valencia grace diamond was born at 6:46am on 12/18/12. 9lb 8oz, 19.5in long.
she was "officially" due the 22nd, but i've had a feeling about the 18th for a long time. the morning of the 17th i finally got insurance ducks in a row, which was the last thing that needed to be done before birth. then i ate most of a fresh pineapple and walked around sightseeing with my parents for 3 hours. i came home and had a great nap (i can almost never nap deeply, so i started to wonder). woke up with mild contractions every 5min and lost my mucous plug, so i decided my mom and i should go get snacks for labor since it could be soon. we got home at 7pm and literally as i was walking in the door my water broke. not just a leak, but a gush that would have been way awkward 10min earlier in the grocery store. i was going to labor at home at least till dd went to bed, but i kept gushing so much water that i would have just had to sit on the toilet so i headed to the birth center with my mom.
contractions were getting stronger, but spaced a bit. seemed like when they got closer they were less effective, but when they spaced out they were stronger and felt like they did more. so i quit timing and just hung out with my mom and stood/rocked or sat on my ball as i needed. my mom read the first 8 chapters of "the hunger games" aloud to me. contractions were still every 5-7min apart at around 5am, but were getting pretty bad so i got in the shower. the intensity kicked up and i had to vocalize through them. at about 5:45 i got in the birth tub. contractions were really strong, and suddenly got closer together. at 6:20ish i suddenly felt a pinchy feeling in my cervix, and then felt my body start to push. everyone was rushing a bit because my contractions had never gotten closer than 2-3min apart. i got out of the tub and pushed on hands and knees on the floor while a midwife got the birth stool. i didn't push much because i didn't need to. she was coming no matter what. i was actually trying to hold back while the midwives massaged so i wouldn't tear, because she was coming so fast. i eventually did some real pushing to get her head out. i really don't get the women who enjoy pushing. it was effing painful! i was talking myself through it in my head, telling myself i'd have my baby soon and i just had to get her head out. it was the only time where i got that "i can't do this anymore, i've changed my mind!" feeling. her head came out and i thought she would just slide, but the MW said she had big shoulders and i had more pushing to do. turns out she is built like a linebacker and had a hand by her cheek. but she was finally out and on my chest and it was amazing. so different than with my first when i was all drugged up.
she was born at 6:46am. my dh called my mom to see how labor was going and got to hear dd's first cry. the cord finished pulsing in a couple of minutes and my mom cut it. once i birthed the placenta i was bleeding a lot and suddenly the midwives said we had to get me to the bed. my mom took dd and as i stood to get to the bed i started just gushing blood. got in the bed and people were rushing in. i had a shot of pitocin and also cytotec and finally the hemmorage stopped. the room looked like a scene from "carrie". but all ended well. just under 12 hours from water breaking to birth, with about 2 hours of real active labor and 15 minutes of pushing. valencia latched on right away and has been chugging milk ever since. recovery this time is going way better than my first birth.
here is valencia right as she was laid on my chest:
and here she is at one day old:
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