Emily's Birth Story

I felt much like an overstuffed turkey when came to the end of the pregnancy with my last baby. This was #4 for me, my body hurt and I was just ready to be done. I was one day passed my due date, I had been having sharp pains up and down my tummy muscles all day, but no regular contractions. To get my mind off when baby was going to come I rented a video and started watching it about 9 pm. My husband went to bed because he had to get up early in the morning to do a 24 hour shift. Part way through the movie my contractions became very sharp. About midnight I decided I should get some sleep while I had a chance. About 2:30 am I woke up shaking and having to breath through contractions. I figured there was no point in waking anyone up, I had done this 3 times before and would wait till the very last moment to get my Husband and Mom out of bed. My mother in law lives an hour south and so I did need to give her a little more time to get up here before we went to the hospital. I went in the front room and sat on my ball and breathed through contractions. When I was having a contraction I would think "This is definitely it. I am in LABOR!!!" Between contractions I was thinking maybe this isn't, maybe I shouldn't wake anyone up. At about 3:30 I called my mother in law and told her just to be safe she should come up. Then I hopped in the shower and waited for her to get here. At 5 am I woke up my mom and husband and told them this was it. We headed over to the hospital and they checked me I was at a 6! My other labors, I was always under 4 so they would make me walk to get the labor going stronger. NOT this time! When the nurse came in to see me, I had a real strong contraction and just breathed through it and she complimented me on being so calm and using my breathing she said a lot of women don't do that these days.

We got a room and when I saw the little bed where Emily would be examined after birth, I started crying. "She is FINALLY going to be here!" The midwife came in and said because I was group b positive this time she wasn't allowed to break my water until I had been on iv antibiotics for at least 4 hours. So she gave me the option of laboring in the tub during that time. I had always wanted to try a water birth, but the hospital wouldn't allow it. I got in the water and my contractions completely stopped. So I took a 20 minute "nap" in there. I decided that as good as it felt, I had better get out and get my labor up and running again so Emily could be born. This was such a different labor for me, my contractions never got regular, so I would get breaks in between really hard contractions. My other 3 labors my contractions were super hard and they were 3 minutes apart the entire time. This time I was hungry and wanted to eat. So I ate popsicles, jello, and drank juice. My other 3 labors I puked through the whole thing and wanted nothing to do with food.


 
My husband slept away on the chair while I labored.  He also ran errands like going to get my mom and his mom food. Secretly, he hates being there. I think it is because he can't stand seeing me in that kind of pain and not being able to do anything about it. This was my 4th natural delivery. I am a silent laborer. I don't scream, I don't yell at everyone I just try and concentrate on my breathing. My midwife kept saying "you are a text book laborer."

 Finally the 4 hours had passed and they gave me my second dose of iv antibiotics and broke my water. It got crazy hard after that. I was not breathing through contractions anymore. I was puffing, huffing, blowing & clinging to the sheets of the bed. I remember thinking I can't do this, but at that point you don't really have a choice.

I asked if I could push because it gets to the point where it feels better to push than to breathe through the contractions. She checked me and said well you aren't quite a 10 so I don't think you should. Then she walked out of the room and I said "forget you I am pushing anyway!" I pushed through a few contractions without their knowledge and then 5 minutes later I said I could feel the urge to push. She came in and got things ready and I pushed for all I was worth. My other 3 labors I pushed FOREVER. My oldest I pushed for 3 1/2 hours. My second 1 1/2 hours. My third 2 1/2 hours. The first and third babies were posterior babies. They are harder to push out because they get stuck. We didn't know if Emily was going to be posterior or not. My husband was standing at my head fanning me because I was hotter than hell. His mom was standing by him holding my leg. She was saying "You're doing such good work. Your baby is coming down." He got mad and said "no it's not you guys always say that and she pushes forever!" Then I asked him to come hold my other leg and he looked down and said "oh, there's the top of the baby's head." The midwife said she IS posterior and she reached in and tried turning her head. OUCH! Then Emily turned her head right back. I pushed and got her head out and then her shoulders got stuck. Again midwife reached in and freed her shoulders...OUCH! Then she was out. I pushed for 20 minutes total start to finish. HALLELUJAH!!! BEST LABOR and DELIVERY EVER for me!

She was born at 2:50 in the afternoon. I was completely wiped out, but so happy to have my sweet baby to hold finally! She was my smallest in weight 7 lbs. 12 oz., but my longest at 21 1/2 inches. I was 40 weeks and 2 days when she was born. My last three babies have been 40 weeks and 2 days. I guess that is my normal gestation period. She has been a joy since day one. She started sleeping through the night at 2 months old and she is very patient which is exactly what I need doing this by myself with 3 other kids to take care of. Thank goodness for my sweet angel baby.