Thursday, August 28
I started having some pre labor contractions that evening and all through the night, causing me to get very minimal sleep.
Friday, August 29
The contractions continued all the next day but never getting much closer together than 10 minutes apart. I knew they weren't the real deal but they were annoying and uncomfortable nonetheless. In order to keep my mind off things, I decided to head to Chris' football game - the distraction might end up being good for me. Since it was my due date, everyone was shocked that I was at the game and kept asking me to wait until after the game to go into labor. (We did win the game!) Contractions continued to come the rest of the night.
Saturday, August 30
12:00am - The contractions finally get closer, hitting the 8 minute mark. Now we're getting somewhere. Neither Chris or I had really gotten any sleep up to this point and it didn't look like we were going to the rest of the night either. He was helping me get through the contractions with some counter pressure and some other techniques that our doula, Breanna, suggested. Chris remained in contact with her throughout the night, keeping her updated on contraction times and looking for some guidance on things to try.
5:00am - Water breaks. That's quite the interesting feeling! I contact the midwife on call and it is recommended for me to come in once contractions are about 3-5 minutes apart. We knew we had a little ways to go, but that we had 24 hours from my water breaking before a water birth was out of the question. Plenty of time. Ha!
1:30pm - Contractions are coming on strong and hovering around the 6 minute mark. Chris continued to be a great support and helped in any way that he could. We tried a bunch of different techniques to manage the pain. Some helped, some didn't. Around this time, the contractions were coming on much stronger and longer so we decided that it would be smart to start heading to the hospital.
2:30pm - All checked in at the hospital and we are told that I'm dilated 6-7cm and 90% effaced. I felt great about that! Breanna meets us at the hospital and we just start walking the halls to help encourage the labor to progress. Once we get to the hospital my concept of time goes completely out the window. All I know is that I continue to have contractions that are getting progressively stronger and longer. I'm walking the halls, sitting in the water birth tub...whatever it takes to get the show on the road.
Sunday, August 31
Somewhere around midnight maybe I get checked again that I'm at 9cm. I feel good and bad about this - good cause I'm almost there. Bad because it's taking forever! At this point, I'm so tired from no sleep in 2 days and dealing with the contractions, which are now very intense and lasting 2+ minutes. After trying a few more things to get over the hump, I am checked again and I'm still only at 9cm. Now a decision needs to be made.
2:00am-ish - The midwife on call suggests that I get pitocin to help get that last little bit. Chris and I have been against any sort of medications for the birth from the beginning so hearing that put me us both off a little. However, I knew that I was physically and mentally exhausted from being in labor over 24 hours at this point. I really didn't want to give in but at the same time I didn't know if I could go much longer on my own. Contractions on pitocin are much stronger and intense than natural contractions so because of that an epidural was also suggested. After discussing it with Chris (who had hit his limit of watching me go through the pain) and Breanna, we decided that we would go ahead and forgo the unmedicated water birth that we really wanted to have and move forward with pitocin and epidural. I cried the entire time I was getting the epidural. This was not how things were supposed to go. It was such an extremely hard decision to make and I didn't want to end up having regrets about the whole birth experience.
7:30am - Let the pushing begin!
7:58am - After 32 hour of labor, Chris announces that our son, Wynn David is born. He is placed on my chest immediately and I feel a huge sense of relief and overwhelming love for this little guy. Once Wynn was born, I didn't care what it took to get him here, I was just thankful that he was healthy.
Just a quick note about Breanna, our doula. We could not have done it without her. Seriously. She provided so much support and comfort for both Chris and I. By far one of the best decisions we made and we can't wait to have her by our side when it's time for baby #2. We would highly recommend a doula to anyone!
