Hailey's Birth Story

I always enjoyed reading everyone else?s stories so I thought I would share mine? Enjoy!  Also, my husband and I opted not to find out the sex of the baby until we delivered, which made things that much more exciting!  We planned for a natural birth experience using HypnoBirthing and here is what happened?

I had a pretty easy, normal pregnancy, so I really cannot complain.  I had morning sickness in the first trimester, but that was quickly over with and I moved on with life.  At 34 weeks I had extreme abdominal pain that was constant, not like contractions, so we went to the hospital and as it turns out I had fluid around my kidneys which was causing the pain.  Thankful that it was a common side effect of pregnancy, my husband and I were released and we went home to wait out the additional 6 weeks until I reached full term.

I was due on Friday, July 24^th.  Saturday we had a family reunion to go to, hoping so bad that I would go into labor because all of my family was in town, including my cousin who is now a Physician?s Assistant and had done several medical rotations with my Dr.  She would have been able to be in the delivery room to help assist.  Unfortunately, as we all know, these babies have minds of their own!  On Sunday, July 26^th I felt my first contraction at 5:00pm.  I had some minor Braxton Hicks up to this point, but this one actually made me pause and wonder if I was in for the real deal.  As it turns out, I was!  Now, I expected contractions to start like 20 minutes to a half hour apart, NOT in my case!  The next contraction was 5 minutes apart, lasting 90 seconds, and they continued 5 minutes apart lasting anywhere from 75-90 seconds.  My husband came in from cutting the grass around 8:00PM and I told him he had better get a shower.  So at 11:00PM we decided to try to go to bed and get some sleep incase this really was going to be it.  At midnight I woke DH and told him we needed to call the hospital.  So we called maternity and at that point contractions were 3 minutes apart, lasting at minimum of 90 seconds.  So the nurse told us to head on in!  Excitement really started to take effect and I got butterflies in my stomach.  So off we went, we are only 15 minutes from the hospital.  We checked in and the nurse checked me, I was 3 centimeters, which is where I had been since 37 weeks, so no surprises.  So I walked the halls, rocked in the rockers and used the birthing ball until 4:00AM.  I got rechecked and I was still at 3 centimeters, I was a little disappointed, but still doing ok.  Contractions were still at 3 minutes.  I went and got in the Jacuzzi tub, at 6:00AM, still in the Jacuzzi tub (the water felt soooo good) I started to get nauseous.  So the nurse recommended I get checked.  So I got out of the tub, dried off and got back into bed, and I was still at a 3! I was starting to get angry at this point.  My Dr. came in at 7:45AM and checked me, still at a 3, so he decided it would be best to break my water and get things moving along.  Getting your water broke is sooo gross, it felt like gallons and gallons of pee, haha.  Well then things really got painful.  Contractions were coming every 1 ? to 2 minutes and lasting forever!  I wasn?t getting a break in between, so I asked the nurse to check me again at 9:00AM, I was still at a 3.  My Dr. came in and sat down beside me and recommended I get something for the pain to help my body relax, I agreed.  So I got an IV and the nurse gave me Nubane? DO NOT GO FOR IV DRUGS, THEY DO NOTHING!  All that ended up happening was me passing out between contractions, it also made me sick and I was vomiting during every contraction, it was horrible.  So at 9:30 I asked for the epidural.  The anesthesiologist did not get to my room until 11:30, it was the worse 2 hours of pain I have ever experienced in my life.  I was only at a 3 ? when I finally got the epi.  It was instant relief and I was able to relax.  I fully dialated by 2:00PM?. YES, after the epi, I dilated 6 ? centimeters in less than 2 ? hours? if only I had known, haha.  I decided to take a nap from 2:00 to 3:00 so I could let the epidural ware off.  At 3:15PM I began pushing.  It was hard work, but felt so good.  I pushed for a little less than an hour and at 4:07PM on July 27^th, my daughter, Hailey Anne was born.  My two biggest memories are the Dr. saying, ?Look Down and see your baby? and ?It?s a Girl!?.  It was amazing.  Hailey weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 ? inches long.  She scored 9s on both APGARS.  Prior to delivery I practiced paraneal massage, and I am happy to report that I had no tears and recovery was a breeze.  I was up walking around less than an hour after delivery (yes, even after having an epidural). 

Good Luck to all your mommies waiting on your little ones, it is worth every second of discomfort, pain and sleeplessness.