Warning: This may be TMI for some people... other people will love all the birth story details... so have fun! :)
Monday, March 31st - I got my membranes stripped for the 2nd time. I only felt one of them pop and figured it must have been the last one holding it all together.
Tuesday, April 1st - I kept waking up throughout the night with cramping or contractions... I didn't know which. Since I wasn't sure what it was, I decided to just sleep it off. I woke up around 8am with contractions, but they weren't evenly spaced. If I was sitting or lying down they'd be about a minute long with 5-8 minutes in between. If I was standing up and walking around, they'd be about 30 seconds long with 2 minutes in between. Since my contractions weren't rhythmic Bryan and I decided to go about our day.
At 10am was Addi's art class up in Liberty Hill. I drove her up to class and breathed through the contractions that consistently lasted about a minute and were around 5-7 minutes apart. Once again though, if I got up to walk the contractions shortened and the spacing was more like every 2 minutes. So I wasn't sure if I was in labor or not. I just knew the pain was bad and that it felt different than all of the other Braxton Hicks I had been having for the past week or so.
We made it though the art class and then at 11am, Bryan and I had a meeting for the TaeKwonDo school with our landlord about options for where to move the school. We walked through different options and I continued to have contractions. The meeting ended at 12:40pm with contractions the same as before, except now they were a minute long and about 5 minutes apart whether I was walking or sitting.
I told him we needed to head home, gather our stuff, and then drive to the hospital and I'd call the OBs office on the way. When we got home, I would run around and gather stuff for the hospital and then survive through a contraction, then frantically run around to grab this and that, and then lay on the bed for a contraction. Bryan was gathering everything he could... luckily we had already packed some stuff and everything else was on a list, so neither of us had to think.
We were almost done packing up stuff and I leaned over and said "We've got to go! We've got to go now." We got in the van, began to drive to the hospital and I called the OB office to see what to do. They told me to go into labor and delivery. The contractions were about 4 minutes apart and I had to really focus internally to make it through each one. On the way to the hospital I told Bryan that even though I thought I could do it naturally that I was going to get an epidural. It was just too much pain and I was already so tired of staying grounded and focused through each contraction. My mental and physical strength was pretty much gone. So I had now made up my mind for the epidural.
We arrived at the hospital. It was lunch time and no one was at the desk who could help us. I leaned on the desk trying to make it through contractions until someone led us to a room so I could get checked out. We waited in the room for a while, and it was pretty rough. I got on all fours on the bed and tried to breathe through each contraction. There were no signs of nurses coming so Bryan went to the desk and told them that this was my 3rd baby and that I knew the baby coming, so they needed to hurry. They asked him who my nurse was... he told them we hadn't been helped and they said they'd be right down. They hook me up to the monitors and ask me a bunch of useless questions, when all I'm thinking is "how dialated am I?" She checked me and I was 5cm. NO way! I had to be further along, it felt like he was about to come, how could I only be 5cm? At that point I told the nurse that I wanted to get on the list for an epidural. She told me that it would be about 40 minutes until I could have the epidural because they had to get me admitted to the hospital and I had to have an entire bag of fluid before they could give it to me. I looked at the clock. I told myself: Just make it until 2:30pm and then you can have an epidural.
About 10-15 minutes later she came back into the room and they moved me to a labor and delivery suite. She told me to use the restroom and then I could get in the bed. While in the restroom things really intensified. I had one super intense contraction and I said "babe...." releasing my breath saying "babe" helped, so I just kept breathing out "babe, babe, babe, babe." I knew I sounded crazy, but I didn't care.
I got into the bed. She started to do an IV in my left arm. I had told Bryan to not let them do anything in my left arm because they always miss and it makes me super nauseated. Bryan told her to do the right arm, not the left. She didn't listen to him. So I told her to do the right arm. She said she'd be fine and went into my left arm. Of course, she missed. She kept saying "I think I missed", but continued to insert the tube deeper into my arm, telling me that I was going to bruise. At this point the contractions were unbearable. I said "Bryan, why are they so bad? Why is this so bad? I feel like I need to push, like I'm trying to hold him in." At this point the nurse was still messing with the IV and said, I missed, but I'm just going to leave it in. Then I grabbed my arm in pain, and she said "nevermind, I'm pulling it out." She pulled it out... (PS. I still have a huge bruise on my arm from this fiasco, but at least I didn't pass out.)
I told Bryan again "I feel like I have to push". But I didn't believe myself because I was only 5 cm 20 minutes before. The nurse said "Do you really feel like you have to push?" I said "Yes!" She checked me and said "Oh yes! This baby is coming now." She through her glove away, got on the phone and said "Tell the doctor to run!" She then said "you're going to have a baby now." I said something along the lines of "no! I don't have the epidural! I can't do this!" She said "we'll talk you through it." The doctor came running in (it wasn't my OB, but someone from her office). At this point I was kind of sing-talking through everything "I can't do this.... I don't want to do this...." and then I'd yell "someone please help me get this baby out of me!" And then I'd sing-talk again "I need an epidural... I don't want to do this..."
I thought about the people in the hall walking by hearing me yell and sing like a maniac, but I didn't care. I then thought about how happy I was that I didn't have a birth photographer because I would've looked a fool... and then I thought, maybe I would've been more composed if I had a birth photographer because I wouldn't wanted to look like a crazy person.
The nurse said "Do you have your camera ready?" We said "No, it's still in the car, everything's still in the car." So Bryan whipped out his cell phone ready for action.
There were probably 6 nurses and 1 OB in the room because everything went so quickly. They all came in to get things ready for Bennett and myself. The nurse who had been putting the IV in my arm must have called in everyone. I heard her once on the phone frantically saying "I have nothing ready. We just got in here and I have nothing ready." At some point a bunch of nurses must have come in ready to help because by the end there were at least 7 people in the room. 6ish nurses and 1 OB.
Luckily I had read lots of books on natural birth, so I knew what to expect. But the problem was that I was in the complete wrong mind-set. I had made up my mind on the drive to the hospital that I was going to have drugs, and that this was going to be painless, that I only had to make it until 2:30 and then I'd have my epidural. I was only 5cm 20 minutes before. My brain wasn't ready to push out a baby for a couple more hours.
Bryan stood next to me, holding up a leg and just breathing slowly. I pushed and pushed and seemed to be getting nowhere. They told me that my pushes were great, so I was so confused why they seemed to be doing nothing. The OB asked, "when did her water break?" I said "it hasn't." The nurse insisted that it had, but the OB checked and she said it hadn't broken. She broke my water and said "Now, you're going to have a baby!"
With each contraction I would push about 3 times. And then I'd breathe and try to catch my breath. I kept saying "someone help me, please." He was crowning and then he'd go back in and it was so discouraging. They'd tell me... "it's fine, that's what he's supposed to do." But I felt defeated. But then another contraction would start and I'd pull myself together and do great pushes. I knew they were great because I could feel that they were making progress. I then said, "he needs to come out because I'm going to have a panic attack." And I knew I was. I was doing everything I could between contractions to not completely freak out, but I knew I probably only had 2 contractions left in me. The OB could tell I was nearing the end mentally so she snipped me and I said in a sing-talk voice "I know you're cutting me and I don't hate you for it!" She said "you can feel that?" and I said "yes, but I don't hate you." I then knew that this contraction was the one that I wouldn't stop pushing until he was out. I pushed and pushed and pushed. The final push I let out one really big yell and out came his head. It gave me such a sense of relief. They told me one more push for his shoulders. I pushed and Bennett was born at 2:33pm. Just 3 minutes after I thought I would be getting my epidural.
From first arrival at the hospital to the time he was born was no more than 1 hour. I was so grateful that we made it to the hospital. And although it was rough, I was grateful to have experienced a natural birth. They put him on my chest and I said "I just had a baby, that's so weird!" And all the nurses laughed.
I apologized for yelling and they all said that I didn't yell near as much as a lot of women. They all were in awe about how fast the labor went. Bryan brought Bennett back to me after they weighed and measured him. His eyes were watering as he held his baby boy, it was so tender. I then got to hold my sweet baby boy. I loved him instantly. I think I loved him so much right away because he is the son of the love of my life. I'm so blessed to have them both.
Monday, March 31st - I got my membranes stripped for the 2nd time. I only felt one of them pop and figured it must have been the last one holding it all together.
Tuesday, April 1st - I kept waking up throughout the night with cramping or contractions... I didn't know which. Since I wasn't sure what it was, I decided to just sleep it off. I woke up around 8am with contractions, but they weren't evenly spaced. If I was sitting or lying down they'd be about a minute long with 5-8 minutes in between. If I was standing up and walking around, they'd be about 30 seconds long with 2 minutes in between. Since my contractions weren't rhythmic Bryan and I decided to go about our day.
At 10am was Addi's art class up in Liberty Hill. I drove her up to class and breathed through the contractions that consistently lasted about a minute and were around 5-7 minutes apart. Once again though, if I got up to walk the contractions shortened and the spacing was more like every 2 minutes. So I wasn't sure if I was in labor or not. I just knew the pain was bad and that it felt different than all of the other Braxton Hicks I had been having for the past week or so.
We made it though the art class and then at 11am, Bryan and I had a meeting for the TaeKwonDo school with our landlord about options for where to move the school. We walked through different options and I continued to have contractions. The meeting ended at 12:40pm with contractions the same as before, except now they were a minute long and about 5 minutes apart whether I was walking or sitting.
I told him we needed to head home, gather our stuff, and then drive to the hospital and I'd call the OBs office on the way. When we got home, I would run around and gather stuff for the hospital and then survive through a contraction, then frantically run around to grab this and that, and then lay on the bed for a contraction. Bryan was gathering everything he could... luckily we had already packed some stuff and everything else was on a list, so neither of us had to think.
We were almost done packing up stuff and I leaned over and said "We've got to go! We've got to go now." We got in the van, began to drive to the hospital and I called the OB office to see what to do. They told me to go into labor and delivery. The contractions were about 4 minutes apart and I had to really focus internally to make it through each one. On the way to the hospital I told Bryan that even though I thought I could do it naturally that I was going to get an epidural. It was just too much pain and I was already so tired of staying grounded and focused through each contraction. My mental and physical strength was pretty much gone. So I had now made up my mind for the epidural.
We arrived at the hospital. It was lunch time and no one was at the desk who could help us. I leaned on the desk trying to make it through contractions until someone led us to a room so I could get checked out. We waited in the room for a while, and it was pretty rough. I got on all fours on the bed and tried to breathe through each contraction. There were no signs of nurses coming so Bryan went to the desk and told them that this was my 3rd baby and that I knew the baby coming, so they needed to hurry. They asked him who my nurse was... he told them we hadn't been helped and they said they'd be right down. They hook me up to the monitors and ask me a bunch of useless questions, when all I'm thinking is "how dialated am I?" She checked me and I was 5cm. NO way! I had to be further along, it felt like he was about to come, how could I only be 5cm? At that point I told the nurse that I wanted to get on the list for an epidural. She told me that it would be about 40 minutes until I could have the epidural because they had to get me admitted to the hospital and I had to have an entire bag of fluid before they could give it to me. I looked at the clock. I told myself: Just make it until 2:30pm and then you can have an epidural.
About 10-15 minutes later she came back into the room and they moved me to a labor and delivery suite. She told me to use the restroom and then I could get in the bed. While in the restroom things really intensified. I had one super intense contraction and I said "babe...." releasing my breath saying "babe" helped, so I just kept breathing out "babe, babe, babe, babe." I knew I sounded crazy, but I didn't care.
I got into the bed. She started to do an IV in my left arm. I had told Bryan to not let them do anything in my left arm because they always miss and it makes me super nauseated. Bryan told her to do the right arm, not the left. She didn't listen to him. So I told her to do the right arm. She said she'd be fine and went into my left arm. Of course, she missed. She kept saying "I think I missed", but continued to insert the tube deeper into my arm, telling me that I was going to bruise. At this point the contractions were unbearable. I said "Bryan, why are they so bad? Why is this so bad? I feel like I need to push, like I'm trying to hold him in." At this point the nurse was still messing with the IV and said, I missed, but I'm just going to leave it in. Then I grabbed my arm in pain, and she said "nevermind, I'm pulling it out." She pulled it out... (PS. I still have a huge bruise on my arm from this fiasco, but at least I didn't pass out.)
I told Bryan again "I feel like I have to push". But I didn't believe myself because I was only 5 cm 20 minutes before. The nurse said "Do you really feel like you have to push?" I said "Yes!" She checked me and said "Oh yes! This baby is coming now." She through her glove away, got on the phone and said "Tell the doctor to run!" She then said "you're going to have a baby now." I said something along the lines of "no! I don't have the epidural! I can't do this!" She said "we'll talk you through it." The doctor came running in (it wasn't my OB, but someone from her office). At this point I was kind of sing-talking through everything "I can't do this.... I don't want to do this...." and then I'd yell "someone please help me get this baby out of me!" And then I'd sing-talk again "I need an epidural... I don't want to do this..."
I thought about the people in the hall walking by hearing me yell and sing like a maniac, but I didn't care. I then thought about how happy I was that I didn't have a birth photographer because I would've looked a fool... and then I thought, maybe I would've been more composed if I had a birth photographer because I wouldn't wanted to look like a crazy person.
The nurse said "Do you have your camera ready?" We said "No, it's still in the car, everything's still in the car." So Bryan whipped out his cell phone ready for action.
There were probably 6 nurses and 1 OB in the room because everything went so quickly. They all came in to get things ready for Bennett and myself. The nurse who had been putting the IV in my arm must have called in everyone. I heard her once on the phone frantically saying "I have nothing ready. We just got in here and I have nothing ready." At some point a bunch of nurses must have come in ready to help because by the end there were at least 7 people in the room. 6ish nurses and 1 OB.
Luckily I had read lots of books on natural birth, so I knew what to expect. But the problem was that I was in the complete wrong mind-set. I had made up my mind on the drive to the hospital that I was going to have drugs, and that this was going to be painless, that I only had to make it until 2:30 and then I'd have my epidural. I was only 5cm 20 minutes before. My brain wasn't ready to push out a baby for a couple more hours.
Bryan stood next to me, holding up a leg and just breathing slowly. I pushed and pushed and seemed to be getting nowhere. They told me that my pushes were great, so I was so confused why they seemed to be doing nothing. The OB asked, "when did her water break?" I said "it hasn't." The nurse insisted that it had, but the OB checked and she said it hadn't broken. She broke my water and said "Now, you're going to have a baby!"
With each contraction I would push about 3 times. And then I'd breathe and try to catch my breath. I kept saying "someone help me, please." He was crowning and then he'd go back in and it was so discouraging. They'd tell me... "it's fine, that's what he's supposed to do." But I felt defeated. But then another contraction would start and I'd pull myself together and do great pushes. I knew they were great because I could feel that they were making progress. I then said, "he needs to come out because I'm going to have a panic attack." And I knew I was. I was doing everything I could between contractions to not completely freak out, but I knew I probably only had 2 contractions left in me. The OB could tell I was nearing the end mentally so she snipped me and I said in a sing-talk voice "I know you're cutting me and I don't hate you for it!" She said "you can feel that?" and I said "yes, but I don't hate you." I then knew that this contraction was the one that I wouldn't stop pushing until he was out. I pushed and pushed and pushed. The final push I let out one really big yell and out came his head. It gave me such a sense of relief. They told me one more push for his shoulders. I pushed and Bennett was born at 2:33pm. Just 3 minutes after I thought I would be getting my epidural.
From first arrival at the hospital to the time he was born was no more than 1 hour. I was so grateful that we made it to the hospital. And although it was rough, I was grateful to have experienced a natural birth. They put him on my chest and I said "I just had a baby, that's so weird!" And all the nurses laughed.
I apologized for yelling and they all said that I didn't yell near as much as a lot of women. They all were in awe about how fast the labor went. Bryan brought Bennett back to me after they weighed and measured him. His eyes were watering as he held his baby boy, it was so tender. I then got to hold my sweet baby boy. I loved him instantly. I think I loved him so much right away because he is the son of the love of my life. I'm so blessed to have them both.