Cannot believe I'm about to write out my birth story... Holy moly! Let me start by saying that I was in COMPLETE denial. It's so different going into labor when you don't expect it for a couple more weeks than it is when it hits you out of nowhere. Apparently those BH weren't BH at all.. They were legit contractions I was having randomly throughout the day. I literally had no signs of labor other than those and being more irritable/emotional. Never lost my mucous plug, never had diarrhea (sorry) , never felt weird or "ready"
So after that last post I made, I went to bed (around 10:30pm) and ended up waking up at 12:30 having, what I thought, were more Braxton-Hicks. They hurt, but they didn't feel anything like the contractions I had with Finley, so I was POSITIVE that they weren't real. Finley ended up waking up crying shortly after I woke up, so I brought him into our bed. Trying to console him through a "contraction" (denial) wasn't very fun. But he fell back asleep really quickly. They kept coming and after a while I figured I'd try timing them just to see. I was tired and just wanted to sleep but I couldn't fall back to sleep without another one waking me up.. I started timing them at 1:00 and they were about 7 minutes apart, lasting a minute long. Sent that picture to my mom - totally still in denial that I might be in labor. I did not believe I could be for a second! Kept timing them, and by 2:30 they were 5 minutes apart and lasting a little longer than a minute... Still in denial. At that point I decided to get out of bed and go to the bathroom because I had to pee and that was making them more painful. As soon as I got to the bathroom I started getting all shaky. Told my mom that and she said I needed to wake Taylor up and call the midwife nowww. Still in denial. So at 3:00, I woke Taylor up and said he might need to call his mom to come stay with Finley because we mighttttt need to head to the birth center. By 3:20, Joye was on her way and my contractions were 3 minutes apart. We had called the midwife (it was Kim who was on call, which ended up being amazing because she was the one I had seen at the majority of my visits) And yes, I still didn't believe I was in labor. Taylor got all the bags by the door and I hung out between the bathroom and the couch. I ate a mango Popsicle and drank some coconut water and had Taylor put pressure on my back during contractions. At that point I had stopped timing them because it seemed pointless. We headed up to the birth center at close to 4. Had one contraction right when we pulled in and then another right before Kim checked me. I had no expectations for any sort of huge dilation because stubborn me didn't believe I could possibly be in labor, and if I was, it had only been 3 1/2 hours, so we had to have a ways to go... Ummmm, nope, I was already dilated to an 8. The shock that I experienced... Haha! I guess I WAS in labor, and we weren't that far off from meeting our little boy! I stayed sitting on the bed and rocked back and forth while the tub filled up. Taylor diffused some lavender and massaged my back with arnica oil. I remember Kim checking Rowan's HB with the Doppler through one of my contractions and he ended up getting the hiccups - that was an interesting sensation! - The other midwife, Sam got there while I was on the bed and helped Kim gets things ready. Once the tub was filled, I got in (it was probably close to 5:00 by that point.) The water definitely helped with taking pressure off of everything and relaxing me. I kept my eyes closed throughout this whole time, just breathing. I can't believe I never really made a sound until I was actually pushing. I was so calm, I surprised myself. Anyways, I decided to get out of the tub to go pee, had a contraction on the toilet. Kim said to let her know if I was feeling "pushy" at all, and I honestly wasn't sure. I felt a lot of pressure, but didn't know if that counted. So I walked back to the tub and stood leaning over the edge through a few contractions. Had to moan a little through those and Kim said I was sounding like I was getting close to pushing, so if I wanted to get back in the water, now was the time, so I did! Not even a few minutes after I got in, I definitely felt pushy and my body just kind of took over that part. I was sitting with Taylor supporting me from behind. My body "pushed" a few times and Kim asked if she could check me to see if she could feel his head.
She said I had a small amount of cervix still there and it would probably help to lean forward on the tub in a squatting position. Lord did that help! My water broke during one of those pushes. Through the next few contractions by body went into crazy pushing mode. It was the strangest sensation and definitely felt better than the actual contractions. Until his head got close. That hurt. I could feel him coming down and those few minutes were the only part of the entire process that I felt out of control for a second. I was able to reach down and feel his head crowing and then pushed it the rest of the way out during the next contraction. The only time I actually felt like I was helping my body push was when his head and shoulders came out. I felt so much pressure and some burning and then once his head was out, it was a short period of relief and then I pushed like hell to get his shoulders out. And then instant relief. Taylor said I sounded like an Amazonian woman when I was pushing. I'd say that's pretty accurate. Definitely couldn't control the sounds I was making at that point. Very low, growling craziness. It was the most incredible thing I have ever experienced. At 5:59am, 5 1/2 hours after my labor began, Kim reached down and handed Rowan right to me and I was just I shock and so happy and felt a million amazing emotions all at once. I kissed his sweet vernixy head and I was in love! It took him a minute to cry, but I think he was just so peaceful coming out of the water that he didn't feel the need to right away. After the cord stopped pulsing, Taylor cut it and did skin to skin while I climbed out of the tub and onto the bed to deliver the placenta. It's amazing to me that I was able to get up and walk around and feel completely normal and amazing minutes after giving birth. I held him skin to skin and he started nursing shortly after. We stayed snuggled up for a while. Then they checked him out, weighed him and measured him 8lbs 0.7oz, 21 inches long. Head and chest were both 13.5. He was perfect and BIG for being born at 37w6d. After about an hour and a half, Joye came with Finley and he got to meet his new baby brother! It was the sweetest thing in the world! He kept saying "Rowan! Rowan! Brother!" And kissing him. My heart nearly exploded. Over the next 6 hours, they checked both Rowan and I and then it was time to go home! The amount of time I was awake from when I went into labor and then finally slept again was about 24 hours (with only two hours of sleep before that) but the rush of hormones and the clarity I had from not being on drugs made me feel like I could stay awake forever! It's just now catching up with me.
It was such a peaceful, beautiful, perfect birth experience. Everything I could have ever hoped for!
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