D Day

This is pretty long and maybe a little too detailed but there's many of you who've asked for they story. So here it is!


I cant believe its taken me this long to write my birth experience! It all went so fast and motherhood has completely taken over :)

The day before I went into labor I had my 38 week OB apt. The Dr asked if I wanted him to strip my membranes. I wasnt exactly sure what that meant, but basically it just helps loosen things up and sometimes causes women to go into labor within 24hrs. Chandler and I were unsure if we wanted to mess with anything especially since it asnt my due date yet. But I was so anxious to have the baby before he started school the folowwing monday that I figured it coudlnt hurt. So we went ahead with it. After the apt Chandler and I started to STRESS out. We werent sure if we were ready to have a baby in the next 24 hrs. Then we remembered that the baby was coming either way so we just have to accept that :) Later that day my back started to ache and I had some more uncomforatble braxton hicks, but otherwise it didnt seem like anything was happening. My sister and mom were thinking of driving down that weekend just to hang out, but after my OB apt I was feeling so nervous I talked them into coming sooner . Theyre just a 3.5 hr drive so they got in late that night.

Thursday morning I woke up very disappointed that I hadnt gone into labor. I thought for sure it would happen in the night. I went in and layed by my mom. We were just talking and my neices were playing on the bed with us. After a while I told my mom my "braxton hicks" were really getting uncomforatble. She had me time them just in case. I realized they were starting to become more regular. At this point I really didnt want to jump the gun. Everything I had read said first time moms labor a while and it can get pretty boring/exhausting if you get too excited too soon. I started trying to make plans for the day. I told Chandler to go golfing. I went downstairs to have breakfast. But the contractions started to get more intense pretty quickly. I wanted to go lay down but I was so nervous that I was already feeling that way this early on. After eating I just couldnt help it so I went upstairs to lay down. As soon as I laid down the contractions became soo intense I was really overwhelmed. My mom and sister came in and laid by me and I started crying. They were getting so excited and I was just feeling scared! After two contractions this way I realized I should probably get ready for the hospital. I quickly got ready and threw a bag together inbetween contractions. I called Chandler and told him I wanted him to come home. Instead of laying back down I just kind of leaned over on my bed still half standing up. This felt SO much better and the contractions seemed much more bearable. I labored this way for a while. I remember my sister and mom running around getting ready, sending her girls away, packing bags. I was pretty focused. When Chandler came home it was around lunch time and they finally talked me into going to the hospital. I was really nervous to have to change positions and even walk. I was also still trying to convince myself I wasnt in serious labor. My contractions were 60-90 seconds long and 3-5 mins. apart. They said we would go "just to check".

On the car ride over my contractions really slowed down and became less intense. I was so grateful I didnt feel like a crazy lady screaming in the hospital lobby (I was worried about that) but I was also nervous this meant I really wasnt in that serious of labor. They checked me and I was at a 5. Phew! I was really happy I was progressing. After we got set up in the room I got right back to serious labor. I went from wanting to be modest and polite to ripping the monitors off and forgetting about modesty, if yah know what I mean... I was SO focused and in a totally different place. Hard to describe. I had decided a few days before that I wanted to labor in the water. Las Vegas hospitals dont have tubs so I had to rent one through a midwife service. When we got to the hospital room we called them and they came right away to set it up. Once it was set up I was almost at an 8. I got in the water and it felt SO good. Everything seemed to be going so quickly I never even had time to think about an epidural. But the water had its own relaxing effect! I also did a lot of low pitched humming. It wasnt really part of the "plan", in fact I thought it was super embarrassing to be noisy during labor, but it worked really well for me. I remember later after I labored I told all the nurses in the room how embarrassed I was that I was so loud, they all laughed and told me they never even heard anything. Everyone swears I wasnt a crazy lady so I hope they're not just saying that...

 It wasn't long after being in the water that I started to have mild pushing urges. The nurse checked me and said I needed to wait just a little longer. I just let my body do what it wanted, which was to push a little. After a tiny bit of pushing my water finally broke. Then I could really get serious about pushing. There wasnt any counting or breath holding, it just felt like my body was pushing for me. I didnt really have a choice, it just felt natural. Ok, I'm going to sell out my peeps here, but at this point the nurse kind of messed up. She said she wanted me to push for an hour and then they would get the Dr, per his orders. I told her I was seriously pushing and he was coming soon. She laughed and said new moms dont push that fast. ok... Luckily my mom and sister were there so I still felt calm and knew they would catch my baby if need be :) It wasnt much longer after that when I told her I felt like his head was coming and she better check. She came over and listened to heart tones (still not checking!) and my mom finally said "I think I see the head" the nurse went to check and then screamed for my sister to push the panic button. In ran a few nurses and on the next contraction out came my baby! It was 4:45 on thursday May 3rd. Only about 6 hours after starting labor! The Dr walked in minutes later, very disappointed that he missed it. But I felt like I had such a successful labor and delivery despite that. Chandler and I couldn't believe how smoothly everything went! I couldnt have done it without Chandler and my mom and sister. It felt like we all worked together as a team. I absolutely love thinking back on my birth experience.