2. Make garlic chicken thighs for everyone for dinner
3. Retreat to basement - feeling really uncomfortable
4. Realize I am definitely in labor (~8-9 PM)
5. Spend all night listening to hypnobabies, alternately bent over sink, bent over basement stairs, on hands and knees, using TENS unit (or trying to get the electrodes to stay on. A little relief from this)...sometimes timing contractions...knowing I should be trying to sleep. Completely impossible. Contractions are 5 minutes apart, a minute long...all night. So much for the 5-1-1 rule - I know I'm not ready.
5a. Morning comes. The midwife calls me and starts saying "Unfortunately, we were only able to schedule you for induction tonight, instead of Sunday..." HAHA NOPE I'M IN LABOR!
6. Spend all morning on hands and knees, husband playing parks and rec episodes and later wallace and gromet, doing abdominal lift and tuck sometimes. Labor did NOT want me to lie down. Darn it so tired!
6a. Losing mucus plug. What a gross phrase...mucus plug.
7. Call midwife to try to figure out when to come in. So tired...making lots of noise.
8. Get in car at 3 pm, cry, go to hospital...Josh drives to Shady Grove administration...wrong waze entry.
9. Get checked by midwife ; she says 3-4 cm and 100% effaced - you will have the baby in the next 12 hours - want to stay or go? Gives great demonstration leaning over bed of what I will sound/look like when it's time to come back.
10. We go home - I know I'll be more comfortable/allowed to eat/etc
11. So tired. So so tired.
11. Midwife said don't take a bath, so I took a bath. Relief from contractions. Sweet sweet relief. This is where hypnobabies shines for me. I refocus. Closest I came to falling asleep.
12. Make a smoothie. First food in a while. It stayed down, although it felt like it might not.
13. Labor on. Lots of abdominal lift + tucking.
14. Side-lying in bed; so exhausted. Trying to rest. Labor did not want me to lie down.
14a. I cry on Josh on purpose. I tell him "I'm not in pain, I'm just so tired, and I need the emotional release...it might help."
15. 11pm - I am feeling pushy. Sounding and looking like midwife said I would. Josh calls.
16. We get in car. Did I cry? Maybe.
17. Walk up to L+D check in. I am leaning over desk, and on wall, making so much noise. I'm sure they've seen it all. Not even embarrassed.
18. We walk back to room - the very one we saw on tour. Nurse asks me if I want to wear my own clothes (NO), do I want the lights dim (YES). I appreciate. Josh helps me undress.
19. Laying in bed (WAH!) for 20 min monitoring. Like I said, labor did not want me lie down. Nurse starts IV antibiotic (Curses. But I knew I was getting it. I asked her to wait for contraction to end before starting it). They tell me I'm at 8 cm. That's the last time we talk about it.
20. IV ends real quick, monitoring ends (finally) - they ask would I like to get up. Absolutely. I lean over bed, midwife goes to start bath.
21. Have some contractions. WATER BREAKS on floor, Josh runs away. Midwife hears and comes back ... "Are you getting out of the splash zone?" - my socks got soaked. It was gross, but I never changed them.
22. Midwife says if I'm feeling pushy, we probably won't get in tub. OK, whatever! Never used the tub. Didn't care.
23. I'm feeling pushy. She reminds me to keep my heels down.
24. Nurse says "don't push, you'll tear yourself up" - I ignore.
Enter complete and total time-warp. I don't really know the detailed order of events from this point forward other than pushing and baby is born!
Things that happened...
- I used squat bar on bed. WOW this was an effort. Made me sweat big time. Thought this would be easier because I was such a great squatter in pregnancy. Laboring in squat is WORK.
- Josh thinks the midwife is lying to me when she says I'm doing great. I also wonder about progress, but decide not to ask.
-Josh also says I basically remind him of a warrior viking woman running down a hill into battle with an axe. Or that is how I sound.
-The atmosphere of the room is great in between contractions...I ask if I am the loudest person ever. They say no - what you're doing is working for you...The other women want what you have.
-I have some contractions on toilet.
-I do coached pushing. Never planned on it, but was so exhausted...I didn't mind. Counting to 10 and what not.
-Josh listens to hypnobabies tracks ("Wow this is really relaxing!") - asks if I want to...I don't know why I didn't say yes.
-Josh and Milka hold my legs, midwife tries to push cervical lip back. Very uncomfortable. My confidence doesn't really waver. Maybe I am too tired for it to waver. Tara ultimately decides to just leave it alone and says carry on pushing.
-I spend what seems like an eternity in the bed, but time doesn't exist.
-I keep thinking "PEACE" "RELEASE" and "GET HUGE"
-I do Ina May "Horse lips"
-I focus on my breathing
-Midwife and nurse keep reminding me to think about curling in (tuck chin in for super triple chin!)
-The midwife asks if I brought castor oil; Josh manages to find it in my bag
-They bring the baby cart in. I take this as a sign that I am getting close.
-Burning (I remember "even if you don't tear, it's going to feel like you're tearing)
-Primal intensity!
-Finally get to a point of no return. At this point, must keep pushing...baby clearly is not supposed to be at this point long. Maybe a brief feeling of fear when the baby is there and I'm not having a contraction.
-I divert all my focus and attention to other body parts - i.e. center of forehead.
-Her head is born...hardest part is over.
-Josh says this is paradigm-shifting. WOAH that baby is bigger than I thought...
-Body is born - they hold her up. I ask "Is it a girl?!" The answer is yes. I say something like "OK, Lucy."
-She was born at 3:44a.
-They put her up on my chest...Wow. Everyone was right. The work is over, and she is all that matters. Josh and I feel the pulsing cord.
-As cord thins, they set Josh up to cut it. Dont' mess up!
-Placenta delivered! I completely forgot we still had to do this! Nurse and Tara say encouraging things like "Wow you don't even look like you had a baby." We check out the placenta. Tara says "this is thin! she's been seeing light through this for a while."
-WARNING, PLACENTA PICTURE!
-Baby nurse comes to clean Lucy up.
-Modesty LOL. A new nurse asks if I care, I say no, and she says something like "OK! you're gonna be naked and you're baby's gonna be naked and it's gonna be awesome!"
-The baby Lucy has made her triumphal entry at 8lbs and 0.7 oz...clearly this was to prove a point.
-Tara concludes I have a deep sacrum - if I have another baby with the practice, don't let them hassle me about growth and not gaining enough weight.
-My mom and sister magically show up because of mom's ESP phantom contractions
-They give me a turkey sandwich - it never stood a chance.
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| I eat bread for the first time in ... a long time. |
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| Note the sleep face. |
-Nurse makes me get up to pee. WOW my left hip nerve hurts. Peeing...wow I'm not sure my muscles can coordinate this. Am I peeing or just bleeding into the pot? (Sorry gross yes)
-They give me an absurd amount of ridiculous absorbent things. You have to give birth to see the size of the pads and stuff they give you...and the mesh underwear.
-We hang around in the hospital for a few days, pretending to count wet/dirty diapers and feedings, pretending she isn't sleeping in the bed with me, and feasting on chipotle that the family brings in.
Welcome Lucy.
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