Thanks for all the congrats!
: I posted my our birth story on my blog and am too lazy to write a condensed version for MDC so I'm just copying and pasting here. Sorry it's so long!
Ellery is peacefully sleeping so I thought I'd try to post some details about his birth while I had the chance.
Sunday evening, it started snowing pretty hard here. After dinner, Chris, Stella, and I bundled up and headed out for a walk hoping to stimulate labor. It was dark, quiet, and everything was peaceful and white. It was such a nice setting for some quiet time with my family. I'm not sure what exactly it was about the evening but it just felt so perfect. I was so happy and just kept thinking to myself that it's moments like these that make me love my life.
I didn't see any labor action Sunday night so I headed off for bed since I had to work in the morning. At about 3:00 am, I woke up with some painful contractions. They were totally different than any other contraction I had felt before. There was no cramping in my uterus, just pain in my cervix. I slept fitfully for about an hour before giving up and playing solitaire on the computer until it was time to get ready for work. I had several contractions on the drive into work that were painful but they were completely irregular so I didn't think anything of it.
Around 11:00 am, the contractions started getting more painful and coming about every 12 minutes. I could no longer hide the fact that I was contracting from the patients I was seeing so I decided that I should probably just go home. I thought maybe this would turn into real labor this time but didn't want to get my hopes up after so many false labors in the previous weeks.
A ton of coworkers kept stopping by my office to talk to me so it took me a lot longer to get packed up for home than I thought. As I was getting ready to leave, I received an email of my official layoff notice and all the paperwork that I have to complete as part of the process so I had to take the time to print all that stuff out as well. I think I finally made it out to my car at about 12:30.
The drive home takes about 40 minutes so I must have had about 4 contractions in the car. My sister was on the phone with me and as I got closer to home, I couldn't talk during the contractions because I had to focus on staying calm and focused on my driving.
Even when I got home, I wasn't sure if I was really in labor or not. Once home, though, things started to intensify pretty quickly. I texted Chris and told him to come home because I was finally thinking that this was the real deal. I called the doula and the midwife to give them the heads-up as well.
The midwife was just finishing up at another birth with a mom who was having some complications post-partum so she thought she'd be to my house in about an hour. Chris and my sister arrived a short time later which was perfect timing because things were moving quickly. My contractions were coming every 5 minutes and I was having to moan through them. Jessica called the midwife and doula to let them know how quickly we were progressing and, luckily, they were both already on their way.
I quickly decided that I didn't want Stella at the birth. It was just moving so quickly that I felt like I couldn't attend to her at all. Luckily, our family friend Sandy was already planning to take my sister's girls so she picked up Stella from school and brought her back to her house. Even though I'm bummed that Stella didn't get to be there, it was definitely the right decision.
These contractions were totally different than anything I have ever experienced before, including during my entire labor with Stella. I didn't feel any pain or cramping or anything for that matter anywhere expect right in my cervix. My hip didn't hurt, my back didn't hurt, I didn't even feel a menstrual-type cramp, just insane intensity in my cervix. The midwife kept telling me how great that was which was very reassuring.
While I was contracting away in the kitchen, Chris was busy trying to fill the birth pool which we had set up in our living room. We have a tankless hot water heater that had been acting up lately and of course it chose yesterday to really go on the fritz. Apparently the circuit breaker kept blowing so we couldn't get the hot water we needed. They ended boiling about 14 pots of water to help warm up the tub. All I could think about was how great it would feel to get into the water so I was getting pretty antsy to get in.
Then, at long last, the pool was ready and I hopped in. Ahhhhh, sweet relief! After a few contractions, the midwife finally got a chance to check my cervix for the first time and I was already at least 8 centimeters dilated! I thought, "OK, I can do this". Little did I know how quickly things would progress! I was only in the water for a total of 36 minutes before my sweet baby was born.
I had a few great contractions but then they started to get crazy intense and really close together. It was hard not to get overwhelmed but everyone did a great job of helping me keep calm. I was in a very primal state and went from general moaning to telling (OK, more like yelling) the baby to come out. I guess it's better that he learn sooner rather than later that his Mama is a little bossy! At one point near the end, I almost bit Chris's thumb!
I had a contraction that seemed like it went on forever and suddenly I was pushing! I pushed for a total of 4 minutes during 2 very long, back to back contractions and out came Ellery. I birthed him into my own arms, brought him to my chest, and thanked God that he was out!
I was so relieved to be done that I didn't have the strength to look at the sex of the baby. I just kept saying how relieved I was to be done. Finally, after a couple minutes, the midwife helped me turn him around so I could see the goods. I got to announce to everyone that it was a boy!
Ellery only really cried when he very first came out; probably because I was still being so loud! Quickly though, he quietly started taking in his surroundings. The two of us just hung out in the tub for quite a while; both in awe of each other. My sister cut the cord and Chris finally got to hold his son. I delivered the placenta with almost no bleeding what so ever. This was a huge relief to all of us since I hemorrhaged after having Stella. I got out of the tub, got comfortable in our recliner, and nursed Ellery.
Sandy arrived with Stella and my sister's girls and Stella was so excited to meet her little brother. She ran right up to him and gave him kisses. I was worried she would be a little disappointed since she had been insisting for weeks that the baby could only be a girl and that we had to name her Cinnamon Roll. Luckily, Stella seems to be fine with Ellery instead. She asked to hold him and did a great job although she did get a little protective when anyone else wanted to hold him.
I still can't believe that I had my baby! Ellery seems perfectly healthy so far. Thank you to everyone for all the prayers and support during the uncertain months after our genetic testing. God has truly blessed our family. We can't wait to see his little personality unfold!
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