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So my husband Matt and I attended
Bradley classes faithfully for 12 weeks together, not missing
a single class. There were a few grumblings from him the first
few weeks about going, but then he started to realize how
important it was to me, and by the end of those twelve weeks,
he was totally on board, and we both looked forward to our
class every Tuesday night. Those classes really built his
confidence in his ability to be a good coach, and gave us
both the knowledge to be confident in our decision to birth
naturally. I was better at following the Bradley diet than
consistently doing the exercises, but I have a pretty active
job, that involves lots of squatting every day, and I tried
to do my kegals every day while driving. I stopped working
about 2 weeks before I was due, and I consistently did the
exercises and walking everyday from then on.
Two weeks after our last Bradley class, November
23rd, I was 40 weeks, 1 day along. I went to the doctors office
that afternoon, and I was a solid 4cm dilated and 80% effaced.
I hadn't been having any real noticeable contractions yet,
just what felt like period cramps on occasion. The last time
they had checked me, 2 weeks before, I was 2-3 cm dilated.
So for the past 2 weeks, I had been walking a mile every day,
and I had been taking evening primrose oil (both internally
and orally) and drinking red raspberry leaf tea daily, thinking
I was about to have this kid at any moment. The doctor suggested
we go ahead and sweep my membranes to see if it would get
things going. I agreed as it was the week of Thanksgiving,
and my in-laws were in town visiting from Pace (7 hour drive
away) till Saturday and I thought it would be awesome if they
could be here for the birth of their first grandchild. The
sweeping didn't hurt at all, but did cause some bleeding,
and I had some mild period like cramps all afternoon and evening.
That evening, Matt and I went and played trivia at Ukelele's,
(our old Tuesday night tradition, before Bradley classes took
over) with all of our family and friends, we had a big group
of around 12 people and had a great time.
Matt and I went to bed around 11:30 that night,
I was still having some bleeding, and something told me to
put on one of those super heavy maxi pads I had just bought.
I am glad I did. At around 11:45 I was just drifting off,
and rolled over to my other side to get more comfortable,
and I felt a small gush of warm fluid. I sat up in bed and
felt another small gush, and I new my water had broken. Thinking
to myself, this could be a really long night, I decided not
to wake my husband, and crept into the bathroom to inspect
my fluid. It was clear, and as I sat on the toilet to use
the bathroom, I kept having several more small gushes of fluid.
I put on a new pad and stuffed a towel between my legs, and
crept out of the room. I wasn't having any contractions at
this point. I knew from other couples experiences that they
may not start right away and that I should try to get some
rest. I attempted to go lay down in the guest bedroom, but
was too excited to sleep, so I grabbed my Ipad and played
around with it while laying down. I returned an email, and
started watching the beginning of the movie Babies, on the
Netflix app. Around 12:45 or so, I still hadn't felt any contractions,
so I decided to go ahead and get on my feet to try and get
things moving. My water was still leaking, but was mostly
just a trickle at this point. I sat on my exercise ball and
bounced around for a few minutes, then I opened the back door
to let the dogs out, and paced around a little outside, breathing
in the cool air and looking up at the sky. At this point I
did begin to notice I was having occasional cramping, that
to me felt like bad period cramps. In the back of my mind
I thought maybe these are contractions, but I didn't let myself
believe it as they didn't hurt at all like what I thought
a contractions should feel like.
At around 1 in the morning, it dawned on me
that I was going to have this baby sometime in the next 24
hours, and I was supposed to be making some pies for Thanksgiving,
I am the baker of the family and I do it every year. I had
already bought the stuff, so I thought, why not get baking
now, while I was in early labor. I started making pie crust
(from scratch of course, because every laboring woman should
roll out dough), and it was at this point my husband got up
to come see what all the banging was going on in the kitchen.
I told him my water had broken, and that I wasn't having contractions
yet, so I figured I should bake! He laughed and promptly scolded
me and told me I was supposed to be getting some rest like
the good coach he was. At this point I was rolling out pie
crust # 2, and he broke out the video camera and got a minute
clip of me rolling out pie crust at 1:45 in the morning. Around
this time is when I started to notice that these “period
cramps” I was feeling were becoming a little stronger
and coming very regularly. I timed a few and they were about
4-5 minutes apart. I was having a little bit of a hard time
telling when they were starting and stopping. My husband made
me go lay down on the couch while the crust for the french
silk pie was baking for 20 minutes. He broke out the contraction
timer app on his android, and we started timing my contractions
and they were coming around 3-4 minutes apart, lasting for
a minute. I was surprised they were that close together and
I had a hard time believing I was really in active labor,
because contractions were really not that painful, and I kept
thinking, it has to get a lot worse than this.
After my 20 minute rest, I started making the
filling for the french silk pie. At this point is when I had
to stop what I was doing during contractions and just pace
the floor, or lean over the kitchen counter and concentrate
on the contraction, especially as it peaked. Once the contraction
was over I was fine and kept on making filling. French silk
pie is not that hard to make if you have a stand mixer, but
it takes awhile as you have to beat four eggs into the mixture
for 2-3 minutes each. Matt was loading our bags in the car
at this point, and came back into the kitchen to find the
mixer on high and me off in the other room, dealing with a
contraction. Our plan was to labor at home as long as possible,
and we didn't think it was time to go to the hospital yet
as I was still so calm, and I was managing the contractions
really well, although they were coming pretty close together.
It was around 3 in the morning at this point and Matt made
me lay down on the couch while he cleaned up. I tried to relax
through the contractions like we learned in Bradley class,
but laying down just made them that much more intense, and
at the peak of the contractions I could not remain completely
limp. The contractions were so intense at the peak that I
was starting to feel light headed during them. I was able
to watch the clock at this point and the contractions were
now coming every 2 minutes.
At this point I knew we better go soon, so I
had Matt call the doctor's office, while I decided to take
a “quick” shower while he finished getting all
of our last minute things. The shower felt awesome! It was
instant relief and I did not want to get out, but as I stood
there turning the water hotter and hotter and was still feeling
shaky and chilled, I knew we better leave. Somehow I managed
to dry off and throw my pajamas back on, grab my phone and
get into the back seat of the car with my giant comfort U
body pillow. As we drove out of the neighborhood, Matt called
his parents who were camping over at the Hillsborough River
state park and he called my mother, who was supposed to video
and be the assistant coach. I managed to place a 30 second
call to my best friend Jennifer, in between contractions,
who had told me if I didn't call her when I went to the hospital
she would kill me. I remember talking to her and telling her
I was in labor, and that I had to go because another contraction
was coming. I distinctly remember realizing that I had three
contractions just on the 5 minute drive out of our neighborhood,
and I told Matt to hurry. Things really start to get blurry
at this point as we drove to the hospital as my contractions
seemed to be coming one right after another and I remember
trying to get on my hands and knees hugging my pillow in the
backseat, but that just made it worse, and I ended up just
sitting upright, behind Matt, moaning through the contractions.
At first I was cold, and then I got really hot and had to
rip my jacket off. I lived for the brief moments between contractions,
and I think I actually dozed off in between them.
We finally arrived at the hospital around 4
am and Matt asked if he should park or drop me off at the
front entrance, and I told him off course I could walk in.
As he helped me across the parking lot, I started feeling
nauseous and had to stop and throw up. Matt left me for a
few seconds as I squatted over the curb puking to run back
to the car and get my water bottle. It was at this point I
thought I might be in transition. Once we got inside, the
guard made Matt sign us in, all the while I am having one
contraction after another, I kept trying to walk towards the
elevators, like lets go we need to go now. Finally we rode
up the elevator to labor and delivery and I had another contraction
in the elevator. Once we got to the front desk to check in,
they kept asking us (well mostly Matt, as I was so focused
on dealing with contractions) for our insurance and doctor
info and were having him fill out some forms (so much for
pre registering) and finally after the third or fourth time
I interrupted Matt filling out paperwork so I could lean on
him through a contraction, a nurse grabbed me and took me
into a labor and delivery room. She had me change into a gown
and asked me about pain meds, to which I said, not planning
on it. Then she asked me to give a urine sample. I said sure,
no problem, but as soon as I sat on the toilet, I had another
contraction and the nurse grabbed me and said, get off that
toilet I need to check you now. So I lay down on the bed and
she checked me and said, you are fully dilated and ready to
push. Matt had come back to me at this point and we were both
in a state of shock that it was all happening so fast, and
the carefully typed up birth plan sat forgotten in our neatly
prepared bag, along with our camcorder that we had bought
specifically for this event. Matt did manage to send a text
to my mom to hurry up. At this point I began to feel the urge
to push during the contractions, but the doctor was 20 minutes
away and the nurse kept telling me not to push, just breath
through them. I was pushing at this point involuntarily. They
put the monitoring straps around me, and I asked if the baby
was ok, and they said she was just fine. There seemed to be
a whirlwind of activity going on around me as the nurses prepared
for the birth. I remember trying to tell them I didn't want
an IV or fluids, but the nurses were so insistent, and I was
in no shape to argue and Matt tried to defend me too, but
I think he was in as much a state of shock as me, all he could
do was hold my hand through contractions as I tried not to
push.
I'm not sure who arrived next, my mom or the
doctor, but either way they both got there and I finally was
allowed to start pushing with the contractions. My mom (with
her hair all wet because she thought she had plenty of time
and had decided to take a shower before leaving the house)
held my left leg and the nurse held my right as Matt stayed
by my left shoulder encouraging me to push. The doctor who
was on call of course ended up being the only one I didn't
want, who I had heard was the least natural birth friendly,
and not one I had regularly seen. The doctor and the nurse
were coaching me to hold my breath as I pushed, and I think
my contractions did space out a little at this point, which
was nice as I needed those extra minutes to catch my breath
and rest in between pushes. At this point I guess the doctor
thought I was resting too long between pushes and I heard
him suggest to the nurse to give me pitocin so that my contractions
would come even closer together. Matt and I both were like
no, are you crazy, I was barely able to catch my breath in
between them as it was. Pushing was physically very hard work.
At first they brought a mirror out for me to watch, but as
I was watching and kept seeing the baby going back in after
each push, for which I was giving it my all, is when I had
my moment of doubt. I remember telling Matt, it's not working,
I can't push her out. He told me you don't have my view baby,
your doing it, she's coming out just fine. I was getting really
hot and sweaty. I took my glasses off, and tore off my gown.
They got rid of the mirror and I closed my eyes and totally
focused on breathing and pushing. Finally after pushing for
what seemed like a long time, barely able to breath, the doctor
suggested that I take two breaths in between my pushes instead
of one, and it was like magic and I actually was able to hold
my breath longer and have way more effective pushes. Obviously
I wasn't breathing correctly and I think I had been hyperventilating
a little bit. So much for pushing the baby out in any position
I wanted, I totally did the red faced hold your breath, push
with all your might technique while lying flat on my back.
I heard the doctor say to the nurse, get me some xylocaine,
and I knew that he was asking for a local anesthetic and that
he intended to give me an episiotomy. I remember telling him
not to cut me. He of course told me it was only so I wouldn't
tear worse, but I said I didn't care, do not give me an episiotomy.
At one point I also grabbed the nurses arm realizing no one
got to see our birth plan and looked her in the eye and said
I wanted the baby on my chest and to do skin to skin time
right after the birth. After what seemed like an eternity
the doctor said one more push like that and the baby will
be out. I didn't believe him of course, but he was right,
and out she came, completely painless, no ring of fire or
anything. I am really glad he didn't cut me because all I
had was a slight 1 degree tear. I am not sure how long I pushed
for, but it was about 45 minutes to an hour.
At 5:11 am, about an hour after we got to the
hospital is when Ivy was born. I was still a little in disbelief,
until I heard the sweetest little cry. The plan was to delay
cord cutting, and my mom tried to tell the doctor that, but
he said her cord was really short, so he clamped and had Matt
cut the cord right away, and they placed her right on my chest.
She was so tiny and wet and had the sweetest little face.
It really was love at first sight. After a minute or two,
I let the nurse take her away so they could suction her mouth
better. I remember trying to tell the doctor and nurses that
I didn't want pitocin to deliver the placenta, but they pretty
much ignored me and just hooked me up to the IV anyway. It
seemed like only moments after the birth when the doctor told
me to try and push the placenta out, I did and it only came
out partially, so he had to reach his whole hand up inside
me and scoop the rest of it out. That was probably the worst
part of all of labor and delivery, that and the nurse pressing
on my belly with all her might trying to get my uterus to
contract. So much for natural delivery of the placenta.
They brought my little baby girl back to me
after only a few moments, and we got to enjoy some skin to
skin time while the doctor gave me a few stitches for my tear.
Once that part was over, I sat up a bit more in the bed and
the nurses helped me to get Ivy to latch on for the first
time, and she was a champion nurser right from the start.
She was tiny, only 6lbs 14oz, but was really was so healthy
and alert from the moment she was born. We forgot to break
out the camcorder, but my mom did have her camera and she
was snapping pictures like crazy as soon as Ivy was born.
She even got one of me signing my hospital release forms after
the delivery. Matt's parents came up to see Ivy at this point
and my dad arrived as well to meet his first grandchild. Everyone
was so in love, it was simply amazing.
We got moved to our mother-baby room shortly
thereafter and as I settled in my bed with Ivy in my arms
I noticed the sun was rising in the window, and I thought
of that Beatles song “Here Comes the Sun”, and
I thought here comes Ivy into this world and of all the hopes
and dreams I had for her. Her birth was one dream fulfilled
and it was truly amazing, and the most intense joyous experience
I have ever had. It was a perfect moment and I knew I was
truly blessed to have her in my life.
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