Birth Story #3

So we were just 3 days beyond the due date of 9/27 and I was at 3cm at my appointment earlier in the day.  I was a little bit discouraged and was not really interested in the induction methods that we had been trying.  I thought I wasn't quite ready to try castor oil but greasy food has the same effect (though more mild), so we got some In-n-out and it was quite effective getting some intestinal cramps going.  We went for a walk, a longer one than we had been taking the previous nights and I barely made it back home.  Around 8pm I started having some short contractions about 20 seconds, 5-7 min apart. They pretty much continued that way, getting a little longer and more intense until about 4am when they were about 35seconds and 3-5 min apart and I called my mom and midwife.  I still wasn't positive it was the real deal because the contractions were not a minute long as I was waiting for but my midwife said to trust my intuition and if I decided to go to the hospital they would call her.
My mom and dad got to the house at about 4:30am and dad stayed with the girls and mom came with us to the hospital.  5am they put me in triage next to a Turkish woman and her husband and translator as they were preparing her for her c-section and getting her epidural and honestly at the moment I was just the tiniest bit envious.  Anyway so it's 5am they wanted to monitor my contractions and see if I was in "real labor." I was at 4cm and they had me walk around for an hour and by then my contractions were insanely intense and close and I was feeling so weak and tired already that I thought that even if it was a short labor like my other ones and I had to do this for another even 4 hours there was no way I could do it, but Spencer promised me the baby would be here before 8am.  The little nurse-children still weren't quite sure I was ready to be admitted and apparently they hadn't even called my midwife yet but I wasn't really aware of anything but contractions at that point.  I was at 6cm and they still wanted to monitor me and give me some juice for some reason to get the baby moving.  "Apple or cranberry?," they asked me. Oh that I had said apple because I kid you not, it took them 30 minutes to find cranberry juice while I'm dying and looking across the hall at the nice big empty room with the labor tub I was supposed to be in. Finally the silly nurses see enough fetal movement for their satisfaction and admit me officially at 7:15am.
7:15am I'm walking across the hall my water breaks, I get to my room and am at 9cm and then my little sweet baby was born @ 7:30am.  So it didn't go down quite as perfect as I wanted BUT STILL, awesome.  They put her on my chest, umbilical cord still attached and she was all warm and perfect and then she started screaming and it was this gorgeous music to my ears. Such relief and happiness. Ahhh...
3 days later Addie and Tatum are still with my mom & dad. Spencer and I are at home and I think we both feel like we've caught up on sleep finally and we're just enjoying our "babymoon."  Every burp, snort, toot, grunt and sneeze are enchanting and in this moment everything is amazing.

 

Oh and her name? Pacey Drew

Born10/01/11

Weight 8lb 11oz

Length 21in, Head14in

Pink Perfection!