Riley's Birth Story

brij2006 · April 2015

Now that I'm finally on a computer, I can post this. Being 99% mobile during maternity leave makes things more difficult.

This is very long winded, but you all know that's just how I am.
Saturday, February 14th we went out with my BFF and her boyfriend to dinner and see 50 Shades. We got home around 2am. I went to the bathroom and had a lot of "stuff" come out and had what appeared to be the bloody show. I told H we needed to make sure we get some sleep, but we also knew it could mean nothing for a while.
I woke up once an hour with contractions, but could breathe through them with ease. They felt like the random ones I had for weeks, so I didn't get too concerned.
About 11am they started to get a little closer together but I was able to do laundry, dust the house, and wash some windows (nesting at the last minute I guess).
FIL came over at 1 and H and him worked on the remodeling. I hid upstairs and finished some paperwork and chatted with another Nestie. I tried to lay down and take a nap, but was only able to sleep for 20 minutes because the contractions were a little tougher.
At 6 FIL left and my contractions were 4 minutes apart but still didn't feel hard. H cooked dinner, we discussed names once again, and he gathered last minute stuff. The doula told me if they didn't get more intense by 8, then to take a warm shower and try to go to bed. So that's what we did.
After the shower, contractions slowed down to 7 minutes apart but there was no sleeping through them. H got a little bit of sleep and I watched a movie. Around 11 they got harder and he woke up to help me through them. At that point we were waiting for them to get 5 min apart so we could head in.
Then 2:30am came. I had a very hard contraction. TMI: my water broke, I threw up, and pooped all in that contraction. I slid my phone to H and said "fuck 5 minutes apart. Call the midwife."
He called while I cleaned myself up. At that point the contractions went to 3 min apart. We were rushing to get dressed between contractions and grab our bags.
We got in the car to make the hour drive to the hospital. Not even 5 miles out of town and H let me know my contractions were 3 min apart. I knew this wasn't going to go well.
I was able to breathe through them for the first 30 minutes. Then they went to 1.5-2min apart and I was done. Poor H heard noises from me that had to sound horrible cramped in the car. I just kept thinking of how pissed I would be if I was dilated to a 5. I kept telling myself only X more miles till drugs and this would be over.
We checked in to the hospital ER at 3:53am. I couldn't even get through to the desk who I was and my date of birth (H was parking the car). The ER nurse grabbed a wheelchair and asked H when he came in, if he could run. Then the nurse said he doesn't like babies and doesn't want to deliver one, so we're running.
We got up to OB and they got me to the door of triage and I was screeching. A slew of nurses came running down the hall and yelling to each other which room to head to.
They got me in there, stripped down, and checked right away. I was dilated to 9.5 centimeters. But the midwife wasn't there yet. She was waiting to hear from the hospital on how I was progressing.
They hooked me up to monitors, asked H questions they absolutely needed to know for delivery, and told me I couldn't push but they had a nurse geared up and ready to catch. It wasn't even 5 minutes in the room and I was ready to push. Being told not to was the worst thing I've ever experienced.
The doula arrived about 15 minutes later and I couldn't have felt any calmer. She helped me regain control and attempt to breathe through it and focus on something besides my desire to push. Poor H had been amazing support the whole time, but you could tell all he wanted was for me to get relief by pushing. At that point he could only hold my hand and tell me how amazing I was.
The midwife finally got there and all I could say was "push please?" And push I did. Riley came out 13 minutes later. I was able to reach down and catch her, while the midwife unwrapped the cord from her neck. She went immediately onto my belly.
The doula asked H to look and tell us what it is. A girl! We both started crying.
We were able to do skin to skin right away, H got to cut the cord and announce the gender, I went med free, and we got to labor at home for as long as possible. All things we had hoped to do, but had low expectations.
I really didn't realize how big my pain tolerance was until this. I always knew I could get through things if I focused, but didn't know what to expect through labor. I also didn't realize how supportive H could be through something like this. If I didn't have his full support with laboring at home and going med free, there's no way I would have made it through it.
Now, next time we will leave for the hospital much earlier than this. But when the contractions were 4 minutes apart, they weren't as strong as I thought they would be, so we waited for them to get stronger. I definitely don't want to labor like that in the car ever again. Nor arrive at the hospital at 9.5 cm dilated.
At one point between contractions, I got out to H to grab our birth plan out of the bag. Hah! Birth plan. At that point the nurses looked only at what we wanted for delivery and went from there.
Oh, and we will so do team green again. It was amazing.

Here's are some bonus pictures the doula snapped in the delivery room. Want to see a woman the least photogenic possible, take a picture of her after delivery.
Then lastly a pic of my parents meeting Riley. My dad was crying before he even got into the room. It had been exactly 1 month since we had lost my brother. Her timing couldn't have been more perfect.