Less than 48 hours before we met our little one. I look like I swallowed a watermelon sideways!
I woke up on May 9th (the day after my due date and also the day after I graduated from college) at 7:30 in the morning to contractions happening about every ten minutes. I took a three-mile walk (Erik was still asleep because he'd gotten basically no sleep the night before because of work scheduling) in an effort to kick things into gear. When Erik woke up I asked him if he thought it was a good day for a baby, because I could tell my contractions were very different from the ones I'd had on Tuesday (when we went into the office and they sent us home).
We tidied up our house and cleaned out the van. I had an OB appointment scheduled for 3:30 and was really hoping they would send me to the hospital. We went into Lebanon to run a few errands, and then headed to the appointment. We'd only made it to 2 centimeters and 80% effaced (we'd been 1 centimeter and 70% at our last appointment), and contractions were still 6-8 minutes apart, so we got sent home, but they thought we might have the baby the next day. I was pretty disappointed to get sent home again, but I also had the feeling that the baby was going to arrive very soon.
Well, I really wanted baby to get here, so I went to my prenatal yoga class to try and speed things along. My yoga instructor was keeping an eye on me the whole time, and at the end of the class she said she was counting my contractions at about five minutes apart. Things were definitely starting to pick up. Erik and I went to a few different stores and did some walking and shopping, and finally headed back to the house. We went on another walk and headed into the house about 9:00 at night.
By 11:00 it became obvious that we would be calling up the office at some point in the near future. At midnight, I was mostly just putting it off because I was NOT going to call in and get sent home again! We finally called at 12:30 when my contractions were lasting over a minute and were about two-three minutes apart. I was so happy to hear that one of the OBs I like was on call that night. I spent half an hour puttering and making sure we had everything, and then we climbed into the van for the half-hour drive. The drive was awful! My contractions were consistently a lot more intense (but were a little further apart) when I was sitting down as opposed to standing up, so the half-hour of being stuck sitting in one position was not very cool.
We arrived at the hospital at about 1:30 AM. By then I had made it to 5 centimeters and was 100% effaced, so we got to stay! I was also having intense contractions by then. I told Erik that I felt like I'd feel SO much better if I could just let out the biggest fart of my life. Erik said, "Okay, so do it!" to which I replied, "I can't, because it's not a fart, it's a baby!" When the nurse said "Well, I'm guessing you're staying" and left the triage room, I turned to Erik and was like "I don't know what we would have done if they'd sent us home, because I REFUSE to get back in that van!"
The next four hours were... Well, let's just say that they need the most editing out of the story! I completely went nuts towards the end, and I bit Erik a few times because it was a way to release frustration/pain (Erik says it was six times, lol). I wanted to be in the shower, but they decided they had to tether me to a baby monitor, so I only got a ten minute shower before they hauled me out and hooked me up again. In spite of going crazy, I did not tell Erik I hated him, or scream verbal abuse at him, or swear at him - I was very proud of myself for that, haha! He was good throughout the labor, except for one slip-up. My water broke about 4:30, and he said "Guess we didn't need that plastic sheet for our bed at home... Oh well, we'll save it for next time." I stopped, looked straight in his face, and said "Shut up. Do not talk about future children to me!" Other than that, he was great, super supportive, and didn't complain at all about the physical abuse.
We'd decided that we wanted to go natural. I have a super high pain threshold and wanted to go for it. It was way worse than I'd anticipated, and if I'd known going into it I probably would have planned for something! By the time I got to the point where I didn't feel like I was going to make it though, it was pretty much too late to start anything, so natural it was! The last hour, after my water broke, was the worst, as I wasn't really getting any breaks whatsoever between contractions at that point. I wanted to push before my body was ready once my water broke, so every time I had a contraction I basically had to scream at myself, "don't push! don't push!"
Finally, at about 5:20, my OB checked me and told me I could try pushing. I practically screamed at her, "I don't want to push on my back!" which probably amused them somewhat. I tried on my hands and knees, but ended up on my side. Twenty minutes of pushing later, our baby finally arrived, and Erik gave me the news that we'd had a girl! Overall, labor lasted 22 hours, we were at the hospital for 4 hours, my water broke with 1 hour to go, and I pushed for 20 minutes. Havilah Dorothy weighed in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and measured 20 inches long. She has beautiful, almost black hair. I still can't quite believe that this beautiful little baby is ours, and that we get to take her home with us and keep her! Feeding was a little rough the first day, but things seem to be smoothing out now. We're ready to take Havilah out to meet the world tomorrow!
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