Eva's Arrival
We went for a walk in the morning - on the walk I felt a lot of pressure in my front pelvis bone. We had a busy day ahead of us. We were going to be spending the day with our friends for Eden Lucie's Birthday, our goddaughter. We went to Toys R Us for the present, drove to Jensen for the party and Port St. Lucie for the cake. I had to waddle off and on throughout the day, but ultimately felt great leading up to that point. A few times during the birthday party I had to pause and focus on my tummy because it would get tense.
Throughout the day Justin and I did 4 acupressure points to hopefully help my body work with me in the prevention of medical inducement! I felt some random stabbing pains in my vagina, just like my friend Jana said I would throughout the morning and into the afternoon. It stopped in the evening. I had a lot of Braxton hicks throughout the day, they seemed to be on the right side more than the left but I did have them on both sides occasionally. They were not painful.
Around 8 AM I went to the bathroom and I had the bloody show.
At that point we had a feeling that it was going to happen that day. We skipped church just in case I were to go into labor so as not to make a scene, but went and talked to people after the service. That afternoon we stuck around the house.
I had my first contraction at 2:43 PM Sunday afternoon. It lasted about 30 seconds. I started to track my contractions on a website that uses the spacebar to keep record of the length and frequency of the contractions on contractionmaster.com. For the next hour they were 10 minutes apart. We packed our bags. The next hour, 3:45 to 4:45, they were 8 minutes apart, the next hour, 4:45 to 5:45, 7 minutes apart. All were roughly 30 to 60 seconds long.
My water started to leak at 5:41 PM. I was upstairs in our room when I thought , “Oh! I wet myself. OH NO, I didn’t wet myself!” Then I called out, “Justin!” It started coming out in streams around 5:55. Justin made dinner – I believe we had sloppy joes and some perogies. I did a load of laundry and kept the doctor up on the latest news as it happened – Dr. Marc Kaufman. Justin was involved in almost every contraction. I had most of my pain in my low back and in my upper thighs. He would provide lumbar support or put pressure on my thighs. I tried to squat during them as the tension in my muscles helped the pain. In between contractions, as I folded laundry, I was sitting on the footstool of our glider and was rocking – which I believe helped the process move right along.
As we were driving to the hospital my contractions were 3 minutes apart for 1 minute each - so only 2 minutes of rest. I told Justin much earlier to not talk or ask me questions during a contraction – which really helped keep it a peaceful process. During a contraction is not the bast time to reason with a woman :).
We arrived at the hospital and were in the birthing suite right at 9. My labor nurse was Maria. It took 1 hour for the nurse to go through her checklist. I got a heplock hookup, incase I needed the IV and she ran through everything with me and tracked the fetal heart beat and my contractions during that time. We signed two waivers stating that we did not want the eye drops or the vitamin K shot.
She asked how I felt and how much pain I was in on a scale from one to ten. I said I flet like it was about a 5 and not too too bad. She said, “you are 3 to 4 centimeters and based off of how you are feeling you are in early, early labor. I will be back to check on you in an hour and a half. If you feel the need to have a bowel movement or (named 4 or 5 other things I wasn’t listening because I started to have a contraction).” She was off. I was so discouraged at the thought of being in early, early labor! I thought we were on a roll. It played with my mind and actually seemed to make the "pain" worse than it was a contraction ago.
We walked the halls a couple of times, I tried the birthing ball once and hated it. I started to feel like I had to go to the bathroom every time I had a contraction so I went, got up and went right back in again. Then I couldn’t get up off of the toilet because I seemed to be having a contraction pretty much constantly. Justin got his briefcase and put it under my feet so they could be on a flat surface. He was with me for every single contraction giving his support any way he could.
I thought, “this is worse than crucifixion, I have paid for my sins.” I couldn’t believe I was in early labor, what else was I to endure? I felt the need to have a bowel movement, and I did. Then I felt like I really had to have a bowel movement and water was squirting out. So I told Justin, “call the nurse” in a very mumbled voice that he couldn’t understand. So I said it again in an equaly confusing way. He was trying so hard to help me - but I was not to be reasoned with so I said aggressively, "Call the nurse". So he scrambled out of the bathroom turning to the left, then to the right in a confused way not knowing where the call button was. "The orange button on the bed!" We did get the nurse in there and she said, “Aimee, control yourself. You can do this. Come to the bed and I will do an internal.” As soon as she said that I felt a new level of composure come over me. I was surprised that the sharp pain seemed to subside and tension replaced it - which is much more manageable. Internals are very painful, besides the fact that it is very difficult to lay down while having constant contractions. Well, she checked and said she would be calling the doctor and would be right back.
She came back pretty quickly, but she came back with two other nurses. “The doctor is on his way, but just in case you come before he gets here we have back up.” So I was much faster than the hour and a half check up time.
FOR APPROXIMATELY 20 MINUTES I HAD TO “NOT PUSH” WHILE WE WAITED FOR THE DOCTOR. I was fighting against the nature course of labor and holding the baby inside instead of releasing her. They told me to breathe through it and to wait. I said, “please, do I have to wait?” The nurse said, “you give him all your money he has to do something.” “Oh for real” I said.
Well he arrived! Lucky for him I was in-between contractions. “Where the hell ya been?” I said with what little pleasantness I had left and a little grin.
Next all I remember is them transforming the room and overhearing a few comments that I thought were funny.
My nurse said with surprise and a little enthusiasm, “The baby is +1! She is a first time mommy, this is her first baby!” Another time, “When I called the doctor he thought I was joking. He thought she wouldn’t come until 7 in the morning.”
I pushed what seemed like 5 times. On the 5th try I screamed and then a baby was in my hands. She was born at 11:55 PM Sunday Jan 13. The placenta came out within 5 minutes. I tore - hence the scream, the doctor stared stitching me at midnight and it took 15 minutes. I feel like I would not have torn if I would have been able to start pushing when Eva and I were ready. For that I suffered a great deal of recovery that I would not have had.
I stared at the clock while I was stitched waiting for my baby to get back in my arms when he was finally done. The doctor was telling me things that I was not listening to. I saw Eva and Justin to my left sitting together. She was so perfect and alert! She looked at Justin as he video taped her and talked with her. He was crying. I remember tears rolling down his cheeks. He was so happy. I have never seen him like that before.
I got to nurse Eva about an hour or so after she was born. But they had a blood pressure cup on my arm that kept inflating. So I ripped it off and then nursed her after the nurse left so that I would have so much interference! I fed her, we had a little trouble but she was still getting enough milk and that was what was important. Justin was terrified of every sound she made. Constantly checking if she was breathing. He kept me awake more than Eva. I felt that if the Lord was going to give me a healthy baby then we both should sleep. So I wasn't worried about her but I was full of energy from having her and wanting to hold her. It was an exhilerating experience. The nurse put her under the heat lamp for a couple of hours, then came and gave her a bath. I couldn't go to her because i had passed out in the bathroom for a minute so they told me I had to stay in the bed. I thought that after her bath I would be able to hold her, but she let me "see" her and then stated that it was against the rules and she was not allowed to let me hold her after the bath she had to put her under the heat lamp. I can't describe the feelings that I felt. I was so lost and forlorn and sad. Now looking back if I could have done it over I would have demanded that she give me the baby and cursed her out if I had to! Or made Justin give her to me when she was gone. It was just heart breaking. Well after 4 hours of not being able to hold my baby all was good again!
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