February 26th around 8pm, my contractions started. I had 4 that hour and about 6 every hour until midnight. At midnight we went to sleep, so I stopped counting. The contractions were uncomfortable, but for the most part nothing I couldn't sleep through.
I woke up at 6am on the 27th starving and still having contractions. My mom was on her way here (a 6 hour drive) so she wouldn't miss the birth (little did we know she had plenty of time). Brandon made me some turkey bacon and toast. I walked around, sat on the birth ball, and took a nap. The contractions were mild, but frequent. They were coming every 5 minutes consistently by around 10am. The hospital said to stay home and walk until the pain was too strong to walk or talk through. At this point, I got in the bath to try to relax. Walking was uncomfortable, but I was making laps around the dining room table. The poor dogs were so worried about me and confused by my pacing. Around 3:30pm, the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and had gotten to the point that we thought it was time to go in.
When we arrived at the hospital, I was 4cm dilated and fully effaced. They said I could go ahead and be admitted or go home to walk around some more. I didn't feel like going home, so we opted to go ahead and get the process started. They admitted me, placed my IV catheter, and started fluids. I continued to have contractions that became more frequent and more intense. From here, things begin to blur together. My first midwife, Shelly James, continued to check in on me. After a couple of hours, she rechecked me. I was around 5cm dilated (not much progress). At this point, we decided to go ahead and break my water to try to speed things up. She was optimistic that things would happen quickly now. We were all optimistic at this point.
The morning of February 28th rolled in and I was still only about 6cm. Major Villacorta, who was my midwife throughout pregnancy, was on labor and delivery for the day. She thought it was time to start Pitocin. With the Pitocin, my contractions became very strong and painful. Thank goodness for my support system of Brandon, my mom, and Kristy! They were wonderful and so encouraging. A couple of hours later, on exam, she found that my bag of water was still intact and I hadn't progressed. Apparently, I must have had a forebag of water that they broke the first time. Major V, added an internal monitor (just a probe inserted into my uterus next to baby) to check my contractions internally (more accurate than the external monitor) and determined they were not strong enough to cause adequate progression. My dose of Pitocin was increased and my water was broken again (for real this time). It was now afternoon and I was in a tremendous amount of pain, in addition to being discouraged and exhausted. This birth had swerved greatly from our birth plan. Major V came back to check me a couple of hours later and I was still only around 7cm. They continued to increase my dose of Pitocin every hour. I was so discouraged and exhausted. I decided to leave my plan for natural childbirth behind and get an epidural to help my body relax (this is about hour 46). I was able to relax with much less pain for a couple of hours before I was fully dilated and ready to push.
February 28th 7ish pm, I was finally fully dilated and it was time to push. I was also on my 3rd doctor, Dr Rich. I pushed with each contraction and a lot of support from my team. After an hour and a half had passed, I again had not made a lot of progress, because I could not feel what/where I was supposed to be pushing. This was both a blessing and a hindrance. We decided the best thing to do was to turn off the epidural so I could feel the contractions and the pushing (Unfortunately, we couldn't just turn the epidural down). After about 30 minutes, I was definitely feeling the pain. I was told we needed to get her out soon, because they do not usually let the pushing go on for more than 2.5 hours. I had been through this much labor and I was not giving up and having a c-section now! So the pushing continued! Miss Adalyn continued her trend of doing things her way. She was coming out with her head turned to the side, instead of face down. This is probably why I was not progressing as expected and the pushing wasn't going smoothly, because she was not in the proper position. They allowed me to continue pushing because I was determined and Adalyn was never stressed during labor.
Around 11pm, Dr Rich came in to check our progress. I had pushed her just to the edge of the vaginal opening, but couldn't get her through. Dr Rich recommended an episiotomy to prevent extensive damage. We also decided to use the vacuum extractor to help get her head out. We discussed the pros and cons before doing anything. Since she was already crowning, the risks were lessened and the biggest advantage was getting her out for both of our benefits. The vacuum extractor is not as scary as it sounds. It was a hand pumped suction cup essentially. Adalyn's head was soon out! I thought it was easy peasy from there, but no, the shoulders hurt! However, it was over before I knew it and she was in my arms at 11:38pm! From there nothing else mattered. The pain and the hours of labor were a distant memory. Brandon cut the umbilical cord and the nurse placed Adalyn on my chest for Kangaroo care.
Love at first sight doesn't even begin to describe the feeling of finally meeting and holding my baby girl. They did have to take her from my chest briefly to suction some mucus. Brandon stayed with her the entire time and then brought her back to me. That was the second greatest moment of the night, seeing both of my loves together. Meanwhile, I passed the placenta and was sutured up. The rest of the night is a blissful blur!
Kristy from Bella Posa Photography was with us for the birth (and much of the labor) to capture our priceless moments.
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