bags packed to take them over to my parents’ house for the night, since we had a 5:30 wakeup call the next morning to call and go in for my induction. We came home, watched a TV show in peace, I did some laundry and dishes along with some last-minute household business issues and put any cooked food from the fridge into the freezer. Then we started settling down for bed around 11:30. My husband went ahead and shaved and we just visited while I puttered around the bedroom making sure I had everything in order.
Sometime after 12, my husband said…you’ve had a lot of contractions today. Should you be timing those? I brushed it off because I had been having contractions at bedtime for weeks with no routine or consistency, or they would just stop when I’d decide to time them. I was sitting on the edge of the bed and my phone was allll the way across the room charging, so I said I didn’t have my phone to use the timer app. He told me to use his and download the app. I timed a few, then it was time to crawl in bed so I handed the phone over to him and would just moan to signal the start of a contraction.
I was surprised to learn that I was having them at regular 10-12 minute intervals, and they were lasting for 1.5-2 minutes. We timed those for an hour. I had never had them for such a long time as an hour. I decided if I had them routinely for another 30 minutes, we’d go to the hospital to have me checked out for any progress.
Immediately the contraction spacing shortened to 7 minutes, with duration of 1-1.5 minutes. After I had three of those, I said, Let’s get dressed and get into the van. I very slowly got dressed and shuffled to the living room, where I had to stop a few times and wait for a contraction. I would try to anticipate the breaks so I could try to hurry (hahaha) to the car before another one started.
Of little surprise was the fact that the roads were TOTALLY clear at 2:45 a.m. Even then, I still doubted I was actually in labor, because I wasn’t timing contractions at this point, and thought for sure each one was the last and they would just fizzle out and dry up. But every time I thought that, an even bigger contraction came along.
We parked in the parking garage and even debated on whether or not to take the bags with us, if I had to be checked in Triage. We decided to take it all in so my husband wouldn’t have to leave me. It took about 20 minutes to make the usual 5 minute walk to the ER because I kept having to stop for a contraction. Along the walk is a healing garden that features water-wall fountains. It’s very nice…until you’re a laboring pregnant woman who could really use a bathroom. Then it’s a little stressful. But we FINALLY made it to the entrance.
The registration clerk took one look at me enduring a contraction in the doorway and told another patient being discharged that she would complete his discharge right after she got me in the system. EVEN THEN, standing at the admit counter, I doubted the contractions would keep up. But of course another one always came. She offered a wheelchair, summoned an L&D nurse, and up the elevator we went! We got to the room about 3:20 or so. The nurse took all of my info - really fun to answer questions while breathing through contractions - and inserted my IV. She finally checked my cervical progress around 3:40 and I was delighted/amazed/surprised/not surprised to learn that I was all the way to 7 cm!! I had opted out of cervical checks at my OB appointments until my last appointment the previous week, when I did have her check because of the contraction activity I had been having. I was at 3 cm that week, and I think that bolstered my desire to wait until after 41w for an induction. I was so excited to make progress on my own!!
It's early, y'all!
The nurse left us then and I tried to find a good position for dealing with the pain and pressure. I ended up being in the bed with my knees up a bit, kind of just reclining. I tried to stay loose and relaxed but that’s really hard when you hurt. I did get up at one point to go potty and then I had terrible chills and shivers after that. The nurse brought a warm blanket and my husband put on my fuzzy green birthin’ socks for me. I don’t really wear them any other time - they stay in the closet and I've taken them to the hospital each time I've had a baby. They make me look pretty hot, yo. I settled back into my position once I stopped shivering. The hour from 4-5 was the longest and the clock seemed to creeeeep along. I would have an awful contraction, then a REALLY awful one. I started liking the awful ones because they weren't as bad as the really awful ones, and just trying to survive the really awful ones to get to the relief of the merely awful. Isn't labor fun?
Every evening for a few weeks, I had been listening to Enya's And Winter Came album. I’d fold laundry, get ready for bed and wind down to that CD. I had it on the iPod and asked my husband to get it out for me. My coping mechanism was humming. I had read it was good to vocalize through contractions and to keep the throat open and relaxed, and humming is perfect for that. The nurse said she taught childbirth classes and would have to remember that as a tip to pass on. I was like…I thought other people knew to hum or something! I hummed to the Enya CD and other things as well - various classical pieces, church hymns, major scales…anything to distract, keep me busy, keep my throat and body as relaxed as it could be. I had prepped my husband with a list of things to tell me during the hard parts. That the pain was bringing baby closer. That the contractions were moving her down. That the really awful ones were doing the most work and that it would be so soon baby would be in my arms. I had him put pressure on one knee and one shoulder or hold my hands. Rubbing was distracting and painful so I just had him put solid pressure on me so I knew he was there. Poor thing, he really just wanted a cup of coffee, but it took 45 minutes for him to procure it because I couldn’t bear to be left during some of the contractions, which had then started doubling up every 5 or 6 of them.
Around 5, I called the nurse to see when the next progress check was. She said they did them every 2 hours. That was still about 40 minutes away. She said she’d need 20 minutes to get the doctor there and that she had faith that as a third time mommy, I’d be able to let her know in adequate time. She had told me the doctor on call was my doctor’s husband (they work in the same practice). But when she came back later, she told me that MY doctor would come in for me. That made me so happy, because I would have been fine with another option but really love my doctor and the fact that she has caught all of my babies! I did feel a little bad for waking someone up in the middle of the night…but that’s just the business of birthing babies!
Around 5:30, I had a contraction that was quite different. Previously, the pain had been in the front. It was now wrapping around my lower abdomen/pelvic area like a really thick rubber band and was squeezing me all around my body, even my back. I also felt a smaller rubber band-like squeezing sensation on the inside. I called the nurse after a couple of those because I knew something was different.
She waited for a contraction, then checked progress. I was complete and she said so, and that if my water was broken, I would have my baby. She left to call my doctor.
True to her word, my doctor scooted into the room at 6:03! (Thankfully my husband was notating all of these times for me!) She sat down to get her booties and gown on - it seemed like it took forever, when I just wanted her to come over and help me get this baby out! Finally she stood in front of me and broke my water. It seemed like it was difficult to get to break, but then I was so thankful to hear that it was clear! That was just one of those little puzzle pieces that would make birth/prompt breastfeeding less worrisome.
And then, finally, it was time to push!! Let’s just say that the sensations of pushing without an epidural are vastly different than the ones with an epidural. I felt a little scattered for the first push but then my doctor and nurse guided me into directing the force of my efforts. THEN I started to make some progress. And I also made some very primal noises unique to that sitation. I remember thinking I just wanted my doctor to start talking about seeing the head. The next push, she said she could see lots of dark hair. Then they told me to take a big deep breath and PUUUUSH. It was like the biggest baddest push I have ever done and it felt like a tree log barely drifting along. But then the head was out! Oh yeah…and that ring of fire. Totally. Yeah. Felt.It. Then one more little push and out popped baby! My doctor said, “Look down, it’s your baby!!” And there she was! My first thought, which may be silly about an 8 lb 5 oz baby, was “butterball.” She was just really filled out! My doctor commented I had been hiding her somewhere in my tummy! She thought for sure that although I had measured on track with growth, that my belly was smallish so I might only have a 7 lb-something baby.
My birth plan is really simple. Have baby. Breastfeed baby. Go home with baby. Anything more specific gets barked out at the appropriate time. I keep it minimal for the care providers. Before my doc broke my water, I told her my requests: no cutting, wait on clamping, baby on chest. Easy peasy. As soon as Roslyn was out, the nurse flipped my gown down to put her on my chest. Ooooh there’s just nothing like that moment. Then they dumped gloriously warm cleansing solution on me and it felt so good! Until they mashed on my tummy to finish up the after-birthing. That did NOT feel so awesome. I had a very small tear and my doctor said she could poke me once to numb me, then do two stitches, or I could just be poked twice for the two stitches. I picked the fewer pokes. I just breathed through it and then it was over!
My doctor showed me the sac and the placenta and it is just so cool to see this…thing that your body makes from tiny cells to house and nourish a baby. The bag was still very formed, with only a baby-sized hole in it. I was shocked it had not ruptured on its own during labor, but then I could see why. When the nurse had told me that my baby would come if water broke, I thought for sure that another contraction like the ones I was having would do the trick. I honestly thought I would feel a gush during the next really awful contraction, but obviously I didn’t. But I don’t think pushing would have been productive with the bag intact.
And just like that, my doctor’s work was done and she was off for the rest of her day, awake a little earlier than usual, but with her schedule freed up from having to come check on me later in the day! ;)
A nurse came to the door and said my sister was there. I asked for a couple of minutes to get cleaned up but when the door opened, I saw my sister’s incredulous face at realizing the birth was over!! I had told family and friends we’d text them with updates throughout the morning when we got to the hospital for the induction. We did send out a few updates, but my sister told me it puzzled her because she didn’t know why she was getting these updates so early in the morning, when we weren’t supposed to go in until after 6 sometime. Then when she was walking down the hall and getting closer to my room, she heard a baby crying and thought no way had birth already happened…but of course, it had!
The nursery came to do vitals and weigh baby right in the room! I loved never being apart from my baby. That is a relatively new option at the hospital, and I was happy to take advantage of it. I stayed in the LDR room until almost 9, then they moved me to the PP room. I noticed right away that it was much more spacious than the rooms I had stayed in previously, and the nurse confided that she had told the PP department that I was a personal friend of my doctor, so they gave me the nice room. It was very nice to have the extra space for family and friends to visit, for sure!!
With my awesome OB!
I wasn't supposed to eat after midnight for the induction, so I thought I was just going to miss breakfast but would have a baby by lunch. Wrong! I didn't even have to skip breakfast! I have had a dinner baby, a lunch baby and now a breakfast baby.
Well, I’m sure I have left some details out but I wanted to get as much of what was rolling around in my head down before I forget it. I may update if I remember something. But for the most part, this is the way that Roslyn Marie came into the world on December 15, 2014 at 6:12 a.m., weighing 8 lb 5 oz at 20.75” long. I kept thinking certain dates would be fun - 12/12 for Aggies, 12/13/14 for a really cool date, 12/14 because my birthday is 8/14. I just wasn't thrilled with 12/15 as my induction date…but now that it’s the date that Roslyn chose for her own birthday, I love it.
My standard post-partum hospital outfit from all 3 births - black top, black pants, black robe!
Look at that fluffy AppleCheeks bum!!
We are doing great and she loves to eat! My milk came in on Tuesday evening, the quickest for me yet at under 48 hours!
Thanks for reading!
Stay fluffy!
