5 days and 5 nights of contractions and FINALLY my not-so-little man makes his arrival

5 days and 5 nights of contractions and FINALLY my not-so-little man makes his arrival!

I started having painless but consistent contractions Tuesday evening. They were anywhere from 10-15min apart and would escalate to 4-5min apart... then back to 15min etc. At first I thought I was in early labor and went into my midwives clinic to be checked for progress. I was 3cm and 70% effaced. So I went home and kept trucking along.

I admit I was getting VERY frustrated. I was just laying around contracting... with nothing happening (well it seemed like nothing). This is my 4th baby and I NEVER had this kind of thing happen. I was getting barely any sleep every night and not able to nap in the day because of the frequency of contractions... which was not helping with my grumpiness.

Saturday night my contractions started getting more crampy and even a level of pressure where I had to breathe through them. I fell asleep at around 11:30pm and was ABRUPTLY awoken at 12:02am with a BIG contraction. OW!!

After timing contractions and noting the escalation of pain, hubby and me called Grandma to come stay with the kiddos and made our way to the hospital to meet the midwives. I checked in and measured 4cm... walked around for 1.5hrs and measured 6cm. They gave me a room and then the adventure of labor began.

I labored probably the best I ever did for several hours. Stayed calm, focused, and breathed through each contraction. THEN my contractions turned into LEG contractions. It felt like each contraction became an extremely painful charlie-horse in my thighs... so intense I couldn't even feel baby until they went away. I couldn't wrap my brain around them and asked for an epidural so I could go back to a calm approach to delivery. I had measured 8cm and wasn't progressing and I knew the leg contractions would only keep me tense and not relaxed into "letting" baby descend.

After 20min of failed IV port attempts (they think I was dehydrated and that's why my veins wouldn't cooperate) they finally got me hooked up and put a pressure bag over my fluids to make it finish in 15min. The anesthesiologist came in fast and got me done FAST. I only had 2 contractions from the time he walked in til the medicine worked. Thank You Jesus!

My midwife broke my water bag to help things move along and after a bit of relaxed pressure-full contractions (I could still feel my calves, ankles, and feet slightly--but no pain) my midwife said I was 10cm and 100% and ready to go! I WAS SO RELIEVED. I ended up pushing for 1hr and 20min (the longest I ever had to) and I finally pushed out my second son and fourth child. (I got to watch his head crown and deliver in a mirror before I went Amazon woman and launched him into the world with a battle cry).

My little Jack was born at 3:49pm Sunday March 26th. 9lbs 5oz and 22in long. He cried out before his body was delivered, and when they handed him to me he looked right into my eyes and whimpered. It was beautiful. Along with having a bigger baby, my placenta was also a very healthy size, AND I had quite a bit of fluid. No wonder I was having such pressure!!

Jack is by far my biggest baby with my daughters being 7lbs11oz and 7lbs12oz, and my first son being 8lbs9oz. Grandma and Grandpa brought all the siblings to come meet our newest family member and he was greeted with giant smiles, sweet kisses, and lots of eager little fingers. I am so happy with my beautiful living family. My husband was by my side throughout my labor and delivery. He supported me when I wanted to attempt a natural birth and when I changed my mind and got the epidural. He continuously encouraged me with every contraction, held my hand, let me lean on him, pet my hair from my face, and reminded me how much he loved me. He got to assist in catching our son when he finally came out and cut the cord after delayed clamping. It was a wonderful thing to witness. I feel so entirely blessed.