The toddler was 3 weeks early so we were fairly sure this second boy was going to make an early appearance. Sure enough 2 weeks before my due date I had my precious cranky pants.
The night before I went into labor we went out to a restaurant with some friends. I woke up that morning with what I thought was indigestion from the spicy food. Since I was restless I moved to the couch. after an hour or two the indigestion was worse and I started to have contractions. Around 5 am I called the husband into the living room because I was sick This happened several times. The husband reheated some breakfast burritos and got dressed in his jeans. At 6:30 I asked him why he wasn't getting ready for work and he replied, "because I think you are in labor." I insisted that I wasn't and he pointed out that I was throwing up consistently every 3-5 minutes. So, I called my friend who volunteered to be my doula of sorts for the birth.
Around 7 am I called my mom and asked if she would come over to watch the toddler. She had to go into school to write out a lesson plan first so my dad showed up at 7:30. At this point I realized that even if I wasn't in labor I needed to go to the hospital because I was getting dehydrated from all the vomiting. By 8 my mom had arrived and we headed to the hospital.
We grabbed our bag, my orange body pillow, a wash cloth, and the kitchen timer. I was so thankful when we made it to the hospital. They set me up on a monitor and checked me. I was dilated to a 4 already and they called my doctor.
After I got a room they set up a hep line and gave me some wonderful anti-nausea medicine. After that I was able to walk around. The nurse was so great and told me as long as I drank enough juice and water then I wouldn't have to walk around with an IV all day. I ended up having to take the nausea medicine around 3 times that day, but I never was hooked up to an I.V.
My friend arrived after I had checked in and we all walked around the hospital. We walked and walked and the contractions started but weren't overwhelming. Around 11, I was dilated to a 5 and only 80% effaced. She asked if I wanted her to break my water and I was so scared of the pain that I opted to wait to see if I would progress with walking. She said that as long as I was making progress that she would wait.
For the next 4-5 hours I walked around. The contractions were painful, but bearable. It was so much better this time because I didn't have pitocin making a constant contraction. After about 10 hours of labor I remember seeing a woman who had checked in after me being wheeled out from having a c-section. I remember being very unreasonably envious that she already had her baby and wondering if my baby was ever going to come out.
Around 4 pm my doctor came and broke my water. I got up to walk again and this time the contractions were really, really painful. The nurse said that they really needed to be for me to progress, but I still had the horrible horrible memory of how painful it was last time and couldn't imagine how transition was going to feel. At this point I started to get really cranky and wanted to stay in the room.
At 5:30pm I was in the room standing and leaning on the husband with each contraction because of the pain. They were still only 5 minutes apart and I heard my friend say that she thought it would be a few more hours because they were still far apart. With the next contraction I was trying so hard not to scream that I bit the husband. I'm sure he would have preferred the screaming, but at the time biting him seemed much more reasonable. With each contraction at that point I was begging for an epidural. The husband and my friend knew I was in transition at that point and said I could have one, but they reasoned me out of one between each contraction. I figured since I still have 5 minutes of coherent thought between contractions that I should hold off so the epidural wouldn't slow my labor down. I was still scared that I wasn't in transition at this I looked at the clock and prayed that I would have the baby by 7pm.
Around 6:30 the nurse came in and asked if I wanted her to check me. At that moment I had a contraction and felt the baby drop and knew that I would need to push with the next contraction. She called my doctor and told me that to prevent tearing I really need to not push through the first few contractions and just let my body do the work. I remember telling her I would try, but if I needed to push I was going to with or without the doctor. She laughed and said she would catch the baby if she needed to.
With the next contraction I had to have the husband and nurse help me onto the bed. It was the hardest thing to let the contractions do the work and not push. The doctor ran in the room and checked me after 3 contractions. After one more contraction she said I could push with the next one if I wanted. I pushed one time and out came the baby.
He was healthy and very alert. They put him right up on me while the husband cut the cord. They cleaned him up a bit and then I got to nurse him within the first 15 minutes. He latched on really well and the labor and pediatric nurses really took care of him and me.
We stayed in labor and delivery while I recovered and my family came in to worship our little guy. My friend had gone across the street and brought me Wendy's. It was the best burger, fries, coke, AND frosty that I have ever eaten.
While I moved to the room everyone went to watch the baby in the nursery for his prints and clean up. My sister stayed and made up the lovely couch with sheets for the husband. I laid down on the bed in exhaustion and remember the nurses coming and how great it felt to fall asleep on my tu:mmy.
I still can't believe that I did a totally natural birth. I'm glad I faced my fears of transition and the pain and went through with it. It was hard, but worth it.
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