There are semi graphic photos in this post. It's part of labor.... So uh... Deal with it or don't read this post.
September 23rd 2013 we were blessed with another beautiful baby girl.
Arwen Ellen Rose is her name.
Yes, we like Lord Of The Rings. Ellen is my husbands mother's middle name and Rose is from Doctor Who of course.
This is the story of how she came earth side.
September 22nd 2013, It was a Sunday. I was 38 weeks 3 days pregnant. I woke up feeling a little... off.
We woke up and went to church. I had a few decent contractions through out the morning, which wasn't a surprise considering all the prodromal labor I had been having since two weeks prior. Arwen was showing to be Sunny Side Up, so I had a lot of back pain once the prodromal labor started.
The day was mostly relaxing.
I didn't lift a finger other than to make dinner that night. I didn't even wash the dishes or anything. Which, looking back on now, should have been a HUGE sign. I was a nesting/cleaning nazi those last few weeks.
The contractions picked up a little more as the evening progressed. Around midnight or so, Me and Billy tried to go to bed. I layed there for 2 hours and timed contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart and they were getting to be quite painful.
Finally at 2am I got out of bed and decided to take a shower, and see if that helped relax me or bring on more contractions. I was pretty much in denial at this point. I didn't know what natural labor felt like. I didn't know what contractions in active labor without Pitocin feels like.
The shower made everything intensify. I stayed in there for about 20 minutes and washed everything quickly, the rest of the time I was in there, I let the water run on my lower back and moaned through every contraction. They felt like they were getting closer. I did a few squats trying to encourage the baby to turn around and get some of the pressure off my back and butt. It didn't work but it was worth a shot.
I got out of the shower and woke Billy up and told him to get our hospital bags and stuff rounded up and I called my Mom who came and picked Jude up and dropped her off at her house with my Dad and sister and we headed to the hospital.
Once we got there and got sent to a observation room, things kinda slowed down a little. I was pretty optimistic they weren't sending us home this time (this was the 5th time we'd been up there after all the preterm labor scares we had). They hooked me up to the monitors and watched me for 2 hours.
They checked my dilation when we got there. I was dilated to 2cm and 80% effaced. Which was exactly what I was at my midwife appointment 3 days before. After the 2 hours of monitoring I had NO progression.
That's when I got discouraged. How could I have labored all day and have no progress!?
The midwife didn't even come in to see me that time. The nurse came back in with our discharge papers and sent us home. By then it was about 4:30am. We stopped at Waffle House because we were all starving, and I ate the most delicious biscuits and sausage gravy I had ever had and we went home. My mom decided to keep Jude at her house the rest of the morning so she didn't get woken up again and me and Billy went home and got straight into bed.
I somehow managed to fall asleep around 6am and slept hard for exactly an hour.
I woke up suddenly with the weirdest urge to pee. So I literally jumped up and got about a foot away from my bed and felt a big pop and a gush of fluid.
My first thought was "No freaking way, did the hospital just sent me home and THEN my water breaks!" I ran to the bathroom and peed and sure enough more amniotic fluid came out. I immediately started yelling Billy's name to get him to wake up and when he did I told him to call my mom back and quickly. So he did.
While I was still sitting on the toilet the contractions picked up and they were 10x stronger and probably a minute closer together. I called my sister and her husband and they both called into work and we all headed BACK to the hospital. The 15 minute ride there was pure hell. It was 100% hellish back labor. It hurt so bad I couldn't sit still.
I was admitted at exactly 8am. They tested the fluids and confirmed my water broke. I waited until they got me hooked up to everything and immediately got out of the bed so Billy could apply counter pressure to help with the contractions. It was horrible. I'm not going to lie.
My doula Sue showed up at 9:25am and by then, the contractions were literally on top of each other. They were coming so fast and so hard I couldn't breathe. I had started to puke everywhere the pain was so bad. The nurse thought I was in transition already so they checked me and at 9:33am I was almost 6cm and 90%.
Very quickly, was my body getting exhausted. I only had an hour of sleep, I had been laboring all morning and that back labor was not getting any better. It got to a point that with every contraction my knees were bucking and if it weren't for Billy holding me, I would have hit the ground.
This is the hardest part of the story for me. I'm okay with the decision I made... It's admitting it that I hate doing. What I'm about to say only people who were at the hospital know. I was so determined to have a 100% natural labor this time and there are moments were I feel like I failed my self. That I didn't try enough.
At 9:30am I was given an epidural by my own request. I knew, with how tired my body was and how the pain from the back labor there was no way I would have labored however much longer without getting really sick. Finally, after that kicked in, did I rest. The room got quiet and we dimmed the lights. I had my husband and doula by my side both whispering words of encouragement and one of them was feeding me ice chips and the doula kept bringing me popsicles.
At 10:45am the checked me again I was dilated to 7cm. I continued to rest, but never could actually fall asleep. I started to realize I had a growing amount of pressure in my butt. My sister and her husband left to get something to eat.
11:45am by my request they checked me again I was dilated to 9cm. I frantically told my mom to call them because I needed my sister there with me... I didn't want her to miss the birth. So my mom called them and they came back pretty quickly. I layed there for another hour and a half watching my contractions on the monitor and rode out the feeling of pressure, thankful to still be able to feel something at that point. I started to get a really bad headache and asked for some tylenol which they were reluctant to give me, but I begged. The nurse brought it in and as soon as the water hit my stomach I started to throw up again.
I layed back down and continued to labor until 2:15pm when the midwife came in and I told her I had a LOT of pressure down there and she said she would check me again. I opened my legs and she told me to push a little. I did and my family started freaking out "YOU CAN SEE HER HEAD!" and "Look at all that hair!!!" The midwife and nurse went into action. They dumped some mineral oil down "there" I guess to aid in me not tearing or anything and she gave me the okay to push. 2 pushes later she was out!
Arwen was 5lbs 15.7oz and 18 1/2 inches long, born at 2:17pm on September 23rd 2013.
Her journey in getting here is one I will never forget and it was so special for me!
