Hope's Birth Story Day 2

Okay, so there were no rock hard contractions Friday night. I was disappointed, but glad that I was able to get a full night's rest. Ann called to check on things and told us to go for another walk. Might I say that I really hate going for walks when I'm 9 months pregnant and have lower back issues. Not fun.

Around one in the afternoon my niece came and picked up Madgirl, Sis and LiverPie to take them to see Ratatouille. Later on, The Mad Monk and I were just hangin' around the house relaxing when Ann called again. I was secretly screaming, "not more walking!". Fortunately, she didn't ask us to walk, but to come on in. She wanted to check me, the baby and then try and irritate my cervix to see it we couldn't get something going. So, we loaded up and headed to the birth center. We purposely didn't tell anyone we were going so we wouldn't have 59 phone calls!

Ann checked the baby and she was fine. Heart rate was good and she was still down in the pelvis. Yeah! When she checked me I was dilated to 1 cm. Whoopee. I had had weeks of contractions, I thought I could have done a little better than a 1. Oh well. Anyway, after the cervical irritation and other suggested labor inducing methods I did start having contractions. They were real and not Braxton-Hicks! Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, my cell phone rang and our secret was out. The contractions stopped and the phone calls started. Since the contractions stopped Ann suggested we....can you guess? Go for a walk! It was hot and humid outside so we were going to have to go to the mall. ugh. It was Saturday and we all know how the mall is on Saturday. So off we headed to the mall.

On the way to the mall my sister called. Now let me just say that my family had not been the most positive people on earth concerning our decision to use a midwife. It was a dirty word. They were also completely freaking out over the fact that my water had broke over 24 hours ago and nothing was being done to hurry along my labor. Aaaaannnnyway, my sister ( whose almost 16 years older than me) wanted to know why we were at the birth center. I explained everything and told her it wasn't a big deal and that everything was all right. She then proceeded to share with me that when her water was broke for over 24 hours and that she was only dilated to 1 cm and her labor hadn't started that the doctor chose to do a c-section. I'm not sure why I responded the way I did. I'm usually prepared for the comments and most of the time I can take it all in stride. However, it was not to be this day. I hung up the phone and cried. I was so mad! It was not the time to be negative and I just couldn't understand why she said what she did. I couldn't let it go, yet I knew I needed to if I ever wanted to go into labor.

We walked the mall for about 30 miserable minutes. Nothing was starting and I was tired and just wanted to go home. I was missing my girls and just wanted to see them. They were with my sister and I was afraid that she might be making them fearful for me by saying things in passing. I ended up crying after we got back to the birth center and Ann, as usual, was understanding. She said we could stay there and "hide out", even offering to man our cell phones, just to see if labor might get started. After some thought, we declined. I just needed to be home around my kiddos for a while. So, we left.

We we got home we realized two things. One, we hadn't eaten since around 3 that day and two, we were in desperate need of groceries. It was around 7:45pm at this time and The Mad Monk told me to make him a grocery list and he would head to Walley World. So I did and he left to do the shopping. At about 8:30 pm I was sitting at the kitchen table with Madgirl contemplating what I should eat when BAM!, out of nowhere I had this big contraction! A real one! It hurt! The Madgirl started laughing at me (in her 14yo ignorance! Just you wait, my pretty!). I started laughing which made the contraction hurt worse, which made me double over more and by this time the Madgirl had pulled her shirt up over her mouth trying to muffle her laughter. After the contraction was over I went into my bedroom to call my mother-in-law to let her know we were home and that if "something" did happen in the night would she still be willing to come to be with the kiddos. While we were chatting I had two more contractions. Real ones. They hurt. Was it me or were we establishing a pattern here?

After getting off of the phone I continued to have contractions 5 minutes apart. A little after 9pm I called The Mad Monk and asked him how much longer he would be in his Walley World trip? He said he was almost done. I told him he might want to pick up the pace because I was pretty sure I was in labor. He later told me he managed to get two people to let him cut in the check-out line by telling them his wife was in labor. Hmmmm...I wonder if that trick would work any other time? By this time I couldn't walk during the contractions. I was having to stop and breathe through them. I called Ann and left a message letting her know that something was going on and we would probably be in some time in the next few hours. It wouldn't be a few hours though. More like uh...an hour. By the time The Mad Monk had made it home I was on the bed rocking on all fours. I had had diarrhea and a bloody show so I knew this baby was definitely on her way. He called Ann back at 10 pm and told her we were on our way. She said they would be waiting.

I was actually shocked at how quick my labor had come on. I mean, within 45 minutes of getting home from the birth center it started and it started with a bang. The contractions picked up a little on the way to the birth center and I was really having to breathe through them. When we pulled up in the van, Ann was waiting. I didn't even make it inside before having to stop and hold on to the van for a contraction. I had really been looking forward to laboring in the water and the spa was ready and waiting for me. Sweet! I had several more contractions before getting into the water, but oh did that water feel good when I did get in! It was a little too hot at first and they had to poor a couple of buckets of cool water in before I could actually sit down, but when I did, what sweet relief. I started out on my knees with my body facing the wall of the spa. My arms were on the side and I was resting my head on my arms. As I labored in the water the contractions became stronger. I could still joke and talk in between, but was becoming far more serious during them. I was having to vocalize a little during them now. At some point I started getting sick to my stomach. I knew I had thrown up in previous labors, but I thought it was because of the epidurals. Apparently not. I ended up throwing up my toenails. I'm not sure if it was during my vomitous episode or after, but I heard Ann say, "that oughta be good for a couple of centimeters!". I sure hoped so. After getting sick my labor picked up even more. I had turned in the spa and was now leaning against the walls allowing my legs to relax. I was really beginning to vocalize during the contractions now. When I say vocalize I don't mean scream. I guess you could call it a controlled, low moan. I never planned on doing this it just seemed to come out of me naturally. That wouldn't be the first time in the evening that my body would do something out of instinct without me really controlling it.

The next part gets a little murky for me. I was fading fast as the contractions were picking up in intensity. At some point The Mad Monk got into the spa with me and at some point I threw up again. We disagree in what order these things happened so for now we're just going to say they happened. I 'm not even sure how much longer I labored in the spa after TMM got in with me, I just know that's when things seemed to pick up. He was being so sweet during the contractions telling me how much he loved me and how well I was doing. I responded by starting to really vocalize during the contractions. I asked him if he would be mad if I ended up delivering in the water and he told me of course not. However, I didn't stay in the water much longer. Ann thought it was best that I get out for a while. The baby's heart rate was up, my heart rate was up and I was running a fever of 101.6. I was dehydrated. Something had to change.