So, Savannah’s birth was a fantastic experience. In many ways it was just how I pictured it, and in others it was way different. Of course, even though my really active labor was very short, this story will be pretty long—just to warn you. This was probably the hardest and most beautiful thing I have ever experienced, so I definitely want to document it well.
Let me start at the beginning. On Monday morning I woke up with some fairly intense contractions. I had had contractions before, but these felt different and also they were coming about 5 minutes apart or so. I was still able to manage them fairly well with just telling my body to relax and breathing through them—then I decided to take a shower to help me relax—and just to take a shower. So, after the shower I still had them so I called my doula (a birthing coach) and told her. These had gone on now for about 3-4 hours. She said to just wait and see what happened and go about my day as normally as I could. I was planning on laboring for as long as I could at home anyway, so I did just that. The contractions did let up some, but still continued sporadically throughout the day. In the meantime, I did all my normal Mommy stuff, finished making Sunny’s costume for her Toy Story play (That was a good thing by the way), and did a little shopping as well. Things just moved along throughout the day and I figured that I must not have been in “real” labor. Then that night after FHE they started up more intense again. However, since I was able to manage the pain I decided not to worry about it. That night I did get up several times with contractions, but I was still able to sleep. All this while in the back of my mind I was like, “Maybe this is labor after all,” but since I had never gone through it before I wasn’t really sure—and I didn’t want to go to the hospital and be wrong.
So, the next morning is when things got busy REAL quick. I woke up with an extremely intense contraction around 6:00A.M. Boom! They just started with almost no relief. So, I got into the shower again and had Jack call my doula for me. After talking with me for a few minutes and listening to me breath through my contractions she realized that they were only 2 minutes apart and told me to get down to the hospital. I was happy to get to the hospital, but I was NOT excited about having to ride in a car for 10 minutes. Poor Jack was so good—probably because he was a little scared that he might have to deliver this baby if he didn’t get me moving! He had to finish packing our stuff, help me get dressed, and keep helping me to work through the contractions all at the same time! They were just so close together that I had to focus all my energy on trying to stay calm and relaxed. I was very impressed with how well Jack did—I was able to stay calm because he was such a great coach to me and he really listened to me. He also had to get the kids off to school! Then Kari came over to stay with the little ones and we were off. I remember walking past Kari to our car and seeing her and trying to smile or something. She said that after she saw my face she called Corey and said, “Oh yeah, she’s having that baby today!” During the car ride I just closed my eyes and kept breathing and relaxing—I had practiced a lot of relaxation and I always did it with my eyes closed. I pretty much closed my eyes through my entire labor and I didn’t even realize it!
So, okay, I’ll try to get more to the end here. When we got the hospital and finally checked in and went to triage I was already dilated to a 6. That was good news! But I was still dying to get back in that shower. So we got to the room and that is straight where I went. Finally Amy my doula showed up and between her and Jack I had a fantastic, supportive team. They really helped me so much, and my sweet mother was just quietly in the background telling me sweet loving things every once in a while. I guess I was in the shower for about an hour—that’s what Jack said, but it seemed much shorter to me. I continued to labor in there until a little before 11:00A.M. Then after about 30 minutes of pushing (which was the hardest part for me—definitely) my fabulous doctor told me to reach down, grab my baby girl, and pull her onto my chest. Jack even got to help pull her out, and he didn’t even faint! That feeling of “bringing” her out and putting her on me was so beautiful it was worth all the preparation, labor, and hard work—and then some! Then after that it was sort of funny because I finally looked up and saw everyone who I had heard helping me. Literally, I hadn’t seen my doula, my doctor, my mom, the nurses—no one. I had been so focused on the labor that they all sort of melded into the background, but I was still very aware of them. It is hard to describe, but all I did was finally look at my doctor and say, “Well, hi there Dr. Tutt! Good to see you!” He was a wonderful coach as well and he was so good with the pushing. He never told me when to push—just let me go at my own pace and start and stop when I wanted to. And then between pushes I would hear him softly taking relaxing breaths, and that helped me to do the same thing. One funny thing was I started to scream some as I was pushing and one of the nurses was like, “Honey, try to save that energy for the pushing if you can.” Well, I tried but found I liked making the noise to help me so I did it anyway. Then by the end that same nurse (at least I think it was the same nurse) heard me scream and was like, “That’s right! Get angry sweetie!”
So, that is how our sweet little baby girl Savannah Rachel joined us. Labor, birth, and pregnancy are just amazing. It is crazy how we prepare for so long for this one day to happen, and then when it is over it is a feeling of true joy. I feel sooooo blessed to have had this experience. Because of it, I will hopefully get to do what my mother did for me for my daughters some day—relate to her in the birthing room and tell her she must be close to the end because that is how she felt, etc. Life comes full circle sometimes, and this is one of those times. It has also given me an even greater love and respect for birth mothers—what a sacrifice they make to bring these babies into the world and place them with families—and then just to go home. Wow.
Well, I know that was long, but I had a desire to share it and to write it down before I start to forget it. Hopefully, the only thing I will ever forget is that pain!
