Thursday, July 25th began like every other day in those final weeks- wondering if today would be THE day! Being Little Miss arrived spontaneously at 38w 3d, the midwives were convinced it would be another 38 weeker. Being 39w 2d, I had reckoned with myself this baby was in for the long haul and I would go over due. No biggie. I love being pregnant! Especially after our first four years of struggling to conceive I cherished each and every single day I was pregnant!
Since week 13, I had regular braxton hick contractions so when I began feeling more intense contractions around 3:30pm, I wondered if the real deal was coming... I gave Charles a heads up that these were definitely "real" feeling but I was not ready to call anyone or time them. We went grocery shopping, cleaned the house, and around 5pm I got in the tub at home with some Espom Salt to help relax and if not the real deal, to hopefully ease them away. They indeed fizzled and I was convinced it was false labor. When I got out of the tub, they picked back up within minutes and this time stronger!
Charles asked that we time the contractions for one hour as my mom and Ray did have a 5 hour drive ahead of them to be here for Little Miss when I delivered... From 7-8pm, we timed. They were indeed regular and coming about every 5-7 min and lasting a minute or so. At 8pm we made the phone calls. We put Little Miss to bed and boy was that difficult laying with her through contractions! I wanted to be vertical either standing or on the ball.
All was going well until about 11pm when I suddenly began getting nauseous with each contraction. This was a red flag for me... Something wasn't right. We called our neighbors to drive us to the hospital (Charles is unable to drive due to work injury) since my mom had not yet arrived and apologized in advance if this was a false call and they were sending me back home. Sure enough, I was 3cm and 70% effaced and told that since I wanted a natural labor to go home and get as comfortable as I can for the long haul but if I wanted a midwife to deliver me the one currently on duty was getting off at 4am (REALLY wanted her!) or another would be arriving at 6am. Oh geez. I gave baby in utero the pep talk to arrive before 4am for goodness sakes and home we went! After stopping to get gas in our very empty tank, we arrived home around 11:45pm. Attempted to put Little Miss back to bed but I was unable to lay down due to the increased discomfort it caused me during contractions so she ended up on the couch watching Signing Time. Parent fail!
I continued laboring mostly on the ball with the occasional standing and due to the amount of Smart Water I was consuming to ensure I remained hydrated, I was peeing every 5 minutes. Seriously. I was back and forth to the bathroom between every contraction! Little Miss was so attentive to me and really kept me in check with myself. Charles did everything he could to help me during the contractions and kept reminding me of our time at Myrtle Beach in May. Imagining that the waves hitting my body then to be the contractions hitting by body now. Hearing him talk so calmly was reassuring and just the support I need. He knew what I needed from talking me through contractions to keeping me hydrated to the silence. Along with my "labor singing" as the midwife called it, I focused on one contraction at a time.
Then the contractions began coming back.to.back.to.back. Little if any break. I hoped for transition but didn't think it was possible this quickly from 3cm. Around 12:45am on July 26, Charles called my mom to see where in the world were they! They were still 45 min out... He phoned the midwife who said it sounded like we were getting close and should probably head back to the hospital, she would be waiting. We (ha! More like he as I was focused on birthing a baby!) debated on waiting for my mom to arrive vs calling our neighbors again to take us to the hospital. We waited. I labored. "Labor singing" as my midwife called it through contractions with my eyes closed. That really helped!
Mom and Ray arrived around 1:30am and Charles told them not to get comfortable, we were ready to head to the hospital. They quickly unpacked their car and we loaded up. Several contractions later, we were on our way! Hands down, the most uncomfortable and downright painful at times car ride ever! Mom drove us and Ray followed. At the hospital 2:15am ish and straight to a room, no triage this time!
After the initial check of 7cm and complete I was told now is a good time to get in the jacuzzi tub. Between contractions, I was stripped and got into the amazing tub! About 15 min in I said "woah!" and Charles said "What?!" I said, "I feel like I need to push and feel nauseous with each contraction." He yelled out to whoever was in the room that I felt like I needed to push and panic occurred! Get her out of the tub and onto the bed! Darn NC laws not allowing water births! Between the next several contractions I was out of the tub and onto the bed. 9cm! "Woah! Woah!" I said again. Charles didn't ask what it meant this time and just said to the nurses in the room, "Hey, last time she said Woah she felt like she needed to push..." Still at a 9cm but only a small lip so midwife pushed it out of the way and told me to push!
Oh pushing... That was the weirdest sensation ever! The "ring of fire" was not in my bottom but my left foot! I even managed to comment that my left foot was burning. And then commented that I felt like I was having an out of body experience. And then Charles told me to BREATHE! Midwife told me not to push or else I'll tear, that she was trying to stretch me. I didn't care in that moment. My body did what it did and pushed! I cared moments later when she was stitching me up though...2nd degree tear, again.
Two pushes and baby was out at 3:51am, just moments before the 4am cutoff I gave baby when we were at 3cm! The midwife I wanted, Tina Hayes, delivered our baby girl! My eyes were still closed from concentrating on pushing and I said "SmartWater Please". A few seconds later I managed to open my eyes and hear Charles say "It's another girl! Just like you wanted!" I had this beautiful baby girl immediately skin to skin! They asked us what her name was and I said, "I don't know!" haha! In that moment with her on my chest, we confirmed her name to be Ansley Elizabeth. And then we waited for the placenta to come... I had to push again and out it came and that joker hurt! Everyone in the room commented on how HUGE the placenta was! At that moment I regretted not having it encapsulated.
And then the after birth pains started... And lasted for four days! Motrin did absolutely nothing for the pain. I was wonderfully passed down a bottle of AfterEase herbal remedy and that did work! Should we be blessed with more children, I am not dreading the labor and delivery part but the after birth pains as they are said to get worse after each delivery! Didn't have them the first go around but boy did I have them this time!
The nurses were absolutely amazing, especially our night nurse, in being absolutely hands off during our 36 hour stay. I absolutely loved having a midwife for the remainder of my pregnancy and delivery! Next time, I am really hoping for a water birth!!
Some not too graphic labor pictures...
Since week 13, I had regular braxton hick contractions so when I began feeling more intense contractions around 3:30pm, I wondered if the real deal was coming... I gave Charles a heads up that these were definitely "real" feeling but I was not ready to call anyone or time them. We went grocery shopping, cleaned the house, and around 5pm I got in the tub at home with some Espom Salt to help relax and if not the real deal, to hopefully ease them away. They indeed fizzled and I was convinced it was false labor. When I got out of the tub, they picked back up within minutes and this time stronger!
Charles asked that we time the contractions for one hour as my mom and Ray did have a 5 hour drive ahead of them to be here for Little Miss when I delivered... From 7-8pm, we timed. They were indeed regular and coming about every 5-7 min and lasting a minute or so. At 8pm we made the phone calls. We put Little Miss to bed and boy was that difficult laying with her through contractions! I wanted to be vertical either standing or on the ball.
All was going well until about 11pm when I suddenly began getting nauseous with each contraction. This was a red flag for me... Something wasn't right. We called our neighbors to drive us to the hospital (Charles is unable to drive due to work injury) since my mom had not yet arrived and apologized in advance if this was a false call and they were sending me back home. Sure enough, I was 3cm and 70% effaced and told that since I wanted a natural labor to go home and get as comfortable as I can for the long haul but if I wanted a midwife to deliver me the one currently on duty was getting off at 4am (REALLY wanted her!) or another would be arriving at 6am. Oh geez. I gave baby in utero the pep talk to arrive before 4am for goodness sakes and home we went! After stopping to get gas in our very empty tank, we arrived home around 11:45pm. Attempted to put Little Miss back to bed but I was unable to lay down due to the increased discomfort it caused me during contractions so she ended up on the couch watching Signing Time. Parent fail!
I continued laboring mostly on the ball with the occasional standing and due to the amount of Smart Water I was consuming to ensure I remained hydrated, I was peeing every 5 minutes. Seriously. I was back and forth to the bathroom between every contraction! Little Miss was so attentive to me and really kept me in check with myself. Charles did everything he could to help me during the contractions and kept reminding me of our time at Myrtle Beach in May. Imagining that the waves hitting my body then to be the contractions hitting by body now. Hearing him talk so calmly was reassuring and just the support I need. He knew what I needed from talking me through contractions to keeping me hydrated to the silence. Along with my "labor singing" as the midwife called it, I focused on one contraction at a time.
Then the contractions began coming back.to.back.to.back. Little if any break. I hoped for transition but didn't think it was possible this quickly from 3cm. Around 12:45am on July 26, Charles called my mom to see where in the world were they! They were still 45 min out... He phoned the midwife who said it sounded like we were getting close and should probably head back to the hospital, she would be waiting. We (ha! More like he as I was focused on birthing a baby!) debated on waiting for my mom to arrive vs calling our neighbors again to take us to the hospital. We waited. I labored. "Labor singing" as my midwife called it through contractions with my eyes closed. That really helped!
Mom and Ray arrived around 1:30am and Charles told them not to get comfortable, we were ready to head to the hospital. They quickly unpacked their car and we loaded up. Several contractions later, we were on our way! Hands down, the most uncomfortable and downright painful at times car ride ever! Mom drove us and Ray followed. At the hospital 2:15am ish and straight to a room, no triage this time!
After the initial check of 7cm and complete I was told now is a good time to get in the jacuzzi tub. Between contractions, I was stripped and got into the amazing tub! About 15 min in I said "woah!" and Charles said "What?!" I said, "I feel like I need to push and feel nauseous with each contraction." He yelled out to whoever was in the room that I felt like I needed to push and panic occurred! Get her out of the tub and onto the bed! Darn NC laws not allowing water births! Between the next several contractions I was out of the tub and onto the bed. 9cm! "Woah! Woah!" I said again. Charles didn't ask what it meant this time and just said to the nurses in the room, "Hey, last time she said Woah she felt like she needed to push..." Still at a 9cm but only a small lip so midwife pushed it out of the way and told me to push!
Oh pushing... That was the weirdest sensation ever! The "ring of fire" was not in my bottom but my left foot! I even managed to comment that my left foot was burning. And then commented that I felt like I was having an out of body experience. And then Charles told me to BREATHE! Midwife told me not to push or else I'll tear, that she was trying to stretch me. I didn't care in that moment. My body did what it did and pushed! I cared moments later when she was stitching me up though...2nd degree tear, again.
Two pushes and baby was out at 3:51am, just moments before the 4am cutoff I gave baby when we were at 3cm! The midwife I wanted, Tina Hayes, delivered our baby girl! My eyes were still closed from concentrating on pushing and I said "SmartWater Please". A few seconds later I managed to open my eyes and hear Charles say "It's another girl! Just like you wanted!" I had this beautiful baby girl immediately skin to skin! They asked us what her name was and I said, "I don't know!" haha! In that moment with her on my chest, we confirmed her name to be Ansley Elizabeth. And then we waited for the placenta to come... I had to push again and out it came and that joker hurt! Everyone in the room commented on how HUGE the placenta was! At that moment I regretted not having it encapsulated.
And then the after birth pains started... And lasted for four days! Motrin did absolutely nothing for the pain. I was wonderfully passed down a bottle of AfterEase herbal remedy and that did work! Should we be blessed with more children, I am not dreading the labor and delivery part but the after birth pains as they are said to get worse after each delivery! Didn't have them the first go around but boy did I have them this time!
The nurses were absolutely amazing, especially our night nurse, in being absolutely hands off during our 36 hour stay. I absolutely loved having a midwife for the remainder of my pregnancy and delivery! Next time, I am really hoping for a water birth!!
Some not too graphic labor pictures...
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| Charles, by my side through it all! Such a fantastic support he was! |
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| SmartWater commercial right here! Laboring woman asks for SmartWater by name even before opening eyes to see her new baby! It's true! |
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| I didn't include the picture of Charles laughing while rubbing my back before cervical check... Obviously the nurse and him were cutting jokes while I was working hard. Good thing I didn't know about this until after the fact. |
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| Such a proud father to two beautiful girls! And Ansley got his dimples! |
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| At 3:51am on July 26 came Ansley Elizabeth at 8lb 6oz and 20in |
Newborn pics up tomorrow!
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