On the evening of Saturday May 25th I was having consistent contractions. Steven and I had rented Pitch Perfect (cute movie btw) for an at home date night. Steven's mom and dad were in Sacramento spending time with David and Stephanie. She knew it was possible that she would miss the birth but when I had decided to go natural I also decided that I didn't want anyone other than Steven in the room during the birth. Because of this my mom was our back up help with the kids if I went into labor. Unfortunately it was late at night and my mom has a history of getting lost in the daylight so I didn't want to risk it in the night. So I texted Blake and he said he would come sleep on the couch if I went into labor. Just after the text contractions stopped. It's strange how that happens. It's like the other week I said to Steven "My back hasn't been hurting. I really think yoga is helping and I may not need to get massages as often." Immediately after saying this my back started hurting and continued to do so until I was able to get a massage. Anywho - Steven and I enjoyed our date night.
Sometime around 3am on Sunday May 26th-in a half awake state- I thought maybe my water broke but I fell back asleep. At 4:30 I remembered and felt a little wet. I verified it wasn't pee and woke Steven to tell him what was going on. I listened to my Hypnobabies Birth day affirmations and fear clearing session. When Elese woke up I told her my water broke and she ran through the house shouting "Olivia's coming today!" Max didn't believe her so he came to confirm. Sam didn't seem to care much about what was going on. At one point while I was resting on the couch he came over and patted my belly. He did this a lot during my pregnancy. It was how he said hello to the baby.
Despite my water breaking contractions weren't really happening. Steven brought me some berries to snack on (as the day progressed I wished I had him make me a nice breakfast of eggs and toast). Then I requested some almonds and Elese and Max argued over who got to bring them to me so they both brought me some. I rested and listened to Easy First Stage but still no consistent contractions. Around 10am we went on a family walk. I felt silly because I was starting to doubt that my water had broke and didn't want all the neighbors to wonder why we were out walking and not home getting ready for church. This got my contractions moving a little more but after about 45 minutes they slowed down. The kids were great about letting me just rest and they just played together. I ate some light snacks - cereal crackers almonds berries and cream... I napped and showered.
Sam went down for his nap. At 1:45 Steven and I left Max in charge and went for a walk. We tried to do this every so often throughout my pregnancy. We would usually do it after Sam and Elese were in bed. We'd test Max on our cell phone numbers - lock the doors and then enjoy a nice walk together. Anyway - this walk was longer and we didn't have to go at the kids pace. When they were with us Elese ran the entire way while Sam had to stop and look at every animal. There was even a bunny rabbit on the lawn across the street. Not sure where that little guy escaped from. During the first walk the weather was perfect - probably about 72 degrees and it smelled like Fish Lake. Fish Lake was my "Special Place" (a calm happy place I think of during hypnosis) so it was a very calming walk despite the kids. This walk was much warmer and I was nice and sweaty afterward. This got contractions coming about every 6 minutes but really weren't very strong. I was tired of doubting myself so I decided to go to the hospital to confirm that my water had broke.
My mom came over to watch the kids. Once we got in the car contractions stopped. That's how I roll baby. I got checked in and they checked me at 3:00pmish. The monitor showed a few contractions and that the baby was doing well. I was dilated to a 3 (no change from my Monday appointment) and 80% effaced (60% on Monday) and -2 station. The test showed my water did in fact brake. I was doing all I could to get things moving along. I did some squats (with the help of Steven of course!) - paced the room and rocked in the rocking chair. Then I started diffusing some Clary Sage and that got contractions to be more consistent but once again - not very strong. My doctor (Jennifer Kinghorn) came in around 5:30. I was at a 4 but nothing else had changed...maybe 85% effaced. I learned there was likely just a high tear in the amniotic sack rather than a full on water breaking and that was probably why things weren't moving along. Listened to more hypno stuff - watched TV - nipple stimulation - squats - rocking chair...8:30 the nurse came in but there still was no change. Galene (the nurse) knew I didn't want pitocin but Dr. Kinghorn wanted her to give it to me. PS - the makers of pitocin have made a written statement that said it should never be used for inducing birth but that's just what the doctors use. Lame. My Doctor said normally they would have made me start the pitocin at 1:00pm to avoid infection but that she would let me go until 8:30pm before starting the pitocin. Gaylene took her time and told me to sway my hips and do other labor motivating things. Steven and I danced around and laughed but at 9:00 she decided that she better start the pitocin. She was glad she did because right after she started it the doctor called to check in.
I sat in the rocking chair and listened to my hypnobabies CD and the contractions began. Around 11pm I moved to the bed and my new nurse - Jana - check me. I was at a 6. Contractions were pretty intense (which is typical with pitocin - super awesome pitocin) so I was kind of disappointed that I was only at a 6. They discovered an "amniotic bubble" in front of the babies head. At that point I told Steven I needed his help relaxing. I laid on my left side and he used my hypno cues and would talk me through the contractions. It helped to know he was there with me but I had a tough time going into hypnosis. About 11:35 the nurse came in - I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure. She said "That's what I like to hear. Want me to check you?" I was at 8 and a half. She asked if I wanted to have the doctor break the amniotic bubble. It would speed things up but make contractions more intense. At this point I was ready to pack up my bags and go home and pretend none of this had ever happened so I figured that speeding things up was the best choice. Jana left to call the doctor. Almost the moment I heard the door close another contraction came but it was very different. It felt more like pressure than a normal contraction. I told Steven - "I'm pushing! Call the nurse" He got her and then "pop" went the amniotic bubble and the pressure stopped. The nurse said the doctor was on her way (my doctor was the doctor on call for the weekend - memorial day weekend) and she left the room. My very next contraction- once again right after I heard the door close- was a pushing contraction again. Again I told Steven - I'm pushing - get the nurse. Jana yelled at me and said "Don't push! Put your legs together!" Then she left and came back with Gaylene (she had never left and was chatting with other nurses - later Steven told me someone down the hall had had a stillborn - I'm sure that's what Gaylene was talking about) and the pediatric nurse. Again she said "Don't push. She's almost here." at which point I felt the head come out and said (pointing to the babies head) "SHE is here!" Just then another doctor walked in and said - "Hi - I'm Doctor Stevenson" and tried to shake my hand to which I responded (once again - pointing at Olivia's head) "Hi- She's here." Steven opened my legs (that the nurse had been holding together) and said - "Yep-there's the head". The doctor (looking quite shocked) rushed over and without putting scrubs on jumped right in. The cord was around her neck and she wasn't responsive so he was a nervous and I had to start using doctor directed pushing rather than just going with my contractions so that Olivia could get the help she needed. Olivia was looking around but not making much noise so they kept trying to keep her awake (never needed to give her oxygen) and were repeatedly testing her vitals. Because things had happened so fast the nurse forgot to check the time of birth but Gaylene said she checked and it was 11:43pm. Olivia was 8lbs 6oz and 21 inches long. Dr. Stevenson delivered the placenta and then Doctor Kinghorn walked in. She was surprised that she missed it because she got all green lights on her drive there. For the record - even though the birth certificate says Doctor Kinghorn delivered her it was in fact Doctor Stevenson. Despite having the same doctor for the last three kids they were all delivered by different doctors. After quite some time I was finally able to have some skin to skin contact...
They kept putting off sending me to my room because I was bleeding a lot. They finally sent me up around 2:30am. Once I got settled Steven went home and made monkey brains for Blake's Memorial Day breakfast and then went to bed. The nurse brought me a sandwich and then I fed cute baby Liv. I had Liv room in with me. I had never done this before. She did leave for a bath- tests - and immunizations though. She was a perfect little girl that first night. She barely made a peep. Too bad my nurse couldn't have been just as quiet. I know - I know - she was taking very good care of me. :) The baby in the next room cried most of the night which made me extra thankful for my sweet Olivia.
They kept me on the Pitocin until about 8:30am to help with my bleeding that they were worried about. Once I was off the IV I showered while they took Liv to the nursery for her bath (or a test or something...give me a break I had just had a baby naturally - I don't remember all the little details). Steven-my mom (who slept over at our house since Steven didn't get home until 3am) - and the kids arrived while I was in the shower.
All the kids held her.
Steven took the entire week off work which was really nice. I spent most days just sleeping and eating. I don't remember feeling quite so exhausted after the other kids were born. Steven was great about taking care of things and keeping the kids quiet so I could just sleep and take care of Olivia.
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