We had a baby! Adelaide was born Sunday, August 9th at 6:39 a.m. She was--and is a sweet little doll: 6 pounds 6 oz and 19 inches long.
On Friday morning I had an appointment with my midwife and she did a membrane sweep. According to various research I did, I knew that if that was going to help labor along it would work within 48 hours. Nothing happened on Friday. On Saturday morning, however, I was feeling kind of sick to my stomach and it didn't go away no matter what I did. Around 6 pm, I felt like there was actually a rhythm to it and I felt like I might actually be having contractions. I started thinking of all the things we needed to do.
Around 8 pm I started timing my contractions because I like to measure things like that. The contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds to a minute and a half long. I spent the evening rushing around, getting things ready. I packed my hospital bag “just in case,” made sure things were mostly clean and organized, and even made Greg put Hinckley’s carseat in my mom’s car and the baby’s carseat in our car. I ate a lot and drank a lot. By the time I went to bed, the contractions were coming about every three minutes but they really weren’t that painful--they just felt like cramps. I went to bed and the contractions slowed down to about every 8 minutes. Still, I couldn’t sleep because I had so many thoughts racing through my mind, there were so any random noises coming from outside our open window, and the pain was coming every few minutes. I laid in bed for awhile, but I ended up getting out of bed about midnight because I just couldn’t sleep. I came in the front room and just sat on my ball and browsed the Internet. The pain wasn’t bad, but it was there. Finally, about 1 am I just felt so hot and it was more painful and I was finally pretty sure I was in labor so I woke Greg up to go on a walk with me.
Greg and I walked a few blocks. I had to stop every few minutes because the contractions hurt, but I was in a good mood and Greg and I just talked. I deliberated about whether I should call Alie, our doula, and finally decided I would call her to come over. After I did call her, I felt like I shouldn’t have because I felt like maybe I really didn’t need her yet. However, Greg reminded me that it would take her about half an hour to get to our house and it was better to be safe than sorry. We walked around a little more and then we went home. At home, Greg did some counter-pressure on me.
When Alie came it was about 2:15 am. We updated her on what was happening and she watched Greg and I work together through some contractions. Greg was such a great support through all of it; he really encouraged me and helped me so much through all of it. Alie was so important to the whole process, too. She asked me if I just wanted things to keep going as they were or if I wanted to try to speed things up. Of course I wanted to speed things up! Alie rubbed Clary Sage oil into an acupressure point on my legs and on my stomach. I think it did speed up the contractions when she rubbed it on my stomach. Pretty soon my contractions were painful enough that I needed both Alie and Greg to help me through them. I did a lot of squatting with Greg’s help and Alie applied counter-pressure to my back when they contractions came on. It started to get to the point that I couldn’t joke around between contractions, but I did still try to talk between them. I decided it was probably about time to head to the hospital.
Before we left for the hospital Alie asked me why I thought it was time for us to go and how far along I wanted to be when they checked me at the hospital. I told her I just didn’t want to wait too long so that the drive there was really painful. I wanted to be dilated to at least 7 centimeters when I was checked in at the hospital. Alie suggested that we wait to check-in to the hospital because I might not be that far along yet. We decided to head to the hospital, but walk around outside and labor outside for awhile before checking in. Greg got all of our stuff and we informed my mom (she was staying at our house so she could watch Hinckley for such an occurrence) that we were headed to the hospital. I had two contractions on the way to the hospital and they were painful, but I breathed through them. We also had soothing music on in the car, so I think that helped me stay calm. We got to the hospital a little after 3:30 am. Outside the hospital, we just walked around until I would feel a contraction. We weren’t there very long when I started to feel a little wave of nausea, but it passed after about two minutes. As we walked, I had to stop every time I felt a contraction coming on. I would squat with Greg’s help or lean against Greg or do whatever I could to relieve the pressure. Alie applied counter-pressure, and Alie and Greg reminded me to relax, which I think was a huge help.
Finally, I decided it was time to go into the hospital. The contractions were coming about every minute, but it didn’t seem like there was any relief from the pain and I was just tired. I just wanted to go in the hospital and be in a hands and knees position. Of course, in order to get into the hospital, I had to answer a bunch of ridiculous questions which made me wonder why I even did pre-registration. As soon as we entered the hospital I felt like crying because I felt ridiculous to be there, like I wasn’t really in labor yet or that far along. When we were at check-in they asked me something along the lines of, “What brings you here?” or “How can we help you?” As I was hunched over at the desk, having a contraction I said, “I think I am in labor.” I went to triage with Greg and Alie by me so that I could get examined. I changed into my gown, slowly and painfully. It was 5 am when I looked at the clock in the triage room. A nurse came in to ask me a bunch of other silly questions while I kept having painful contractions. They finally got around to checking me, between contractions and the nurse said, “You’re complete.” I was pretty happy when she said that, but I wasn’t sure I knew exactly what she meant, so I didn’t say anything. When the nurse left the room I asked Alie, “What does complete mean? Does that mean I am dilateded to 10 centimeters?” She said it did. I was so happy I almost cried--for joy! I wasn’t just 7 centimeters--I was pretty much done--10 centimeters meant time to push the baby out.
The nurse came back pretty quickly with a wheelchair and they took me to a room. The nurse told me she had called the midwife and she was on the way, but if my water broke and I had to deliver the baby before she got there that was okay. There were like four nurses rushing around the room, getting everything ready. I felt no desire to push yet, but the contractions kept coming and Greg and Alie continued to help me labor through them. My midwife showed up about 5:45 am. My water still hadn’t broken and I set a limit for myself because I didn’t want to be in labor for many more hours. I told myself and verbally told Alie that if my water hadn’t broken and I didn’t feel the urge to push by 6 am I would have the midwife break my water.
When 6 am came, my water still had not broken, so I had my midwife break it. When she broke the water she said that the baby was in an ROP position, meaning the baby was facing up. I was having back pain, but it really became bad at this time. It was a few minutes after that when I felt the undeniable urge to push. It was amazing because my body really just started pushing on its own and there was nothing I could do to prevent it. I tried squatting, but that didn’t feel good so I went to a hands and knees position. For me, pushing was the worst part of my labor experience. Even though I knew it would get the baby out, it was the hardest part for me and I started to fear that I wouldn’t be able to do it. Luckily, my body was just doing it and it wasn’t that long before I just felt the intense pain subside all at once and my baby was born. I had this moment of relief where I just took a few breaths and it felt so calm and peaceful. The nurses gave me Adelaide and I was able to hold her for a short time, but they had to whisk her away pretty quickly.
Adelaide had swallowed a lot of fluid when she was born, so the respiratory therapist had to take her to clear out her lungs and put her on oxygen. I don’t have a recollection of it, but Greg said she was pretty blue. Greg went with Adelaide to the nursery so they could give her oxygen, while Alie stayed with me while I calmed down after the birth.
I was cold and shaking a lot, but it really didn’t take me long to feel well. We waited for news on Addie and I wanted to return to a more normal state before I went to see her. Within an hour, I wanted to be wheeled down to the nursery to see Adelaide. I held her in the nursery and admired her for a few minutes, but she couldn’t breastfeed yet because of the oxygen. I went back to my room to eat something and rest and wait for the nurses to tell me when I could breastfeed. In another hour--about two hours after I gave birth--I was able to walk down to the nursery with Greg. I was amazed that I could walk there since I didn’t feel like walking for almost a day after I gave birth to Hinckley. We stayed in the nursery for awhile and Dr. Kendall came to check on Adelaide. I got the okay to nurse as long as we stayed in the nursery and she was hooked up to oxygen. Greg, Adelaide, and I sat in the quiet room and we all fell asleep as I nursed Addie--it had been a really long night. Finally, we received consent to take Addie back to our room, as long as she was on an oxygen monitor. It had been about three or four hours after birth at that point and we were glad to have her in our room and see that she was doing well. I was never really worried that it was anything too serious, but it was nice that she recovered so quickly.
I wanted a natural, unmedicated labor for several reasons. First, I wanted to avoid complications that can come from having an epidural. I also I thought that it could be a highly spiritual event and bring me closer to the Lord as I experienced the miracle of childbirth and the adversity associated with it when it is done without pain medication. I also thought it would be empowering and inspiring to join the millions of women throughout history who labored through pain to bring forth children. I think that the way a woman labors should be her choice and there is no "right" way for all women. However, I personally wanted to experience labor in the raw--as God made it happen.
I wanted a natural, unmedicated labor for several reasons. First, I wanted to avoid complications that can come from having an epidural. I also I thought that it could be a highly spiritual event and bring me closer to the Lord as I experienced the miracle of childbirth and the adversity associated with it when it is done without pain medication. I also thought it would be empowering and inspiring to join the millions of women throughout history who labored through pain to bring forth children. I think that the way a woman labors should be her choice and there is no "right" way for all women. However, I personally wanted to experience labor in the raw--as God made it happen.
I was so happy to read the details of Miss Addie's birth....way to go
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