In the days before and after Ellie's due date, I tried to get to bed early each night. I felt this pressure to get to sleep early so that I would have some rest if labor started in the middle of the night.
So the evening of Thursday, July 25th was no different. I got in bed really early to relieve some discomfort and read for a while. Around 9:30 I started feeling some cramping in my abdomen. It was a new sensation. The cramps were short, caused only minor discomfort, and followed each other fairly rapidly. That lasted for maybe half an hour. That subsided and I felt some pressure like I had to pee. Which I did, multiple times. At some point I felt some wetness and thought, hmm did my water break or did I just pee a little bit? So I got up and headed to the bathroom. No fluid gushed out and I peed while in the bathroom, so I figured that it was just pee. But I made note of the time just in case and figured we'd see what happened.
Around 10 or 10:30 I turned off the light to try to go to sleep. Shortly thereafter I felt something that I thought might possibly be labeled a contraction. About 15 minutes later, I felt another one. I got even more suspicious. Jeff came up to bed around 11 or so. I was still getting up to pee a lot, so eventually he asked me if I was ok. I said yes, but I was really thinking "I'm pretty sure I'm in labor but I don't want to say it out loud in case things fizzle out." But it wasn't too long later that I said "You didn't really want to get any sleep tonight did you?" And when he asked why I said "I think we are having a baby tonight!"
The contractions went from 15 to 12 to 7 minutes apart very quickly. Meaning two contractions were 15 minutes apart, and then next was in 12 minutes and the next in 7 minutes. They started off very mild and ramped up VERY quickly. So at 11:30 I'm finally sure these are contractions and this thing is happening. By midnight, I'm looking for my rice sock and my exercise ball to sit on and my relaxation tracks. But in the meantime, I'm visiting the bathroom 4 times in an hour. So I was never able to settle into one spot, get somewhat comfortable, and let the relaxation thing do it's work. It just happened too fast. Just before 1 a.m. we called our moms to have them head up to our house (1 hour, 15 minute drive). Jeff's mom to come stay with Claire and my mom to come be with me during labor. 45 minutes later we have to call them to say to meet us at the hospital instead!
At 1:30 I'm not sure I can wait for Jeff's mom to get to our house. As much as I didn't want to wake up Claire, I was in some significant discomfort and the contractions were close together. So I call the midwife on call. Well, Jeff does but she asks to talk to me and I'm the middle of a contraction. She doesn't ask me the questions I'm expecting, just says "what's going on?" So I tell her I'm in labor with contractions every 3-5 minutes (which was probably untrue, it was probably more like every 2-3 but I too busy to time them at that point). She asks how long that has been going on and I say 40-45 minutes. She tells me that they like to have it be an hour before coming in to the hospital.
That doesn't really work for me. So I just say "well, it will take us about 20 minutes to get there, so we are going to head in now." And she just says ok. I found out later that I sounded "too calm" on the phone, so she didn't realize how advanced labor was.
So Jeff goes to get Claire up and load her in the car while I round up my last minute stuff and the diaper bag. We head off to the hospital. I have my headphones on, breathing, trying to relax into it. Jeff is trying to drive quickly but safely. Claire is chatting away in the back seat telling Jeff about the moon and red lights. Jeff got to a red light at a main intersection with a long light. As he is pulling up to a stop I think "oh, please just stop to check traffic and then go through it!" He comes to a stop, looks each direction, and kept on going. Yes!
We get to the hospital just after 2 am. We park in the 15 minute dropoff area in front of hospital and meet Jeff's mom there to get Claire. My mom was just walking in too. The security guard asks if I need a wheelchair. I decline and opt to walk because I am in a hurry to get to L&D. And I thought walking myself would be faster. Unfortunately I underestimated the length of the walk. It seemed a very long way to those purple tower elevators. I was trying to power through but had to stop once or twice for a contraction.
Finally, finally I get up to the third floor to check in. They send us to complete some intake paperwork. What??? *#$@#$%#! What was the point of mailing in that paperwork I filled out months ago? I was not impressed!
The lady is trying to go over things with me and hands me stuff to sign. I think I say "just a minute." I'm leaning over onto the desk and then have to stand up and brace my hands on the corner of the desk to manage the contractions. Things wouldn't let up enough for me to even sign my name. Finally, she suggests that my spouse signs for me. Oh, that's an option? Yes, let's do that. I think I just nodded. At some point she finally says "Are you ok? You don't look too good. You can go ahead to triage while your husband finishes here." Say no more! I'm out of here.
I head to triage where the nurse gives me a gown to put on and leaves me to change. I think I have to go to the bathroom, but am incorrect. Laboring while trying to use the bathroom is no fun. I leave my clothes in a heap on the bathroom floor because I can't even manage to pick them up. I get the gown on, have my mom help me close it up and ask her to pick up my things. She helps me get all settled on the bed.
Eventually Jeff finishes the paperwork and comes in. My mom has to leave at that point because there can only be one person. And we just sit there for a while. And sit. I ask Jeff to open the door so they know we are ready. Finally I ask him to go out there and ask what the heck we are waiting for!
The nurse or tech or whatever finally comes in to check my progress, monitor the baby and whatever else they needed to do (that part is a little hazy). She checks me and notes that my water is broken
and that I am at 7 cm. As she is checking, but before she sees how dilated I am, she comments "I think we will be staying to have a baby tonight!" And I think a swear filled version of no duh! Of course we will be staying. And then I remember that lots of people come in while in early labor and get sent home. And that until she checks my cervix she doesn't really have any good concept of how far along I am because she is not the one experiencing the pain!
She asks if I want an epidural. All thoughts of trying for an unmedicated birth have fled and I say YES! At some point I have the thought that you hear that people pass out when the pain gets to bad and it would be nice if I could go ahead and pass out. Just for a little bit. Just a little bit of relief please. I inquire how long it will take to get the epidural and she tells me probably less than 30 minutes. Ok, 30 minutes. That's my goal. Make it through the next 30 minutes. She tries to put a needle into my forearm for the IV and doesn't get it. She tries for a bit and even puts in a little fluid to "float it in." Which hurts a lot and makes me pretty mad at her. Eventually she just puts in my hand. I had a big sore bruise on my forearm for a good week.
We get moved into a room and they start the antibiotics I'm supposed to have because I'm group B strep positive. I think it's supposed to take about 20 minutes for it all to get into me. And of course there's no way we are meeting the ideal of having the antibiotics fully administered at least 4 hours before the baby is born. Soon the anesthieologist comes in to give the epidural. I think there was a little glow and a hallelujah chorus as he walked in. Much better bedside manner than the guy that did my epidural with Claire. I hear him ask about a sticker for the chart. He is informed that there is none since "she just rolled in less than an hour ago, already at 7-8 cm."
Sidenote: While laboring, I've noticed that it hurts less if I kind of "push" down while contracting. And I feel gushes of fluid come out each time I do that. So I have an inkling that I'm pretty far dilated but don't say anything because I wanted that epidural!
Jeff had been giving me counterpressure on my back while I was laboring. But he had to move when they were placing the epidural. So he comes around to my front and I'm not sure how I'm going to make it through without that small relief I was getting from him shoving his fingers into my lower back. Desperate for something, I take his hand to squeeze. I tried to be mindful about not crushing his fingers so hopefully I didn't grip too hard. I'm shaking my head like a wet dog and breathing very loudly trying to hang in there.
They get the epidural placed and get me situated. After a few minutes the nurse asks how I'm doing and if I'm feeling any relief. I say I'm feeling some relief but a lot of pressure in my butt. And she so she says "Ok! I'm going to check you now." And sure enough I'm fully dilated and ready to push. She calls the midwife to come up and has me do some practice pushes in the meantime. Unlike last time, I can feel the contractions and the urge to push. So we practice a little bit and with her feedback quickly figure out what is effective and what is not. The nurses comments that I'm one of the best pushers she's ever seen. I feel unreasonable pride at this statement but reply "oh, you tell that to everyone!" And she firmly states that no she does not. My head swells up with pride. But while we are doing that, the baby's heartbeat start to decelerate during each contraction. The midwife comes in and we get down to business. It's a little tense but the medical staff seem serious but not overly concerned yet. So I try not to worry too much and focus on getting her out. The midwife was trying to help stretch things so I wouldn't tear (but I didn't know that) and since it was stinging pretty bad, at one point I remember saying "Ow! Ouch! Ow ow OW!!" And she says "oh sorry, I was trying to make sure you didn't tear." Well, if she had told me that before she started I might have been a little more tolerant! After about 10 minutes of pushing through about a half dozen contractions, Elizabeth Amelia entered the world! 4:11 a.m. on July 26th, 2013. Less than 2 hours after I arrived at the hospital.
After her head comes out, I hear them exclaim "body cord! body cord!" Then she is fully out and they put her up on my stomach. I note that she is pretty blue and say as much. They ask if they can take her away to clean her up and get her pinked up. I wonder to myself why they are even asking and what they are waiting for, but appreciate the consideration of trying to give me the feeling of control.
So they take her to the side and start working on her. And I can't see a thing that they are doing. I get stitched up. Only a "little first degree tear. Just a little one" says the midwife cheerfully. I feel quite a bit of the stitching up process and one of the nurses even comments "I don't think you got your money's worth out of that epidural!" There is small talk about how the midwife almost missed the main event. Finally they bring my little Elizabeth over to me for snuggling!
I don't recall the exact sequence of events after that, but eventually she was weighed and we got to do skin-to-skin and let her nurse for a little while. Then we just hung out in the delivery room for long time until we were able to go up to a mother and baby room.
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