Birth stories are all unique, so I love taking a moment and documenting it because I am sure that I will forget most of it in the future. That is the way labor is. If we all remembered every detail, I am sure everyone would have only one child. I am also hoping this will be a treasure to read to my daughter since she might have children of her own some day.
Friday
The day before Clara's birth was pretty normal, but busy. I dropped Edmund off at preschool in the morning. I had my 38 week OB appointment scheduled for that day, but since the appointments are only scheduled a week out, I had to schedule it for 9:30 instead of 9:00. I have been stopping at Panera to get Nathaniel a bagel to eat while at the appointment, so we stopped in and actually got a table today since we had the extra 30 minutes. I also bought him a hot chocolate and we snuggled in next to the fireplace. I read him a couple of books from the diaper bag while he happily sipped on his drink. He didn't end up drinking most of it, but that was okay. It was more to keep him distracted for an extra 30 minutes.
We then headed to my appointment. I met with Abby who is one of the nurse practioners. Everything looked normal and she told me that I was 3 cm and was about 75% effaced. I was 2 cm the week prior, so making progress, but nothing to write home about. I was a little disappointed, only because I had been having so many Braxton-Hicks this time around - way more than Edmund and quite a bit more than Nathaniel as well. If I were to count them, it would be about 5-6 per hour. They weren't painful, just slightly uncomfortable because of the tightening. I was hoping that I had made a bit more progress over the course of the week, but labor is not a linear process.
My friend Carol had her last day off before transitioning to work full time, so she came over to have her son Luke play with the boys. I called her to let her know we were on our way home and that she could come over at any time. Nathaniel got to play with Luke for a little bit and then I headed out to pick up Edmund from preschool. We came back, ate lunch, and then headed down for naps. I even got a short one in, despite Nathaniel waking up early. I let him play in his room while I took a short one. Best decision ever.
When the boys got up, they helped me make supper. We hung out in the evening with dad and then got ready for bed. Eric and I decided to watch a little tv (we are watching the show Vikings) and then we headed off to bed. I had noticed that my Braxton-Hicks were a little stronger than normal, but not consistent and not very painful. Before going to bed, I decided for some reason to go over our hospital plan with Eric - where all the bags were, what needed to be packed yet, what needed to go to the hospital for labor and what after, etc. I am so very grateful I did.
Saturday
I woke up in the night at around 12:45. I noticed that my "Braxton-Hicks" were a little stronger, but still not very frequent. I got up and went to the bathroom and tried to fall back asleep. I fell into a restless sleep where I dozed off an on until around 2:45 am, when I finally decided to get up and time them just to see what was going on. It's hard to gauge how long they are when you are laying in the dark. I decided to grab all of my stuff for the hospital and pack it up first since upon getting up, I thought the contractions seemed stronger still. I started timing them at 3:15 am. They were a minute long and about 3 minutes apart. That typically means time to go to the hospital, but I wasn't sure if they would last. After about a half an hour, they kept getting stronger, so decided to call our friend Carol to come over again since she generously agreed to watch the boys while we were in labor. I next went upstairs and got dressed and woke Eric up. I told him that I thought it was time and to get dressed.
Carol arrived about 20 minutes later. It was a little bit before 4 am at this point. I decided to time my contractions for the full hour and they continued to get stronger were becoming quite painful. I was still getting about a 2 minute break in between so they were manageable, much more manageable than when I had Nathaniel. We decided to leave for the hospital. I had Eric call the midwife and family while we were on our way to let them know. I specifically called the midwife because previous conversations that I had with them about how I barely made it to the hospital with Nathaniel made me want to make sure that someone would be there and that I wouldn't have to wait to push until they arrived.
We arrived at the hospital at around 4:30 and checked in. My contractions were getting worse and I was bleeding a little bit so I knew my cervix was dilating. They brought me into triage and checked my progress. I was 8 cm! I was elated and the nurse was a little shocked and wouldn't let me get out of the bed because the midwife wasn't there yet and she didn't want my water to break.
They wheeled me into the labor and delivery room and they asked me questions while trying to get my Hep-lock in. It took them about a millions tries (okay, it was only three), but it was deja vu all over again with Nathaniel's birth. The midwife came in pretty quickly after I was brought into the room, which was a relief. She thanked me for calling her ahead of time so that she didn't feel as frazzled getting there since I was already so far along. She told me that they could break my bag of water and that I could probably push in a few contractions if I was ready. I said that we should go for it because at this point, it was almost 5 am and I was getting exhausted since I had barely slept.
Katie was the midwife on call and she broke my bag of water and told me I could push when I was ready. I waited for a couple of contractions and then had Eric hold one leg and the nurse hold the other. I pushed through approximately 7 contraction cycles, which was about 20 pushes total. It seemed like an eternity. I wasn't sure if I could push anymore. I knew I had to, but it was so painful and I felt exhausted. I prayed that God would let the next contraction be it. I pushed as hard as I could and pushed around 6 times through the final contraction and the baby was born. They yelled at me to stop pushing part way through to turn her shoulders, but then she was out. They held her up and Eric told me that it was a girl! I was a little surprised, because I was pretty sure she was going to be a boy.
They laid her on my chest and I got to hold her for a minute and then the took her to clean her up while they sewed me up and Eric cut the cord. I had 2nd degree tearing. It wasn't horrible, but it took a few stitches to get everything back in place.
She was here! Our sweet Clara Rose.
After they sewed me up, I got to hold and nurse her while we called family and told them the news.
I spent the day at the hospital. Everyone was very nice, but I felt really lonely this time and longed to get home to the boys. The bed was very uncomfortable and I just didn't want to be there. I had a few people visit, which was fine. I think that most of my sadness and loneliness came from a place of complete exhaustion. Luckily, I got to go home on Sunday.
The boys were very excited to meet their little sister, especially Edmund. He kept asking when his baby could come home and he calls here Clawa since he can't say his r's. Nathaniel seems to like her as well, but he is a little bit more ambivalent than Edmund. Partly because he has a slight cold and he is quite a bit younger.
Sunday
Eric came with the boys to pick me up and now we can start our adventures as a family of five. Give us lots of prayer as I hear this one is a game changer and since she is the first girl, I am sure that will be correct.
-Anna
