After 2 weeks of "laboring" on and off and literally trying every tip and trick to start a productive labor we took our hospital bag to our appointment on the 9th of March with high hopes the midwife would break my water. I was already 4 cm dilated and 60 % effaced at our previous appointment. We found out when we arrived I'd progressed to 5 cm and 80%. We asked the midwife if she would break my water but she said the labor and delivery unit was too full and we would need to wait until my midwife got back that weekend. (Booo) We were disappointed but gathered our things to leave. Harrison and I were literally walking out the door when a nurse ran after us and said to wait because Michelle was on the phone with labor and delivery. She came back and said if we could go now she'd come break my water. She said was hesitant to send us at first because she likes to provide extra support to non-medicated mothers and that's difficult to do on clinic days. But my sister-in-law, Gabby, was coming to help so we felt confident we'd be ok (and let's be real, we were just ready to get this baby OUT) We were admitted and settled in by 10:00 am. Michelle came in and broke my water at 10:20. Contractions came every 2 minutes immediately! We got up to walk laps around the unit and only made it around 2 times before I wanted to settle down to labor in our room. I remember turning to Harrison when we got back and saying, "This is going to be fast." -It was.
Our nurses names were Mindy and Sadie. They were absolutely incredible. They both had a great sense of humor and worked really well as a team. They knew when to be serious and listened SO well. Gabby got to the hospital soon after we came back to our room. She helped apply pressure to my back as the contractions got stronger. It was a huge help. I felt SO supported by everyone there in having a natural birth. We told Mindy and Sadie we took bradley classes with Lydia and felt like we could get through labor together. They really left us alone until transition. I loved being able to be mobile without any monitors. I didn't move around very much when we got back to the room, but just knowing that was an option was a huge help to me.
Things moved so quickly and really started to hurt. I remember turning to Harrison after a particularly hard contraction and asking, "why am I doing this?" He was so good and said, "let me show you!" and pulled out my binder with affirmations I'd put together and we put on some music. We worked through some more difficult contractions for a while, I'm not sure how long. I mostly sat on the edge of the bed and breathed deep long breathes, eyes closed. We were at the point in labor when your awareness shrinks to a moment by moment frame of mind....and I started begging for some pain relief. Michelle surprised us by coming in to see how I was doing. She said, "I heard you asked for an epidural. You can totally do this!" I told her I wanted it (haha that's transition for you) They called for the anesthesiologist and everyone was helping me. I was in so much pain I really wasn't aware who was there at this point. But I remember focusing on each contraction. -This was the point of labor I noticed the biggest difference between a pitocin induction and "normal" labor. Instead of constant contractions I had breaks between where I could catch my breathe and prepare for the next one. It was still so, so hard when they peaked but I knew it would come back down. The breaks kept me from feeling panicked like I did when I labored with Lydia. Michelle did the best thing and flipped me over onto my hands and knees and had two people apply pressure to my hips. It was so calming to my mind to feel actively supported while I was in so much pain. We did a few contractions like this and I started humming/ kind of crying at the tops of each contraction. Then the craziest thing happened. I felt Ginnie drop. Right then the anesthesiologist walked in and Michelle flipped me over to see where I was at. I was fully dilated. She told him we didn't need him anymore and everyone switched gears. Everything felt like it slowed down in that moment. I felt a great calm. I could feel the next contraction picking up but absolutely no pain when I started to push. NONE. I felt in complete control of my body. It was amazing. No one told me what to do. Ginnie was born after two pushes at 12:31 pm, a very short two hours after we broke my water. They handed her straight to me. I felt so proud of myself. I felt so much joy and peace all at the same time. Our room was so bright with the sun shining in as I held this beautiful, wet, crying baby girl. Her head was so round!
They took Ginnie for a few minutes because she wasn't quite as pink as they would have liked but I got her right back. Everyone cleared out of our room so quickly and we got to spend the rest of the day together. It was so peaceful. We were so impressed with everyone we worked with at Lonepeak. It was the very best experience. We love our sweet Ginnie!
Seriously though, look how perfectly round that head is!
