The Short Version:
Saturday, April 13
9:00 pm- Very mild contractions every 7 minutes. Stopped by the time I woke up the next morning.
Sunday, April 14
6:30 pm- Contractions start again. They are sporadic: every 5-10 minutes until I go to bed.
Monday, April 15
6:30 am- I wake up and don't feel any contractions. I take a shower and the contractions pick up again, though still irregular.
9:15 am- After calling the doctors office, a nurse asks me to go in to get checked. I go in and learn that I'm dilated to a 3. Since my contractions are still irregular, they send me home. I go back to my in-laws where we had previously dropped off the kiddos.
2:20 pm- Since there hasn't been a lot of change in my contractions, Mitchell and I go back to the doctors since I had a scheduled dr. appointment (since my due date was not until Friday, the 19th). Dr. Hardy checks my cervix and I'm only dilated to a 3 1/2, so he strips my membranes. Mitchell and I go walking in hopes of kick starting the contractions. It works-they increase in pain and intensity and start coming every 4 minutes.
5:00- We walk back to Dr. Hardy's office and he checks my cervix again. I'm dilated to a 4 1/2 and clearly in a lot of pain, so he sends us to the hospital (Holy Family).
5:22-We check in to the hospital and I immediately get in the shower.
6:00- Dr. Hardy breaks my water and reports that I'm dilated to about a 6 1/2 or 7. Contractions REALLY intensify and I get back in the shower.
6:40-My body starts pushing on it's own. Mitchell gets a nurse to come to the room to check my cervix. She says I'm at an 8 and to try not to push. I tell her that I can't NOT push, my body won't let me! So she checks me a minute later, and she says that I am at a 9, then pauses for a second and then says that no, I'm actually complete! She rushes to alert everyone who need to be alerted. I push for about 15 minutes (about 7-8 contractions).
6:55- Timothy is born! His cord is wrapped around his throat twice and once around his body, but the doctor (Dr. Brasch) is able to safely untangle him and I get to hold and snuggle him! :)
The very long version:
On April 13th, Saturday night, I started having contractions. They weren't painful, but were more intense then the Braxton-Hicks contractions I had been having. They were 7 minutes apart and after 3 hours, I went to bed, knowing that if they were the real deal, then I better get some rest before things really got going. By the time I woke up the next morning, the contractions were gone. We decided to stay home from church that day on the chance that the contractions would start up again...I also wanted to avoid the possibility of my water breaking while we were at church, or even worse, while I was teaching the 6 and 7 year old children at church!
I sat on my birth ball for hours, hoping to get my contractions to jump started again. Contractions finally started coming at about 6:30 that night. I was so excited and hopeful that this was the real deal. I tracked and timed them and they were really sporadic-anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart and only lasting about 30 seconds. They weren't painful, just a little intense. Nothing changed by the time we were going to bed. Up to this point, Mitchell had no idea what had been going on, so I filled him in and we got everything ready and went over our plan, just in case things progressed, and then we went to bed. By the next morning (Monday), about 6:30, I woke up and for at least 15 minutes I didn't feel anything! I was so frustrated! My labors with my daughters had been so straight forward, and this one was so sporadic and not going to how it was "supposed to" (haha). So I got in the shower to help me calm down and by the time I got out, the contractions started again. Woohoo!!
Mitchell had a dentist appointment that morning in Spokane and had already taken the morning off for work, and I had a doctors appointment in Spokane as well that afternoon (as my due date was not until April 19th). Even though my contractions were still irregular, we had faith that things would progress, so Mitchell took the rest of the day off of work. I called my doctors office and told them what was going on and they told me to head over there so they could check my progress and see how things are going. So we packed up all of our birth stuff and the kids and their overnight bags and headed over to Mitchell's parent's house. We dropped off the girls, Mitchell dropped me off at the doctors' office, and then he headed over to his dentist appointment. At the doctor's, a nurse checked me, and I was dilated to a 3, though my contractions were still pretty sporadic (5-8 minutes apart) and not getting any more intense or painful. They sent me home and told me to call if things started to progress, and if not, then they'd see me that afternoon at my doctors appointment (at 2:20).
I went back to my in-laws, ate some food, walked around, and tracked contractions...and still no progression. Mitchell returned from his appointment and then we went together to my doctors appointment at 2. Dr. Hardy checked me....and I was only a 3 1/2! So he stripped my membranes and told me it may or may not work and if I was determined to have the baby that day, I had two options to get things in gear...I could go walking, or Dr. Hardy could break my water. We chose to go walking. We walked to the shopping center near by and walked around Ross, Rite Aid (where we picked up some snacks), and Bed, Bath, and Beyond...and things REALLY began to pick up. MY contractions went to every 4 minutes, 60-90 seconds long, and I had to squat down and really breath through them. At one point when we were in Rite Aid, I was squatting down with my chin tucked in and my eyes closed, breathing deeply and 2 little kids started walking down the aisle. When they saw me, they quickly turned around and left the aisle.
At about 4:30, we went back to the doctors office. Dr. Hardy checked me at 5:00 and I was a 4 1/2 and clearly in a lot of pain, so Dr. Hardy finally believed us that this was the real deal and sent us to the hospital (right behind the doctors office). Even though the contractions were really hurting, I was THRILLED. Going off our experience with the last two births, we predicted that Timothy would be born in 5 or so hours (except, I had epidurals the last to times...) We checked in to the hospital at 5:22 and were immediately put in to a room. I went straight to the shower. Mitchell called his sister Jessica, who we had invited to come to the birth, and told her what was going on and told her it would likely be a few hours before things really picked up. The shower was heavenly! It didn't erase the pain, but it went a long way to helping me relax. I really didn't want to get out.
I had to get out about 5:45 so that they could monitor the baby and I for a little bit before Dr. Hardy came to break my water. At 6, the doctor broke my water (there was meconium) and he told me I was dilated to a 6 1/2 to 7. I got back in the shower, but I don't know that it helped any at this point because those contractions HURT. I had planned to follow the hypnobirth method, but I COULD NOT do it! Kudos to all those women who have successful hypnobirth experiences, because I felt like all I could do was survive. As soon I could feel a contraction start building up, I had to choose a position quick, because I could. not. move. once it got going. They just bowled me over. Mitchell suggested I be vocal about the pain-yell, shout, and etc. And so I did...and oddly enough, it helped a little. I really let it out. I screamed, and moaned, and banged my hand on the shower wall, while Mitchell would rub my shoulders and back. I was really really loud and I really really didn't care! It was kind of liberating.
The nursing staff was really supportive of our drug-free birth plan. The plan was that no one was to offer me drugs of any kind, and if I requested drugs, they would encourage me to keep going and tell me how amazing I was doing, and etc. If I still wanted drugs, I was to use a safe word of my choice. Mitchell and I decided on "Oranges." :) I got to a point in that shower, where my thoughts ran along the lines of, "Why am I doing this? I can't do this. I CAN'T DO THIS. I'M DONE." And I was very close to giving in...so I said a very fervent and sincere prayer to Heavenly Father for help. That I could not do this on my own and I needed help. Little did I know that I had been in the transition phase...it had come about a lot faster than I had thought it would. At 6:40 (I was still in the shower) when a contraction came, my body started pushing ON ITS OWN. I could not stop it, my body just took over. I told Mitchell to get a nurse, that I needed to be checked, that I'm pushing! I could hardly move on my own, so Mitchell helped me into a gown and on to the bed, and the nurse checked me. She said I was an 8 and said not to push because I wasn't complete to which I frantically responded, "I can't NOT push! My body won't stop!" So she rechecked me again and said, "You're a 9...no wait, you're complete!" At which point they started rushing to get the doctor on call (Dr. Brasch) in there and other various staff (because there was meconium when my water broke).
When I had closed my eyes and clung to Mitchell to cope with the next contraction, there were two nurses in the room, when I had opened my eyes at the end of the contraction, there were at least 6 staff in there and the doctor was walking in. I started actively pushing (which was really hard work...but sweet sweet relief from the contractions) with each contraction. I had all these grand ideas before labor of trying different positions when it was time to push...but when the time came I was just worn out it was all I could do to semi-sit up. There was this sweet nurse (who was an angel!) who was putting cool wet towels on my forehead which felt amazing. I pushed for about 15 minutes (about 7-8 contractions) and baby Timothy was born at 6:55. His cord was wrapped around his neck twice and around his body once! I'm amazed that this didn't cause any major complications and attribute that to Heavenly Father and all the prayers we said for Timothy through out the pregnancy. Wonderful Dr. Brasch untangled Timothy and they quickly wiped him up and passed him up to me...and it was bliss. It was over and I had my amazing and beautiful little boy and life could not get better.
From the time my water was broken to when Timothy was born was only an hour!!! And I am SO GRATEFUL. There was this really surreal moment when I was about to push when I couldn't believe I made it...that I had done it successfully w/o drugs.
During and shortly after labor, I really felt that I would never do labor without drugs ever ever ever again. But already, the memory of the physical pain has faded. It's the emotions and feelings that are permanently imprinted on my mind, and the happy blissful good emotions are the ones that stick out the most...of how amazing and supportive Mitchell was and is, of seeing and holding Timothy for the first time, that ecstatic, awake-y, shaky, happy feeling when all is done...not to mention that this has been the fastest labor and best recovery after a birth yet. And aside from that, Timmy is such a sweet sweet baby and is a natural at breastfeeding! I'm already revising in my mind what I will do different the next time...how I'll better prepare myself for the pain...so maybe this won't be my last "natural" birth experience. Regardless, Timothy is so handsome and cute and wonderful, and we are all so happy to have him here with us.
These pictures are also on Mitchell's facebook.
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| Right after Timmy was born. |
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| :( |
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| Happy and handsome Daddy |
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| Happy big sister w/ Gramma |
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| Jessica, my awesome sister-in-law. Timothy came sooo quick, she actually didn't make it in time, but was able to stay and hang out with us for a while afterwards. :) |
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| Memory in the hospital baby bed...she wants to be the baby. |
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| ahhhhh! So cute! |
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| Flowers from Mitchell and the girls. :) |
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| Snuggle-fest all day |
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| How can you not love that little face?! |
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