I woke up when Chris got home from work at 5 AM. I kissed him hello and he asked me if I was feeling like I was going into labor. I shooed him away and said ‘no, of course not’ and then went back to sleep. I had been having prodomal contractions for almost five weeks. Five minutes later I was woken up by what felt like a contraction, but I’d been having so many of them in the last couple of weeks I ignored it and went back to sleep. I was woken up two more times with contractions coming five minutes apart so I decided to get up and see if they would keep coming. I sat on the couch and kept having contractions between three and five minutes apart but they weren’t very strong but felt different so I told Chris to go to bed and try to get some sleep because I thought this was it. By 6:15 I was having to breathe and rock through the contractions so I woke Chris up and told him that we needed to call my mom since my last labor was very quick and get ready to go. My water broke when I was in the shower and there was so much of it. When I got out of the shower I noticed that my belly was almost half the size it had been before. At that point I thought that maybe Anna wasn’t going to be very big at all. We dropped Tera off at my mom’s house and drove to the hospital.
Before they would officially admit me they had to check to make sure that I really was in labor, like I couldn’t tell. Anyway, they put me on the fetal monitor and the old battleax as DH and I now ‘affectionately’ call her would not let me stand during monitoring, plus she insisted on checking me even in the middle of a contraction. It wouldn’t have hurt her to wait. DH was cracking me up because between contractions he kept asking me if I wanted him to ‘do something’ about her. I was a little worried though that the nurses in L&D might be the same. Anyway, by the time I was in my L&D room at 9 AM I was only at 4 centimeters. I wasn’t very happy about that. They put me on the monitors again when I got to my room but this nurse was really sweet and had no problem with me standing and even apologized for having to strap them on so tight. Then the IV nurse came in and they were discussing my GBS status (negative) and that I wanted no meds. She said to me, “Well in that case, you really don’t need an IV if you don’t want one.” I think I looked at her like she had two heads, but I was so happy. I thought I was going to have fight an IV tooth and nail.
After that everything gets a little hazy. The contractions became so strong and I wasn’t smiling and chit chatting between them anymore. I was starting to moan through them. That actually helped a lot. I started feeling some pressure so they checked me and I was at 7 cm at 10 o’clock. The only thing I really remember is that poor Chris was almost falling asleep between contractions, and I was having to lean on him with each one. The poor guy was about to fall over. He had worked the night before and had gotten maybe three hours of sleep in the last 24 hours. At about 10:30 I was feeling really panicky during contractions and lots of pressure so my midwife Marie checked me again and I was at nine centimeters. She told me just to tell her when I felt the need to push. After two more contractions, she said that I was really sounding ‘pushy’ so she started to get ready to deliver. I was still standing through the contractions and during the next two I really felt the need to push and was trying so hard but it was impossible to push and hold up my weight and I didn’t want to squat. I think Chris almost dropped me once. Marie suggested that I climb up on the bed on my hands and knees since I had already told her that I didn’t like pushing on my back last time. With Tera I was told to push before I even felt the urge and I don’t think that helped. I got up on the bed and was told just to push whenever I felt the need to. When the next contraction hit I pushed as hard as I could and I felt like my insides were splitting apart. I remember thinking that there was no way I could do this for an hour like I did last time. After 2 pushes Chris announced that he could see the baby crowning. I was so relieved. No wonder this was hurting so much. I think I pushed twice more and Anna’s head was born, with the cord wrapped around her neck once. Marie had to pull the cord away from her neck, which was not very pleasant for me. Then with the last contraction (about ten minutes after I started pushing) Anna was born. She didn’t rotate like most babies do while her shoulders were born and that hurt so much. Marie placed her underneath me and Chris and I just stared at her and kissed her for a couple of minutes. I couldn’t believe how skinny she was. Then Marie had me lie on my side and snuggle with her while they cut the cord and delivered the placenta. It was amazing to be the first person to hold her and to not have her taken away the moment she was born. It was more intense and painful that my first labor, and honestly pushing was excruciating. But it was quick and so worth it. I think that because my midwife let me do what I felt was right, I had no tearing and my recovery has been really quick. I felt very much in control, and not being coached to push was really helpful. I don’t think that this experience could have been any better. I had told DH that I would have another hospital birth since it made him so nervous but next time we’d be having a birth center or home birth, but now I don’t know. This was more wonderful than I could imagine and my delivering nurse had given birth 5 times. Three at home and two at a birth center. She was in her fifties. Can you imagine how against the grain that was? I feel so lucky.
BTW, this hospital also doesn't give out formula samples unless you ask, and they don't circ. This is amazing considering that I live in North Carolina.
Before they would officially admit me they had to check to make sure that I really was in labor, like I couldn’t tell. Anyway, they put me on the fetal monitor and the old battleax as DH and I now ‘affectionately’ call her would not let me stand during monitoring, plus she insisted on checking me even in the middle of a contraction. It wouldn’t have hurt her to wait. DH was cracking me up because between contractions he kept asking me if I wanted him to ‘do something’ about her. I was a little worried though that the nurses in L&D might be the same. Anyway, by the time I was in my L&D room at 9 AM I was only at 4 centimeters. I wasn’t very happy about that. They put me on the monitors again when I got to my room but this nurse was really sweet and had no problem with me standing and even apologized for having to strap them on so tight. Then the IV nurse came in and they were discussing my GBS status (negative) and that I wanted no meds. She said to me, “Well in that case, you really don’t need an IV if you don’t want one.” I think I looked at her like she had two heads, but I was so happy. I thought I was going to have fight an IV tooth and nail.
After that everything gets a little hazy. The contractions became so strong and I wasn’t smiling and chit chatting between them anymore. I was starting to moan through them. That actually helped a lot. I started feeling some pressure so they checked me and I was at 7 cm at 10 o’clock. The only thing I really remember is that poor Chris was almost falling asleep between contractions, and I was having to lean on him with each one. The poor guy was about to fall over. He had worked the night before and had gotten maybe three hours of sleep in the last 24 hours. At about 10:30 I was feeling really panicky during contractions and lots of pressure so my midwife Marie checked me again and I was at nine centimeters. She told me just to tell her when I felt the need to push. After two more contractions, she said that I was really sounding ‘pushy’ so she started to get ready to deliver. I was still standing through the contractions and during the next two I really felt the need to push and was trying so hard but it was impossible to push and hold up my weight and I didn’t want to squat. I think Chris almost dropped me once. Marie suggested that I climb up on the bed on my hands and knees since I had already told her that I didn’t like pushing on my back last time. With Tera I was told to push before I even felt the urge and I don’t think that helped. I got up on the bed and was told just to push whenever I felt the need to. When the next contraction hit I pushed as hard as I could and I felt like my insides were splitting apart. I remember thinking that there was no way I could do this for an hour like I did last time. After 2 pushes Chris announced that he could see the baby crowning. I was so relieved. No wonder this was hurting so much. I think I pushed twice more and Anna’s head was born, with the cord wrapped around her neck once. Marie had to pull the cord away from her neck, which was not very pleasant for me. Then with the last contraction (about ten minutes after I started pushing) Anna was born. She didn’t rotate like most babies do while her shoulders were born and that hurt so much. Marie placed her underneath me and Chris and I just stared at her and kissed her for a couple of minutes. I couldn’t believe how skinny she was. Then Marie had me lie on my side and snuggle with her while they cut the cord and delivered the placenta. It was amazing to be the first person to hold her and to not have her taken away the moment she was born. It was more intense and painful that my first labor, and honestly pushing was excruciating. But it was quick and so worth it. I think that because my midwife let me do what I felt was right, I had no tearing and my recovery has been really quick. I felt very much in control, and not being coached to push was really helpful. I don’t think that this experience could have been any better. I had told DH that I would have another hospital birth since it made him so nervous but next time we’d be having a birth center or home birth, but now I don’t know. This was more wonderful than I could imagine and my delivering nurse had given birth 5 times. Three at home and two at a birth center. She was in her fifties. Can you imagine how against the grain that was? I feel so lucky.
BTW, this hospital also doesn't give out formula samples unless you ask, and they don't circ. This is amazing considering that I live in North Carolina.
