Thursday 3:20 pm- Myself, Jared, and Peter go to my 38 week OB appointment! There we learn that I'm 3 cm dilated, about 80% effaced, with a midline cervix, and that baby girl is head down. The doctor asked me if I would like her to "strip my membrane" (which basically induces labor) Funny thing is I thought she said it will take 3 days before it works. But apparently she said it will happen WITHIN 3 days if it works... haha. Jared and I had a laugh about that an hour before my first contractions started THAT night at around 8 pm. So I started to pack the hospital bag :)
Friday 2 pm- I can't sleep, my contraction are mild but happen every 10 minutes. As the morning progresses they move to every 6 minutes, lasting about 50 seconds.
>I feel I should note here that a few days prior I had officially talked with Jared about our "birth plan" to have this little girl naturally. I was really nervous because my pain tolerance is not high and he said, reflecting on his time before his Ranger training, "you have to go in knowing and telling yourself 'this is gonna suck.' that way when it does you arn't surprised." So doing this naturally was the plan going in :)<
Friday 6 am- my contractions are still 6 minutes apart, so Jared goes to morning formation. Shortly after that they kick up a notch in intensity and Peter decides to wake up. I get him back to sleep and go around the house cleaning until I decide it's time to take a shower (around 7:30) Jared gets home while I'm still in. During the time he left and got home my contractions went from every 6 minutes to every 3 and I had to start using the "hee, haa-haa" breathing technique, which I had only read about the day before at the doctor's office. Thank goodness because the breathing techniques really work.
Friday 8:30 am (ish)- After taking the time to dry my hair, the contractions have become significantly more uncomfortable and we get into the car to take Peter to our friend's house for the day.
Friday 9 am (ish)- We arrive at the hospital. Jared is loaded up with our exercise ball and all of our bags. I don't actually stop walking during my contractions on the way up to Labor and Delivery, they were much more manageable standing and moving. After the slow walk there we check in (I probably have 3 contractions in the hallway as we fill out paper work) and they take us to the triage area where I have to lay down and get monitored (these were painful contractions because I couldn't stand). The nurse asked me my pain level and I said 6 but apparently my face was saying something different because she told me later on that she thought I was farther along than pain level 6. When they came in to check my dilation (a trainee did, and he was confused so had to go get one of the other docs/nurses). He apparently had never checked someone who was 10 cm dilated as I was :) Holy cow, I couldn't believe it, I was just so surprised, I thought the pain was going to be a lot worse before I got to 10! The nurses were surprised too, they kept coming in and saying "are you really 10 cm?" Finally, we get to the birthing room and Jared was an awesome coach by helping me find my breathing again if I lost it and applying pressure to my hips during the contractions.
>note: about to get VERY informative<
Sometime after 10- We couldn't have been in the delivery room for more than 15 minutes I tell my nurse (who was AWESOME) that I need a bed pan because I don't want to pee on their floor. She brings me one just in time before my next contraction but I don't pee, my water breaks. My nurse takes my bed pan away and puts down a little mat for me to stand over. My next contraction hits, significantly more painful and I feel pressure to push. I say "I shouldn't be pushing right? But I feel pressure to push and I don't want to have her on the floor." My nurse says don't worry, get up on the bed and I'll check you (to see if she can see the head). I get up facing the back of the raised bed, Jared standing next to me cus I tell him I'm scared. The trainee is holding papers out for me to sign just before my next contraction starts to hit. My nurse says she see's the head and then then I don't know what else she says because I make a noise I never thought could come out of me and start to cry as Skylar's head come out! The nurse catches her head in one hand because she is only wearing one glove, apparently she was yelling for the trainee to get her another one and for the team to come in. I didn't hear any of that because almost right after I make some other not so nice noises accompanied by a little crying as Skylar's shoulders and body come out, quickly caught by another nurse who had literally just walked in (definitely no time to put on gloves). The nurses and Jared direct me to lay on my side and they bring Skylar Grace up to my chest. I'm about to cry just thinking about the moment of relief and exquisite JOY of seeing her!
This experience was sooo different than my first with Peter, which, don't get me wrong, was not painful because I had the epideral but the experience is completely different. I would definitely do it naturally again! I didn't realize the how much more involved I would feel and the recovery from an epideral is DEFINITELY WORSE than having a baby naturally. I thought it would be the other way around but I can do so much more now than after Peter. I don't have any pain and I didn't tare. I'm so grateful for how this birth happened and for the people that were there (especially Jared). He made me feel so good. Afterwards he looked at me and said "Babe, your a boss!" lol
So that's how it happened. Skylar Grace was born at 38 weeks and 3 days at 10:50 am. She weighed 5 lbs 15 ounces and was 19 inches long.
