August 16, 2011
I got up around 7am to go to work and do an evaluation. I was on maternity leave, but my boss had asked me the week prior if I could do it since I'm the only Spanish speaking therapist. Anyway, I go to the bathroom and when I wipe I noticed just a little tinge of blood on the tp. So I think to myself, 'hmm interesting, I wonder if this is the start to something?'
8:30am I'm leaving the office after grabbing the test I needed and proceed to get in my car when I feel a small gush. I get out and go to the bathroom and sure enough I'm wet and more comes out over the toilet. I know I'm not peeing. I have no clue why but I thought 'ok it's just a little bit, I'm going to go do this eval.' I get back in my car when it happens again. I get back out, go back to the bathroom, and finally tell myself, this eval isn't happening today.
I tell our lovely insurance lady 'I think my water is breaking.' She gets up all excited, hugs me. I say I'm going to go the doctor so I don't think I'm able to do this eval. Duh she tells me, go to the doctor.
So I head over to see my midwives. I already had an appt later that morning so I arrive just a bit earlier. They confirmed that yes my water was breaking. She didn't do an internal exam to limit a possible gbs infection and infection in general. They gave me some hebiclens (for my gbs positive). It's basically soap that you mix with water. You can read more here. She said they'd call me later in the day.
About 9:30 I get home and by this time my back is aching so it was really hard to get out of my car. Justin knew what was going on of course but I told him to stay at work so he would get his full 7 days of leave when the baby was here. I couldn't really do anything at home since my lower back hurt so bad. I took a nap, listened to some music, prayed, cried, and sat around.
I finally called my mother who was expected to fly in the next day. She freaked out and wanted to come immediately. This was the last thing I wanted of course. I said no everything is fine. I look back now and remember those last hours of just being alone, before Easton, and treasure it. I was saying goodbye to the old and getting ready for the new. I cried because I was so amazed at how God had worked and blessed my pregnancy. I cried because I was about to meet my sweet boy.
By 3:30 the contractions were getting painful so I called Justin to come home. He only had 30 minutes left at work anyway. My co worker brought me a heating pad and Justin brought Pizza Hut for dinner. I should mention that Justin and I had said this was going to be our last date night, LOL. We planned on going to dinner, a movie, and then go for some ice cream. :-)
I did plan on watching our wedding video though as my "project" that we had talked about in class. Good thing I didn't choose to bake something because my back really didn't let me do much. So we watched it one last time.
Now time starts to get blurry here. I remember I got into the bathtub to ease the contractions and it was the best feeling in the world. We have such hot water that my contractions stopped when I was in there. I didn't want that happening so I got out after maybe 30 minutes.
I tried to lay on my side in bed and that brought on the worst contractions ever so I was not going to do that anymore. Yes, by now they were very painful. Justin was timing them but the midwife said to stop since we knew I was definitely in labor. They weren't consistent anyway.
One of the midwives came to see me and saw me through some contractions. She said she was going home to sleep and call when we were ready to go to the birth center. I labored on my yoga ball, on all fours, Justin rubbed my back, he helped me through contractions, and finally I was ready to go. Justin packed the car and I said goodbye to Luna.
2am- we get to the birth center and one midwife is filling up the pool in our room. I'm in so much pain I just want to get in the pool. Here's where I got my first vaginal exam to check how far I was dilated. I was already 7cm. The water was cold and nothing was heating it up. So one of the midwives called her husband to come see what the problem was. What a great husband! It had to have been 3am when he came to fix the heater. Don't worry we never saw each other!
After some time (hours) and trying new positions in the pool, I was told to get out because things didn't appear to be progressing. I labored out of the pool for a while when I wanted to get back in the pool. Finally around 7am I felt the urge to push. We had seen a birth video of this woman birthing in a pool and she just let her body do the pushing and the baby came out all lovely and wonderful. Well, let me tell you she was some lucky little prat because that wasn't the case for me.
I pushed for 4 hours. In the pool, beside the pool, beside the bed, and finally in bed on my back. Everyone kept telling me he was almost here and to try giving at least 3 pushes. They asked me to get in bed which I did not want to do because it had hurt so much at home. You're probably thinking how can the pain get worse? Well, it can and it did. I finally got in bed and they could see his head coming out but it kept going back in. They held out a mirror for me and sure enough I saw his hair on his head. It was the coolest thing! Here's where the pain was excruciating. The midwife was pouring oil over my vagina and stretching it!!!!!
OMG, I'm sorta thankful now since it prevented me from tearing but seriously me pushing and her stretching were the worst part of labor for me. I wasn't watching any part of what was going on down there. They took away the mirror because the baby was just not coming out. I remember at least twice saying I didn't want to do this anymore. I imagined going to the hospital at this point, but moving didn't sound great either. Everyone was incredible though.
My husband, was out of this world amazing. He was the best coach. He kept telling me I was awesome and kissing my head. I can still hear him saying awesome all the time, LOL. He was by my side giving me water constantly and talking to me. He never slept and he hadn't slept in over 24 hours.
I have to take a break here since Easton is stirring. Stay tuned for part 2!
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