How it happened....

Sarah • Wife, Mother, Christ follower

September 30th, at 39 weeks, I was feeling....weird. I'd had random chills that day, random contractions, and felt like I'd been losing my mucus plug. I went to the bathroom around 11 pm and after I finished peeing, I felt more liquid come out. Now, I sat there for a minute and thought - ok, did I just pee myself? But...it just felt different. I debated for a while, and then texted my husband who was at work and called labor and delivery to see what they thought. They told me to put a pad on, lie down for 30 minutes, stand up and see if anything else gushed out. I did this. Nothing. Brushing it off as a false alarm, I went to bed. The next morning, my husband, almost 2-yr-old and I headed in to my 39 week appointment, and I was thrilled when he offered me a stretch and sweep. I was 3cm dilated, 50% effaced. After the sweep, my midwife said, "Hey, did you call labor and delivery last night thinking your water broke?" And I laughed and said, "Yeah, I guess it was a false alarm." He said, "Ok, if you have any doubts at all - come in. Your risk of infection is higher than now that I gave you a sweep." I nodded my head, and we started to head for home. Just before we left, I told my husband I had to pee (again, lol). And it happened AGAIN. A little gush after my pee. We walked across the hallway and into labor and delivery. While my husband was figuring out who could watch our son if I ended up staying, they hooked me up to the monitors, swabbed me for amniotic fluid, and informed the midwife on call. At this point, I started having mild but regular contractions. I smiled at my husband and said, "I TOLD you she is comihg early!" When the midwife came, she checked me and said, "I feel a bulging bag. I think you have a tear high in your sack, and you're leaking fluid slowly. Since you're having contractions and had your membranes swept, I think we should break your water fully and get this party started." We wholeheartedly agreed, so my husband took off with my son and to grab lunch and all our bags, and they transferred me to a huge birthing room with awesome floor to ceiling windows. At this point, it was noon. I ordered lunch, they broke my water, and I settled in to wait. They kept asking me how my contractions were, and I said barely noticable. By about 1:30 when my husband was back, I was at a five but still no pain. We tried the exercise ball, we walked laps, I ate, we talked. 3 o'clock rolls around, I'm at 7.5. No pain, no change in contractions. The midwife thinks we should get things moving so I can have a baby. She suggests pitocin (NOOOOO!), and I agree - on the condition that I can have nitrous oxide with it. They say, "Alright, we'll get it hooked up!"

My husband says, "I bet she'll be born by 5." The nurse says, "She's definitely coming ar 7 - that's shift change!"

GUYS. NITROUS OXIDE IS THE BEST. I got it at 4 o clock. It doesn't cut the pain, it just makes you not care at all. I was laughing and having an awesome time between all my contractions. We made all kinds of silly bets about how big she'd be, how long she'd be, hair or no hair... my husband predicted that the sun would come out when she was born as it had been cloudy and gross all day. It was like that up until it was time to push, and they took my beloved laughing gas away 😭😭😭.

I pushed twice, and the midwife said, "Something's not right. Oh, you still have some cervix there...you're more like a 9.5! Let's have a few more contractions."

They had me labor on my hands and knees for a while, then checked me again. Time to push at 6:45.

This is embarrassing, but - holy. Every instinct I had was wrong. They want you to put your chin to chest, hold your legs up and apart, and bear down pushing toward your butt. I was throwing my head back, squeezing my legs together, and trying to push but it just felt wrong - I had no urge and felt like my pushes were doing nothing! So the nurses were fighting me, my midwife is yelling at me, my husband is like, "ITS WORKING I PROMISE!", I'm screaming bloody murder and trying so hard to fight my body and follow their instructions.

7 PM, on the dot, the sun broke through the clouds and literally filled the room with golden light as they put a baby on my chest. Lucy Rose, 8 lbs and 20 in. We love her.