·
Friday June 8th-Due Date- Had our appointment with Pam in the morning. It was SUCH an encouraging appointment. She checked me and said I was 3-4cm dilated and 90% effaced. Wonderful! Exactly what I was hoping to hear! She said she’d see me if the hospital in a few days for sure! Haha I will NOT be one of those people who gets super sad and anxious and worried when they pass their due date!
Friday June 8th-Due Date- Had our appointment with Pam in the morning. It was SUCH an encouraging appointment. She checked me and said I was 3-4cm dilated and 90% effaced. Wonderful! Exactly what I was hoping to hear! She said she’d see me if the hospital in a few days for sure! Haha I will NOT be one of those people who gets super sad and anxious and worried when they pass their due date!
·
Wrong. Saturday June 9th. I’ve been drinking Red raspberry leaf tea like crazy, having sex every night, why aren’t I in labor! I’m a day passed my due date! (haha) I just tried to keep super busy with Jude and enjoy my last moments with just him. We finger painted, played outside, went to Galaxy Open gym and I tried to be very active and bounce around, trying to get baby moving! That evening I was DETERMINED. Ben and I decided to walk to Raley’s to get a Red Box movie! It’s like a 3 mile walk with 2 big hills. Ridiculous. I hadn’t walked this much my whole pregnancy. Well I rocked that walk and the hills (guess I should have pushed myself harder during my walks…hmmm). During the walk home my belly was rock hard, had some pretty uncomfortable “tightening” and I thought “if this doesn’t put me into labor then I must not be ready”. We got home, popped in the movie and I relaxed….no labor. I had to then come to terms with the Lord. Okay, God, YOU know when my body is ready, YOU know when my baby is ready, I give up. Kind of…..
Wrong. Saturday June 9th. I’ve been drinking Red raspberry leaf tea like crazy, having sex every night, why aren’t I in labor! I’m a day passed my due date! (haha) I just tried to keep super busy with Jude and enjoy my last moments with just him. We finger painted, played outside, went to Galaxy Open gym and I tried to be very active and bounce around, trying to get baby moving! That evening I was DETERMINED. Ben and I decided to walk to Raley’s to get a Red Box movie! It’s like a 3 mile walk with 2 big hills. Ridiculous. I hadn’t walked this much my whole pregnancy. Well I rocked that walk and the hills (guess I should have pushed myself harder during my walks…hmmm). During the walk home my belly was rock hard, had some pretty uncomfortable “tightening” and I thought “if this doesn’t put me into labor then I must not be ready”. We got home, popped in the movie and I relaxed….no labor. I had to then come to terms with the Lord. Okay, God, YOU know when my body is ready, YOU know when my baby is ready, I give up. Kind of…..
·
Sunday June 10th. The hardest thing about going into public after your due date is ALL the people who says things like “Why haven’t you had your baby?” or “When is that baby coming?” or “Are you STILL pregnant?” So I had to decide whether or not to venture out to church that evening. SO glad I did! I had a wonderful time at The Well, heard a really great message, got to worship with my friends and be in community. I did not regret it at all! I came home though feeling like It was time to get things happening. I had facebooked a midwife friend earlier that day and asked her what she recommends to post date mamas. She suggested nipple stimulation…hmmmm something I hadn’t tried…..she gave me the cautions (you have to be careful, can cause strong, hard contractions) and method (5 min on each side and then 5 min break). I thought “what the heck…why not?” So before bed I went into Birth Mode. I drank a double strong cup of Red Raspberry leaf tea, rubbed my ankles like crazy, did Nipple Stimulation for a couple rounds, had sex and some more Nipple stimulation….during the last session of NS I was feeling some contractions, nothing super strong, but something. We went to sleep. I was awakened several times between 10:30 and 1am with pretty good contractions. I knew it was labor. There’s something about real labor that you don’t have doubts. These felt different. They felt like “Jude labor”. I just kept going back to sleep though and finally around 1am I got out of bed and had a few contractions on the floor, with my birth ball while reading Harry Potter in between (haha). They were about 10-15 min apart but definitely consistent. I woke Ben up at 2am (I know I could have waiting longer….but I didn’t…). I also then texted my friend Melody who was planning on being present at our birth for support and to take some pictures. She came over (totally didn’t have to but she did, she’s amazing) and snoozed on the couch while I continued to labor in the bedroom. I laid down on the bed in an exaggerated side lying position through most of the contractions, it was comfortable, I closed my eyes in between them and it was very peaceful. But I didn’t feel them increasing too much so I decided to get up and move. From about 3am-5am I got up and came into the living room, paced around the kitchen, used my ball etc. I was having pretty regular contractions (about 8ish minutes apart) but suddenly I was feeling very tired. Big red flag and things started slowing down….I was pushing this too hard. I decided to go back to bed and try to rest. I sleep from about 5am to 6:30 and awoke with a few contractions during that time but went right back to sleep. I felt so much better when I woke up! This is something that been repeated in both my labors! Your body needs to be rested! I woke my mom up and gave her the baby monitor (for Jude) and told her we were laboring. Ben, Mel and I went on a nice morning outside walk. It was wonderful and my contractions were nice and consistent and pretty strong (like a 4 on a scale from 1-10), totally tolerable but I could feel them working. I was really hoping at this point that baby would come fast. When we got back Jude had started to wake up. This is where things got a little harder. It was so hard to focus on labor and have him up and about! I wanted to be his mommy and take care of him but I really needed to focus on laboring. He also seemed to sense something was up and was acting funny. I suggested my mom take him to the Mall to play at the indoor play place. That helped a lot and from about 8am-11am we just labored at the house, music was playing, Ben was timing my contractions and coaching me. Things were not SPEEDING along but I was making some progress. I also threw up several times and had LOTS of bloody discharge and diarrhea. All great labor signs. Around 11am my mom came back and put Jude down for a nap. I was getting very restless. I wanted to go to the hospital and labor but Ben and Mel kept reminding me how much better it would be to make more progress before I got there. We went on another outside walk and it was great. Much stronger contractions while I was walking. When we came back I remembered in birth class about them talking about squatting during contractions to get things going. I decided to try it and found that it really increased the intensity of my contractions. At this point I was really wanted intense, painful contractions to progress my labor (haha kind of funny huh?). So I squatting using the birth ball through multiple contractions (like I squatting in front of the ball and rested my head, arms and chest on the ball). That is a great way to squat. I LOVE the birth ball. Seriously. Finally I’d had several contractions at 5 minutes apart and we remembered that we hadn’t pre-registered so Ben packed up the car and we were FINALLY off to the hospital! This was about 12:30ish I think?
Sunday June 10th. The hardest thing about going into public after your due date is ALL the people who says things like “Why haven’t you had your baby?” or “When is that baby coming?” or “Are you STILL pregnant?” So I had to decide whether or not to venture out to church that evening. SO glad I did! I had a wonderful time at The Well, heard a really great message, got to worship with my friends and be in community. I did not regret it at all! I came home though feeling like It was time to get things happening. I had facebooked a midwife friend earlier that day and asked her what she recommends to post date mamas. She suggested nipple stimulation…hmmmm something I hadn’t tried…..she gave me the cautions (you have to be careful, can cause strong, hard contractions) and method (5 min on each side and then 5 min break). I thought “what the heck…why not?” So before bed I went into Birth Mode. I drank a double strong cup of Red Raspberry leaf tea, rubbed my ankles like crazy, did Nipple Stimulation for a couple rounds, had sex and some more Nipple stimulation….during the last session of NS I was feeling some contractions, nothing super strong, but something. We went to sleep. I was awakened several times between 10:30 and 1am with pretty good contractions. I knew it was labor. There’s something about real labor that you don’t have doubts. These felt different. They felt like “Jude labor”. I just kept going back to sleep though and finally around 1am I got out of bed and had a few contractions on the floor, with my birth ball while reading Harry Potter in between (haha). They were about 10-15 min apart but definitely consistent. I woke Ben up at 2am (I know I could have waiting longer….but I didn’t…). I also then texted my friend Melody who was planning on being present at our birth for support and to take some pictures. She came over (totally didn’t have to but she did, she’s amazing) and snoozed on the couch while I continued to labor in the bedroom. I laid down on the bed in an exaggerated side lying position through most of the contractions, it was comfortable, I closed my eyes in between them and it was very peaceful. But I didn’t feel them increasing too much so I decided to get up and move. From about 3am-5am I got up and came into the living room, paced around the kitchen, used my ball etc. I was having pretty regular contractions (about 8ish minutes apart) but suddenly I was feeling very tired. Big red flag and things started slowing down….I was pushing this too hard. I decided to go back to bed and try to rest. I sleep from about 5am to 6:30 and awoke with a few contractions during that time but went right back to sleep. I felt so much better when I woke up! This is something that been repeated in both my labors! Your body needs to be rested! I woke my mom up and gave her the baby monitor (for Jude) and told her we were laboring. Ben, Mel and I went on a nice morning outside walk. It was wonderful and my contractions were nice and consistent and pretty strong (like a 4 on a scale from 1-10), totally tolerable but I could feel them working. I was really hoping at this point that baby would come fast. When we got back Jude had started to wake up. This is where things got a little harder. It was so hard to focus on labor and have him up and about! I wanted to be his mommy and take care of him but I really needed to focus on laboring. He also seemed to sense something was up and was acting funny. I suggested my mom take him to the Mall to play at the indoor play place. That helped a lot and from about 8am-11am we just labored at the house, music was playing, Ben was timing my contractions and coaching me. Things were not SPEEDING along but I was making some progress. I also threw up several times and had LOTS of bloody discharge and diarrhea. All great labor signs. Around 11am my mom came back and put Jude down for a nap. I was getting very restless. I wanted to go to the hospital and labor but Ben and Mel kept reminding me how much better it would be to make more progress before I got there. We went on another outside walk and it was great. Much stronger contractions while I was walking. When we came back I remembered in birth class about them talking about squatting during contractions to get things going. I decided to try it and found that it really increased the intensity of my contractions. At this point I was really wanted intense, painful contractions to progress my labor (haha kind of funny huh?). So I squatting using the birth ball through multiple contractions (like I squatting in front of the ball and rested my head, arms and chest on the ball). That is a great way to squat. I LOVE the birth ball. Seriously. Finally I’d had several contractions at 5 minutes apart and we remembered that we hadn’t pre-registered so Ben packed up the car and we were FINALLY off to the hospital! This was about 12:30ish I think?
·
Hospital Labor: We checked in and went to the
little room to get all check and everything.
The first thing I noticed in the labor and delivery was one of my
favorite nurses from Jude’s labor, Janet.
I said “I remember you!”. At
first another nurse started getting my all checked in but for some reason they
switched and Janet was doing the checking.
This made me happy. J She checked me and happily announced I was at
5 cm and 90% effaced. 5?!?! Uhh…Janet….I was almost a 4 on Friday! Oh well, progress is progress and she said I
was definitely staying (well…duh…) but I started to feel maaaaybe I’d come a
little too early. Also my pulse was much higher than normal for me and I wasn’t
feeling super great. I think it was
because I was dehydrated. I hadn’t drank
a ton of water before going into labor (during the day Sunday) and could barely
tolerate sips through the whole home labor (because of the puking) so I knew I
needed to start sipping because I did NOT want IV fluids! My hopes rose though
when she said the birth tub room was empty and she told the nurses I’d be going
to it! The birth tub room at St.
Elizabeth’s is like the “suite” room.
It’s huge, has a large laboring tub, a bigger bathroom with a good
shower and is MUCH more roomy for using the birth room. You can labor AND delivery in this room.
ALSO, it’s where I labored and delivered Jude!
I was ecstatic. As soon as we got
in we hooked up my birth music (a mix of different stuff but I’ll tell you I
pretty much just listened to “All Sons and Daughters” and “Phil Wickham”
<-same as with Jude’s birth. We got
set up and started walking!
·
It’s hard to track how much time went by in between different sections of my labor. It’s easier to track by cm because that’s what my whole goal/focus was at that point! 10cm! Let’s go!
It’s hard to track how much time went by in between different sections of my labor. It’s easier to track by cm because that’s what my whole goal/focus was at that point! 10cm! Let’s go!
·
After about 1 ½ hours of labor they came back
and checked me and I was at 6cm.
Excellent! My contractions were
still very tolerable and I was in very high spirits. This would have been around 4pm.
·
Tub: At 6cm Janet said I was totally fine to get
in the tub! Last time they made me wait
till 7 and I was too far along, starting to transition with Jude, also the
water was cold last time. This time the
water was AWESOME. I only labored in
there for about 40minutes but I was able to squat in the tub through almost all
my contractions. This really sped things
along (seriously, squatting is a GOOD thing).
I felt so comfortable and it made the pain much more tolerable. They check my again at about 5:00 after I’d
gotten out of the tub and I was at 7cm!
Great progress!
·
A few things I remember about this portion of labor. It moved along very consistently but I FELT like it was going kind of slow. This was my 2nd baby! Shouldn’t I be speeding along? I was also VERY conscious of the time because I was REALLY hoping to deliver the baby in time for Jude to come visit that day! I REALLY missed him and was thinking about him SO much. This was probably a lot because I thought about his labor constantly during this labor. I was in the same room with some of the same people. It was really interesting how I compared the 2 constantly. I also was really conscious that I was so much more relaxed this time. I was really able to relax during my contractions. Melody and Ben were amazing. They helped me relax without pressuring me to do anything specific, they let me lead the labor but Ben was a really strong birth coach. It was really amazing.
A few things I remember about this portion of labor. It moved along very consistently but I FELT like it was going kind of slow. This was my 2nd baby! Shouldn’t I be speeding along? I was also VERY conscious of the time because I was REALLY hoping to deliver the baby in time for Jude to come visit that day! I REALLY missed him and was thinking about him SO much. This was probably a lot because I thought about his labor constantly during this labor. I was in the same room with some of the same people. It was really interesting how I compared the 2 constantly. I also was really conscious that I was so much more relaxed this time. I was really able to relax during my contractions. Melody and Ben were amazing. They helped me relax without pressuring me to do anything specific, they let me lead the labor but Ben was a really strong birth coach. It was really amazing.
·
Things started getting more painful. I was feeling “transition” type contractions. I felt more pressure down low, felt baby starting to come down, I was having LOTS of shakes and feeling like I was going to throw up (though I never did which was great). During my whole active labor I was only able to tolerate sips of water. I really really tried to drink a lot though and by this point I was feeling a little better and my pulse was actually down from when I checked into the hospital! (Key point: stay hydrated BEFORE you go into labor then you won’t be so pressured during labor.)
Things started getting more painful. I was feeling “transition” type contractions. I felt more pressure down low, felt baby starting to come down, I was having LOTS of shakes and feeling like I was going to throw up (though I never did which was great). During my whole active labor I was only able to tolerate sips of water. I really really tried to drink a lot though and by this point I was feeling a little better and my pulse was actually down from when I checked into the hospital! (Key point: stay hydrated BEFORE you go into labor then you won’t be so pressured during labor.)
·
I labored with these really strong, transition type contractions for about an hour. I spend a LOT of time sitting on the birth ball and some time in the shower. These 2 things made the paint more tolerable. The worst position? Uggggg lying in the bed while getting monitored! She would hook me up and say she’d monitor me for about 10 minutes. I watched that clock and as soon as she was late (which they almost always are…they’re busy) I’d demand Ben go find the nurse so she could unhook the monitor! Lol but I just COULDN”T tolerate the pain while lying down! I needed to MOVE. An interested thing to note here is that while being monitored I was somewhat sitting up with my legs out strait in front of me. I had knee surgery on my left knee in high school and have a long scar on my knee. Because of this is really uncomfortable to flatten out my left leg. So EVERY time I got monitored all day I’d put my left knee up with my foot flat on the bed….well…..let me continue with my story…I think this actually effected baby’s position….
I labored with these really strong, transition type contractions for about an hour. I spend a LOT of time sitting on the birth ball and some time in the shower. These 2 things made the paint more tolerable. The worst position? Uggggg lying in the bed while getting monitored! She would hook me up and say she’d monitor me for about 10 minutes. I watched that clock and as soon as she was late (which they almost always are…they’re busy) I’d demand Ben go find the nurse so she could unhook the monitor! Lol but I just COULDN”T tolerate the pain while lying down! I needed to MOVE. An interested thing to note here is that while being monitored I was somewhat sitting up with my legs out strait in front of me. I had knee surgery on my left knee in high school and have a long scar on my knee. Because of this is really uncomfortable to flatten out my left leg. So EVERY time I got monitored all day I’d put my left knee up with my foot flat on the bed….well…..let me continue with my story…I think this actually effected baby’s position….
·
So after about an hour at around 6pm Pam arrived! I was SOOOOOO happy to see her! She really just changed the atmosphere of the room! She literally walked in and saw me breathing through a contraction and kissed me on the cheek! She also immediately began checking to make sure Melody was feeling rested and getting food which was so awesome as she’s Melody’s midwife too! Pam checked me and to my dismay I was still only around 7 ½ cm after laboring at least an hour with very difficult contractions! She felt baby’s position and said baby was still a little crooked, over to the right side and that he/she needed to move over a bit so the head could engage. She said once the head was strait things would move faster. That’s when I realized my leg positioning. I was being monitored so during the next couple contractions I decided to switch which knee was up and which was down. Ummm…OWWWW I could totally feel that this was moving the baby! Why hadn’t I noticed this sooner?? Anyways, after monitoring I got off the bed and squatted and lunged during labor. I couldn’t tolerate doing them during the contractions but I did them in between and them took contractions on the ball or on my hands and knees or standing up. These were my three “go to” positions. As I was feeling LOTS of pressure “down there” and the contractions were about an 8 on my pain scale I was REALLY hoping I was getting close to the end.
So after about an hour at around 6pm Pam arrived! I was SOOOOOO happy to see her! She really just changed the atmosphere of the room! She literally walked in and saw me breathing through a contraction and kissed me on the cheek! She also immediately began checking to make sure Melody was feeling rested and getting food which was so awesome as she’s Melody’s midwife too! Pam checked me and to my dismay I was still only around 7 ½ cm after laboring at least an hour with very difficult contractions! She felt baby’s position and said baby was still a little crooked, over to the right side and that he/she needed to move over a bit so the head could engage. She said once the head was strait things would move faster. That’s when I realized my leg positioning. I was being monitored so during the next couple contractions I decided to switch which knee was up and which was down. Ummm…OWWWW I could totally feel that this was moving the baby! Why hadn’t I noticed this sooner?? Anyways, after monitoring I got off the bed and squatted and lunged during labor. I couldn’t tolerate doing them during the contractions but I did them in between and them took contractions on the ball or on my hands and knees or standing up. These were my three “go to” positions. As I was feeling LOTS of pressure “down there” and the contractions were about an 8 on my pain scale I was REALLY hoping I was getting close to the end.
·
After an hour of this (around 7pm) Pam checked me again….8 1/2cm! yess……this was progress but I was ready to be done! A WHOLE other 1 ½ cm to go?!? I had to speed things along! I was getting tired. ALSO I was feeling an undeniable urge to push and it was making it VERY difficult to manage the contractions and the pain. I had to blow through them instead of taking relaxing breaths and this made it more painful. SO Pam decided to feel what was happening while I had a contraction, she kept her fingers in me checking during a contraction. OWWWWW I could NOT handle it, I begged her to take them out! She did but said she thought she MIGHT be able to push my cervix over while I pushed but it would be best to labor through a few more contractions and try to dilate. Oooooooh this was the hardest part! I decided I could breathe through a FEW more contractions without pushing but I could NOT doing it sitting on that bed. I remember this part so clearly. The pain was more like a 9 or 10 and the contractions were right on top of each other. I practically JUMPED out of the bed and leaned against it/half sat on the edge while leaning forward against Ben and I blew through 3 or 4 more contractions. It HURT. I’m not going to lie. I felt like I HAD to push, but I just kept PRAYING (I think out loud too) that my body would dilate. I only handled a few like that I didn’t trust myself to move anywhere else so I lay back onto the bed. Pam checked and said I was now at 9cm. I told her I was going to push and she could try to help my cervix move while moved. She put her fingers up there and I did one great push. I heard her say “She’s complete”. That was it. I was completely focused and decided this baby was coming out. At this point with Jude was screaming and really really panicking. I remember this time feeling very calm and focused and I asked her “can I push whenever I’m ready?” She said, when I felt the need to push that I should push, I was complete and she’d be ready. Pam and the nurse were in position. At this point the contractions were just constant, I couldn’t feel them coming or going. So I focused, remembered what it felt like to push and pushed. It was very painful. I felt the burning, but decided the best way to handle that would be to push the baby OUT. That baby came FLYING out. Ben told me that he really did a somersault and landed in the plastic tarp they were holding!! This ALMOST happened with Jude, but Sally had caught him. It felt SO good to push him all the way out! Man it is the MOST relief a person will ever feel!
After an hour of this (around 7pm) Pam checked me again….8 1/2cm! yess……this was progress but I was ready to be done! A WHOLE other 1 ½ cm to go?!? I had to speed things along! I was getting tired. ALSO I was feeling an undeniable urge to push and it was making it VERY difficult to manage the contractions and the pain. I had to blow through them instead of taking relaxing breaths and this made it more painful. SO Pam decided to feel what was happening while I had a contraction, she kept her fingers in me checking during a contraction. OWWWWW I could NOT handle it, I begged her to take them out! She did but said she thought she MIGHT be able to push my cervix over while I pushed but it would be best to labor through a few more contractions and try to dilate. Oooooooh this was the hardest part! I decided I could breathe through a FEW more contractions without pushing but I could NOT doing it sitting on that bed. I remember this part so clearly. The pain was more like a 9 or 10 and the contractions were right on top of each other. I practically JUMPED out of the bed and leaned against it/half sat on the edge while leaning forward against Ben and I blew through 3 or 4 more contractions. It HURT. I’m not going to lie. I felt like I HAD to push, but I just kept PRAYING (I think out loud too) that my body would dilate. I only handled a few like that I didn’t trust myself to move anywhere else so I lay back onto the bed. Pam checked and said I was now at 9cm. I told her I was going to push and she could try to help my cervix move while moved. She put her fingers up there and I did one great push. I heard her say “She’s complete”. That was it. I was completely focused and decided this baby was coming out. At this point with Jude was screaming and really really panicking. I remember this time feeling very calm and focused and I asked her “can I push whenever I’m ready?” She said, when I felt the need to push that I should push, I was complete and she’d be ready. Pam and the nurse were in position. At this point the contractions were just constant, I couldn’t feel them coming or going. So I focused, remembered what it felt like to push and pushed. It was very painful. I felt the burning, but decided the best way to handle that would be to push the baby OUT. That baby came FLYING out. Ben told me that he really did a somersault and landed in the plastic tarp they were holding!! This ALMOST happened with Jude, but Sally had caught him. It felt SO good to push him all the way out! Man it is the MOST relief a person will ever feel!
Well then came the BIG question….was it a boy or a
girl? No one else was looking (it felt
like I was waiting hours but it was really like 10 seconds) so as they were
holding him in front of me I checked. I
KNEW it was a boy. As soon as I saw he
was a boy I felt inside that I’d known all along. I really was NOT surprised at all. My first reaction was I was SO HAPPY. I said “I really wanted another boy!! I’m so happy”. And I really really really am. I just knew right away that he was the one
for us. He was the right fit for our
family. He came out NOT crying! It was scary at first but I knew it was just
because he was different than Jude (Jude was SCREAMING bloody murder). He was just looking around with this peaceful
look on his face. He immediately reminded
me of Ben. I just loved him so much
already!
