Becky, United States
I had a very easy pregnancy, and was in no hurry for my baby to come. Excited, of course, but perfectly content with a couple more weeks of pregnancy.
I was at 39 weeks and 2 days, and the baby hadn't dropped or shown any significant signs of labor coming soon.
July 30th, 2010, at 8:00pm I had some bloody show. I wasn't sure how long it would be before labor started, as it can be anywhere from hours to days when you have bloody show. But four hours later, I felt my first “real” contraction. As soon as I felt a couple of them, I knew it was the real thing.
I tried my best to sleep, but they started out fairly painful (all in my very narrow hips) and there was no way I could sleep through them. They were coming about every 15 or 20 minutes for a couple of hours, then started getting a little stronger. At 3am, they were every 5-10 minutes apart and I called my midwife to let her know.
I finally woke up my husband and told him. I'd been putting it off and I wasn't sure how he would react, and I wanted to make sure he got at least a little sleep. My midwife told me to time them for an hour and then call her back. I did, and when I was moving around they got up to 2-3 minutes apart, but slowed way down when I lay back down in bed, back to 5-10 minutes.
I called her back and let her know, and she decided to come see me and check my progress. I was at about a 3, and that got me a little bit worried because they were more painful than I thought they should be for a 3. The pain was still all in my hips. She went downstairs to take a nap and let me rest, and about an hour and a half later she came to check me again, to see if I was actually progressing or if I'd just been at a 3 all along.
I knew I was progressing, I could just tell by how I felt that something was happening. However, she said I was probably about a 3 1/2, which was disappointing to me, because again, it was more painful then I expected it to be for only a 3. She told Will to go buy some Tylonol PM and have me eat a little bit and try to sleep.
I thought she was crazy, there was no way I could sleep through the contractions. She left, and I took a hot shower, which felt really good, and then went back to bed, not even close to being able to sleep. My contractions didn't show much sign of getting closer together yet, still pretty far apart and not that strong, but still painful enough for me to wonder how I was going to handle it when I got farther along.
At around 9am, my water started leaking. My contractions immediately jumped up to 3 minutes apart, much more regular. Not a lot more painful, but enough for me to start groaning and breathing hard during them. Then all the sudden I was feeling urges to push. Will called the midwife and told her that my contractions were 3 minutes apart and I wanted to go to the birth center, but not about the pushing – I hadn't told him that.
She said she would come and check me again. I said no, we need to go to the birth center and I need to push. We went out to the car where I sat in the back seat, trying to stay somewhat comfortable and resist pushing.
We took a different route to the birth center, which was silly but it was the fastest way – luckily Will knew where to go. We got there at about 10:00, where both the midwives saw me and were a little shocked at how “in labor” I looked. They checked me and I don't know what I was dilated to, but they said I had “really progressed!!”, and began getting things ready for the birth.
I went to the bathroom and I felt like I was going to push the baby out in the toilet, the contractions were so strong. Not very painful, however, just very, very strong.
The breathing I was doing was more to keep from feeling like I was going to explode than to handle the pain. I came back out and lay on the bed for a few more minutes, and then they had me get on the birth stool.
It was much more comfortable there, and Will sat right behind me and rubbed my back to help me relax. The contractions started slowing down a little bit, enough to really help me relax in between them. They were very short, probably only 30 seconds long and every 3 minutes, but there was SO much pressure. It felt so good to be able to push. I was very tired of holding it in. After a few pushes I could really feel the head in my pelvis. I was careful to push very slowly and stay as relaxed as possible, and it helped a lot. The head popped out after 15 minutes or so, and the rest of the body was easy to push out. I was completely shocked when she came out, partly because that something that size had fit, and partly because it was so easy.
Kaylee Ann was born at 10:47am, July 31st, 2010 – 45 minutes after we got to the birth center! She came out and immediately started crying, very healthy with a 10/10 apgar score. She was 7lb 5oz and 21 inches long. Overall, I loved my birth experience. It was amazing and exactly what I wished for.
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