For the last solid 4-5 weeks of pregnancy I'd had significant contractions with Baby E. It was a mind game and felt like actual labor would never begin. My "due date" came and went and Dr. Heather and I made a plan for what we wanted to do if baby didn't decide to come on her own.
However, Wednesday morning I got up and began having contractions. They weren't particularly strong but they stuck around even when I laid down, and they were every 3-4 minutes apart. I text Mike and told him to start home. Of course, after he arrived, things slowed down significantly and I was so disappointed. This was my day and night Wednesday - I worked hard to do all the right things to keep myself progressing. It was exhausting - mentally and physically - and I wanted to both throw in the towel and charge forth (like a mother in her last trimester!). I stayed in touch with my favorite OB nurse - my sister, Lauren - and Thursday morning she came to the house to see the mess of me herself. (My mom had come for the kids Wednesday night, thankfully.) We walked, we talked, I labored, and I stalled. I told her obviously Baby E wasn't engaged well or something. I do think part of my stall was mental. I was feeling scared of labor because Zayden was such a hard delivery and that was my last memory. Wednesday night Mike and I had done the spinning babies rebozo and that had helped significantly so we'd done it again Thursday morning. Thursday after lunch I was feeling pretty discouraged so Lauren looked up some other tricks to try to shift things enough to engage baby. We did the forward-leaning inversion for three contractions in a row and then moved to the daybed to do the side-lying release. The side-lying release was what finally helped me stay in labor with Zayden so I'm not altogether surprised it helped, especially coupled with the inversion. After we worked, I laid down to try to rest just a little. Mike and Lauren laid down, too, but as it turned out I couldn't rest. I had 2 stronger contractions 3 minutes apart and told myself if another one came, we'd leave for the hospital. The next one took over 10 minutes to come. I decided to get up and potty and brush my teeth and when I came back downstairs I decided we'd just go. Actually, in my head, I thought that perhaps as tired as I was, I'd just go ahead and go and ask for some IV pain meds to finish this marathon. We didn't really tell anyone we were headed in because I thought it would still be hours. I was tired and weak and felt ridiculous that this was taking so long. I woke up my support team and they jumped into action. Lauren asked if we were going to make it and I assuredly said yes, but as I stayed on my feet to get to the van I wondered if we would, and then as we drove, I thought maybe I was altogether wrong. Things got intense FAST. I messaged and called my doctor from the car and blessedly she took me seriously and was waiting at the hospital. When we got there we had to sign in. {head smack} I was as patient as could be while the registration lady did her thing and Lauren nervously said "should we just go?" and Mike tried to answer all the questions but eventually I said, "I have to go NOW." They got me a chair and once I sat it was a little better but I was definitely feeling the pressure. All the mamas know the pressure. As she wheeled me up I was able to make conversation (high pain tolerance) and I told her this was baby #5. She willed the elevator to go faster. LOL. Once we arrived in the labor and delivery room sweet nurse Hannah handed me a gown and I decided to go pee before I changed - once in the bathroom I realized this was getting real real, real fast.
Hannah got me on a monitor and found baby and nurse Beth got an IV in one stick. Dr. Heather came in to check things out and as it turned out I was ready. I was not feeling strong - mentally or physically. After a full day and night I felt spent. I was waiting for my body to just take over, and it did to a point, but as it turned out there would be some work involved, too. Le sigh. Thankfully, Dr. Heather helped me focus my mind. She reminded me how to push. She told me I was doing this. She cheered me on. Between her and Mike and my sister, who knows exactly how far she can push me, I climbed on top of my mind and started to push. I delivered her head and then - stall. Activity started happening around me quickly and I realized in my mental depths that her little shoulders were stuck. The nurses and Dr. Heather acted quickly and everyone knew exactly what role to play - nurse Beth was on my stomach - pretty sure she had my belly button touching my back bone (lol) and another nurse and Mike had my legs to my head (who knew I was still so flexible?). Lauren was explaining to me exactly what was happening and telling me to give it my all and Mike was cheering me on with all his might. With a great big push and some help from my team, she was free - praise God for His goodness.
As it turned out, this little gymnast had her cord wrapped 3 times. Luckily it was long and she was born just the right color. She's such a pretty girl and I had a bit of deja-vu as she looks like her biggest sister so much.
The nurses got me all set up for nursing and snuggling and sweet Nurse Hannah cleaned me up. As I was snuggling, though, I told Lauren I felt like my bleeding was increasing, and I was right. Again, the great staff of nurses worked quickly by massaging my stomach, bolusing pitocin, sweeping clots, and give me a shot to help get things under control. The same bleeding issue happened after Zayden with much different results, so I was super thankful that these nurses got things under control like they did (however, in the moment, the pain was worse than child birth and I wanted to tell them all to buzz off).
After some of that hard stuff, Hannah said, "I think you should snuggle your baby more and get some of those good hormones going again." She was a new OB training nurse and she's going to be fantastic.
I have no idea why Mike is so happy and I look like I'm dying but I love his face here. Having a baby is hard but it's full of such joy.
'Dat little pouty face
Proud proud daddy.
She's a thumb sucker!
After we snuggled and nursed and Evalynn pooped all over me and her both, I had the nurse and Daddy take her to clean her a little and do her stats.
She also did her footprints and put a diaper on for me before giving her back.
Aunt Lauren went out to get some grub and encouraged me to rest, which I did for just a bit.
Dr. Heather came back to check on us as we were moving from labor and delivery to our stay over room. She checked us out and made sure we were all settled for the evening.
Lauren and Mike cleaned Evalynn up before the kids came to visit us and we had time to nurse, rest and snuggle a bit before they arrived.
Because I know people will ask - I messaged Dr. Heather at 1:35 when we got in the car, and called the office at 1:48 when we were in Queen City. We spent probably 10 minutes with registration at the hospital before I escaped them, and Evalynn was born at 2:46. So...no, we weren't there long. I don't like to labor at the hospital, but apparently when this little tornado decided to come she decided fast and furious was the way to go about it. I'm thankful (and so was Aunt Lauren and Mike) that we didn't deliver with shoulder dystocia and a wrapped cord on the side of the road somewhere and that we made it to the hospital. I really didn't intend to cut it that close, but I guess we'll go with all's well that ends well. I'm also extraordinarily grateful that Dr. Heather took my word for it and came to the hospital when I called. A lot of doctors would have insisted that the nurses checked me first, but she didn't and it made for the perfect birth experience.
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