Best Of

Meet Harriet Rose! 🥰

The short of it is I had tons of prodromal labor to the point that we were all convinced I would go very quickly.  And thennnn three membrane sweeps, an artificial rupture of membranes, and a couple hours of pitocin later she finally decided, “Ugh, I GUESS I’ll come out now 🙄” Tuesday night lol.

So basically up until the very end she tried her hardest to hang cozy with the December babies 😂

FTM/STM/TTM+/IC: 3rd

EDD: 11/13

Birthdate & Gestation: 11/18 @ 40+5

The Details:  it’s long, I’m sorry!!  Scroll down to labor to skip the prodromal details!

—Prodromal—

I’ve had Braxton Hicks since 15w but started regular contractions around 38-39w.  My ILs arrived from out of state at 39+1 ready to watch our older kids so we could go have a baby.  I contracted all that weekend and it fizzled out each time, honestly not surprising but disappointing as I was feeling like a watchpot pretty much right away.  Also laboring privately at home pretty much shrank to laboring in my room.  I’m sure that stress of them being in my space, all the time now, played into things.  Laboring as long as I could at home was out of the question. 

At my 39+4 appt (Mon last week) I was 2cm/50-60%/-3 station, and just did NOT want a sweep at that point as I really hadn’t changed from the week prior and my cervix was still really posterior/not laboring.  So we just set appts for her birth week the following week with an induction scheduled for 41w just in case.  Somehow I wasn’t really that uncomfortable and I was sleeping well still so I felt ok to wait for labor to kick off on its own.

All that week we continued to do alll the things.  Dates + RRL tea daily, sex, a few rounds of nipple stimulation when it seemed like things were kicking off, yoga ball/asymmetric pelvis movements for better head engagement, long walks.  I even saw my pelvic floor PT that week who had been trained on the acupuncture points to induce labor and she did some perineal stretching that session as well.  I generally had great contraction response to the labor stimulating things but they always slowed.  

Friday I had contractions starting around 3p and added in a variation of the Miles Circuit plus abdominal lift + tuck during contractions.  Unfortunately they fizzled out around 9pm so I went to bed, honestly thankful to be getting sleep.

—Labor—

Monday this week (40+4) at my regular appt I was 3cm/70%/-3 station and had my first membrane sweep with what I thought was a good response that afternoon into the late evening.  Bloody show, regular contractions with pressure (I labored on the toilet for awhile), lost bits of mucus plug, all of it. 🙌 My doula was already at my hospital with another client and kept telling me please don’t wait too long to come in but even at 3-5 min apart the contractions were pretty irregular and once again fizzled out that night…AGAIN.  I went to bed thinking my body would just wake me up in full blown labor like with my first baby and then I woke up to the daylight on Tuesday morning like it was any other Tuesday.

That day at 40+5 I had my BPP and follow-up with the doctor.  The plan with my doula was to do a 2nd membrane sweep at the appointment and then once contractions got going get to the hospital and have them break my water after my antibiotics were done for GBS.  I was already 4-5/80%/-1 at that appt so all those contractions did something—I WAS in early labor!!  We did the second sweep and the doctor said she’d almost like to tell me to just go get my bag and get to the hospital (7 min from my house) but definitely any regular contractions go straight to the hospital and she would be shocked if I was still pregnant tomorrow 🙌

I left and drove around for a bit soaking in the news (also my ILs were at home so I didn’t want to go there)…My husband had taken my daughter to an appointment and it was emotional reaching out to him letting him know that we would finally be meeting our girl today 🥹

My doula was thrilled alongside me but also terrified that I would deliver in the car or parking lot (LOL as it turns out).  Contractions started right away so my husband and I left our older kids at home with ILs and met the doula at the hospital just after noon.  In triage I was already 5-6cm.  

We did a 3rd membrane sweep right then and there before I even went to a room.  We all thought I’d have a baby by 3pm and not even get all of the antibiotic.  My doula and I went right to work trying to make the most of every contraction, with my husband right by my side.  Y’all even with nipple stim and laboring in squats and on the toilet with tons of pressure the contractions kept. spacing. out.  So I had time to finish the antibiotics and had my water broken around 4:30p.  And my contractions spaced out AGAIN 😭

By that point it was 7pm and I was stalled at 8cm getting dizzy and exhausted so I went back to the bed.  Def was lamenting my choice to go unmedicated and my doula let me just voice my fears and prayed over me when I asked.  I was realllly pressing into relaxing and breathing and her voice was my lifeline that whole time.  She and nurse both really recommended starting a little bit of Pitocin to get the contractions regular and closer together to get progression—and a baby!—and I was totally on board.  Over the next couple of hours we titrated to 4 on the Pit and oh man those were productive contractions.

And then just after 9pm my cervix was finally complete 🙌 My doula helped me into a pushing position and mentioned to the nurses to go grab the doctor because we had a little time.  With the very next contraction I started to push a bit, then felt how productive it was and couldn’t stop.  Suddenly my doula was both telling me to stop pushing and yelling to the nurses to get the doctor NOW — who raced in and allowed me to keep going (BLESS HIM 😅).  With all of 2 minutes of pushing, followed by an absolute flood of joy and relief, she was born at 9:07pm!  Sunny side up because during birth she had rotated out of her perfect LOA birth position to show her face 🙄😂

She cried right away and they placed her on my chest.  I was really worried about the postpartum shivering but it was tolerable and didn’t interfere with the golden hour and she was able to latch in that first hour.  I kept looking at my husband afterward and he had tears in his eyes 🥹 Also she was covered in vernix…I know that I ovulated late and pretty certain my dates were wrong.

By 10:30p just like that the room had cleared out and we were quietly soaking in our new baby.  Postpartum was thankfully uneventful for both of us, I had a first degree tear but not much soreness and she was just spitty from not getting that good squeeze because she came out so quickly.  We got home Thursday and breastfeeding and recovery are going well so far.  ILs left Saturday morning and I’ve been in sleepy baby heaven, so tired from a couple rough nights but soaking in this joy in my space with just our little family. ❤️ 

All of the things on paper that I wanted to avoid (frequent checks, membrane sweep, AROM & pitocin) ended up being the little things my labor needed to move along and bring her here.  & I’m really grateful to my doula for not letting me labor until midnight.

Also grateful baby girl and I have the penicillin on board because we came home to strep throat blazing through the household. Hoping it affords us some protection there.

Third babies can definitely be a wild card 😅