I went to the bathroom and wallah! A huge glob of mucus plug and bloody show. I was SOOOO happy! I had been looking and waiting and searching for ANY sign that labor might start soon and here was a sign. I was hoping that things would start and I could have a baby on my due date, but the day wore on and no contractions. I went for a walk, took herbs and tried to be patient.
And then it got to be around 9:30 PM and I was thinking about bed and I started having contractions. Not close together or regular, so I thought I would try to drink some wine again and take a bath etc to stave off being up all night with no action. But by 10 it started getting harder and my contractions got closer together. By 11 I knew I wouldn't be sleeping in the near future. The contractions were about 4-7 minutes apart and fairly strong but nothing that I had to get up and move around for.
By 12, I had texted my MW and told her I was having contractions but not anything too strong or close together. And then I called her after 1 when they became stronger and stronger. She came and checked me and rimmed me again and stretched me from a two to a two and a half / tight three. So we decided to leave for the birth center as it is in Fairbanks, a 1.5 hr drive from where we live.
It was a skit getting there as we live across and ice bridge and it was partially melted, so a very bumpy very LONG drive to get to the highway.
We got to Fairbanks around 4 and though I had very uncomfortable contractions all the way up, they started to spread out again and I thought to myself, "NOT AGAIN!" With my first I had three days of "false labor" that never stopped and wouldn't let me sleep. It SUCKED! My biggest fear was that I would stall out again and be up for days upon days and be exhausted by the time I started real labor.
We got to the clinic around 5, after having a snack and sure enough, as soon as I got into the birth room, my contractions went from 5 to 6 min apart to 10 to 15 min apart. Yes, I cried my freakin' eyes out. I sobbed for about an hour.
My husband kept telling me to just relax and sleep and I kept telling him that I wasn't there to SLEEP! I finally did lay down after I told my MW that nothing was happening. But I didn't sleep very long or well as there was a baby born right when we got there and I could hear it crying which didn't help my dread of NEVER having this baby.
At nine I couldn't lay there anymore so I got up and texted the MW that I was up. They came in and brought me breakfast and caster oil. God awful stuff. Not to drink, which was fine, but I started pooping every five minutes (exaggeration) and it BURNED! Not what I needed. We then just tried to relax and not get to worried. I took a bunch more herbs and concoctions and at 1 PM I went for a walk. And since Alaska SUCKS this spring and it was cold and snowy on APRIL 29TH!, we went to Fred Meyers and walked and walked. I trucked around for about 45 min and wouldn't you know it, the contractions started again and were between 4-5 minutes apart. We were going to go to a different store, as we had seen no less then three people we knew, but didn't want to talk to. Half way there I realized I needed to go to the bathroom AGAIN, and did not want to use a public toilet.
So, back to the birth center we went. It was then almost three and we realized that the contractions were about three minutes apart. I walked in to the birth center and then went to the bathroom. twice. By the end of the last time, my contractions were getting HARD. Like leaning on the wall groaning and swaying hard.
So they checked me and I was at a four. But then like seconds later I was having intense contractions, so much so that I was starting to shake and needed to groan and moan. We filled up the tub and I got in and the contractions now were like 45 sec to 2 minutes apart and so hard that I was sobbing between them because I was having a hard time getting on top of them and dealing with them.
By four I was in such hard, active labor that I was sure I would NEVER be able to labor like this all the way to 10 and not die from the pain. I never felt so out of control and helpless in my life. It was not fun at all. Even the knowledge that I was going to have my baby wasn't helping me cope with the amount of pain I was in.
With my first I had about 8 hrs of active labor and I was always able to cope with the contractions as they gradually got stronger and stronger. The only time I felt out of control was when I was laying on my side (trying to get baby into a better position) and I went through transition in 30 minutes.
I felt like I was in transition the WHOLE TIME! By five I was sure I would need to ask to be transferred to the hospital to get an epidural. The only thing that kept me from asking was my hatred of hospitals and my fear of needles. Plus having to go ANYWHERE in the kind of pain I was in was totally out of the question. My MW checked me at this point and I was at a seven. Which wasn't so bad considering I had only been in active labor for 1.5 hrs.
At many points during labor, I felt my baby moving down and it was SO painful! I also was hitting my forehead against the tub as I was unable to care that there was a cloth near by. This whole time my poor husband was doing all he could. Holding me, giving me a cool cloth on my forehead and face, praying for me and pressing on my lower back. I kept looking into his eyes, saying "I need help.... I need help!" I was praying and crying and groaning.... making all kinds of noise trying to get through one contraction and then knowing another one just as bad or worse was coming any second but trying to relax.
It was terrible. At some point near here, my MW came and gave me a bunch of homeopathic things to help me calm down and deal with the pain. (This was after I asked for help again.) After I reached 7 cm, I started shaking uncontrollably and I was so uptight that it was making horrible contractions way worse. So I asked if I could get into the shower. They thought that it was a great idea to change it up.
This must have been near six. I got into the shower and under the hot water and immediately I was able to relax and stopped shaking. It was SOOOO awesome! Within a couple of contractions I felt her drop right down into my pelvis and I was feeling like I needed to poop. So, because my MW are awesome, they let me stay in the shower and got a birth stool that I could sit on. I did poop, thanks to the stupid caster oil, but because I was in the shower all that gross stuff just went right down the drain. :)
The pushing contractions were so STRONG I was literally yelling. I pushed a couple of times and the space between the contractions was such a blessing as before they were one right on top of the other. But it was still amazingly painful. My MW then checked me again and found I had a bit of a lip on my cervix and my water had not broken. So she kept her hand in for a contraction and broke my water and pushed the lip up.Within five minutes the head was out. WOW that hurt!!!! I was literally yelling so hard.... (they said I wasn't that loud but I felt like was shouting my head off. ) And then the contractions eased off a bunch and the head was just hanging out there. Poor baby. She was turning purple and so Joy (the MW) got her hands in there and started pulling her some. I still wasn't having any really strong contractions, but she said something about needing to push so I just pushed anyway. Joy yanked on the baby really hard and out she came. Dan got to help catch her, which was a bit hard since everything was so wet and slippery from being in the shower.
But the good thing was, all the blood and bleck went right down the drain... so tidy. The baby had he cord wrapped around her neck and she was quite purple and not breathing. They got the cord off quickly and then after a few seconds of her not breathing or crying, they got the oxygen bag and gave her a few puffs. She choked up whatever was blocking the way and started crying. SWEET relief after my first had to be rushed to the hospital. We then held her for a few seconds in the shower and got wrapped up and then moved to the bed.
I pushed her out at 6.25, making my labor not even three hours from start to finish.
The next few hours were PERFECT! We laid in the bed together and worked on latching and cuddling and just being thankful to be alive and finished.
We had quite the time with the afterbirth pain though. HOLY COW! Some of my contractions were every bit as hard as my full blown in labor contractions.
Emma Joy is perfect and we are so happy she came to be with us. Of course the recovery time is always hard and I have sore nipples again and it sucks, but we'll make it through.
This birth was not what I was expecting and it was a good deal more traumatic to me then Jackson's despite his complications, but as time passes, I think I'll be able to be more thankful for it. It was just so intense and so fast that I was blown away by how much it STINKING HURTS to have a baby.
Oh and Emma is 8 lbs and 20" long. Her head was a whole inch smaller then Jacksons... THANK GOD! :)
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