Praying4bebe
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Okay. So it has obviously taken me a couple weeks to find time to write this post! Our sweet little girl was born two weeks ago, exactly on her due date! We just missed her birthday being 12-12-12 by 2 hours and 43 minutes. But, like her mom, she likes to be right on time. At 2:42am on Thursday, December 13th, Arden Joy came into the world!
It all started on Monday, December 11th: I woke up with some crampy feelings (not painful) and thought "Hey, I think this is the beginning of labor"! I went to work and went about my day. During the evening and night, the contractions got strong enough to keep me awake when I tried to sleep. By the morning, they were about 5 minutes apart, but not very consistent. I called the birth center to talk to our midwife and they said that they need to be much more consistent before I'm in "Active Labor." I had somewhat already guessed that, so when they told me I could come over and they would see how dilated I was at that point. I told them that I didn't feel like it was that important this early and they said that was fine. So we just kept them posted for the day, I had told my husband to stay home with me, as I thought it was THE day. So not THE day.
The next day, I had barely slept due to contractions. Our midwife had told me to try and rest as much as possible that night (and advised me to try a small glass of wine and a Benadryl) which equaled about 3 hours of sleep and tons of bouncing on my exercise ball. By the morning, my contractions were stronger, but still not consistent!!! Where was my consistency!!!!????
We talked to our midwife again and she asked if they could check how dilated I was now. So we drove over to Midland around lunch time. When she tried to do an internal exam, she seemed baffled. Apparently my cervix was posterior, which means that they wouldn't be able to reach the neck of my cervix to see how dilated I was until I was closer to 5 or 6 cm. At that moment, I was probably dilated to 1 or 2 cm. SAD! I was pretty sure I was in "Active Labor" on the drive over there, but I was trying to keep from thinking I was too far into labor. When I said that I thought I was in "Active Labor," I was told that I would know when I was really in labor. Ha...so not the case. But that may just be me. 
So after they said I was probably only dilated a little bit and it could be later that night, but probably more like a day or two (since my cervix was posterior), we drove home. I tried to take a nap (and succeeded in between contractions) and my hubby went to work for awhile, then picked up some dinner for us. By this time, I was awake and bouncing like crazy on my exercise ball (most awesome thing ever). We ate some dinner (I ate two bites) and tried to watch a movie. Then I threw up...and was having some serious contractions. (Apparently this was Transition...so I had been in active labor)! Pretty much the entire day, my husband's main job had been to apply pressure to my hips during contractions...poor guy, he was being used for that trick often during the last couple hours at home. He asked me if I wanted a bath or a shower. I tried both, they helped a little bit, but the contractions were still really strong. After I took a bath, I bounced for awhile. Then I took a shower, I caught myself making some funny groaning noises and I felt like I needed to push! UH OH! I got out and dressed, told my husband to call the midwife, we needed to leave NOW! Jeremy tossed all the bags in the car and we were off to Midland again! The drive was rough...my body was saying I MUST push...so I was pushing enough to feel better but as little as possible! When we got to the birth center, Jeremy asked if I needed help getting inside or if I wanted him to grab the bags, I said to help me in first. The bags didn't make it in for about 4 hours. The moment we walked in I had a contraction, then we made it to our room, then another contraction. Our midwife did an internal exam and asked if I felt like I needed to push. I said YES! I was dilated to 10cm and Arden's head was SUPER low! TIME TO GET SERIOUS AND PUSH! That was about 12:40am.
About 2 hours later Arden was out! I did tear a little bit, not through the muscle though! Our midwife did tell me to slow down when pushing at the very end to keep from tearing, but my body was not listening at that point. I wasn't trying to push, but there was no slowing down. Haha. I had been pushing on my knees with my arms on an exercise ball. So after Arden was out, I had to kinda flip over to hold her. I was so excited. I remember sighing and saying "Oh!!! My baby!" Jeremy actually took a little video at that point. I'm breathing kinda heavy (getting a baby out is work) but I watched it later and I am snuggling my baby and even cracked a joke. Haha. Must have been a bit delirious from the lack of sleep. I delivered the placenta and then a little bit later, Jeremy cut the umbilical cord. I didn't stop bleeding naturally, they had to give me a shot of Pitocin to help me stop. My blood pressure had been high for the last couple weeks of my pregnancy, it got much higher during labor (not stroke high or anything) and then dropped really low afterward. Apparently urinating helps your body get back to normal and stop bleeding so much, so before the Pitocin and my blood pressure dropping, we tried to get up to go to the restroom. Bad idea...I passed out once trying to get up and once trying to move to a chair. After that, I stayed in bed for a few hours. I did need stitches, the midwife took care of me while their interns went to weigh and measure our baby girl. Daddy went with her. She was 8 lbs 9 oz and 22 in long! Good size girl! My hubby heated up some food for me and I drank some Gatorade. They gave me an IV for fluids since I had lost so much blood. Feeling much better, I cleaned up some (with Jeremy's help) and then we fell asleep for about 4 hours. Then we woke up and let out parents know we had the baby. The agreement was to let them know when we headed to the birth center, but we weren't in a good position to call them. Haha...Jeremy was busy taking care of me, and I was busy trying to not have a baby in the car. They were so excited! I got up and showered. The midwife went over breastfeeding (which Arden was not up to...she just wanted to rest) and did some tests for Arden. She went over the paper work part with me and then we left. We met our parents at our house so they could meet the new grandbaby.
It all started on Monday, December 11th: I woke up with some crampy feelings (not painful) and thought "Hey, I think this is the beginning of labor"! I went to work and went about my day. During the evening and night, the contractions got strong enough to keep me awake when I tried to sleep. By the morning, they were about 5 minutes apart, but not very consistent. I called the birth center to talk to our midwife and they said that they need to be much more consistent before I'm in "Active Labor." I had somewhat already guessed that, so when they told me I could come over and they would see how dilated I was at that point. I told them that I didn't feel like it was that important this early and they said that was fine. So we just kept them posted for the day, I had told my husband to stay home with me, as I thought it was THE day. So not THE day.
The next day, I had barely slept due to contractions. Our midwife had told me to try and rest as much as possible that night (and advised me to try a small glass of wine and a Benadryl) which equaled about 3 hours of sleep and tons of bouncing on my exercise ball. By the morning, my contractions were stronger, but still not consistent!!! Where was my consistency!!!!????
We talked to our midwife again and she asked if they could check how dilated I was now. So we drove over to Midland around lunch time. When she tried to do an internal exam, she seemed baffled. Apparently my cervix was posterior, which means that they wouldn't be able to reach the neck of my cervix to see how dilated I was until I was closer to 5 or 6 cm. At that moment, I was probably dilated to 1 or 2 cm. SAD! I was pretty sure I was in "Active Labor" on the drive over there, but I was trying to keep from thinking I was too far into labor. When I said that I thought I was in "Active Labor," I was told that I would know when I was really in labor. Ha...so not the case. But that may just be me. So after they said I was probably only dilated a little bit and it could be later that night, but probably more like a day or two (since my cervix was posterior), we drove home. I tried to take a nap (and succeeded in between contractions) and my hubby went to work for awhile, then picked up some dinner for us. By this time, I was awake and bouncing like crazy on my exercise ball (most awesome thing ever). We ate some dinner (I ate two bites) and tried to watch a movie. Then I threw up...and was having some serious contractions. (Apparently this was Transition...so I had been in active labor)! Pretty much the entire day, my husband's main job had been to apply pressure to my hips during contractions...poor guy, he was being used for that trick often during the last couple hours at home. He asked me if I wanted a bath or a shower. I tried both, they helped a little bit, but the contractions were still really strong. After I took a bath, I bounced for awhile. Then I took a shower, I caught myself making some funny groaning noises and I felt like I needed to push! UH OH! I got out and dressed, told my husband to call the midwife, we needed to leave NOW! Jeremy tossed all the bags in the car and we were off to Midland again! The drive was rough...my body was saying I MUST push...so I was pushing enough to feel better but as little as possible! When we got to the birth center, Jeremy asked if I needed help getting inside or if I wanted him to grab the bags, I said to help me in first. The bags didn't make it in for about 4 hours. The moment we walked in I had a contraction, then we made it to our room, then another contraction. Our midwife did an internal exam and asked if I felt like I needed to push. I said YES! I was dilated to 10cm and Arden's head was SUPER low! TIME TO GET SERIOUS AND PUSH! That was about 12:40am.About 2 hours later Arden was out! I did tear a little bit, not through the muscle though! Our midwife did tell me to slow down when pushing at the very end to keep from tearing, but my body was not listening at that point. I wasn't trying to push, but there was no slowing down. Haha. I had been pushing on my knees with my arms on an exercise ball. So after Arden was out, I had to kinda flip over to hold her. I was so excited. I remember sighing and saying "Oh!!! My baby!" Jeremy actually took a little video at that point. I'm breathing kinda heavy (getting a baby out is work) but I watched it later and I am snuggling my baby and even cracked a joke. Haha. Must have been a bit delirious from the lack of sleep. I delivered the placenta and then a little bit later, Jeremy cut the umbilical cord. I didn't stop bleeding naturally, they had to give me a shot of Pitocin to help me stop. My blood pressure had been high for the last couple weeks of my pregnancy, it got much higher during labor (not stroke high or anything) and then dropped really low afterward. Apparently urinating helps your body get back to normal and stop bleeding so much, so before the Pitocin and my blood pressure dropping, we tried to get up to go to the restroom. Bad idea...I passed out once trying to get up and once trying to move to a chair. After that, I stayed in bed for a few hours. I did need stitches, the midwife took care of me while their interns went to weigh and measure our baby girl. Daddy went with her. She was 8 lbs 9 oz and 22 in long! Good size girl! My hubby heated up some food for me and I drank some Gatorade. They gave me an IV for fluids since I had lost so much blood. Feeling much better, I cleaned up some (with Jeremy's help) and then we fell asleep for about 4 hours. Then we woke up and let out parents know we had the baby. The agreement was to let them know when we headed to the birth center, but we weren't in a good position to call them. Haha...Jeremy was busy taking care of me, and I was busy trying to not have a baby in the car. They were so excited! I got up and showered. The midwife went over breastfeeding (which Arden was not up to...she just wanted to rest) and did some tests for Arden. She went over the paper work part with me and then we left. We met our parents at our house so they could meet the new grandbaby.
