Birth Story

The day started off just like any other. I had an appt early in the morning so trying to get the boys both up and ready is always stressful! We made it to the doctor's office in time and then we ended up having to wait. The boys were getting anxious so I gave them each a lollipop to help tide things over and then the doctor finally came in. He asked how I was doing, I told him pretty uncomfortable. I asked him if there was a change in my cervix from last week if we could possibly strip my membranes that day instead of waiting till Valentine's Day. He looked at me said usually they like to wait till 38 weeks. I said well I'm just 3 days shy of 38 weeks and he said he'd go ahead and give it a shot! I was thankful but then reality hit me once he did that! I was now 4cm dilated and with the doctor appt over I came home loaded the boys up in 35 degree weather to go take a walk. I called my parents and told them what was going on because they were just starting to drive over to Portland for the weekend. I wanted to tell my mom to stay in town so bad but without knowing for sure if this would start my labor I told them to go ahead and still head over and I would keep in contact with her throughout the day to keep her updated. My walk with the boys only lasted less than 30 minutes because it was so cold and I came home, took a shower, and then googled on the computer all about stripping membranes. My heart sank because everything I was reading was saying that it more than likely wouldn't start your labor. It was around this time that I started feeling contractions but nothing painful and nothing too consistent. I took Connor to his preschool and then when I came home I had more time to sit there and actually pay attention to the contractions. They were starting to come about every 10 minutes, still nothing too painful though. I called my parents again told them it would be in their best interest to head back home and just make it a day trip. They wanted to have dinner with some friends in Portland i said that should be fine and I'll call them when I know more. As of this point I still hadn't even called Asa because he was due to get off work within the hour so I figured I would just wait till he got home. Once he came home I was ready to go to the hospital and get checked. Contractions were about 7-10 minutes apart but getting more painful. I called my friend Becky dropped the kids off with her and off to the hospital we went. Once we were there time dragged by. We were just waiting in a triage room watching her heart rate and my contractions had now got less intense. Taylor seemed to be asleep too and the nurse and I were trying to wake her up cuz labor isn't supposed to make a baby sleep! After some apple juice she finally started waking up. Asa decided to go pick up the kids from Becky and bring them back to the hospital so after he got back with the kids we decided to walk around the hospital to see if things progress from there. I was now at 6cm dilated so I thought walking might help. The boys seemed to enjoy themselves getting to walk all around the hospital we even walked up five flights of stairs and back down which by the end I was just about at my limit for wanting to walk no more! Asa's mom got to the hospital around this time to take the kids overnight and now we were just waiting on my parents. I got put into a labor room and got the IV put in. It was around this time I asked for the epidural not necessarily because I needed it right then and there but because the anthesteliogist was in the area and he was about to head home so it was either now or maybe never. So as he was putting the epidural in at around 11 pm my parents showed up and I was just thankful that they made it back home in time. I no longer felt guilty for telling them to come home early! With the epidural in and running I thought we were good to go but boy was I wrong. At around midnight I started feeling my contractions again. i thought that it was odd considering I just got the epidural. I called the nurse she came in asked a few questions and then decided to check my cervix. In that two hour span since my last cervix check I had gone from a 6 to 9 cm dilated. She said that I must be feeling the pressure from the baby and that is why I'm feeling my contractions. After another 40 minutes of starting to get uncomfortable the pain was getting pretty intense for me. I was starting to feel a lot of pressure down there and I was getting seriously bummed that I had no epidural. With each contraction that came I started crying and I couldn't contain myself. I'm not the type of person who cries too easily in front of other people but this pain was getting to me. The nurse told me I could try to push now if I wanted because there was only a tiny bit of cervix left. That's when I went into freak out mode, it hurt to push so I was trying not too and the nurse was trying to calm me down and get me to focus. After she got two good pushes out of me the room turned into chaos. I was screaming out in pain, crying, and the baby's head was right there. It was then that the nurse was trying to get the doctor in there ASAP and she was telling me not too push but at this point in time there was no stopping her from coming out. She literally almost fell out. The doctor barely got there in time, nurse had to put the gloves on the doctor about 2 seconds before Taylor was all the way out. That pain was so intense but I'm glad it only lasted for less than 15 minutes. So four pushes and Taylor welcomed herself to the world. Much different than my labor expierences with the boys. I had a little tear that needed to be stitched up but other than that everyone was healthy and happy. With the boys I had to push for an hour with each of them so it was definantly nice to only push a little bit with Taylor. After spending another day in the hospital we were sent home to begin our life as a family of five!