This post is incredibly long and probably way more information than you want, but I want to remember every single bitty piece and i didn't want to have to do a rewrite from the one I did for myself, so hopefully you don't get too bored with my long story!!!
It all started on a dark and stormy night. Okay so it didn’t, but fall was approaching. We’ve had the greatest summer ever and have even had a nice warm fall. I’ve been in love with the weather. I had given up that Chloe was going to come in October and had fully resigned to the fact that she was going to be born at the beginning of November. On Friday the 28th we rented Jane Eyre from the redbox because I’ve been wanting to see it so badly. Cory liked it more than me. I don’t know what that’s all about, but I seriously regret having lost any sleep to that movie. I imagined it more bright and sunny, but it was portrayed quite strangely in the film, but back to my real story and staying away from movie critiques. Around 1am I started waking up frequently-well about every hour because I was having some mild contractions. They were strong enough to wake me up and then I’d go back to sleep. I didn’t sleep awesome that night because I awoke several times during the night. On Saturday I told Cory I was having contractions about every hour, but I wasn’t sure what that meant. I didn’t know if I was in labor for sure or if my body was just getting ready some more.
We had errands to run. Remember my flat tire? We still needed to get a replacement and we needed to buy some baby clothes. We ended up in Lehi because who would have known that they have about five tire places in about five minutes of each other. We ended up being able to buy a used tire to accompany our other three tires that didn’t go flat. We couldn’t resist going to Lehi Bakery for donuts. Yum. My contractions started coming a little more frequently anywhere between a ½ to 45 minutes inbetween each one. I started to think that this might be the real deal. Every where we went I kept thinking-wow-none of these people know that I’m in labor. What a fun little secret. The donuts from Lehi Bakery were completely worth it. After that I tried to convince Cory that we should get a Papa Murphy pizza because I didn’t feel like cooking with the contractions and all, but Cory didn’t really want to. He said he would do the cooking. I thought-well okay. We came home and put Isaak down for a nap, then Cory started dinner a little while later and I took a much needed two hour nap. I was trying to get ready because I thought this baby is coming and I don’t want to be exhausted! During dinner Cory ended up needing some help and I was a little ornery about it because my contractions were coming about every 15 minutes at this point and I didn’t want to clean up dishes and cook. I have to give it up to Cory because I think he realized during dinner that I was truly in labor and he felt really bad that he didn’t acquiesce to getting the pizza. Our cauliflower soup ended up being pretty delicious though. Cory was watching the Uof U football game. Yes I labored to the good ole team in red playing one of their best games yet. During half time we went up to a block party a few houses up the street. I had alerted my Doula at this point that my contractions were definitely becoming more intense and I was starting to think that it was maybe going to happen soon. But I was thinking in the back of my head that it might quit at any time, so I wasn’t incredibly decisive about anything. At the block party, we discussed our emergency contacts in case of an emergency and had fun watching Isaak play with some of the neighborhood kids. He had a blast. Then as we headed back home my contractions started to get a little closer together and more intense.
When we got home we put on Two Weeks Notice and I sat down on the couch. My contractions were coming about every ten minutes and I would sway my hips and dance little jigs to make Isaak and Cory laugh at me. We finally got around to putting Isaak to bed after 9pm and I was cuddling with him in bed realizing it was the last time before we’d have a bigger family. My breathing would get much deeper when I was having a contraction and Isaak started breathing with me, but instead of breathing out he’s say, “ARGH!” like a pirate for the entire time I was breathing out. It gave me so much strength to realize he was aware that something was happening. I stayed with him for about half an hour and then I went and got my IPOD. I got into bed on my side, turned on my ocean music and let my body completely relax. My contractions continued to get closer and closer. Cory was doing the dishes and installing the car seat while I was trying to relax. After about an hour I needed help. I also emptied out my stomach--all that cauliflower soup came right back up. So sad. Cory had alerted our doula the fabulous Kayte to come help us. She was on her way. Cory did some counter pressure and a couple other positions to help me through some of the harder contractions like he’d press on my knees to relieve the pressure in my hips and then let me hang on his neck so I didn’t feel my weight. I had several different types of contractions. Some were what I’d call the most intense where the contraction or surge of energy would start at the top of my uterus and then radiate all the way down to my thighs and then others would only be in the lower part of my uterus. I liked those ones better.
Kayte arrived in perfect timing. It was starting to get more difficult. My goal was to labor at home as long as possible and then go to the hospital for the delivery. We only live about five minutes from the hospital. Kayte and Cory kept using massage, counter pressure and different poses to help me through. We were constantly changing positions and moving. At one point the baby seemed to be putting so much pressure on my back and then I got into tabletop pose--a yoga pose and it helped alleviate the pressure immediately --that was Kayte’s idea by the way. At this point my contractions were about four minutes apart and I had no concept of time. It all seemed to be happening so quickly to me. I couldn’t decide if we should go to the hospital or not, but I wanted to get into the tub. I think one of the best things that happened was that Kayte talked me into getting into our tub at home. I thought I was only in the tub for about five minutes, but I guess it was really about 45 minutes. Then we were going to head out to the hospital leaving Isaak asleep in bed with our neighbors upstairs listening for him, but I just wanted to sit down for a minute before we left. I really wanted to lay down so bad, but I knew that my body wouldn’t be comfortable, so I simply sat on the floor and then Cory sat down next to me with his arms wrapped around me and I just leaned into him. At this point Isaak woke up and said that his belly hurt. He came out and laid down on my leg while I worked through contractions. I loved that he was there. It made me work harder and I don’t know if his belly really hurt or if he could just tell that something was happening. I kind of started to turn inward at this point. I have been visualizing and imagining what my labor would look like. I even bought a black skirt to labor in which I actually was wearing the grey one. Oops, but it kind of turned out exactly how I imagined it. I could feel myself just giving in and then sometimes really struggling, but each time I almost wanted to yell out or tense up Cory and Kayte would whisper to stay calm and keep it low. I used my voice to help work through contractions almost imagining that my voice was carrying the energy out of my body and allowing it to relax. My contractions were coming so quickly at this point that I didn’t feel like I was having any breaks and I just felt so tired. I would try to imagine the energy spiraling downwards and seeping into the ground each contraction that I had. I thought that we had sat on the floor for about ten minutes, but it was really two hours. Cory and Kayte keep taking breaks and trading places and I remember thinking sheesh why are they so tired we have only been here for a few minutes. We ended up calling Marsha to come sit with Isaak since he kept wandering out of bed and we didn’t want to have to go wake up the neighbors at 2am. As soon as she arrived I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t. For some reason I just couldn’t walk. Cory carried me up our gigantic stone steps to the car. He was grunting a bit. Poor guy.
On the ride to the hospital I was so afraid that I wouldn’t be able to do it. I felt like Cory and Kayte were literally angels supporting me through everything. I felt like they were literally lifting me up and carrying me through the experience. I know it sounds cliché, but that is what it felt like. When we got to the car I just started praying with my whole heart. I knew that I needed help and I kept asking Heavenly Father to help strengthen me and help me through. I couldn’t believe it when we pulled into the hospital parking lot. It felt like it had literally been seconds. Cory carried me into the hospital and they got me a wheelchair. As we went up to labor and delivery they tried to get me into a bed in triage and I was having contractions so frequently that I just couldn’t get out of the chair. It took all my energy trying to work through them. The nurse turned to Kayte and Cory and asked them if they thought I was seriously in labor. They both said, “YES,” so they bypassed triage and got me into the room. I was finally able to get up unto the bed and the nurse quickly checked me and said, “Wow--are you ready to have the baby? Are you ready to push? You are complete at a ten.” I almost started crying. I had prepared myself to be a 6, but I couldn’t believe that I had done labor. I did it. We did it. I was so excited. We had called the Midwife just before I got out of the tub and told her that we were coming. Thankfully she showed tons of patience and waited the two hours out at the hospital because they quickly found her so that I could start pushing. They got everything all ready and Cory was in place to receive the baby. I couldn’t believe it was happening so smoothly. I just remember being so tired. The nurse in labor and delivery, Doni, grabbed my hand and kept whispering that I could do it and she kept telling me to breath down and not worry about pushing, but breathing down. I started pushing at 3:10am. I kept saying, I’m so tired, Wow, This is hard work. People refer to pushing as if you are pushing through a ring of fire and I can think of no other way to describe it. The sensation isn’t painful, but you can feel this burning like a ring of fire. Doni kept telling me to just push through the ring of fire and it would all pass. I tried to breath down with each contraction and slowly, but surely it started happening. I really wasn’t sure I could do it because I was so tired, but then I realized that I kind of had to do it if I wanted to be finished. My perineum was super tight, so the Jenn kept working to help stretch the perineum as the head started to crown. They kept saying that they could see the head, but I didn’t really believe that I had made any progress, but Jenn encouraged me to reach down and touch the head. Sure enough there was the top of her head. I was shocked and realized that I could do it. I squeezed pour Doni’s hand so hard! I was sure she was loosing circulation, but she just kept on encouraging me. Finally I felt this instant relief of the burning sensation and the baby was in Cory’s hands. I wish I could describe it better, but it seems like all the sudden she just busted free and came sliding out to meet us. I started crying because I was so relieved that it was finished. Instantaneously I felt awesome. I was so happy. We had done it. The pushing was much harder than I imagined it was going to be-it’s a lot of working trying to get that baby out. They immediately placed Chloe on my chest and she was just talking away telling us all kinds of things. I like how Kayte put it--she said, “Wow she has a lot to tell us about what just happened.” I can imagine that she did. The nurses handed us a towel and we worked on drying her off a bit while she cuddled with us. We let the cord finish pulsating so that all the cord blood went to Chloe, which was at least about 15 minutes and then Cory was able to cut the cord. Everything had gone perfectly--just how we imagined it. Perfectly. Jenn(the midwife), the nurses and everyone kept telling me that I was awesome. I can’t begin to describe how good it felt to know that we had done it. Jenn said that my placenta was incredibly strong and healthy which made me feel pretty proud that my body had created such a safe place for the baby. One of my favorite moments was watching everyone’s face as the baby was born. It was like a miracle had just taken place. I know it’s cheesy, but it was perfect.
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