Birth Story

Long Post:

My due date was October 29th. I had a Dr. Appointment November 1st and was still closed and not dilated. Saturday 11/2/19- I had terrible lower back pain and contractions all day. That evening, the contractions were closer together. My husband climbed into bed at 11:30 and told me if I still couldn't sleep by 1am we were going to go to the hospital (it's an hour and a half away) I figured I guess the worst they would do is send us home. Just after 1am I got up to use the bathroom and it woke my husband up and I told him I still couldn't sleep, so we grabbed the bags and headed to the hospital. We got there at "1:30" (daylight savings time gave us an hour back LOL).

11/3/19- when we got to the hospital, they checked us into triage. I was just under 2cm dilated. The nurse told us we could walk around the maternity unit and see if I would dilate any more. We walked around from 2am-5am. The nurse checked me again at 5am and not much had happened. The nurse and doctor chatted and decided it was slow in the unit and since we live 1.5 hours away that they would keep us, knowing if they sent us home, we would probably be back a few hours later. They moved us to a delivery room where I was able to sit in a jacuzzi tub and relax, use a birth ball, and continue to walk around and get baby to move where she needed to(still had horrible back contractions). Just after 8am I was 5 cm dilated. They broke my water at that time. Things got pretty intense after that. By just after 1pm, my back contractions went away and I felt like I needed to poop/push. I was shaking every contraction because it hurt so much. I told my husband we didn't have time to push the call button for the nurse and made him run into the hall and find a nurse. Two came in. One checked and I was 9.5cm dilated. She said let's do a practice push. When I did, she said, "Oh shit, I see hair." They scrambled to get everything and the dr in the room in time. 15 minutes of pushing and at 1:38pm I had my beautiful baby girl in my arms. Exactly 8lbs and 19inches long.

My thought going in was I wanted a natural delivery. When I was having back contractions, I told my husband, "This sucks. I'm definitely getting an epidural when the time comes." But by the time I said I needed to push, there wasn't time for anything. I had the all natural birth/delivery I wanted with no tearing and minimal blood!

Here is Claire Ann 5 days old ready for her first pediatrician appointment!💖👶🥰😍

And 1 week old