Where oh where to begin! It's been such a fast few weeks! I hope this isn't too long, but I don't want to miss anything.
I'll start back at my 36 week OB appointment. Dr. Moore checked me and told me I was a loose 3 and that baby girl was super low. "Like so low, she's in your vagina." (I love Dr. Moore, she cracks me up.) To compare (and it's a good thing I've blogged all these years because I've been telling people the wrong info the last few weeks...sorry) With Brighton I wasn't dilated at all at 36 weeks, I was a 3 at 38, and closer to a 4 at 39. She wasn't super low until 39 weeks. (I had it in my head that I was dilated to a 3-4 and she was super low at 36 weeks...big difference. Oops!) With Boston, I was a 1 at 36 weeks, a 2-3 at 37 and she was kind of low. Boston was born at 37 weeks 4 days. Brighton was 4 days late.
Okay, so anyway, since I had it in my head that I was dilated so early with Brighton, and with her coming so fast, I was really nervous about having a freeway or home birth. I took it easy during that week so that I would at least make it full term. Once I was 37 weeks I resumed normal activity. I would die if I ever got put on bed rest. I had contractions on and off, but nothing that was painful enough to make me think it was labor time.
At my 37 week appointment, Dr. Moore checked me and said, "You're a good 4...more like a 5". But then proceeded to tell me that because I was still only 37 weeks and since I wasn't having contractions at the moment that I would just have to go home and wait. She told me if I had any contractions, painful or not to come right in. And that she expected I would deliver in the next 24-48 hours.
Well of course because she checked me, I immediately started contracting. I had 3 contractions on the way home. (About 2pm) I hung out on the couch and kept on having contractions. After another 4 or 5 in an hour, I decided to go lay down... I was so torn about what to do! I knew I was just contracting because she had checked me, and again, they weren't super painful. But I was terrified of having another Brighton experience. It just seemed like Heavenly Father was watching out for us. Braden was home from work, Linda was over to babysit the girls for my appointment, and I was contracting pretty regularly. So around 3:45 we decided to go back to the hospital. I went to the bathroom before we left and it looked like I was losing my mucus plug. So I was pretty sure we were making the right choice.
I didn't want to get sent home. I figured if we're going to do this, let's do this. So I decided to hike up the stairs to the top of the parking structure and then walk around the hospital before going and checking in.
I was settled in my room around 4:15 and feeling mild contractions about every 5 minutes. The biggest thing with this labor was the pressure. I had soooooo much pressure. The Nurse checked me around 4:45 and I was a 6. She called Dr. Moore to see if I should walk the halls since my contractions weren't really that strong. She said yes, and that she knew there was no way she would make it back to the hospital to deliver me. Dr. Bustillo (who delivered Brighton) was already there, so he stayed to deliver our sweet girl.
We talked about pain medication and since I was still feeling good I opted to wait. I felt that I rushed the epidural with Boston and I wanted to experience labor more with this one. So up I got to walk the halls.
I thought I should take one last belly shot. I took this at 6:04, right before Dr. Bustillo came in.
I walked for about 40 minutes I guess and then Dr. Bustillo came to check on me. I was definitely feeling contractions more, and having to slow my walking when they came, but still nothing crazy. Had I been at home, I would have just barely had the thought, "we should probably go in". Dr. B checked me and said, "you're a good 8!" Danielle, my awesome nurse, said, "see, she surprised you huh?" All the nurses the whole time just kept telling me that I needed to have a much more serious look on my face to be so far dilated.
At that point we revisited the pain medication. Braden supported me in saying no to an epidural, and then Dr. Bustillo broke my water. Instantly the pain got
real. This is about 6:10. My contractions started coming quick, short and strong. I kept saying, "This is what I wanted, this is what I wanted, this is what I wanted..."
(Just texting my sister in law at 6:22)
Within minutes I was feeling extreme pain and pressure, and cursing my no medication choice. I got a hot flash and asked my nurse for some ice. Before she was back I was yelling, "
The baby's coming out!" (It wouldn't be an exciting story unless I yelled something at someone, right?) She said I had a little cervix left, and after one more contraction I really wanted to push. I don't think they really understood how fast my babies come. All of a sudden it was a mad scramble to get the bed set up right, and whatever else they did. I was just trying really hard to take deep breaths and relax. For those that haven't experienced it, pushing a baby out is actually a relief to the pain of the contractions (for me anyway). So as soon as they said to push, I PUSHED. I kept up my 2 push tradition, and Berkeley was out screaming at 6:33 pm. I thank Dr. Bustillo for telling me to "look at your baby" during my second push so I could see her come into this world. She looked so much bigger than Boston did and I was sure she would be closer to 7 pounds. But nope, just 6 lbs, 4 ounces, 19 inches. (3 ounces bigger than Bos).
So had I waited at home until I thought things were painful enough, I would have been dilated to an 8 and it would have been rush hour. Without my water being broken, maybe I would have labored for a few more hours, but I highly doubt it. I'm never really sure when to say my labor started... If you count it from the first contractions, it was 4 and 1/2 hours. If you count from when I would have gone to the hospital? It was roughly 30 minutes. 8 months of nausea, stabbing vagina pain, back aches and heartburn and 23 minutes of gnarly contractions and pushing. All so worth it.
I have seriously been blessed with an awesome uterus. And am so grateful to have another healthy baby girl in our lives!
She is my blondest baby by far! No red in sight.
