Finally, I'm doing it! I'm writing about my labor! This took a while, so here we go...
As with most of my labors, it was a long one. Dinner time the night of
Oct 30th I started having good back labor, it kept me up most the
night. They were so irregular though that I convinced myself they were
just 'practice contractions', as I have had so many of those also. I
dressed Maya up in her pink dinosaur costume and took her to story time
at the library the next morning. Sometimes I would be feeling okay, but
every 10-15 min or so, BAM! Back labor. I remember sitting in the
chair at the library and thinking that I had no business being there.
Driving home from the library, I actually had to pull over once because
my driving had slowed to a crawl due to so much pain from back labor. I
tried my hardest to take a nap that afternoon, but the pain just
wouldn't let up, nor would it progress. As you can imagine, after
already being in labor and hurting so frequently for 12+ hours, I was
EXHAUSTED.
The kids came home and it would be trick or treating
time in a few hours so we were getting things ready while i continued
in pain. Feeling to tired, irritable, emotional to make dinner we went
and picked up Little Caesars. Driving was once again, very difficult.
While in line to get the pizza i just prayed and prayed that I wouldn't
have a contraction in there, because I wasn't sure if i could act
natural. I decided that I would go trick or treating anyway, it's not
like I would get any rest staying at home. So we went trick or treating
with a family who we always go with, and coincidentally, we have shared
our last 2 pregnancies together. She trick or treated with her 2 month
old, and stayed behind with me while I labored at the end of every
driveway in my neighborhood. The men took the kids to the doors while I
hurt, and she understood. We got home about 8, the kids were in bed by
8:30 or so. The contractions were still just not picking up. I told
John "I'm going to bed, this is stupid". And then i'd have a
contraction and say, "there's no chance that I can go to sleep". I did
the whole I'm going to bed, I'm not going to bed thing for about an
hour. I was completely convinced that I wasn't in labor. Then John
started timing them, and it wasn't looking very promising. I was just
so exhausted. We were going on about 17 hours of this. I had been
trying to stay in 'gravity friendly' positions to help labor long
enough, I just wanted my bed.
I asked John to come lay in bed
with me. Not long after I layed down, I started shaking really bad.
John asked me if I was cold, of course the answer was ,"no". I was
starting to get worried, having heard that you shake during transition.
John looked it up and told me that it just meant I was in 'active
labor'. ABOUT. FRIGGIN. TIME. at about 10 it was getting pretty bad,
John finally said 'it's time". I rolled over to get up, stood up, and
my water broke. The funny thing with this is that my entire pregnancy, I
told myself that my water will break at home with this one, because it
goes fast after your water breaks, and i didn't want to get an epidural,
so it needed to go fast. Anyway, we get to the hospital and the nurse
is just terrible, horrible. She could NOT get my IV in, she could NOT
Draw blood. They had me laying there poking me, monitoring me and
answering questions for an hour. It was horrible. To make it worse,
EVERY SINGLE TIME I had a contraction, she would find a reason to touch
me. From adjusting my hand so the iv would work better (yes DURING A
CONTRACTION), to 'fixing' my hospital gown, she would touch me. But
John and I made such a good team. We hardly talked at all. I would
wiggle my finger at him when a contraction came, and he would hold my
hand, when it was over he would let go. He did everything so perfect.
We were so in sync, it was just awesome. When we got to the hospital, I
was a 6! yea! After being at the hospital for about 15 min I told
John, "never mind, I want an epidural". Then by some miracle, I found
strength and told him, never mind, don't tell them. Although while I
was in labor, I believe I had to reject an epidural 3 times, and that
really made me angry. Way to sabotage nurses! Anyway, this story is a
jumbled mess, sorry!!
After being 'monitored' for an hour, I
said, "I can't do this anymore", and took myself off of the machines and
sat up. The (stupid) nurse got me a ball to sit on. Once I sat up, I
went into transition pretty fast because holy crap. The pain was so
intense and I was trying so hard to find the ability to relax, but it
was just barely there. During this time, I thought of my sweet friend,
Rachel A LOT. Knowing that she's done it, and Abby has done it, and
Qait has done it, my sister had done it so I could to. This might sound
cheesy, but I just felt the strength of these women helping me out. I
am not going to lie though, I definately had an "oh crap it's sooooo to
late to get an epidural moment". John came and sat behind me and pushed
on my back, trying to help with the back pain (why must I always have
back labor?).
After a little while, my body just took over, and
it was almost shocking. This was my first labor without an epidural,
so I have never experienced the whole, "my body is taking over and I'm
pushing thing". While sitting on the ball, my whole body would push for
a second, it would push on it's own so hard, that a grunt would come
out of me. John was telling me, "try not to push". And I was like,
"you are an idiot, I am not even pushing, it's my body" (just in my mind
though). So the nurse called the dr to come in asap and told me,
"let's get you back in bed because you can't have that baby if you are
sitting on it". And for the sake of being completely honest, my mind
replied back, "no shit sherlock". (come on, swearing is SO allowed when you are in labor!) So I'm in bed, my body is pushing,
and everything is just so intense and i want it over. I ask John if he
can see anything, but of course he can't. Little did I know that if he
was able to 'see' something, I would be able to FEEL something. So
after just a few minutes, Sophia starts crowning, this was the moment
I'd heard about, and the moment I'd feared. When she starts crowning
and I start pushing I just kept yelling, "it hurts! it hurts!". It's a
little embarrassing after the fact that I did that, but let's face it,
it HURT. Luckily, she was out pretty fast. And that moment when you
finally get to meet that little baby who you waited for SO long for, and
who made your life SO miserable is the best moment-ever. EVER.
Memories of that moment are what make you think, "maybe i COULD have
another baby". As I lay there holding her, and looking at her I told
her, "thanks for
coming out". The dr and nurse thought that was pretty funny, but
seriously Sophia, at a week late, THANK YOU for coming out. Sophia
Hazel Davies was born Nov 1st at 11:45ish pm. And she is GREAT.
