On February 1st, after my 38 week appointment and cervical check, I actually had some false labor that sure felt like the real thing! I started having contractions about 2 hours after my appointment and actually had to stop making dinner because they were that painful. By the time I called to see if I should head in I was actually in tears from the pain. However, by the time we got our stuff all packed up to go to the hospital and were about to head out the door, the contractions had really died down. My doctor actually called around the same time to tell me that our hospital was actually full and we would need to go to a different hospital....where he didn't have delivery rights. Lucky for me, they had me wait it out since my contractions had slowed down! They never did pick back up. I still remained convinced that I would be induced at 41 weeks. I was even partly hopeful that this would be the case so we could more easily plan for Christian to be with someone.
My mom's boyfriend's mom ended up passing away at the beginning of February and her funeral was going to be held on February 13th about an hour from our house. A friend of mine who does massage lived nearby. I figured it might be worth a visit to try to get labor started by massaging my pressure points. After an hour long massage around 8pm on the 13th I headed home to wait with instructions to take a bath and do some walking in the morning.
I woke up on Sunday morning and started getting ready to head to church and noticed some contractions starting around 10am. They were very mild and about 15 minutes apart by the time church started at 11am. I think Christian could sense that something was up and a big change was near because drop off at his First Look class involved a lot of tears. He usually runs right in to play! I figured the contractions would stop after sitting through church, but they were actually getting closer!
We then headed to the mall to do some walking and hoped that Christian would snooze in the stroller. Christian never did fall asleep but I got some good walking in and my contractions were coming about every 7-10 minutes. They still weren't really painful, though, so I was sure they would stop any time. We finally decided we should head home around 1 or 2pm. After we were back to our house I laid on the couch for a bit to see if the contractions would stop. They seemed to maybe slow down a bit, but not much, so I started bouncing on the yoga ball. Christian kept telling Braxton "It's time to come out!!"
Since my contractions were remaining consistent around every 7 minutes or so, we decided to go do some more walking at Walmart. It was here that they really picked up! By this point they were coming about every 5-7 minutes, but I had had a few that were only 2 minutes apart. The funny thing is that they still weren't really painful. Sometimes they would stop me in my tracks for a second, but nothing terrible. I was still convinced it wasn't the real thing. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that maybe I was actually going into labor on my own!
A friend of mine finally convinced me that I should call and tell them that I have group B strep because I probably should be heading in. They of course wanted me to come right away. We made arrangements for Christian to head to a friends house since my mom of course had parent teacher conferences the next day and couldn't come until after they were done.
By 6:30pm we were checking in at the hospital. I was still nervous that I was just going to be sent home and it wasn't the real thing. I was actually so nervous that my blood pressure was quite elevated! BUT I was dilated to 4cm and 75% effaced!! I was being admitted! The week before I was just over 1cm.
By 7:30pm I was settled into my own room and starting the antibiotics for group B strep. At this point I had stopped timing my contractions since they were admitting me and said I wouldn't be going home until I had a baby (I actually asked! ha ha). The contractions still weren't that painful and I was in shock that labor could feel like this without pitocin! I actually told Jim a few different times how wonderful this labor experience was so far! Between doses of antibiotics and monitoring, I continued to walk the halls for about an hour at a time. By 10:30pm I was 6cm and 80% effaced. Still not in much pain. Yes, the contractions were uncomfortable but I continued to walk.
Since I was still walking and not really in a ton of pain (especially compared to contractions with pitocin!) the nurse kept discussing whether I wanted to skip the epidural. I had come in saying I wanted an epidural and just wanted to make sure I didn't miss it. The idea of not needing an epidural never even crossed my mind! I so was not mentally prepared to do it naturally. By about midnight I was just over 7cm and they said if I wanted an epidural they should probably order it. I decided to go for it even though I wasn't feeling like I needed it. I was afraid to push without it and didn't know what to expect without having one since I had one with Christian. I also hoped to take a nap before pushing and being able to rest with the epidural.
At 12:30pm the epidural was placed and I was 8cm and 100% effaced! Things quickly went downhill. I forgot how much the shakes suck after an epidural and was of course shaking like crazy. It wasn't long before they couldn't find Braxton's heartbeat any more either! My room was quickly flooded with nurses and the head nurse was yelling at my nurse. They then had me get up on my hands and knees (with an epidural and not feeling anything!) I was trying not to panic at this point, but was sure I was going to be rushed in for a c-section and was also worrying that Braxton wasn't going to make it. Luckily, once I was on my hands and knees they were able to find Braxton's heartbeat again!
Once I was finally able to get on my back again, the doctor was already there and I was set up to be checked before starting to push. Right as the doctor was about to check my cervix I remember saying, "Something is coming! I can feel something!" Turns out my bag of waters was bulging out and burst all over my doctor! I saw it shoot up into the air! I was then 10cm and ready to push right away at 1:50am. After a few good pushes I could feel Braxton right in my pelvis which wasn't too comfortable. Luckily, I only had to push for 20 minutes and, after the longest push ever, Braxton was born at 2:11am on February 15th! The cord was wrapped around his neck and shoulder, which explained why they lost his heartbeat for awhile. Because of this, he also didn't cry first thing but my doctor very quickly got the cord cut and he started screaming but was still a little purple/blue for a bit. He pinked up fast, though!
Our first few hours together Braxton just laid on my chest and moaned and groaned and "talked" to us! He wasn't super interested in nursing right away. In fact, I called him my baby bird because he would just open his mouth and expect to get something. It took him awhile to realize he needed to suck.
Being that Braxton was our second baby, we actually had a very short stay at the hospital and were discharged 24 hours later! They did his 24 hour tests early in the morning on the 16th and we were on our way home by about 10am! Grandma Jill had come to be with Christian the night before after her parent teacher conferences and came with Big Brother Christian the morning of the 16th. We were then able to drive home as a family of 4!
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