I guess it started on May 15th around 2am. Prodromal labor, ugh. I thought I was in the early stages of labor, I got all worked up. Couldn't go to sleep, even though I knew better. I finally fell asleep around 5:30am and everything was pretty much gone. Then again on the 17th, more contractions and a really bad head cold at the same time. I felt terrible, I knew there was no way I wanted to labor feeling that bad, so I think I sort of told my body to stop and it did. Finally, on May 19th around midnight I started to feel some contractions that were definitely more real. I just knew that this was going to be it. So I made myself go to bed. I would wake up every 40 minutes or so and force myself back to sleep. When I finally got out of bed at 7:30 and I realized that my contractions never went away I started to get excited because I knew I was in early labor. So I called my mom, who was planning on trying to catch a plane to try to make it in time for the birth. I let her know that she might want to think about making arrangements. I called my midwife to let her know that I thought today might be the day, but I would keep her posted since my contractions were still 10-12 minutes apart. And still very manageable. At 3pm I called my midwife again to let her know that the contractions had picked up in intensity, but were still cominig in an irregular pattern, anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart. She decided to come over just to check me and see where my cervix was. She got to my house at 3:30pm and I was so devastated when she told me that I was only 2 cm dialated. At that point, I felt like I had perhaps called another false alarm, and my mom was on a plane to come and be with me. And I had sent Katelynn off with friends and family for the day. I was really discouraged, but then thought that maybe I just needed to get into a labor "zone" since I had spent much of that day tidying up my house and cooking. So I went into my bedroom and turned on my music collection that I had put together on iTunes for my birth. I laid on my bed and just relaxed. It was only a few minutes before I noticed that my contractions started to take on a more regular pattern. I called my mom an hour later to find out where they were because I knew that I had entered active labor at that point. I called my midwife around 5:30pm just after my mom arrived, to let her know that I was thinking she might want to head over again because I was about to fill my birth tub for some extra relief. She got to my house around 6pm and guided me through checking my own cervix and we found out that I was at about 6cm. I had gone from 2 cm to 6cm in two hours. I stayed in the birthing tub for a while then decided to get out so I could go to the bathroom. My contractions then picked up some major intensity, to the point where I had to throw up a few times. My water broke while I was throwing up and I knew that I was entering transition, or at least really close to it. So I got back in the tub and got really into my birth music. One of my friends let me borrow a hypnobirthing CD and I had put that on my iTunes playlist. It came on right after I got back in the water and I got really into the birth affirmations on the hypnobirthing cd. It was awesome, it really helped me have a pain-free transition. I just laid back in the water and didn't move a single muscle as each contraction swept over me. I just rode with it taking deep, smooth breaths. I guess everyone kept coming in to check on me, and because everything was so quiet they all just assumed that my labor had stalled. At one point, my midwife came in and sat down on my bed and started asking me about where I was feeling the pressure the most and I told her that it had just moved from my low back into my bottom. I had a contraction while she was there talking to me and realized that I was having to lift my bottom off the floor of the tub during the contraction because the pressure was so great. So I decided to get on my knees and see if anything changed. As soon as I got on my knees I had a massive contraction which forced me to bear down with all of my might. It was the most insane and intense thing that has ever happened to me. I hadn't even felt the slightest bit pushy before this. My midwife looked at me with a shocked look on her face and said, "what ever are you doing?" and I just looked at her with an even more shocked look on my face and said, "I'm pushing!" It just came completely out of nowhere and took over my entire body. She whistled for the rest of her birth team and they were all shocked to see me pushing. My husband sat on the edge of the bed right next to the tub and I laid my head in his lap and wrapped my arms around his legs as the next contraction came. I then asked him if he would get into the tub with me because I wanted him to catch the baby. I asked my mom to come and sit where Jason had been sitting because I really felt like I needed the support of one of my loved ones to help me stay grounded and in the moment because it was happening so fast. So I laid my head in my mother's lap and wrapped my arms around her legs and she rubbed my back and stroked my hair as I pushed with everything that I had. While I pushed, the most primal grunting noises were coming out of me, it was amazing. All of the sudden, I felt the stretching and I knew that I had to slow down to make sure I didn't tear. So I started to blow and blow and blow as I felt my daughter's head starting to ease out of me. I heard my husband say, "I have the head in my hands!" And my midwife's assistant told me that with the next contraction I was going to push the shoulders out. My body gave me a nice 60 second break between the time the head was born and the next contraction. And when that contraction came, and I heard my husband say the first shoulder was out, I pushed as hard as I could until I felt the amazing sensation of my baby sliding out of me. My husband took her and pushed her between my legs so that she floated up in front of me. I lifted my baby out of the water and on to my chest. She let out a little cry immediately and it was the most amazing sound. I held her head in my hand and lowered her back into the water so she would be warm and so we could look at her. I asked my husband to tell me if we had a son or a daughter. I was shocked to find out I had a girl, I had several very descriptive boy dreams during my pregnancy that had convinced me I was having a boy. We stayed in the tub until the placenta had been birthed, and the cord had been cut. Then we moved onto the bed where we all just snuggled together. They laughed as they weighed and measured her, because she was sooooo big. 11 pounds and 23 1/2 inches long. She was born at 9:50pm after only 6 or so hours of active labor and I pushed her out in 14 minutes. It was the most amazing, empowering experience of my life. And she is just so beautiful. I am so in love with my sweet daughter, Kylie Drew.
http://picasaweb.google.com/JennTardy/BabyKylieDrew
http://picasaweb.google.com/JennTardy/BabyKylieDrew
