(I guess I should rename my blog since we are now a family of 4, but that can wait for later)
I had been having contractions frequently for a few days,
but nothing that I was timing because they were so inconsistent. I kept asking Betsy Grace when she
thought the baby would come to which she replied “Next July”. I explained that it was July and that
the baby should be coming any day now.
I asked her what day she thought baby sister would come and she said
“Saturday”. Our birth bag
had been packed for weeks and we had a waterproof cover on the mattress in case
my water broke while we were asleep.
Everything was ready… we just had to wait for her to decide to make her appearance.
Friday night we went to bed and I woke up around 4am on
Saturday morning to a small gush of fluid. Since this is also what occurred at the beginning of Betsy
Grace’s birth, I figured my contractions would quickly escalate to a more
normal pattern. I called the
midwife since they say to call any time you think your water has broken. She told me to put on a pad and try to
get some rest and to call her once things started progressing.
I went back to bed and my contractions were coming every 5-10
minutes. Our midwife, Rhonda,
called me around 9am to check in on how I was doing. I told her that my contractions were all over the place and
that I had lost my mucus plug and was having some bloody discharge. She told me to do pelvic tilts and stay
on my hands and knees for thirty minutes to see if maybe the baby was just
trying to get in the correct position.
She also suggested trying to briskly walk after that. I did the hands and knees for a while
which slowed my contractions and again they were very inconsistent. It was like 97 degrees outside which to
a pregnant woman feels like 120 degrees, so we decided to go walk in the
Millennia Mall instead.
We got to the mall around 10:30am and walked a few laps
around. My contractions would come
and go, coming on strong when I walked quickly but when we stopped to rest, my
contractions also stopped. We had
lunch after an hour and I ate a spicy chicken sandwich with pepperjack cheese
even though I am a wimp when it comes to spicy food. I thought maybe the spicy food would get things moving
along. We walked the mall some more
after lunch and then headed home.
Rhonda texted me to check in again and decided we should
meet at the birth center at 3pm to form a game plan. We had Michael’s mom and dad come over to watch Betsy Grace
while we went to the birth center.
By the time we got to the birth center, my contractions were becoming
pretty painful. She checked me to
see how far along I was and I was at 3cm.
She told us to go home, rest and relax, and see if things started moving
forward.
We had Michael’s parents take Betsy Grace to their house so
we could be at the house to relax.
We watched a movie in bed and my contractions were coming every 3-5
minutes and were getting pretty intense.
Every time I would have a contraction my back would just ache so I had
Michael begin to put pressure on my lower back during each one. After about an hour I took a warm bath
but it didn’t last very long.
Michael called Rhonda while I was in the tub and told her he thought we
should come back to the birth center.
We got to the birth center around 5:45pm and she took us to
a birthing room and checked me again.
This time I was 6-7cm and ready to go. Since I was having severe back pain during my contractions,
she had me get back in the hands and knees position for a while. After a few contractions she had me try
lying on my side in the bed with an exercise ball between my knees while she
got the birth tub filled up and ready to go.
Once the tub was ready, I got in and leaned over the
side. The hot water felt so good,
but I was still having severe back labor.
I needed Michael to press on my back during every contraction. If my labor with Betsy Grace had been
back labor like this one, there would have been no second child. After being in the tub for a while, the
intensity of my contractions increased and as much as I tried to stay calm and
breathe through them, I was really in a ton of pain. Back labor was unlike any type of pain I had ever
experienced before.
During one of my contractions my water broke and then I was
ready to push. Her head began to
crown and all I wanted was for her to get out! After a few more contractions her head was out. Rhonda and Shannon (who made it right
as I was crowning) kept telling me not to push and to wait for my contraction
but all I wanted to do was push her out.
It was super uncomfortable and I just wanted her out right then! A few
pushes later she was finally out and in my arms at 8:52pm. Her umbilical cord was really short but
two pushes later my placenta was also out. I was so glad to be done pushing and to finally be done with
that. As painful as it was, I was
proud of myself for having a completely natural birth again. You kind of feel like superwoman after
knowing your body can handle that kind of pain.
The midwives asked if Michael wanted to cut the umbilical
cord, to which he said no thank you, so I did it instead. Then they got me out of the tub,
cleaned off, and into the bed.
Audrey Kate nursed right a way for a few minutes before having skin to
skin time with daddy while the midwives checked me over. I had to get three stitches for a minor
tear, which is the same as I had with Betsy Grace’s birth. I was also bleeding more than they
liked so I had a shot of pitocin to help slow the bleeding.
I ate some dinner, which wasn’t very tasty since it was cold
by the time I got to eat it and I really wasn’t hungry, while the midwives
filled out paperwork and did all of their checks on the baby. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 15.5 ounces
but since she had pooped in the birth tub they rounded up to 8 pounds. She was 20 and one-quarter inches
long. She had some facial bruising
so they gave her the vitamin K shot..
Her apgar scores were 7 and 9. I was 39 weeks and 4 days along.
We left the birth center around midnight to head home. Mike and Betty had brought Betsy Grace
back to our house so she could sleep in her own bed and not totally throw off
her normal routine. She was asleep
when we got home but was so excited to meet her baby sister the next
morning. And Betsy Grace was right
with her prediction of baby sister arriving on Saturday :)
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