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Birth story--long!
As most of you know, I had my baby on 1/31! It was a girl...I won't share her name here but if you don't know it already and would like to PM me (and you're a nestie I recognize...lol) I will gladly share it.
I woke up to my first contraction at 3:15am early Thursday morning. It hurt more than my previous Braxton Hicks contractions had, so I kind of thought maybe this was it! At this point I was 40 weeks and 3 days. My contractions stayed about 8 minutes apart and quickly moved to 6 and 7 minutes apart. I was in a lot of pain but I kept walking, swaying, and breathing through each contraction.
I text my doula at about 4:15am and she told me to put on the TENS unit (the electrical shock pads that they use in physical therapy) and to use that for a while and possibly take a shower/bath to get more comfortable. My contractions were very inconsistent and would go anywhere from 6-9 minutes apart. I was waiting for the textbook contractions to start (5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute, for 1 hour) before I actually called my doctor or headed to the hospital.
I woke up H at 4:30am and our son got up with him. He immediately knew I was in pain and that his sister was going to be born that day--he was so cute. I called my mom to come to our house since she lives about an hour away. She asked if she had time to take a shower--I told her definitely not! The TENS unit was helping me with the pain but I was still very uncomfortable, so I decided to take a shower. H called our next door neighbor to come over so she could stay with our son until my mom got to the house. Once I got in the shower I figured labor would slow...but it just sped it up!
My contractions quickly went to 3-4 minutes apart, so I got out of the shower quickly to get dressed. I was feeling a lot of pressure and it made me nervous that I was farther along than I thought originally. I threw on the first thing I could find--hot pink VS capri sweatpants and a bright red t-shirt and my black Ugg boots. I was highly unattractive, but I really didn't care.
We quickly got in our car (at this point my water still hadn't broken, and of course we didn't think to put in towels or a blanket...yikes) and H put on the hazards to head to the hospital. My doula was supposed to be on her way and meeting us at the hospital to get the birth pool blown up and filled. The car ride was excruciating. I was, within seconds, too hot, too cold, had too much air, not enough air, wanted my seat warmer, ass got too hot, etc. etc. I was demanding and awful--the F word was flying like no other and I could not control it! In the car I felt like I needed to push.
We made it to the hospital parking lot at around 5:50am and I walked in between contractions into the lobby. A guy met us with a wheelchair and proceeded to walk at a snail's pace to the elevator. I yelled at him to let me up once we got in the elevator because I was having contractions pretty much right on top of each other. I walked to the labor and delivery door and got buzzed in, and a nurse met us in the hallway. She recognized (I still didn't) that I was no longer in active labor--I was in transition. I screamed at the nurse that I had to pee, so they quickly got me into triage and tried to start shoving liability forms in my face and get me in a hospital gown.
I stripped down and walked from the bathroom to the hospital bed (the room had no warmer for the baby, was not equipped for a delivery whatsoever) where a nurse tried to get an IV started. I screamed at her and the SEVEN other nurses (they were right in the middle of a shift change and I was screaming bloody murder...great way to get the whole floor in there with you if you were wondering) to get the eff of of me and not to touch me. The nurse finally convinced me to let her check me and I was fully dilated with a bulging bag.
I pushed with the next few contractions, my water FINALLY broke, and after three or four more pushes they put my girl on my chest. The nurse collected the cord blood since we were doing that and I told them that no one was taking my baby from me for at least an hour. They seemed fine with that--but I don't know that any of them wanted to deal with me much after all of the yelling. 
I had trouble delivering the placenta, so the on call OB came up to help with that. After an hour she was able to get it out...ugh.
My doula made it after the baby was born...there wasn't time for her or JLimberg (she was taking photos of the birth/after birth) to get there. I got to the hospital at 5:50am and had her at 6:10am if that tells you anything. I was able to be discharged from the hospital the next morning and go home. Overall, it was probably the most painful experience ever...but my recovery has been amazing and I am so glad I was able to have the birth experience that I had planned on. (I would have loved a birth pool and my doula, but oh well!)
She was 8 lbs. 5 oz. and 21.5" long. She has a ton of brownish strawberry hair and I think she's beautiful. I feel good and haven't had any signs of PPD at this point. I am so in love with her and Tiny is an amazing big brother! Thanks for reading!!
Re: Birth story--long!
After I had her they put one in and had me sign the forms
That was a quick delivery. Glad your H got you to the hospital in time. I must say though, I was cracking up at the thought of you (even though I have never met you IRL) cussing and screaming at the nurses.
Glad baby and the rest of you are doing well.
Confession: I had a nestie sighting. I saw you at the Dr. right before you had her. I didn't want to be creepy though. And I knew you were due really soon and that belly didn't look like it was about to pop so I wasn't sure it was you!
How funny! You totally should have said something--not creepy at all
and thank you, because I was feeling very whale-ish. Ha!
Dr. Robin Mikel. She was very supportive of my requests during my pregnancy. She was totally fine with me having a doula, bringing a birth pool, doing a hep lock instead of being hooked to IV bags, and intermittent monitoring. If there is baby number three, I'll go back to her for sure.
Love her photos on FB.
She's beautiful... can't wait to meet her!
I can totally picture you telling everyone to eff off. I love it.
my bookshelf!
Bloggy
Congrats, again! But ..Whaaaaa? Baby number three... Are you still on a birthing high? lol I am kidding and so proud of you!!!
We are probably done
but no vasectomy for H for 5 more years just to be sure! If my next was like her (so far) i would have ten kids!
She's the best!