March 23rd I lost my mucus plug but still had no signs of labor, just a couple braxton hicks and then they would stop. I was getting extremely discouraged and thought I would never have the home birth I wanted.
March 24th I had contractions that were very sporadic, and not painful at all just annoying. But it was the first day that I had more than just a couple contractions so I thought maybe this was it and they would progress. Nope. They stopped.
March 25th was a good day for me, instead of obsessing over when he would get here I spent time on myself and with the boys, it was a beautiful day. For once, I didn't want to go into labor because it was Good Friday and Chris absolutely had to work so he could get double time and a half. I took Chris lunch and then dropped the boys off with my brother so I could go get a pedicure. I had a few not-so-painful contractions while there then I went to get the boys and took them to see Zootopia at the movie theater. I had a few there also, and on the way home they kicked in a bit more. I got home and couldn't get the boys out because they had fallen asleep and my contractions were every 5-8 minutes. I was waiting for Chris to get home to help me get them inside when my contractions completely stopped as soon as I got out of the car. **Any physical activity made my contractions go away completely until I would sit back down. It was the weirdest thing. It was like this from the first day I started having them up until I got into transition during active labor.**
7pm- Chris got home 15 minutes after me and we brought the boys inside, ate, I did homework, then I put the boys to bed and contractions started again as soon as I laid down and continued through out the night. I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep around 2am and I started having to breathe through them. Around 6 am they stopped and I went back to bed. (I have to give a huge thank you to Courtney Rollins for staying awake that entire time texting me, while pregnant herself with two toddlers also, and encouraging me and just keeping me company)
March 26th Chris had the day off. I was having a few contractions that I had to breathe and concentrate through. I didn't think anything would come from them though and I didn't want to sit inside all day having false labor when it was another beautiful day outside. We decided to go to Chris' moms house since it's close incase anything happened but would give us something to do. On the way there I made Chris pull over during a contraction, they were getting painful but still sporadic. I started feeling more and more pressure in my butt and sitting down was not fun. Standing didn't really feel too great either. I was just uncomfortable and in pain and it sucked. I desperately needed it to either progress or just stop because I felt like I was going through all this pain for nothing.
Around 2 pm I went to the bathroom and started having a contraction while I was peeing so I leaned back to try and relax my body and I felt a small gush of fluid. My immediate reaction was "Omg my water just broke, finally!" LOL. I started hollering for Chris because I was kind of in shock and wanted his company for comfort. He came in and I told him I thought my water broke but I wasn't sure. Then the shock wore off and I thought there was no way it was my water because it was just a little gush. I called my midwife Linda and she told me to lie down and call her back if more came out. The more I thought about it the more it made sense that I was probably just peeing and the baby kicked and put pressure on my bladder really fast making my pee come out faster. We were about to cook out so Chris left to get fajita meat. My contractions picked up and I had a little more discharge than what was normal for me so I told Linda and she said she was on her way to our house in Canton to check me.
3pm- I text Chris and told him to hurry back because we had to meet Linda at the house so she could check me. I went and sat on the side by side and my contractions stopped once again. Then a wasp flew in it and I had to jump out and that brought on a pretty painful contraction. Chris came back with the fajitas and I had another contraction walking to the car so I had to lean on him to get through it and then we had to jet.
3:15pm- We arrived home and I had 3 hard contractions from the time I got out of the car to the bedroom. I had to walk very slowly into the house because the pressure, the contractions, and the pain in my lower back were getting worse. In between contractions the pain didn't go away, my back would still ache and it felt like I had period cramps. So from this point on there was no escaping the pain and I was so concentrated on coping with the pain that it was almost as if I had no idea what was going on around me. Linda checked me and I was at a 6. She also let me know that my first bag of water had broke, so that was what the gush of fluid was. I never even knew that you have two bags of water.
3:30pm- Linda let Sheila, her student midwife, know that I was in labor and to head this way. I text my mom, mother-in-law, and put a snap on snapchat all saying "It's baby time!" I tried finding some comfy pajamas or underwear to labor in but I had to stop because I couldn't even think straight. Chris turned into superman and cleaned the entire house basically. He cleared out the room, moved the bed, blew up the birth pool, got the water hose to reach into the bedroom after having to rig two of them together. He washed all my pajama pants and got the camera ready and whatever else I didn't notice because I was in a state of delusion lol.
3:40pm- I had to stop texting and getting on snapchat to concentrate through the contractions. They were like nothing I had ever felt. I was trying to help Chris work the camera and get things set up but I just couldn't anymore. I so badly wanted to be helping prep everything but I had to find a comfortable position to accommodate the contractions and nothing worked. Sheila arrived and I was all over the place and without pants. Leaning on the bed, on my hands and knees, lying down on my side. I was swaying my hips and humming loud through contractions. Sometime during all this my water broke because now with every contraction came some fluid. I remember getting a whiff of it and it smelt just like brownies so I knew it was my water. Haha, I had read earlier (after googling how to tell if your water broke) that you can tell that it's your water because it smells really sweet. You learn something new everyday.
4:00pm- So here I am, Linda's trying to keep a pad under me that looks like a puppy pee pad (they came in my birthing kit and I'm so glad we had so many.) I'm swaying, moaning, cussing, humming, crawling around, can't even really open my eyes. Linda and Sheila are putting counter pressure on my back and it takes the pain out of my back which was AH-MAZING but then my knees are killing me because they're digging into the floor and my arms were getting tired of holding my body up. I wanted to be able to get comfortable, at least just a little, but it wasn't happening.
4:40pm: I'm just guessing the time by now because everything became sort of a blur after we got everything set up. Linda said we needed to go ahead and fill up the pool. We turned the lights off and Linda put on her birthing music, everything was tranquil besides me. I was trying so hard to remember everything I read about really digging deep to find that inner strength and peace. I was trying to breathe. It was so hard. The contractions were back to back, my stomach would tighten, my back would start throbbing then here would come this huge wave of pressure in my butt and pain that traveled from my back to my upper thighs.
5pm- The water cooled down enough for me to get in. Linda told me to test it to see if it felt okay and at first it seemed hot and I said no, then I submerged into it and even though it was kind of hot it was SUCH a relief. The bottom of it was padded and so the pressure on my butt was relieved slightly. I figured being in a squatting position or on my hands and knees would be more comfortable but it wasn't. It made the pain worse, so I just leaned back and spread out into the tub. My contractions slowed down as soon as I got in the water but got more effective. They weren't back to back but they were extremely extremely painful. Linda was making sure I slowed my breathing and stopped panicking. She would remind me to hum deeply like a man and not just moan. She reminded me that yelling was wasting my energy and I needed to regain focus.
I started saying I can't do this, please get this baby out of me, my butt hurts so bad, I don't ever want to do this again, and right about that time I felt all my muscles in my body start to bear down and it FREAKED ME OUT, I started screaming. I had no sign that told me I was ready to start pushing, I hadn't been checked again yet, it just didn't feel like I was open enough or like he was going to fit at all. My body pushed as hard as it could and I fought it the whole way through screaming and breathing fast, panicking. Linda told me to calm my breathing and then she checked me and said "there's a tiny lip of cervix and you can push right on through it." I didn't want to push, it felt like my butt was going to explode and it didn't feel like my pushes were working to bring him down. I couldn't feel him in the birth canal like I thought I would. I didn't feel like I was doing it right but my body kept bearing down with every contraction. Linda checked to see where his head was and it was right there, about to crown. She told me to feel and I felt it and all I remember saying was "ew that's gross!" His head was squishy and slimy, haha! I pushed again and it felt like my vagina was going to completely rip open, I started feeling it sting and then it reallllllllly started to feel like it was on fire. But for the first time I could feel him, I could feel his head moving down through and it was a relief, like everything I was doing was working. I still couldn't help but scream, it really did hurt, very bad, but it was not unbearable or something I couldn't handle. I just thought he was going to rip me open so I was freaking out. I screamed so loud my throat was sore. As soon as his head came out it felt so much better. He was right there. Linda felt for his cord to make sure it wasn't around his neck, she adjusted his head, she never took her hands off of him or stopped making sure everything was going perfect. I pushed again and felt so much pressure in my belly now, she started doing what she could to get him out and I was grunting and saying "get him out!"
Then just like that, at 5:46pm, he slid out and she lifted him out of the water right on to my chest and there he was. His eyes wide open and I said "oh my baby!" I was amazed. I couldn't believe that really just happened. I had just experienced the ultimate, coolest, most raw, amazing experience. My body did all of this. I was in shock and over the moon happy. I wanted out of the water immediately but wasn't sure what to do because the cord was still pumping blood into him and I had to deliver the placenta.
I got helped out of the water and on to the bed where Linda had put those puppy-like pads under some of our old sheets to protect the bed, then on top of the sheets she also placed more of the pads. I got to study the cord and feel it pulsate, it was so cool. It felt like it had a heartbeat. After it got done Linda wanted me to deliver the placenta. You never hear or see anything about the placenta in birth stories or birthing videos. So I didn't know what it would be like. She told me to just give a good push, I did and it came right out. No pain, nothing. She checked me out to see if I needed stitches and I was good! No tearing or hemmeroids. Chris went and got us all something to eat. I ate a few bites of my Subway sandwich and then cuddled with River. We cut and clamped off the cord and then Chris held River while I took a super long much needed hot shower.
Chris has been awesome through all of this. He has waited on me hand and foot. Helped me change my Depends, fed me, got me water, adjusted my pillows, making sure I have medicine if I need it, constantly checking on me, he's slept on the couch so me and River could have the bed for recovering, he got the boys stuff for their Easter baskets without me even asking, he's just been awesome. This experience has made me love him even more and cherish our relationship. I am so grateful he was willing to film the entire thing. The camera said "card full" literally like 2 seconds after River was born. We got lucky!
