August 29th came & went. I kept thinking, "maybe she'll come September 1st", the original due date Carolina Conceptions gave me based on the date we did IUI. Honestly, I REALLY just wanted her here...NOW! I wanted to have her out of my belly & in my arms. I wanted to meet this little girl I had grown to love so much. I wanted to kiss her, snuggle with her...I wanted to REALLY love her. Let's face it, 40 weeks is a long time!
I had my membranes stripped on Tuesday, August 30th. I was pretty optimistic & had my fingers crossed that it was the "boost" my body needed to get things going. I left that OB appointment 2 cm dilated, 100% effaced with Addison at station 0...maybe this was going to work?!? I stayed really active that evening hoping to help the process along. As the night went on I was becoming discouraged & knew that the 30th was not going to be the day. I remember praying for peace before I went to sleep & continued to recite the scripture verses that had been popping up in my head for days.
The first thing I thought when I woke up the next morning was that God was in control, I actually blogged about it.
I went about my day normally...except I traded my 3 mile run in for a vigorous 3 mile walk, something felt different. I had been having braxton hicks for a while & although they were strong they were nothing like the contractions I was having in the morning. They had no pattern or consistency but the QUALITY had changed.
I met Tiff (one of my best friends) for lunch & continued having them. I couldn't help but think, "maybe my body is trying to do something". Our lunch conversation revolved around the possibility of today being the day, how could we not?!
After lunch I went for another long walk. I had to stop several times because the contractions were now accompanied with what I called "lightening crotch", a sharp/electrical, lightning sensation in my pelvic area, & a throbbing pain that started in the small of back & wrapped around to my belly.
Philip was playing golf so I called him when I got home from my walk & told him what was going on. I told him we needed to go do something that would keep me active because I didn't want this to stop & I wanted to keep my mind off of "what if".
We headed to Carolina Pottery to walk around the outlets around 4:30. We walked around for about 30 min when we went into the Gap. I squatted down to pick something up when, BAM, the strongest contraction I had ever had hit me. I looked at Philip, said "let's go eat, I think something is happening...tonight might be the night." What did we eat? Of course we ate Mexican, how cliche...bad Mexican (mucho mexico) at that. I barely could finish my food because the contractions we coming so frequently.
At this point I figured I was in the early stages of labor so I texted one of my close friends Shellie who is an L&D RN. She told me to keep active to keep the contractions coming. All throughout my pregnancy I hoped Shellie was working or in town when I went into labor because we really wanted her to be my L&D RN. She is exactly what I was going to need during labor (aside from Philip). This was her last night of work & she was leaving to go out of town early Friday morning...thank goodness She called me back & told me she had flexed the beginning part of her shift just in case she needed to be there with me through my labor because after talking to me earlier in the day she had a feeling this was the real deal. We got home & walked until I didn't feel like I could anymore. My body had been going through some other changes throughout the day (i'll spare the details) & with each contraction the changes continued.
Around 9:30 the contractions had me hunched over, grabbing anything close by. At this point I could anticipate them coming with "lightening crotch" & the low back pain. As they got closer & closer together I suspected that I may have been leaking amniotic fluid with each contraction but it was so hard to tell because of everything else going on. Once the contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 min for over an hour I called Shellie & told her I was going to call my OB & head to L&D. She let me know she was on her way in. I called my OB and he agreed it was time.
Philip called Chaz to come over & be with Hampton, we grabbed our stuff & headed to the hospital.
We got to Rex around 11. Shellie hooked me up to the monitor & my contractions were indeed 5-1-1, she checked me & I was BARELY 3 cm. WHAT?! how is that possible? Shellie said it's called prodromal labor & people can do this for HOURS but she wasn't going to let me. Like a drill sergeant (JK) she said "WALK...WALK until you can't walk anymore." So we did. We walked & walked & walked & with every contraction we stopped I braced the wall, quietly gritted my teeth & swayed back & forth until the contraction passed. Philip was AMAZING & would stand behind me, massage my low back & encouraged me by telling me how great I was doing & helping me breath through the pain. I am sure people were entertained. 1 hour 45 min later I was 4 cm...whoohoo progress!!
During this time I told Shellie that I thought I had been leaking fluid as we were walking & sure enough my water broke not too long after.
HOLY MOLY...it was on from there! The contractions immediately went from 5 minutes apart to 3 & were by far the most intense pain I have ever felt. Shellie had us walk some more to ensure my contractions kept going because now that my water had broken there was no way we were going home & she didn't want me to end up on pitocin to keep labor going. We walked so much & in the same area so much that Philip was able to figure out the distance...this became my motivation. 11 times around the circle in the pods was 1 mile & we counted each lap we made. I continued finding corners & held on for dear life with every contraction. I kept imaging whether or not Addison had hair, how big she was going to be & telling myself this would be over soon. My contractions were about 1 min to 30 seconds apart lasting over a min at this point & I couldn't do it anymore. We walked passed the nurses station & Philip said she's done, she can't do it anymore.
She hooked me back up to the monitor & told me Dr. Alvarez was on his way & that I could have an epidural now if I wanted one. Dr. Alvarez came in & checked me & I was 6-7 cm. WHOOHOO the walking worked!! We waited for what seemed like an eternity for anesthesia to come & Shellie/Philip pressed down on my hips, rubbed my low back, massaged my shoulders & helped me breath & stay focused with each contraction.
I couldn't have a typical epidural due to my fentanyl allergy so my OB & anesthesia were working all the details out while I was hunched over the bed holding on to Shellie. (they wanted Philip to be sitting during the epidural) Instead of the regular epidural with marcaine & fentanyl, I had a marcaine epidural which is a local anesthetic...no pain meds. Once the epidural was in & had taken effect Shellie suggested getting some rest. Philip kissed me on my forehead, said you made it, told me how proud of me he was & reclined in the chair. Regardless of when I hit 10 cm, I had to wait until 6am to start pushing because we had to wait for my antibiotic to be in for 4 hours. I was way too anxious & the reality that I was going to meet my daughter had finally set in. There was NO way I was sleeping. Shellie came in, pulled up a chair & we talked about the last 9 months, what was going to come & how thankful we were the walking kept my labor going. She told me that we were just waiting on the clock, I had probably been at 10 cm for a while & as soon as she could she was going to start laboring me. I honestly couldn't have made it through the night without her & Philip.
At 6 she set the bed up & I started pushing around 6:15. After a couple pushes with contractions with Shellie she paged Dr. Alvarez & Addison was born at 6:47 am.
All in all my labor was about 6 hours & I pushed for a little over 30 min.
Everyone keeps asking Philip "how was she", "was she mean". The answer is no. I was quiet, hard for most people to believe I am sure. I gritted my teeth through each contraction & pictured the face I had seen on ultrasounds. I pictured myself running a marathon & focused on my breathing, just like I do when I go for a long run. With each push I told myself "you can do this. you get to meet your daughter" & I quietly pushed with every ounce of my being.
here are some pictures from both philip's iphone & our digital camera
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| leaving for the hospital (obviously in between a contraction) |
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| philip's self portrait when we got to the hospital | |
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| getting settled into the room |
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| i had no idea this was taken. stopping to grip the wall during a contraction |
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| i had no idea this was taken, LOL. massaging my back during a really bad contraction | |
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| holding Addison for the 1st time |
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| 7 lb 4 oz 19 3/4 inches long |
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| getting checked out by the nurses |
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| proud daddy changing her first diaper |
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| proud daddy |
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| Dr. Alvarez & Addison |
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| the most amazing nurse & friend anyone could ask for, Shellie |
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| taking it all in |
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| push present #1...the best kind |
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| push present #2 |
