Tuesday morning, 10/28, I woke up to cramps in my stomach and legs around 3:15. I tried going back to sleep but quickly realized that, "Hey! I'm pregnant and these could be contractions!!" So, I pulled out my contraction counter and after an hour had contractions coming very regularly at 8 minutes apart.
DH typically gets up at 5 every morning so I kept myself occupied on TB until he woke up. If this was the real deal, I wanted him to be well rested for it!! Well, he decided that morning that he was going to sleep in until 6 so I didn't mention anything to him until he hit the snooze button for the last time.
Our conversation went like this: D-"Hey, honey...how do you feel today?" M- "I feel great!! I think you're going to meet your daughter today...." D immediately jumps out of bed and says, "Ok! We got this!! What do I need to do? I need to take a shower, call my brother, get my clothes, feed the dogs, get you in the car, get our bags, etc..." It was the sweetest thing ever!!
The only thing I could think about was straightening my hair. My little girl couldn't meet me with a fro! (For those of you with curly hair...you know what I mean by a "I went to bed with my hair wet fro"). So, while DH was running around like a crazy person, I was in the bathroom straightening my hair. It's hilarious to think about now.
At 7 o'clock, my contractions were at 6-1-1 and quite painful so I called in to my nurse. I had yet to lose my mucus plug or have any bloody show so I wanted to make sure I wasn't in false labor. She told me to head to the hospital and off we went!
When I arrived, I was only dilated to a 2-3 and they will not admit you until you are a 4 so we were sent home to labor until I felt I was at a 4 or the contractions stopped. She gave me a shot of pain medicine that was supposed to help me sleep for at least a few hours and "take the edge off". The only thing the shot accomplished was to make me very sleep with intense pain. I ended up getting in the bath to see if that helped and was so uncomfortable. I announced that we were heading back in by 2 o'clock because I was sure I would be a 4 by then. Well, I only made it to 12:30 before I demanded to be taken in so "I could get this baby out!"
When we arrived, I was a 4 and the trumpets all sounded when they gave me an epidural an hour later! I told the doctor that I would be sending him flowers because he was my hero!!
By 3:30 pm, I was a a 7 and my water was broken.
The rest of the day was a party of sorts. I felt amazing. We had both of our families with us (at least thirty people). You would think this would be very overwhelming but it was so comforting for me and helped passed the time so quickly.
At 8:15 pm, I had reached a 10 and so begin the pushing process. My mom and DH were in the room with me which was pretty special. DH and I previously decided that we wanted to be alone but he said he needed my mom in there with him for support which meant the world to her.
At 9:30 pm, I realized that Chick Fil A was closing in 30 minutes so I halted pushing for one contraction and had my mom send someone to get our dinner. I was starving at this point and needed those chicken nuggets. The nurse thought I was crazy.
After 19 hours of labor and an hour and a half of pushing, Miss Emerson Shay was born at 9:40 pm. It was the most amazing experience of my life. If I knew that every labor and delivery would be like hers...I would be a Duggar and have all the kids.
I'm so fortunate that everything went as smoothly as it did and am over the moon in love with my little girl. She is the best thing in this entire world.
The things that I learned from my labor that may help someone else out:
1). When your contractions start, keep a positive attitude. Encourage yourself and it will encourage both your labor and delivery. Keep a positive outlook, this helped me so much.
2) You can be in labor and not have your water break naturally.
3) You'll know when you're in active labor. I questioned this before but knew immediately when I had reached this point. My best advice is to practice breathing through them now. This helped tremendously.
4). You can have a baby without seeing your mucus plug.
What a great story! I'm glad you had so much support around you and that you had a good birth experience. It's nice to hear the good ones! Also, totally understand the need for food
At 9:30 pm, I realized that Chick Fil A was closing in 30 minutes so I halted pushing for one contraction and had my mom send someone to get our dinner. I was starving at this point and needed those chicken nuggets. The nurse thought I was crazy.
This made me seriously LOL! Love it!
Congratulations on your beautiful daughter!
N14 Nov. Siggy: CELEBRATION!
TTC since 2011
Aug. - Sept. 2013 - dIUIs = BFNs
January 2014 - IVF = 3 freezer babies
March 2014 - FET of AA and AB blast = BFP! Twins!
Nov. 7, 2014 - Wilhelmina "Willa" Suzanne (4lb 14oz) and Ari Jose (6lb 4oz) were born via CS
YAY, Emmy is here! Congratulations to you. Thanks for sharing your story with us. I'll try to think of it when I'm staying positive through contractions:) Love to you and your family!
TTC 3/2012; IUI 2/26/14; EDD 11/23/14; DD born 11/21/14!!!
Re: Emmy Shay's Birth Story
TTC since Sept 2011, Unexplained IF
Oct 12 - Jan 14: 3 clomid/TI cycles, 2 hysteroscopies, 2 IUIs, 1 BFP (MMC @ 12w), 2 more IUIs
Feb 14: Gonal-f + IUI #5 = BFP! (EDD 11/4/14)
Baby boy arrived 11/13/14!
Nov. '14 January Siggy : Work Sucks!
Me 32-DH 38
Married July 14, 2007 ----- TTC # 1 October 1, 2013
BFP March 7, 2014 ----- EDD November 17, 2014 ---- Baby boy born November 16, 2014
It's twin girls!! Born on 11-2-14!
"Have all the babies" has me busting a gut.
What a great story! I'm glad you had so much support around you and that you had a good birth experience. It's nice to hear the good ones! Also, totally understand the need for food
Congrats again momma- she's absolutely beautiful.
Congratulations on your beautiful daughter!
N14 Nov. Siggy: CELEBRATION!
BFP#4 3/17/14 - rainbow Baby BOY arrived 11/10/14 !!
DX: Uterine Septum - Resection 9/5/13 || MTHFR Hetero A1298C || My Chart