Our Little Peanut: Birth

Warning: This post might be a little detailed and graphic for some.

I want to get the birth story out while it is still semi fresh in my mind. It has only been 4 days and I know I am already forgetting some of the details. Lily is actually sleeping and I am awake so I figure now would be as good of a time as any to write this up.

Saturday night (12/19) Sean and I were both really tired for some reason and decided to go to bed around 8:30pm. Sean got up shortly after that because he couldn't sleep but I was still tired. I woke up at 12am with contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. They weren't horrendous at that time, but definitely stronger than any contractions I had felt before and were time-able. I got up and hung out with Sean for a bit before I decided I wanted to try to get some sleep in case this was the big day. I really didn't think I was going to be going into active labor at this point because only like 5% of babies are actually born on their due dates. I went back to bed around 2 or 3am and slept very poorly till about 7am. At this point I woke up to go to the bathroom only to notice some bleeding. On the list of warning signs my Ob's office gave me it said to call them whenever you had any bleeding, so I did. The Dr that was on call told me that it was probably bloody show and that is a sign of more active labor. He told me to call back if my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart for and hour and a half. About 8 or so the contractions started to get a lot stronger and were sometimes 7-8 minutes apart and other times 3-4 minutes apart. At some point during this Sean went to sleep since he really hadn't gotten any sleep that night. I continued to monitor my contractions for the next several hours until around 2 or 3pm they were getting very strong and consistently 3-5 minutes apart. I woke Sean up at this point just because I needed support. Around 3:30 I called the doctor again and he said that if I was comfortable I could stay home otherwise we could start heading to the hospital. We packed up the last minute stuff we wanted to take and got Selene's stuff ready to take her to my parents' house. We dropped off Selene and were on our way to the hospital.

The ride to the hospital was not fun. Every bump, turn, and stop seemed to coincide with each contraction I was having. I'm not sure exactly what time we got to the hospital, but I think it was around 4:30. They got us into the labor triage and checked me out. At this point I was 4cm and contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart. They checked me in at about 5:15pm. I was told by my Ob at the appointment the previous Monday that I probably wouldn't be able to have an epidural because my blood platelet levels were too low. This was fine with me because I was wanting to go natural anyway. Once we got to the labor and delivery room my contractions got a lot worse. Sean was an excellent support person. He would get me ice and water when I asked and let me squeeze his hand during each contraction. He also talked me through each one trying to keep me relaxed. Our nurse was also amazing. She helped with showing me how to use the labor ball to be more comfortable and to help move things along. After awhile the contractions got to be really close together and pretty long so I wasn't getting that much of a break. At that point I did ask for something in my IV to take a little of the edge off because I didn't think I would be able to have enough energy to push if I didn't at least get a little rest. I was around 7-8cm at this time. They gave me just enough to give me a bit of a rest, but not so much that it would effect her. Around this time my parents came into the labor room to visit for a bit and offer some support. It was great to get to talk to them to kind of distract me from what all my body was doing. The medicine started to wear off and the contractions were getting stronger so they left.

The nurse had me get on the labor ball again because there was still just a little bit for me to go. I was basically 9.5cm at this time. The ball was great during the contractions, but I didn't like it so much in between them. I was much more comfortable during the "breaks" to be in bed but the nurse kept convincing me to stay on the ball for just one more contraction...this went on for several contractions. I kept feeling like I needed to push and the nurse said I had to wait just a bit longer. This continued after I got back into the bed. I'm not sure how long this went on for, but it seemed like forever. Sean was great during this time talking me through everything and reminding me to breath.

Finally I was told I was allowed to push. I only pushed for 4 contractions which ending up being right around 8 minutes. They had me look down once her head came out and it was amazing to see her beautiful face and long hair. There were times during the last little bit where it didn't feel like it was actually me going through all of this and that she was my baby. Shortly after she was put on my chest we attempted to breastfeed and she has been doing great with that ever since. Love at first sight is amazing.