At 4:30am on June 20th (just 3 days before my due date) Quinn woke up and crawled into bed with me, she snuggled next to me and fell right back to sleep but after that I couldn't sleep. At about 5:15 I felt my first contraction. The past week or so I had experienced hours of faint contractions that were coming regularly, but they had always fizzled out. This one was in my back, just the same as my contractions with Hayden and Quinn. I knew this was going to be the day. After I felt it I couldn't sleep. I got out of bed and ate breakfast at home instead of at work for once, talked to my mom about my contractions and my plan for the day, and took a hot shower. I decided to go to work and go about my day as usual. Brian was at school that day until about 7:30pm, my plan was to have my younger sister be there until he could make it. Rachel was working that day, so I figured she could take me to the hospital from work.
I loved telling my coworkers that I was in early labor and seeing the look of panic on their faces. It was great. The whole morning was spent working and timing my contractions on my phone. I had brought light snacks and lunch, and made a point to eat often. Finally at 2:30 I decided I needed to get to the hospital and see what was going on. My contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart and getting uncomfortable. I wasn't worried about getting there too early, I wanted to labor in the hot tub like I did with Quinn!!! So I got my hospital bag out of my sister Tawnya's car and Rachel and I headed to the hospital. Kahlan picked a busy day to be born! Triage was insanely busy, we waited for about an hour before we were called back. In that time I found getting down on all fours and swaying my hips gave me the most comfort. I felt silly doing it, but whatever lessened the pain! Around 3:30 we got called back to Triage, they checked me and told me I was 4-5 cm dilated and my water was intact. I thought I had been leaking fluid, but I guess not. They monitored me for about 20 minutes and then sent me out to walk.
Rachel and I walked for over an hour, we talked about whatever came to mind. At about 5:00 I decided to stop in my little "room" in triage and get a snack (I love that my hospital allows you to eat and drink during labor!!). They also monitored me for another 20 minutes, and then we were back walking again. During our laps I ran into my midwife, Kate. She chatted with me and made sure I was doing ok. Rachel and I had noticed a few empty rooms in L&D so we hoped I would be moved to a room soon.At this point my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and very strong. I found that as I was walking when I got a contraction it helped to lift my legs high, like I was marching. I felt silly and I got a couple of comments from the nurses, but again, you've gotta do what you've gotta do!!! There was a couple walking the hall, a girl and her husband. The poor lady looked so miserable, It surprised me to learn that she was barely dilated to a 1 and they sent her home. I was sure she was going to have her baby in the hall! I tell you about this girl because around 7pm I got a new nurse. She was told that there was a girl walking the halls, who was 6 cm dilated (but the other nurse told me I was 4-5 cm dilated!!! I will never know why she said one thing and wrote down another!) and that this girl would be getting a room soon. So the new nurse observes two girls walking the hallway, one looks miserable and the other is chatting away with her sister, and marching every couple of minutes (lol) Who do you think she would have thought was 6 cm dilated?? Yeah, she almost approached the other girl and told her that her room was ready. This nurse, Edna, told me I didn't look like I was in labor at all and said I was a rockstar. I really liked her. Too bad she missed the birth. :P
So around 8:00 I got my room. Before that I had talked to Brian who was on his way to the hospital. We had a problem. He had homework due that he needed his book for that had to be completed that night. Our house isn't terribly close to the hospital. I had somehow knew that he wouldn't be able to stay, but I hadn't mentioned it to Rachel. I asked her if she would stay until the baby was born. She called her husband and talked to him and he said yes. What a relief! So when I got my room the wanted to monitor me for another 20 minutes before I could get into the tub. They also wanted to give me an IV port so they could give me pitocin after the birth, I bled really bad after Hayden and Quinn, so this was to hopefully prevent that from happening again.So Edna tried twice to get the port in with no success. Ouch. She went and got another nurse who did it on the first try. Having someone trying to stick a needle in your vein while having pretty intense contractions is NOT.FUN. 20 minutes went by, Brian showed up, Rachel went to get dinner, and I was SO ready to be out of that bed and into the hot tub. The hospital was busy. Both Kate the midwife and Edna the nurse would disappear for long stretches. Edna had come in and taken me off the monitors and then left, so I took matters into my own hands and started filling the tub. I changed into my bikini top (for modesty, LOL!) and hopped into the tub. It was about 8:45. Brian was in the room starting on his homework and I called him in and told him I was ok if he left to go home. I honestly was. He seemed relieved. I know he doesn't like seeing me in pain and he's not the most involved husband when it comes to labor. That's ok. I love him. So he went home.
After Brian left Kate came in and we chatted for a while. She asked if she could check me. I was at 8cm. Transition. She told me that she could break my water to speed things up or we could keep going as is. I told her that I was afraid of the pain that was imminent. We would continue as is. My contractions were exactly the same as they had been at this point with Quinn. They would start out painful, but tolerable and then a few seconds in the pain would intensify. With Quinn I freaked out during these contractions and got hysterical. This time I was prepared and was able to make it through these intensely painful contractions without hysteria. I had to moan through them and I couldn't concentrate on my mantra which was Phillipians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me". Rachel had started pouring water on my back during contractions,so I asked her if she could repeat my mantra for me. She had to practically yell it while I moaned through the contractions. I was starting to get the feeling like I couldn't do this anymore. I told Rachel that. She told me I was in transition.During the next contraction my water broke. I told Rachel to get the nurse and I hopped out of the tub (I have no idea why!) and started pacing the room (I didn't even dry myself off!). I think I needed to push as soon as my water broke. But I didn't say anything. I had 3 or 4 very intense contractions. I was freaking out. I couldn't do this anymore. All of the sudden the urge to push was impossible to ignore. I laid myself on the bed (sideways) and the nurse went to find Kate. Both Kate and Edna were next door delivering a baby. So they grabbed the nearest OB and the other nurse checked me. Kahlan was crowning. I was laying on my side, across the bed, with my legs hanging off. Not the best position for having a baby, but they didn't make me move. Dr. Grabowski came in just at the nick of time. A few pushes and baby Kahlan was out. Boy was that a relief! I kept asking Rachel, "Am I really done??" The nurse handed her to me while I delivered the placenta and Rachel cut the cord. Kahlan peed on me. They took her away to put a diaper on her and clean her up a little and swaddle her up. Rachel snapped a picture on her phone. They gave her back to me and I nursed her. The adrenaline had me shaking uncontrollably, and all of the sudden I was freezing cold. They covered us with warm blankets. Rachel went to get me dinner from Wendy's, a chicken sandwich and a dr. pepper. I called Brian and informed the rest of my family. She was born at 10:12pm on June 20th. She was my biggest yet, 9lbs3oz and 21 1/4 inches long.
1 comment:
LOL, I had forgotten some of those details. What a great story.
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