So before I forget what actually happened during the hours leading up to/during/shortly after our son's birth I thought I should write it down. And because reading other people's stories helped me envision my own experience I am posting it here for any travelers to stumble upon :)
LUKE THOMAS MARTIN
March 22, 2012
8:34 am
8 lbs 7.7 oz.
It all began on Wednesday I guess. I got up that morning, went downstairs to make Mitch his lunch and spend some time together before he headed off to work. I remember him saying, "Luke, it's time to come out. We want to meet you." We both laughed and Mitch left for work for the day. It was a gorgeous day and decided to do some laundry and hang it on the line. Other than that all my chores were done. I had nothing else to do but relax. So I went to the living room and tried to get my mind off of being overdue. After browsing the Internet for "natural ways to induce labour" and learning lots, my sister-in-law called and then came over with my niece for a little visit. It was so nice to have company and visitors since I was starting to find the time home long.
Anyway, the rest of the afternoon was spent doing laundry, vacuuming, talking with my mom on the phone, and just generally relaxing. It was 25 degrees outside so I even took a book and caught a little vitamin d :) it was during this afternoon that I began to feel a little gassy and ended up pooping 2 times ( which is rare for me... My gluten intolerance has me a once every two days kind of gal). I really didn't think much of it though.
I should mention that at my last doctor's appointment they scheduled me for induction for Thursday morning... I wasn't happy about this and had decided to call the labour and delivery section of the hospital, early on Thursday morning, to tell them that I wouldn't be coming in and would like to wait longer as my baby,at the time, was only 1 week late.
Mitch texted me in the late afternoon to check in with me. He then put he idea of going to the food court at the mall for crappy Chinese food for supper. The Inside of the house was hot and I didn't really feel like cooking so I was game.
Mitch arrived home from work shortly after that and we took Jack for his nightly walk. Then headed off to the mall. We enjoyed a junk food supper of Chinese food and then a DQ blizzard for dessert. We waddled around the mall a couple of times and headed home.
The remainder of the evening was spent relaxing in front of the TV, and just sitting and talking. Finally at 9:45 we headed up to bed. We got settled all cosy under the covers, and just like every night for the past 9 months, Mitch talked to my belly for a few minutes, read a story, and kissed me. He added his nightly salutation of "Goodnight and sweet dreams. I love you." He rolled over and went to sleep.
I laid there and silently said my prayers. When I was done I felt my first contraction... although I didn't know it was one. It just felt like bad gas pains, like what I would feel if I were to eat wheat. I looked at the time and it was 10:09. I continued to lay there trying to fall asleep.
Exactly 20 minutes later I felt it again. I decided to get up and try going to the bathroom, but once I was there the pain had stopped and I couldn't go. So I waddled back to bed thinking, "Hmm something's up". And so I began to time the "gas pains" when the next one happened (11 minutes after the second one). Here is what I tracked:
10:42. 10:52
11:03. 11:10
11:19. 11:33
I decided to wake Mitch up by this time to let him know that I was definitely having contractions. And that it was really uncomfortable to lay-still so I was gonna be getting in and out of bed a lot. Knowing this whole labour thing could take a while he went back to sleep.
From 11:40 onward contractions were coming every 4-6 minutes. I remember liking the consistency because I could enjoy the down time between contractions, knowing I could be comfortable for 4 full minutes was a great relief.
At around midnight Mitch woke up and checked to see if I was ok. I jokingly said, "oh this is gonna take a while. I am guessing the baby will come around 8:30. We won't head to the hospital until 6:30 ish."
2:16- by this time things were getting a little more uncomfortable so I decided to take a shower. I woke Mitch to tell him just so that he could keep an ear out in case I needed him. I had more contractions while I was in the shower. And boy are "they" right when they say water helps relieve the uncomfort.
Most books you read about childbirth advise first time moms to go to the hospital after contractions have been consistently 5 minutes apart for an hour. Well, the book that I decided to trust - Natural Hospital Childbirth- said to stay home as long as possible in order to avoid pressure of intervention from the nurses and OB's. So we decided to ignore the one hour rule.
By 3 am Mitch couldn't sleep.. He said he was getting excited :) So he decided to get up and give Jack his morning walk ( 3 hours earlier than normal ), and have a shower. I sat and bounced/swayed on my exercise ball through all of this.
At 3:30 we were sitting in the kitchen, Mitch was eating breakfast, I was drinking water (trying to prevent dehydration during birth) and the car was all packed up and ready to go, and we looked at each other and said we were bored. Yes, bored. Everything was done and ready so it was just a waiting game from there. So, we talked about it and chose to head to the hospital early... There'd be no traffic to fight with, parking would be easier to find, etc. And at 3:45 we got in the car and headed to the hospital.
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