I read somewhere recently that your pregnancies go by faster with each kid you have and I definitely think that's true. This one went by quickly and now I already have an one month old! Both of my pregnancies were very similar with just a few weeks of nausea at the beginning, bad heartburn towards the end, and almost the exact amount of weight gain. I had convinced myself that I was having another boy before we found out the gender because of all the similarities, but the three ultrasounds I had throughout the 9+ months proved otherwise! I started to get a little nervous once I went past the mark at which I had Owen (ten days early). I wasn't too surprised though since my midwife had said I most likely wouldn't deliver before 39 weeks or later since there were no issues. As week 38 came to a close, my husband had scheduled to go on an all night patrol with the Sheriff’s dept which made me a little nervous.
I had been having some contractions at night for a few days but they'd fizzle out by morning. He was actually supposed to go the next night (which was Saturday) but he told me that he thought I'd have the baby on Saturday so he moved it to Friday. I kind of laughed at him but at the same time I hoped that he might be right. I went to bed Friday night and woke up around 1:30am feeling those same cramps I had felt earlier nights that week...but this time they were not going away. When he got home around 3:30am, I told him I had been having consistent contractions for a few hours. I was excited that this might be the real thing but we both tried to get some sleep. I got up around 5:30 and the contractions were 5 min apart now and uncomfortable, but not very painful. I woke Greg and asked if I should get ready. He said yes and so I put some makeup on and made sure we had all that we needed. At 7am, we woke Owen up and after a quick stop at McD's for some breakfast, headed to the hospital. Upon arrival, we were checked in to a triage room. The nurse checked to see if I was dilated and I was relieved to hear I was almost 4 cm and 100% effaced. I thought for sure that I'd be good to go for getting admitted but my cervix was not yet down all the way and in the position it should be for delivery. After calling my midwife, they decided to give me an hour and see if I progressed further...
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*39 Weeks*
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Over an hour later, she checked me again and I had only made a tiny bit of progress. She said that there was a good chance she could see me back in a few hours or it still could be a couple of days until I was in active labor. I was told if my contractions got even closer together or had my water break to come back right away. By this time it was just after 10am and she gave me the discharge papers. As I sat on the bed collecting my things, I began to cry. I was discouraged by the news they gave me but since she had checked me twice in a short period of time, my cervix became irritated and had caused my contractions to become a lot more painful. By the time we made it downstairs and out of the doors of the hospital, I was doubling over in pain and could barely walk. I was miserable as we drove the 15 min home and once we got there (around 10:40) I laid on the living room floor and tried to focus on getting through each contraction. We still had Owen so he went down for a nap during this time. All throughout this, I was texting/calling my oldest sister who'd gone through 2 natural births and she encouraged me I could get through it and that everything would be fine. She even sent me a little money to treat myself since labor could go on for hours or even days.
A half hour went by, and I begged Greg to call my midwife and tell her that my contractions were now about 90 seconds apart. She gave us the green light to go back to the hospital and would meet us there. We dropped Owen off at our friends' house on the way there and I have to say that being in active labor in a car is quite miserable! ugh! We got back to the hospital a little before noon and we walked in the same time as my midwife. She could tell by my face that I was in a great deal of pain so she got me a wheelchair and we headed back up to L&D. The same nurse from earlier got me into a bed and tried to get an IV started. My mom was still on her way from Bloomington (an hour from the hospital). In the short time from when I had been discharged to being admitted, I had progressed from a 4 to almost 7cm and my cervix had come down. They knew I would be having this baby soon so it was a bit chaotic and the pain was making me angrier by the minute. With Owen, after they had broke my water I felt these same intense contractions but only for about an hour before I had him. But this time it had been several hours and was losing my resolve not knowing how long this was going to last.I just wanted some relief! My midwife approved me to get some Nubain through the IV as an attempt to take the "edge" off of the contractions. Trust me, it does not take the pain away at all but it did give me a bit of a breather in between them. It was important to us to try to do things with as little intervention as possible just because that was our plan and what we had experienced with our first but I did try to prepare myself mentally in case we needed to use other means....Anyway so I was at a 7 and my midwife asked if I wanted her to break my water. I said yes and my husband got emotional because he knew things were about to get even more intense and that our little girl would soon be here. (He was amazing throughout the whole process and I couldn't have done it without his encouragement and support. Love you, babe!) Shortly after I felt like I should push. I am a premature pusher though and the nurse said to wait.. but with each contraction I pushed anyway and she began to crown. Just two hard pushes later and she was almost out. One last push (with that awful ring of fire) and she flew into the midwife's arms. There had still been some fluid left so that had helped the momentum.
She was born at 1:14pm (a little over an hour after we had come back to the hospital) weighing 6 lbs 15oz at exactly 39 weeks. My mom, who was pulling into the hospital, had missed it by just minutes, but she was the first to hold the fresh baby after me and my husband so I think that was special. My two older sisters came down later that evening from NW Indiana. We were all surprised with how fast my labor was but thankful that I didn't have her in the car and that all turned out fine. Big brother loves to hold baby "KK" and we're adjusting to life as a family of 4!
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