Since our little girl is almost 4 weeks old I decided it was time to write her birth story. I want to put down the details before I start to forget them. This is the first time I have had a chance to look at all the pictures from birth and I am reminded of all the emotions I experienced. I have feared child birth my whole entire life and it is so surreal to know that I actually did it, barely, but I did. Now before you continue I should warn you: There will be lots of photos and it will be lengthy in text in the two following blog posts. Just needed to put that disclaimer out there in case you didn't want to read on. Since I some day hope to turn this blog in to a book I want to record as much as I can.
December 30-31, 2012:
I had started to feel light contractions during the day...maybe about every 1.5-2 hours. There weren't too bad but I was excited as I knew it was a sign of labor. I still had my doubts that we would progress at a quick rate since this was my first birth. We celebrated the New Year with my family and drove home that night. One the drive home I could feel that our sweet girl had dropped. I was so excited that night I could hardly sleep. My contractions also started to get strong enough to wake me up every time they occurred.
January 1, 2013:
Woke up that morning and let me mom know about the contractions. They started to get closer together and quite a bit more painful. As the day progressed they got worse. I didn't sleep at all that night. I can't remember quite how close together they were because I knew they weren't close enough to matter.
January 2, 2013:
At this point I am exhausted. I haven't slept in a couple of nights. Derek's family came in to town and we went out to dinner that night. My contractions were starting to get closer together so I started to keep track. They started at about 15 minutes apart and very quickly moved to 9 then 8. I was trying to maintain my pain and excitement. I didn't want to get anyone too excited as I still thought our sweet girl would be coming late. With that train of thought I didn't know how I was going to continue to survive at that rate. The night continue and boy was it a long one. Contractions got really painful and up to 5 minutes apart. I called my mom and dad in the middle of the night to update them and to take my mind of the fact that I was in pain. I used me birthing ball (aka as an exercise ball) to try and ease the pain. Derek would put pressure on my hips and lower back. Poor guy was so exhausted. When my contractions hit 5 minutes apart I debated going to the hospital but forced myself to get through as much as I could. I had a doctors appointment the next morning at 11:00 and I wanted to wait until then. I didn't want to be that first time mom who checks herself into the hospital too early. Needless to say, no sleep came that night either.
January 3, 2013:
Morning:
Derek's family comes over in the morning to see me having contractions on the birthing ball. They had slowed down to 6 minutes apart but they were so painful. I just wanted to cry and multiple times I yelled at Derek because I needed him to be faster in coming to the rescue to help me through them. It was a joyous time. ha I managed to shower and put on half of my makeup before we headed out the door. Continued to have contractions while in the waiting room at the doctors. Everyone was staring. It was a good time. Finally they call me back and check me out. I was so happy to find that all these contractions were doing some good. They were about 5-6 minutes apart and I had progressed to 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. My midwife said, "Looks like you're in labor. Time to head to the hospital." I was so excited and relieved at the thought that our baby would hopefully be coming today.
As I was writing I decided this would be best split up in to two posts. So...to be continued. To give you incentive to read on, here is a cute picture of my baby girl.
December 30-31, 2012:
I had started to feel light contractions during the day...maybe about every 1.5-2 hours. There weren't too bad but I was excited as I knew it was a sign of labor. I still had my doubts that we would progress at a quick rate since this was my first birth. We celebrated the New Year with my family and drove home that night. One the drive home I could feel that our sweet girl had dropped. I was so excited that night I could hardly sleep. My contractions also started to get strong enough to wake me up every time they occurred.
January 1, 2013:
Woke up that morning and let me mom know about the contractions. They started to get closer together and quite a bit more painful. As the day progressed they got worse. I didn't sleep at all that night. I can't remember quite how close together they were because I knew they weren't close enough to matter.
January 2, 2013:
At this point I am exhausted. I haven't slept in a couple of nights. Derek's family came in to town and we went out to dinner that night. My contractions were starting to get closer together so I started to keep track. They started at about 15 minutes apart and very quickly moved to 9 then 8. I was trying to maintain my pain and excitement. I didn't want to get anyone too excited as I still thought our sweet girl would be coming late. With that train of thought I didn't know how I was going to continue to survive at that rate. The night continue and boy was it a long one. Contractions got really painful and up to 5 minutes apart. I called my mom and dad in the middle of the night to update them and to take my mind of the fact that I was in pain. I used me birthing ball (aka as an exercise ball) to try and ease the pain. Derek would put pressure on my hips and lower back. Poor guy was so exhausted. When my contractions hit 5 minutes apart I debated going to the hospital but forced myself to get through as much as I could. I had a doctors appointment the next morning at 11:00 and I wanted to wait until then. I didn't want to be that first time mom who checks herself into the hospital too early. Needless to say, no sleep came that night either.
January 3, 2013:
Morning:
Derek's family comes over in the morning to see me having contractions on the birthing ball. They had slowed down to 6 minutes apart but they were so painful. I just wanted to cry and multiple times I yelled at Derek because I needed him to be faster in coming to the rescue to help me through them. It was a joyous time. ha I managed to shower and put on half of my makeup before we headed out the door. Continued to have contractions while in the waiting room at the doctors. Everyone was staring. It was a good time. Finally they call me back and check me out. I was so happy to find that all these contractions were doing some good. They were about 5-6 minutes apart and I had progressed to 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. My midwife said, "Looks like you're in labor. Time to head to the hospital." I was so excited and relieved at the thought that our baby would hopefully be coming today.
As I was writing I decided this would be best split up in to two posts. So...to be continued. To give you incentive to read on, here is a cute picture of my baby girl.
I can totally hear you telling that story :) I want to hear more!!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the next part!!
ReplyDeleteLove this! I also love that we got to be there with you during so much of this. I hope you're doing well!
ReplyDelete