She's having a Baby

On Friday I had a baby. I had 2 EDDs… 2/20 and 2/28. My last 2 kids were born at 37 and 36 weeks and both had some early problems and needed support. So I REALLY wanted to make it to Valentines Day. Every day after that seemed like I was “overdue”. On Feb 27th I had ctx. They were regular and they hurt. I called my doc and she came over. She was a midwife for over 20 years and is now a D.O. with a family practice and does a few births still. After 4 hours of labor I had gone from “around 3” to “almost 4” so she went home to nap and I sent my kids to a friends so I could nap. Either I would wake up MORE in labor- or less. I woke up less L I continued to contract through the day, but overnight everything stopped.
Chris was really opposed to a home birth. He said he would take Trew and Loch to his sisters house and then meet us at the hospital when I transported there for my emergency section. I was fine with that plan. I didn’t need his negativity and honestly? He kind of sucks during labor. He has many skills and redeeming qualities, but labor support just isn’t his thing. I had a friend slotted to hang out with Connor and Skye, to meet their needs and keep them busy and answer questions. They were going to come in at crowning, see the birth (if they still wanted to when the time came) and Skye was planning to clamp the cord and Connor to cut it- IF they decided it was still a good idea when they saw it all. I had another friend slotted to come over and be my labor support person. I had a lot of women ready to come to a “pot luck birth”
Best Laid Plans and all.

At 2:25 AM on Friday I was sleeping. Lochlan had had an infusion Thursday and was now snuggled into my bed smelling of baby wash and antiseptic. At 2:26 AM on Friday something happened. The baby rolled over HARD and maybe head-butted my pubic bone? It was an Internal Earthquake. I looked at the clock. 2 minutes later came a big contraction. Afterwards I got up. I wanted to set up the crock pot, and I needed to plug in the heating pad and wrap towels around it. I had things to do before labor really started.
I decided to pee first. On the way there was a slight trickle… hmmm did I wet myself? Or did my membranes leak? In the bathroom another contraction and bloody show. I brushed my teeth, another ctx and hmmm some bright red blood drops. I was afraid of the blood. There wasn’t a lot, but it was red and it had dripped and then a small clot and I was afraid something was wrong. Out to the livingroom, ctx. I MEANT to time things for an hour and then call my doc. But I grabbed the phone and called her. “hi! You wanted to do this in the middle of the night right? The ctx just started but they’re HARD and close together and there’s a lot of bloody show and I don’t know if my water broke?” and she says she’ll come see whats going on. I had a towel under me b/c of the blood. I could only crawl around. Standing up SUCKED. I circled the towel like a cat, squatted over it, contracted and GUSHED fluid. I had grabbed a light colored towel on purpose and was SO relieved that the fluid was clear! I sent out an email. A SHORT one. I just checked my “sent items” folder and this is literally my email “Water broke, clear fluid, ctx HURT” sent at 2:57AM
Later my Dr would say that she looked at her clock when she started her car and that was at 3:13 AM. It was an icy, windy, stormy night. It took her about 45 minutes to drive over. Chris was asleep on the couch and woke up. I asked him to set up my crock pot and towels and things before he left. He said he’d wait until the kids woke up to go anywhere. The ctx were so close and so hard. I was just hanging on. Just waiting for the Dr to come and tell me if the bleeding was ok. Which I quickly forgot about, instead waiting for her to come SAVE ME. I had planned these lovely visualizations, this nice water birth, these great coping techniques. I had candles to light! But instead I just kept looking for a way to get comfortable. Everything was “nope not it” I decided to go to the bathroom again. The ctx in the hallway dropped me to the floor. I made it to the toilet. Hated it there too. I heard Dr Kathy arrive. When that ctx released me I got up. I thought it was rude to make her come visit me in the loo! I got to the hall, dropped to my knees, rode out another ctx, got up, she was there. “My water broke. The fluids clear. Its ok” She wanted me to stand up for ctx, but I just couldn’t do it. She said I wanted the baby’s head to push on my cervix so I would dilate. Nice idea but the ctx just knocked me over. We struggled to the bedroom so she could check me. I was only at 5!! Impossible! But the blood was just my cervix, everything was fine, fetal heart tones were perfect. Great- now get me OFF this bed! She suggested I try a ctx or 2 laying on my side. But no WAY halfway through I rolled off the bed to my hands and knees. I stood for a few ctx, but I could NOT lie down. I was moaning now, and ok ok swearing too. I wanted to go pee. I fought my way to the bathroom. I sat. Dr Kathy squeezed my hands- pressure points, during ctx and only because of that relief did I survive the next few ctx. At some point she asked me to come to bed. I think she wated to check heart tones again? I made it to the bed but it was no small feat. At the end of that ctx I pushed a little bit. But we all ignored it as an impossibility. Next ctx I was PUSHING! I didn’t mean to. Dr Kathy said “oh honey I think you’re pushing” and I said “me too and I can’t stop” she checked and there was just a lip. So I started to PUSH. Eleven minutes later she was on my chest. Pink and warm and slippery and perfect. I had been at 5cm just 20 minutes earlier. It was 4:34 AM. 2 hours and 8 minutes of perfect primal laboring madness and a beautiful baby girl!! She was 8lbs 15.5 oz and had a 14.5” head! She was only 18.5” long…. My butterball baby J
It took us a few days to name her. But Nola Catherine is here, beautiful, perfect, healthy, delightful.