On Sunday night we had my parents, Joel, Janel, and David (brothers/sister-in-law) over. My mom and I had gone on a mile walk about 9:30p and I think Pete and I got to bed about 10:30. I woke up between 2-2:30am with a contraction and timed them at about 10 minutes apart. I waited a little to tell Pete to see if they were going to keep going. I told Pete and then called my mom about 3:30am because she was going to stay with Averi. After she got there Pete and I went on a walk (about 5am) around the neighborhood and called my midwife to give her a head’s up just in case things started speeding up. We went home and Pete suggested we go back to bed which we did. I rested for a couple hours in between contractions and I think I actually got some sleep - - and at least some good rest (good suggestion by Pete!). I got up around 7 and puttered about with my mom and Averi while Pete was able to continue catching up on sleep from switching over from his work schedule. I would hang out with mom and Averi and then go lay down again and rest or read while timing contractions which were still about 9-10 minutes apart. Thankfully it was a relatively nice day outside so my mom, Averi and myself (and Remington!) went outside and walked around on the dirt trails for a ways. We got back at about 10am and then I decided I was hungry so I ate. After that Pete and I then headed out to take another walk around the neighborhood and got a call from the midwife (Belinda) checking up on us. Contractions were about 7-8 minutes apart. (I was wanting to head to the hospital when they were 3-5 minutes apart.) After coming back Pete and I played some Mario on the computer then I went and took a shower and got changed in to a dress (I do not find elastic waistbands very comfortable during contractions!!). Contractions were usually around 7 minutes apart still but varied with a some being closer together. I think they were hurting more too. So I decided to lay down to see if they would slow down. They didn’t and were hurting enough and varying enough that we decided to leave. We went in to say goodbye to Averi and my mom (who were playing) and my mom took a picture of all of us. This made me a little discouraged that I was feeling pleasant enough to smile for a picture (as I remember from our Bradley class that if you can smile/pose for a picture you shouldn’t be going to the hospital yet) but I think after about 10hrs. of labor and whatever other reason it just felt right to go then. So leave we did, about 12:45pm. Pete had put some towels for me to sit on just in case my water broke on the way. We headed over to the hospital listening to the music I wanted to for our labor car ride (Fernando Ortego – Shadow of your Wings). I called the answering service for midwife and let her know we were on our way. I was still in way too good of a mood and Pete and I were having a mostly pleasent drive. The contractions did hurt pretty bad but they were pretty spread out still. I was still timing them and some were about 5 minutes apart, some longer. We prayed together (as I was concerned about this!!) that I woul be progressed enough to actually get admitted. We got there and got the paperwork done in the ER and were waiting for the transport when.... my water broke! Yeah! So after the transport guy came, we told him and he went to go find some towels for me to sit on in the wheelchair. After sitting down in the chair I asked if I could just walk – I thought it would feel better than sitting down!-- but he said no but he hurried us along to the OB floor. When we “pulled up” Belinda was waiting for us and said something like “off to the labor tub room” (there is only one labor tub room at the hospital and I was very much hoping to get it so that was a wonderful thing to hear!!!)! So off we went to the room (no triage necessary). Got checked by Belinda and was 6-7cm dilated. They monitored the baby in the hospital bed for as long as they needed to (I think 20 minutes?) and filled up the inflatable tub with warm water. After not needing to be on the monitor anymore I went straight in the tub and spent the next 2.5ish hours in there. It was great. Belinda must not have had any other patients in labor at the time as she was in there almost throughout my whole labor. Sitting on a chair, chatting with us in between contractions, coming over and encouraging me, helping me relax, giving suggestions to Pete on what to do to make me feel better, reading a magazine.... it was wonderful. The L/D nurse came in every 30min.-ish to monitor baby with a doppler which she could use underwater. Pete would pour water over my neck/shoulders during the contractions which was very relaxing. At some point Belinda talked about what position I wanted to be in while pushing and I told her something like I thought squatting made a lot of sense yaddie yaddie. She suggested we try “all fours” as I had been hunkering alot in a similar position through contractions in the tub. It was pretty crazy still seeing “Teenie” moving around in my belly so close to delivery, something I didn’t remember with Averi. I started getting more and more “verbal” through contractions though I had found being “verbal” helped even when they were far apart (at home, in the car, probably just more quietly verbal...). A little before 4pm I started feeling more pressure and felt that pushing made it feel better. At that sign I was helped out of the tub and covered with blankets (I had a bra top/panties on in the tub). Up to the reclined bed I got on my knees and held my upper body up with my arms. Pushing began! Belinda later said I was really pushing for 8 minutes (that was how long she said I was “complete”), I believe, but I was up there “pushing” for more like 15 minutes. Was I “yelling” and “screaming” at the end? OK, maybe. I think I felt a little more “freedom” to “yell/scream” because I had this nice pillow to yell/scream in to. That was a nice muffler. I was having back pain so Pete rubbed/pushed my back during contractions. So while this was all happening I could see a bunch of fluid coming out onto the bed... pushing pushing... it was also different than with Averi because I don’t think anyone ever told me when to push this time – I was pretty much just doing what I felt like. Belinda wasn’t saying much and I asked her at one point, can you see the head? She said something like, “she has a lot of hair!” (which was kind of interesting in hindsight because she would normally call baby “he” unless otherwise proven wrong, as she would say). Then I kept pushing and was like “he feels half way out can’t you just grab him”? Later to find out Caroline was born in a compound presentation with her hand by her head so Belinda was pretty much letting her fall out. She later said that if she would have touched the baby I would have torn really badly. So I guess she just guided the baby out/caught the baby and put her right on the bed where both Peter and I could see her and he made the announcement that she was a girl! I got to hold her right away before the placenta came out though Belinda had to tell me a couple times not to bring her up on me too far because it was a “short chord”. Caroline did have quite a bit of vernix on her still which I wouldn’t have expected being 6 days “overdue” and 8lbs 14.5oz (which they round to 15oz)! Placenta came out, chord clamped and Peter cut it. Belinda checked me to see if I needed any stiches and I didn’t need any – what a blessing! Caroline started breastfeeding maybe 10-15 minutes after she was born and didn’t seem to have any trouble whatsoever in doing it. After a bit of time the nursery nurse and got her weight and length. I then took a shower while Pete hung out with Caroline and the nurse doing her thing. I know a lot of people were praying for me and am so thankful for an uneventful, no tearing/episiotomy, less painful delivery!!!
