Friday night we went to our good friends' David and Aleah's wedding. I had really been wanting to go to this so it made the fact that I was 2 days past my due date a bit easier to bear. I was definitely VERY pregnant but still feeling pretty comfortable. I never really felt too uncomfortabe during the pregnancy. Probably due in part to Jude's small size. :0) So feeling very good I took the opportunity to dance as much as I possibly could! While dancing, I started to feel some tightness around the middle and what I was pretty sure were contractions. They were minimal and not too uncomfortable. After 4 or 5 of them (about 15 minutes apart) I mentioned to a good friend of mine. We all jokes and laughed saying we hoped that I would dance the baby right out! As we continued dancing i continued to feel contractions.
When we left the wedding and returned home about 10:00pm the contractions were about 10-11 minutes apart. We went to bed....well...Ben went to bed. I laid in bed timing my contractions amazed that this could really be it. I felt very calm and very excited all at the same time. When the contractions were solidly about 8 minutes apart, I woke Ben up (about 1am) and told him we should maybe call the Doula. Carolee was a Doula in training and needed to be present for the entire birth to receive training credit. When Carolee arrived about 2:30am the contractions were feeling stronger and still about 8 minutes apart. I was laboring mostly in the bedroom walking around or kneeling with my elbows on a chair. Ben was amazing and even lit some candles and put some music on. The atmosphere was very calm and relaxing. We woke my mom up about 4am and let her know that this did indeed appear to be the real thing. I labored through the morning staying about 7-8 minutes apart. I ate an egg with toast for breakfast only because Carolee told me I should eat. I did not feel like eating. I walked circles around the house. Anytime I was sitting or laying for a contraction it HURT so much more! So i kept moving. I sat on the medicine ball a lot and took several hot showers which felt amazing! Ben stayed close by and let me lean on him with my arms around his neck for many contractions. Carolee took me on a walk around the neighborhood somewhere around 10am. Then when the contractions were about 6 min apart and I thought were getting close....everything stopped! I was so worried and thought...no! This was all false labor??? Carolee said not to worry and encouraged me to lie down and take a nap and said maybe my body was just tired. I took a nap and during my nap had about 4 contractions at about 15 min apart. After an hour of sleep I got up and started walking again....boom! They started up and before I knew it was at about 5 min apart! They were also getting stronger. At about 4pm we decided it was time to make the 30 min drive to the hospital. In the car things started to get more intense. I remember feeling very happy, excited and hopeful in the car. I had survived about 15 hours of labor so far and the baby was coming!!
I arrived at St. Elizabeth's and I was dialated to a 6! This was very good and the nurses were impressed that we'd labored at home for so long (Thank You Carolee!). From here everything becomes more of a blur and went VERY fast. Baby was monitored and he was doing amazing! We spent the next few hours walking the halls of the hospital. When I was at about a 7 i jumped in the tub, but did not like it very much because the water was too cold and the contractions were heating up. I spent a LOT of time on the birth ball. At about an 8 the midwife said that we should break the water so the baby's head could engage in the correct position. I didn't want to at first, but agreed that this would be ok. She broke my water and it felt VERY warm and wet. I continued to have contractions and remember thinking...ewwww so much water. It was gross. From then on everyone wanted me to do certain things, but i only wanted to sit on the ball! I took a quick shower, but was so tired I couldn't stand very well for long. While sitting on the birth ball I started to feel very uncomfortable and started to get kind of panicky. I told them it was starting to hurt a lot more. They said I should move to the bed to get checked which I did. I was fully dialated. They asked if I wanted to push and I said ok. The pushing was the hardest. It was the most painful. As I pushed with each contraction I could literally feel the baby moving down the birth canal. This was strange and definitely a bit freaky. I remember telling Ben I wanted some medicine now which is just kind of funny as I'd endured this much already. The baby started to crown and Ben could see the baby's head and hair. He said it looked like a raisen being squished and he was sure I was squishing the baby's head! He urged me to push the baby out so I wouldn't hurt it! ;) I decided, somewhere during pushing, that i was done and wouldn't push this baby out after all! I stopped pushing for 2 or 3 contractions. Looking back this might be the reason I didn't tear at all (also might be because Jude had a small head :D). Finally i pushed and out he came! All at once! Head and then his body just rushed out like a fish. Ben said it was funny because he almost did a flip, they weren't expecting him to be so small. And there he was! Screaming bloody murder with tons of dark hair and DIMPLES! I felt awesome right afterward and was SOOO glad I stuck it out with no medicine. The medicine must dull the adrenaline because most people don't talk about it and I was definitely up on something!
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