Annie's birth story at 39weeks, 4 days

**Anne Elizabeth, January 31st, 7lbs, 12oz, 21inches**

I woke up last Saturday, January 30th (39 weeks, 3 days) at about 5am thinking I had to go to the bathroom yet again (I think I had already been twice that night) but instead figured out that I was having some cramping that would start and stop.  I went back to bed, even though I was kind of excited that I was FINALLY feeling something!!  I remembered reading several places that if you are in early labor at night, SLEEP.  So I laid in bed, but still felt the cramping maybe 15-20 minutes apart.  I finally got up at about 8am, still feeling the cramping about 15-20 minutes apart, but it wasn't debilitating at all, just like fairly bad period cramps.

We went about our Saturday - ate breakfast, Ben kegged his beer, we did all the laundry (which I am very glad about now!), put together the final baby item - the swing.  I sat on the birthing ball and did some laps around our HUGE house   I put on some music to motivate me, and hoped that might make the contractions more regular.  After walking my "laps" for maybe 30 minutes I got kinda tired, so I just watched The OC for awhile instead, but was still feeling "contractions" (at the time, I hesitated to even use the word because I thought it would jinx them and they'd go away).  I had a peanut butter sandwich and some chocolate chip cookies that Ben had made earlier in the week for lunch.  At about 1:30pm, I started timing contractions, using the Contraction Master iPhone app

Ben was getting really bored and antsy, so at 3pm I suggested going to Southdale (we had a Cheesecake Factory giftcard to use).  We walked around all of the mall, I bought a few things at the Gap (maternity leave wear - long sleeved ts and a zip up hoodie, for anyone who is interested - all on sale!)  At this point, contractions were about 30 seconds long and between 4 and 7 minutes apart.  I was having some more intense ones where I would have to stop and breathe, but they weren't what I would call horrible by any means.  By about 5, I decided I definitely didn't feel like going to Cheesecake Factory and just wanted to go home and rest because I was getting pretty tired.

We got home at about 5:45pm, Ben dropped me off and went to the grocery store to get me some macaroni and cheese because that's what was sounding appetizing to me - I laid down and continued timing, the contractions were still about 30 seconds long and 4-7 minutes apart.  By about 8pm, I was getting pretty annoyed - this either needed to pick up the pace or stop - the baby was moving around like a nutjob, and at this point, contractions were about 45 seconds long and 4-5 minutes apart.  Ben decided to call and see about pre-registration at the hospital (um, probably something we should have considered awhile ago, but oh well) but they said to just come to the main entrance.  At about 9pm, I had a little breakdown because I didn't think I was progressing at all, and I just had no clue what the F was going on with my body - I didn't know if this was what contractions were "supposed" to feel like.

At 9:25, I called the on-call midwife, Margaret, who basically told me that since I could still talk to her, I probably was in early labor, and that I could take some Tylenol PM, benadryl, or ambien (um, I have none of those things in my house) to try to sleep and if it was real labor, I wouldn't be able to.  She also suggested trying a bath.  She was perfectly nice, but I was still frustrated again after the conversation - I believe there were more tears after that too.

At 9:50, I got in our tiny gross bathtub to see if that would help - Ben sat in the bathroom continuing timing and kept me company.  I only stayed in the tub for about 25 minutes, but what it did do was apparently help make my contractions much more regular and intense, they were coming more frequently for a bit (1-2 minutes apart) and they were bad enough where I was kind of shaking and started to not be able to talk through them at all.

For the next hour, the contractions were pretty intense and about 4 minutes apart - we did sort of try some of the positions from our labor class, but nothing really felt good at all - I was trying to rest between contractions because I was just so tired.  At about 11 or so, the contractions started to be closer to 1 minute long and 4-5 minutes apart, I was laying on one couch and Ben on the other - I was resting between contractions and he would come over and hold my hand when one happened.  At about 11:25 we moved up to the bedroom so we could both lay down - contractions were really sucking at this point - I was definitely shaking and in a lot of pain - they were about 3-4 minutes apart and 1 minute long. 

At 12:36am (Ben is the one that wrote down these times, by the way - he is very exact on January 31st, I told Ben we needed to go to the hospital - at first he tried to discourage me, saying that the contractions weren't exactly 1 minute long, 3 minutes apart yet so we should wait (that's when it said to come in on our "Am I in Labor?" sheet from the hospital).  I said F that, we're going in - I either need to find out if this is real, or this needs to stop somehow.  I was still partially convinced that they would just send me home with some ambien and tell me I was 1/2 cm dilated and was just a pansy.  I just wanted to sleep.  So Ben went around gathering all the rest of our stuff, which took awhile.  The contractions were still sucking at this point, obviously, but I wanted to leave so I just dealt with them on my own.  We left at about 1:00am, calling the hospital first to let them know we were on our way.

At 1:25 we got to the hospital, got into the triage room and waited for nearly an hour to actually be checked.  In that time, another nurse did some check in questions with us, I barely remember but one of the questions was about my thoughts on an epidural and I just said I'd request one if I wanted it.  Whenever I had a contraction, she would kind of talk in a sing songy voice telling me to breathe THROUGH the pain, blah blah blah, which in retrospect kind of helped but at the time was super annoying.  Jenny was the nurse who checked me, and I recognized her as one of my sister-in-law Becca's friends.  I told her I recognized her AFTER she had checked my cervix though, to avoid potential awkwardness   She checked me out and I heard the best news of my LIFE - I was 6cm dilated and 100% effaced, with a bulging bag of fluid.  So I said "so, do I get to stay?" like a moron, and she was like, um, yes, you'll be having that baby soon!  I then brought up Becca since I was between contractions, and everyone freaked out, since she used to work as a L&D nurse supervisor at Riverside - I was pretty much ignored for awhile while everyone talked to Ben - fun   There were some fights over who would get to be our nurse, and Kris won - I'm glad, because she was really awesome!

At 2:30, we moved to our normal room and I got in the tub.  I was pretty out of it by this point, which Ben wrote on the labor notes.  I didn't stay in the tub long.  I barely remember this now, but apparently at 3:15 after I had moved to the bed, I felt kind of like pushing and I felt a little gush, which is apparently when I "passed" my mucous plug - beautiful   At 3:35, Margaret came in and checked me and I was 10cm but my water hadn't broken yet - she asked if she could break it and I said sure whatever.  Again, VERY out of it by this point.  There was meconium in the water so the NICU had to be called.  Ben didn't know this is pretty normal so I guess he started getting concerned when he heard this, but luckily I paid attention in our birthing class, so I knew this was standard   Everyone seemed CONVINCED that the baby was just going to "come right out" now, since everything else had gone pretty quickly!!!! (I'll bet you can see where this is going...... yeah, that didn't happen)

At 3:40, I officially began to push.  It totally sucked.  I was so f-ing tired I don't even think I can begin to describe the exhaustion I felt, except to other people who have their babies after being up for that long   I would push a few times during each contraction, and I thought I totally sucked at it.  It didn't feel like I was getting anywhere, but yet for some reason everyone kept saying I was doing great, which sounded like a crock of crap to me at the time.  I mostly pushed on my back, and then switched between sides a few times - between contractions I would go totally limp and just almost fall asleep.  I could barely speak, but I do remember asking what I was doing wrong and why nothing was happening.  Margaret and Kris were really good about just saying that for first time moms, it takes longer to push so you can stretch out, and that I was doing what I needed to do.  Margaret especially was very directive with me, telling me to stop using my energy to make noise and instead focus all my energy on "pushing toward the point of pressure", which to me felt like a big uncomfortable poop.  They also kept telling me to put my hands behind my knees myself, because I kept grabbing Ben's shirt and neck (my arms can barely move today).  My legs were shaking pretty much uncontrollably between contractions.  I really didn't think I was strong enough physically to push the baby out at a few points in the process. 

At around 5:30, Margaret informed me that I would be getting an episiotomy to help the baby come out - I said fine whatever.  If I even said anything, who knows.  At that point they could have done anything to me and I wouldn't have cared.  Margaret, Kris and Ben KEPT SAYING over and over, "You're almost there!!!!!!!!!! She's so close!!" because they'd see the head coming and apparently it was twisting back and forth - Kris at one point put my hand on her head so I could feel.  But that was another load of BS - it definitely took WAY LONGER after they started saying that for her to actually come out!  One time when Ben was saying that to me, I just told him to shut up.  I also apologized to everyone in the room, just saying something like "I'm sorry I'm doing this wrong!"  and was told that I was doing it "right" and there wasn't anything else I could do.  I literally thought she would never come out - NEVER - and that I'd be sitting there pushing for the rest of my life.  Her heart rate was dropping at a few points too, into the 90s, and Margaret told me I needed to get her out - we'd switch positions and then the heart rate would go back up.  This went on for almost 3 hours, and FINALLY - FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! at 6:19am she came out - and was sunny-side up - hence the difficulty pushing!  She was faced normally when I got there, but apparently like a little stinker, had turned herself the wrong way when I was pushing.  I don't remember feeling any "ring of fire" or really anything other than very very very intense pressure/pain but nothing "fiery" - I guess being completely out of it is pretty good pain medication.  All the sudden she was just out!  Margaret did some quick suctioning but the NICU had to tend to her for a few minutes to make sure all was well - I think I kept asking if she was ok.  Ben apparently started getting concerned after I had been pushing for 20 minutes that nothing was happening.  Luckily I really had no sense of time and just knew I had to just do it and eventually something would happen. 

They brought Annie back to me to hold and breastfeed - she latched on pretty good right away, and I quickly confirmed for myself that she was, indeed, a girl.  I was a total and absolute mess after this - I had sweat through the hospital gown and on the sheets - it was gross.  So I was laying there getting all "fixed up" (I ended up with just the one 2nd degree tear/episiotomy, which I was pretty happy about) and my legs were SHAKING and I was SO COLD.  They brought me some warm blankets which did help.  Before Margaret could stitch me up, she was working on delivering the placenta, which hurt WAY more than I was expecting.  She was SHOVING on my stomach to try to get it to come up, and it just wasn't happening because there was an issue with the umbilical cord that no one knew about - apparently I had velamentous cord insertion, which Marget told us after often results in "fetal death" - the umbilical cord was basically shredded, so when she tried to pull out the placenta with the cord, it just wasn't happening.  She said I might have to go to the OR to get my placenta out, but then she was able to get it out with forceps.  After she got it out, she said "You are lucky to be holding a live baby right now" because I guess a lot of times during labor the placenta can separate from the baby.  Wow, that was REALLY scary for us to hear obviously!  So we just kind of stared at Annie in awe with how thankful we were that she got through everything okay. 

After I was stitched up, Margaret showed her handy work to a few nurses - delightful   She was very proud of how "everything came together" and said she thought it would be much much worse.  I ended up with hemorrhoids too - while pushing (well, between pushes) Margaret asked me if I had hemorrhoids during pregnancy - I said no, and she said, well you do now!  Yay!

We stayed in the delivery room until about 8:30 - an older nurse came in to give Annie her first bath, and also helped me to the bathroom for the first time.  Now, THAT was fun - she basically held this sheet in between me to catch the gush of blood/fluids until we got into the bathroom, and helped me into the diaper/mesh panties combo.  I then got my normal hospital gown and robe - it was really great to get out of that nasty one I'd be in for the delivery.  We got a "delicious" breakfast and then were transferred up to a recovery room.