I suppose it's about time I wrote the birth story of Hope. I've told it a few times, and have written it in my head, so hear goes. If you are not one for reading on births and everything that comes with it, I suggest skipping over. The short story is that Hope's birth was amazing, she was healthy and I was happy.
Here's the long version:
My due date was November 16th. Since I was nine days early with Emmalyn, I was half expecting to have a baby the first week of November. That week came and went however, and before I knew it, it was November 15th, Emmalyn's 2nd birthday and the day of my 40-week appointment. Jason and I woke up and gave Emmalyn her birthday present, an art easel/chalkboard. She was super excited to see something new in the living room, although I don't think she quite understood it was her birthday.
Jenny texted me before I left the house to let me know she had just brewed some yummy coffee (with a pumpkin spice Hershey kiss dropped inside!). I swung by her house to pick up a cup and drove to Celebration for my doctor's appointment at 9:15. My plan was to go to my appointment, head to work and then meet up with my mom and in laws, who were taking Emmalyn for lunch with the princesses at the Grand Floridian Resort.
The nurse came in to take my blood pressure and it was 140/92, which was high for me. I'm generally 118/76, or somewhere around there (not to mention, have had perfect blood pressure during my entire pregnancy). She said that it was high and if it didn't go down before the end of my appointment, they would have to send me to L&D. Since I had
gestational diabetes, my doctor didn't want me to go to far past my due date, but was willing to let me go to 41 weeks before inducing. He was aware of my wish to have a natural birth, with minimal intervention and wanted to support that as much as possible, while still watching out for the health of the baby. However, he took my blood pressure at the end of the appointment and it had gone up to 150/100. I was then sent over to the hospital for a 1-hour monitoring in L&D.
In the triage room, I took deep breaths and tried to calm myself down. I texted my doula, Charlie, to keep her informed. The ONE doctor in the practice who I am not particularly fond of happened to be on call (just my luck). I texted the office's midwife, Amy, to let her know. (sidenote: I really love Amy. She is amazing. She wanted me to keep her in the loop when I went into labor and said she would come to the hospital if she was available). She had to finish a few patients at the office and was then going to head over and check on me.
An hour passed and my blood pressure was still high. As this can be signs of pre-eclampsia, I was admitted - today was the day to have a baby...and she was going to share a birthday with her big sister! It was about noon when I got set up in the hospital room and Jason arrived a few minutes later (he'd been finishing a few things at work). I took one last picture of my belly with a baby inside.
The L&D nurses got me suited up in the gown and the IV fluids ready. They were totally supportive of my natural birth plan and said that Amy was on her way to the hospital. When Amy got there, she broke my water (which is one of the weirdest feelings in the world). It basically felt like I was wetting the bed, but had no control over it. Since I was already 3 centimeters dilated (had been that way since 39 weeks, she thought the contractions would start on their own and I would need very little, if any, Pitocin. She said that I could be on the monitors for 45 minutes, then have 30 minutes off, if all looked well with baby and me. I was basically sitting around waiting for contractions to begin, so wanted to be able to move around as much as possible. Charlie arrived at the hospital around 2 p.m. with her bag of goodies to help me during contractions. Those first few hours were pretty chill - I rested and had some snacks, Jason played some games on his phone and Charlie and I chatted about babies. In between the very mild contractions when I was not hooked up to the monitors, I walked the halls, paced my room and sat on a birthing ball.
The nurses came in and said that Amy had suggested starting a low dose of Pitocin, to help the contractions along. The hospital likes babies to be born within 24 hours of the water breaking, so I was sightly on the clock. I remember with
Emmalyn, when the Pitocin started is when the contractions became super intense and I felt like I couldn't get a break, which is why I wanted the epidural in the first place. I was determined to make it through these without the epidural, so we started at the very lowest dose possible. I was only four centimeters at this point and the contractions were about three minutes apart and still not very strong. This continued for a couple hours. I downloaded the Pandora app on my iPhone and had some Jack Johnson, Coldplay, Jason Mraz and Snow Patrol stations playing. Even the nurses commented on what great music it was for laboring!
I moved between sitting on the birthing ball on the floor, to walking around the room, to leaning over the bed. The contractions were becoming stronger and I was starting to feel the pressure of baby moving down.
Around 6:30, Charlie raised the bed to a sitting position and put the birth ball on the bed. I sat on the ball while leaning against the bed and it was the most comfortable I'd felt in the last few hours. (Another reason I loved having a doula - it would have never crossed my mind to sit on a ball, ON the bed!). The nurse came in to check me and I was dilated to a seven. By this point, the contractions were getting stronger and more uncomfortable. I switched positions so that I was on my knees, hunched over the ball on the bed. Charlie used a TENS machine, which is little pads that sent pulses of electrical energy to my back. It felt great and really helped me concentrate on breathing through all the contractions. I had a cold washcloth on my neck and kept drinking ice cold water, since I was really starting to feel hot and sweaty.
At this point, Jason had moved to a chair next to the bed. My husband does not do well in hospitals - I was happy to have him supporting me from the chair and he was happy to have Charlie there to assist in other areas of labor support.
As the contractions became more intense, Charlie told me that if I felt like I needed to push, to just push through them. So at the peak of each contraction, I pushed (which gave me some much needed relief), and I could actually feel the baby slowly making her way down. At this point the nurses came back in and said they thought I was probably fully dilated. They called Amy into the room and moved around tables to get things ready for delivery.
Amy came into the room, saw me on my hands and knees and asked if that was the position I wanted to deliver in. I'm pretty sure my exact words were, "Well, it didn't cross my mind that I wanted to deliver like this, but I don't want to move." I wouldn't say I was comfortable, but I had found my balance and was totally focused on getting the baby out. I remember pushing through a few big contractions. Amy and the nurses were cheering me on - "Good job! She's almost here! Just a few more!" Totally motivating. Jason was next to me and he was excited to meet his new daughter.
Because I was on my hands and knees, gravity was really helping with delivery. I didn't feel any pressure on my tailbone. It was amazing. Every time I was done with a contraction, I could feel the baby move back up, which was disappointing. All that work to get her close to coming out and then nothing. Finally I gave one more big push and her head was out! Within seconds, she was born and I heard those soft newborn cries. Amy said, "Oh, she's just beautiful Sarah!" I was so excited to meet her. Amy and nurses cut the cord, I turned over and they helped get me situated, and then our new daughter was placed on my chest. She had a birthmark on the back of her arm that was the size of a nickel. I hope that in later years, I can remind her that it was the very first thing I noticed when she was only a few seconds old - and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
I had one small tear that required a stitch, but nothing else. Even after all that, I think getting the stitches hurt more than labor! I felt like I had just crossed the finish line of the most important race of my life. Exhausted, yet exhilarated. Total labor time was 12:30 p.m. to 8:12 p.m.
We were able to have skin to skin time for an hour before she needed to be measured and weighed.
Jason went and got Emmalyn and she was able to meet her baby sister for the first time!
Our families followed shortly after. It's an amazing feeling to have carried a baby for nine months, without knowing what they looked like or having been a part of your life and as soon as they are here, you can't imagine life without them.
Welcome baby girl. We are so in love.
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