For those of you interested and mostly for myself so I don't forget!
August 19th, Monday:
I decided I would do everything I possibly could to get labor going b/c the doc said he was going to induce on Thursday. I took several herbs, and walked and cleaned a lot!
However, my BP got scary high and I was having a headache. I had a neighbor come watch the kids (I was watching another baby) and I went to L&D. Todd met me there. My BP came down a little and it wasn't high to make it life threatening. To make a long story short, the doctors "high recommended" that we do not leave and have the baby that day. There were just too many risks involved with high blood pressure this late in pregnancy. I still really wanted to go into labor naturally so Todd and I talked it over for a while and decided I would go home, give it until my appointment on Wednesday and see what my doctor said. In the meantime, I would take my BP frequently and if it got really high, we would come back in. I would also STOP the herbs, and rest until the induction on Thursday.
August 20th, Tuesday:
This would be a day of resting and relaxing. My plans for that day: meet the basic needs of my 2yr old (not very relaxing, but necessary), finish reading a book, and watch a movie during nap time. I got about half way through the movie and realized that my tummy was tightening over and over again.
4:50PM: I txtd Tami and Todd just to let them know and Tami suggested I should time it. It didn't hurt so I didn't even think of timing. I started timing and sure enough they were consistent and about 7-9 min apart.
5:30PM: After the movie I went and made chicken stir-fry for dinner, at this point they became 4-5min apart and were uncomfortable (not hurting). I was SURE this was a false alarm and it would stop, I even told Todd not to hurry home. While dinner was cooking, I sat on the birthing ball until Todd got home. We ate dinner and then I took a shower while Todd gave River a bath (he desperately needed it). Contractions are 3-4min apart at this time.
7:00ish: the warm shower did not stall the contractions so to speed things up, I decided we should go on a walk. We walked around the neighborhood, and to the park. This is also when noticed there was a full moon. The contractions got slightly painful on the walk but I could still walk through them... couldn't talk, but could walk. :) When we got home at 8:30, they were 2-3 min apart. At this point we decided to call the babysitter so he could get here and get settled in. It's funny, b/c I was still questioning if this was "it" or not!
9:30ish: Todd ran to Walmart quickly b/c we wanted to get disposable diapers for River for the babysitter to use, and we wanted to get the babysitter snacks as well. (looking back this was prob not the best decision). The contractions got much stronger and harder while Todd was gone, I had noticed that if I laid down they would slow down. So I purposely laid down to see if I could get some rest after the long walk. But they didn't slow down. This whole time I had been txting Tami, telling her that it wasn't time for her come yet, that I was good. I was SURE that this would be HOURS and HOURS of labor and didn't want her to have to be here any longer than she needed to be.
When Todd got home I had a slight emotional break down, but only for three min b/c I couldn't cry during a contraction... I HAD to relax. While I was crying he called Tami (good thing he did). She got there about 11PM
11PM: contractions were 2-3 min apart and I was in pain. I found "my" position (standing leaned forward with my hands holding me up and rocking/ dancing my legs and hips). I tried other positions, but NOTHING was as comfortable as this.
Midnight: I had a couple contractions that were just NOT FUN. I wanted to cry, and was having a really hard time relaxing. I finally said it was time to go and everyone agreed. The car ride was horrible... thank goodness it is only 5 min to the hospital. I was crying and screaming in the car. When we got to the hospital (at 12:20) we had to go through the ER b/c those are the only open doors. I had three contractions from the car to the Birth Center on the third floor. Of course, the ER was full of people watching me... lovely. They took me back to triage and I got changed it's about 12:30 at this point. They hooked up the monitors to the baby and I begged to stand up, laying down was extremely painful. The let me stand up for a few contractions then checked me. The nurse said I was at a "6". The first thing I remember hearing was Tami saying, "6 is good! Good job". But then it hit me. It took me HOURS to go from a 4 to a 6 and now I have to go from a 6-10. I knew better, but in my mind that meant that I was going to have these types of contractions well into the next morning and possibly afternoon.
Lots of things happened at this point. I kept wanting to stand up, but they needed me to sit down to get the saline lock put in. I hate that thing. I looked Tami in the eyes, and told her that I REALLY, truly believed that I could NOT do this without pain meds. I tried, but I just couldn't. They made me sit down to put the IV in and I stopped trying to manage the pain at this point. They couldn't get the IV in and wouldn't let me stand while trying to get it in. I just sat as still as possible and yelled and bawled while Todd held my head. After THREE more tries, and THREE very intense contractions, they finally got the stupid IV in. I stood up immediately and had two more contractions. All of this took place within about 10 min from when they checked the first time. During those contractions Tami and the nurses were saying that it was sounding like I needed to push. However, I didn't know, all I knew was that it hurt! They made me get in the bed again (not happy about that) and then things got crazy!
I was ready to push! In 10 min I went from a 6-10 and baby was coming no matter what! They ran me me to a delivery room on the stretcher just as the doctor was running in. At this point I was terrified. I don't think I'd really thought I'd ever make to pushing without meds and I realized what was about to happen!
The doctor told me that a couple things needed to happen. My water had not broken and he needed to break my water. I said, "Is that gonna hurt?"
He said, "no, it's actually going to feel better"
Then he said, "Then you're going to push"
I said, "THAT is going to hurt?"
everyone in the room (there were about 6 nurses, Tami and Todd) were all saying, "NO! No! You'll do great. Now you get to relieve some pressure, it will feel better!"
The doctor said, "Look at me, it's going to really hurt. But it's going to be fast"
I said, "ok...."
1:00am: He broke my water and there was no stopping the pushing. First push, I felt the head come out and I was DONE, I don't know what anyone was saying (at this point it sounded more like the fans at a football game as opposed to a deliver room: "You got this!", "you can do it!"). All I wanted was him OUT at this point, so I pushed as hard as I could and he came FLYING out with a huge splash! B/c he was so low, most of the water was above the baby so when he broke my water only a small amount came out, so when Remington came out all the water behind him came gushing out. It was a little funny and pretty gross. We were all drenched. :)
Remington was finally here. He was born at 1:04am, 5lbs 15oz, and 19in long and all natural! I was so proud of myself and was kind of in shock that I actually DID IT.
Here are just a few of my favorite pictures. There are MANY more on my fbook page.
Say a little prayer that my blood pressure will go down. After several days of headaches, and not being able to do much but rest, my doctor put me on BP medications today. He is hoping that I will only have to take it for a week.
