I planned on having this post up a few weeks ago, but life with four kids five and under (not to mention traveling to another vintage show with a newborn) hasn't made it easy! Its always amazing to me that with each additional child I have to totally rework when and how I can get things done. I sort of miss the old days of just one kid...hah! Just kidding! I love my
(This is a birth story, so be advised that I might use terms that make you uncomfortable, so proceed with caution! You've been warned.)
37-39 Weeks
Tues May, 31
After a long Memorial Day weekend and still no baby, I was starting to feel anxious because Justin was due to leave for Army Annual Training at the end of the week. We made another trip to town and this time I was having some pretty good contractions while we were out. I was't thinking much of it, but as they continued throughout dinner I thought maybe this IS it. That evening I texted my mom to let her know what was going on, but I also told her that most likely they would stop. Either way she was on alert.
Wed June 1
I woke up that next morning after a long night of mild contractions and indeed they had stopped. COMPLETELY. I wasn't happy. I texted my mom again complaining that I was going to be pregnant forever and she encouraged me by telling me she spent 3 weeks having nightly contractions when she was pregnant with my little sister. Thanks mom. #sohelpful
So, there I was completely pissed that I was still pregnant after being awake off and all night with contractions that I did the only thing I could. I cleaned the house and rearranged all the rugs upstairs. I even pulled out the couch and cleaned behind it. It felt great to get stuff done.
Proof in these pictures I sent to Justin...(the rug I bought for the boys room is now in the office/family room and the old blue rug moved to Ellery's room...)
12:30 pm
The kids were happily zoned out with a movie so I sat down to do some computer work and all of a sudden I got the worst stomach pain ever! Just like that out of the blue. It did not feel like a labor pain, so I deiced we would head down for lunch. I got another sharp pain while I was making sandwiches, but again it did not feel like a labor pain. So I did the dishes while the kids ate. Then I got another one and I thought...hmmmm....maybe something is going on here. I messaged Justin at work to let him know something MIGHT be up, but that I was going to get the kids down for a nap and take a shower to see if any of that would make the pain stop.
1:30 pm
As I was getting the kids down for a nap I could feel pains coming pretty consistently, but even tho they were painful they were far apart. My aunt texted me to see if she could come by to look at some signs and I told her I was going to shower first. She agreed to come by around 4 instead. I then took a long hot shower and proceeded to get ready for the day.
2:00 pm
While doing my hair and make up I decided to start tracking my contractions with an app on my phone. Again, they hurt,but they were kinda random 4-7 minutes apart and only 30-40 secs long. I let Justin know my status, but I wasn't feeling a sense of urgency so we decided we would touch base after the meeting he was headed into.
3:00 pm
Justin was out of his meeting and I told him he batter head this way. My contractions were still short, but stronger and a little closer together. Since my Aunt was coming at four, I knew I could have her stay to watch the kids while we headed to the hospital. In my mind I knew we still had several hours of waiting ahead of us. I also messaged my mom to let her know to head my way as well, thinking even with a 5 hour drive she had plenty of time to make it before the baby came.
3: 15 or so
My Aunt texted me to say she got done early and could she come by? I messaged her back and said yes and that she would need to stay since I thought I was in labor, but she never read the message, so she walks in and I'm like "hi! I'm in labor, Justin is on his way and can you watch the kids?" I totally caught her off guard. Sorry Aunt Carmen!! While we waited for Justin to get there I helped her pick out signs (the reason she was actually there) in between contractions. Again, I was just pretty chill because I knew I had several more hours of labor to get through.
3:45 pm
Justin gets home, changes his clothes and looks at my contraction tracker and basically tells me to get my butt in the car and we are going NOW. I was just sitting chatting with my aunt and he couldn't figure out why I wasn't thinking we should get going. As we loaded up I told him that it was a good thing we were going in early because I need antibiotics for the group B strep.
3:50 pm
We get to the hospital and we accidentally parked at the main entrance, instead of Emergency entrance. The receptionist asks where we are headed and Justin says "we're having a baby!" and another receptionist tells us to head right up to Labor & Delivery. When we get there, the nurses are all surprised because they were not expecting us. I had a big long contraction right after getting off the elevator and they all looked at each other and decided they would deal with admitting me later.
4:00 pm
As soon as we got in our room I quickly got changed and into the bed so they could start tracking contractions. The nurses are rushing to get my IV in and hooking me up to the monitor because I was begging for the epidural. Once that was done the nurse decides its time to check where I'm at. She starts checking me and shes in there forever because she says she can't feel anything except my bag of water. Then I had a contraction and shes like "oh! I feel it now, your at an 8 and you won't have time for drugs!" I looked at Justin and started crying because I really didn't think I could handle the contractions for much longer. It freaked me out!
4:08 ish...
I am in tons of pain and I am crying because I don't get drugs and then my next contraction starts and I say to Justin and the nurse, "this one isn't going to be good" and the nurse says, "if you have to push its okay"... and so I did. Or my body did. I had absolutely no control over the urge and pretty soon I hear Justin and the nurses talking... "there's her head"..."the cords wrapped around"..."its off, give us one more push!" (Justin says the nurse had super ninja skills and had the cord off in one swift movement.)
4:10 pm
Just like that I had a baby laying on my chest. I looked at Justin in shock because, what the heck!? We had literally been in the room 10 minutes. TEN. It was chaos. There was no doctor yet, so I just laid there with my baby and kept repeating over and over "what just happened?" When Justin messaged the below picture to our family mere minutes after she was delivered and they all thought we were joking. It was that fast. No one except my Aunt knew we were even at the hospital.
Edith Charlene
8lbs 9oz
19.5 inches
After...
Eventually the doctor did make it in the room, delivered the placenta and did some other doctor things while I was laying there in shock. Edith needed a bit of blow by oxygen due to the cord being wrapped around her right after she was born and we had to stay a few days extra due to jaundice, but other than that she is a perfect little baby!
So that's it. I've officially documented Edith's birth story. Crazy thinking its the last one I will ever write. I can't even imagine attempting to have more babies after how close we were to having this one at home (not shooting down home births at all, its just not for me). Seriously...I was in active labor from 12:30 to 4:10. That's the shortest ever for me!
The Bigs meeting Edith
First family photo
Our little Glo-worm!
Thanks for stopping by to meet our new addition! Come back later this week for her newborn photos!
