A year ago today...

A year ago today I went into labor. I had read everything about pregnancy and labor. I had educated myself through Bradley classes, I had listened to my hypnobirthing tapes everyday twice, I walked, did pelvic thrusts, kegels, and several other exercises for months to prepare my body for the big day. However nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to go through.

 I was almost a week over due, and I needed to go in to get a NST (non stress test) early in the morning to make sure the baby was doing okay. I knew I had been having contractions every 5 minutes or so but they didn't hurt at all and they just felt like the Braxton Hicks (fake contractions) that I had had so many times before. When I was being monitored in the NST the nurse said "honey do you know you are having regular contractions?" I told her that I did but that they didn't hurt and I wasn't feeling any different. She said okay but you need to come back when they start to hurt. I left and did what I had done all that week. I went to Ontario Mills and power walked it a few times (the people in the little carts that sell stuff actually knew me because I did this so often). If I walked it twice I was allowed to buy 2 Auntie Anne's Pretzels which was about the only thing I ever wanted to eat at this point in my super uncomfortable pregnancy. I got 2 and one extra for my friend Ashley. I took it to her and she was such a good friend, she did my hair and blew it out for me and made me feel a little better. (Ashley you still have no idea how much I loved that and how grateful I was, and am to you for doing it.) I was still having consistent contractions but nothing to bad. I went through the rest of the day. I went to Young Women's for the activity that night, and finally got home around 9 PM. At this point I cleaned a little and then told Jason I wanted to watch a movie and cuddle. He said okay and after an hour of popping in a movie all of a sudden my contractions started hurting ...bad! I was fine with that, I was just happy that this baby was finally on it way. After about 10 Min's I noticed that my contractions were coming quickly and regularly so I had Jason start timing me. They were about 2- 3 minutes apart and lasting around 30 seconds to a minute. I was having to breath with every contraction but still was not overwhelmed with the pain. I called my mom who live in Oceanside and told her to come because the contractions were staying regular and quick. She use to be a Lamaze instructor many years ago and she told me that if they got closer I should go to the hospital and wait for her. I instead decided to get in the bath and I rested for about 20 Min's in there. I drank a lot of water listened to music and breathed and focused. My contractions were still consistently 2-3 Min's apart and they were lasting forever at 1 min to 1.5 minutes, and it didn't really give me much time in between to relax. Once my mom got here it was about 1 AM, and when she walked in she was like "we need to get you to the hospital right away, this baby is coming!" So we got in the car and drove. The contractions were still the same 2-3 minutes and lasting around the same time. Once we got to the hospital they admitted me to triage and monitored me and checked to see what I was dilated to. I thought I would for sure be at least a 6 the way my contractions had been but to my dismay, I was only at a 3. They actually told me it was up to me if I wanted to stay or not. I was like "yeah I'm staying." Even though I had always planned on laboring at home as much as possible, because my contractions were so close and lasting longer and longer I thought that I could progress rather quickly and didn't want to go home and have the baby there or in the car. I was admitted and put into a room, where I endured a long, long, long, long labor. I didn't want an IV, so they put a hep lock in me and I was able to eat and drink if I wanted to but I didn't feel like eating anything so I ate honey sticks for energy and drank lots of water and red raspberry leaf tea. I couldn't lie on the bed at all because it was so uncomfortable to me, I couldn't walk around because it hurt to bad and was almost impossible with how long my contractions were lasting and with how quickly they were coming on. The only thing that worked was my birth ball ( I still love this thing and recommend it to any pregnant lady). I sat on my birth ball almost my entire labor. It was good because I could let it open my pelvis and since I was vertical I wasn't preventing or prolonging the baby form coming down the birth canal. The doctor kept coming in and asking me if I wanted to have my water broken  so things would go quicker and I told her no, over and over again. By 12 in the afternoon the next day I was still only at 5 centimeters dilated, and totally exhausted form all the focusing and relaxing I was doing. I asked if I could take a shower to help with the pain and they let me. Oh how I love those showers!! The water felt so good and took away a lot of the pain that I was having in my back. I did this off and on alternating with being on my birth ball when they wanted to monitor the baby. Finally around 4 the doctor really wanted to break my water, I talked to Jason about it and my mom, and they thought that it was the right thing to do, so they did. What the doctor found was the Brooke had pooped meconium in the amniotic fluid, and so then they wanted to monitor me consistently now and they wouldn't let me stand up, get in the shower, or do anything like that because they didn't want the cord to prolapse. So I was suck being monitored the rest of the time and mean while my contractions were so close together and lasting so long that I barley had a minute in between all the pain. I was doing okay though, the hardest part was how exhausted I was. By 5 o'clock I was at 6.5 centimeters, and I kept telling myself that once I get to a 7 or transition that it would go quick from then on. I had always heard that it only took about 15 minutes to go from a 7 to a 10. That was what I was hoping for because this labor was going so slow and it was so intense. After another 2 hours I was at 8 centimeters but things were still progressing very slowly. I didn't have an once of energy left in me and I was starting to lose it. I was crying now, and almost with every contraction I was screaming a little instead of breathing through them like before. I was able to get some of my focus back after a while but I didn't know how on earth I was going to push my baby out without any energy. After another hour and a half and only being at 8.5 cm, I finally agreed to a low dose epidural. The problem was that because I didn't already have an IV in, it took about 30 minutes to pump all the liquid through me that they wanted to and then it took the anesthesiologist another 15 Min's  to set up. Jason couldn't be in the room with me while I got the epidural and the anesthesiologist told me if I moved at all that he wouldn't give it to me. I had a great nurse though who told me he was a jerk and that she would hold me, but that I needed to hold completely still even though I was having my most intense contractions yet. I did it and it took about another 15 minutes before I could feel a difference. I told the guy to give me the lowest amount he cold so that I could still feel when I pushed. He did great and I was able to get a little rest before I pushed. It took me another 2 hours after the epidural before I reached a 10. I pushed for about an hour and was ready to push Brookie out but the nurse told me to wait and that she needed to get the DR. and the NICU team in. The NICU team needed to be there because Brooke had so much Poop in her amniotic fluid and they were worried that she would inhale it and get it into her lungs. I blew like crazy for the next 15 minutes and then it seems Brooke went back inside a little. Once everyone got in there (there were like 9 people watching me give birth) I pushed nice and slow and took my time, I did a perennial compress, and told the doctor that I wanted to ease the baby out so I wouldn't tear. Brooke was crowning and I was pushing slowly and then the Dr. told me I had to get her out so I did do one big push at the end, but I did let my perineum stretch slowly first. Brooke was born at 11:55 PM with the cord wrapped all around her little body, she was sideways, and she was born with a Nuchal Hand (a hand by her head which makes it harder and bigger to get that head out.) I was so relieved that she was finally born, it seemed like it would never happen. I was in active labor for a total of 26 hours, and I luckily felt like I had an easy recovery. I only had 3 tiny tears and my adrenaline was going like crazy. Now that I look back I am even more amazed at how capable a woman's body is to endure all that it does through pregnancy, labor, and recovery. I am hoping that my next baby won't be quite as long, but now I know not to expect things to go any certain way even if they are the "norm." I would do it all over again though, the reward is far too great!

Here we are arriving at the hospital, stopping for a contraction.

Jason sleeping while I labored through the night. (He did help me a lot I told him to get some rest:))

Working through the pain together. This may be TMI (hasn't his whole post been though?) but when I was having a hard time with the contractions smelling Jason is something that helped me, and made me focus more. So funny how our bodies adapt to pain.

Not very happy that things were going so slow..

Finally at a 10!! I don't think I will ever be one of those people who look great during or after giving birth. I looked totally trashed, and I envy all you pretty birthers!! (Sandy this comment is mainly directed to you!)

She is finally here! So worth it all!!

These are my feet after they went down a little. They didn't swell my entire pregnancy until the day I went into labor...then they turned into what I like to call Shrek feet. When my dad saw me a few hours before giving birth he came in the room with a disgusted look on his face and said "honey what happened to your poor feet?" I said "I'm in labor dad!"