Labor/prelabor started for my last Thursday the 25th (my actual due date) contractions were fairly mild and pretty far apart...I tried not to get too excited for fear the adrenaline would make it go away : ) About 24 hours later REAL labor started...Friday night around 6 I called my midwife to let her know I thought this was it. She said to keep calling her with updates throughout the night. She came over at 9 to check me and I was 2.5cm dilated. She offered to stay the night while I labored but Brian and I chose to let her go home because we knew it would be a long night.
Side note: our living room was all set up for an amazing relaxing birth experience...complete with candles, twinkly lights, soft music...the works....WELL: at about 7:00pm our back door neighbors had the party of the year..complete with DJ, strobe lights and at some points i'm pretty sure there was even karaoke! Looking back its hilarious but at the time I was ready to kill someone as my beautiful birthing "suite" was transformed into the ultimate night club and I had visions of bringing my son into the world to sounds of lady gaga!
Back to Scott, I had pretty intense labor for the remainder of the night. My midwife gave me permission to take baths and showers and even have a half glass of wine to relax (which i didn't do b/c i was feeling nauseated - probably due to the aforementioned lady gaga soundtrack). Contractions never got closer than about 5 minutes apart which I was thankful for...but I did have back labor which I was in no way prepared for (Teresa: I recalled your story as I was having the back labor and I know exactly what you were talking about...no fun!)
I called my midwife at 5:30am because I noticed a little bit of blood (which scared me but she reassured me it was nothing) and she arrived at 6am. I got into the birth tub at around 6:30 b/c I was at about 7cm by then....I progressed quickly and before I knew it I was pushing. My midwife showed me how to push which was super helpful. The pushing process was incredibly hard and I was exhausted, I ended up in and out of the water to be checked and to have help with pushing. I also now know all about LaborLand and transition...I really got to the point where I was ready to give up. I kept telling Brian "I can't, I'm so sorry"....and he was the best coach I could have asked for. He was strong when I wasn't and he got me through the last 2.5 hours of hard pushing!
It is so amazing how they say having a baby really changes your marriage....of course for all the obvious reasons but to have that level of support during the hardest thing you've ever had to do made me look at my husband in a whole new light....not to mention how I feel about him after seeing him be a father for a whole week now!
Scott was finally born at 11:53 am Saturday February 27th. He was 7lbs 10oz and 21.5in. I couldn't have imagined anyone more perfect.....during labor I thought for sure we would be a one child family (not really but again LaborLand was working its magic) and the moment I saw him I couldn't remember any of it!
The only complication we experienced was some major blood loss on my part after Scott was delivered. My midwife gave me several injections and I stayed supine for a few hours (all the while holding my perfect angel) and I experienced some light headedness for the last 5 days or so but she handled it perfectly and everyone is great now!
I am so proud to be joining the mommy club! God has blessed our family beyond anything I could have imagined!
