WOAH! What a birth.... what a whirlwind. Even though I anticipated everything that happened happening, I was still in shock afterwards that I was right. It was really fast and intense, which makes for a pretty short birth story. I think to lengthen it a bit I'll add some backstory to it. So let's start with a little bit of my birth history. With Jane my water broke first at 3am and her labor was 14 hours long. With Atlas I woke up in labor at 7am and he was born 5 1/2 hours later, water didn't break until I was pushing. With Xan I woke up at 4am in labor and she was born 2 1/2 hours later, water didn't break until I was pushing with my midwife only arriving 20 min before she was born. To be honest, she probably could have been born 30 min to an hour sooner if I had my birth team present. So with Flynn I was sure he would be super fast and no one would make it in time. To my surprise, my water broke first at 5:30am and contractions didn't even start right away. He was born 9 hours later but only 2 hours after contractions became consistent and strong enough to really notice. My midwife even had to employ some of her natural labor inducing methods to get things going. So yes, the opposite of what I thought. Everyone was able to get there with time to spare and my friend was even able to photograph everything. :) Flynn was only 6lbs 6oz while all of my other babies were over 8lbs, all the way to 9lbs 2oz. My midwife, Sallie, said it took a bit to get labor started probably because Flynn was so light compared to my other babies. All that to say, I was expecting a fast labor yet again this time because I had no reason to assume Piper would be light like Flynn.
 |
| Last bump pic |
I was even more sure it would be fast because I kept getting faked out that labor was starting as early as 38 weeks. What I thought was just normal Braxton Hicks got stronger and could even become somewhat consistent for over an hour. Some being painful as well. My sister-in-law, Anna, let me know about Prodromal Labor, look it up, it's basically early labor that can last anywhere from days to weeks that starts up and stops often. I'm pretty positive that I had this with Alexandria, who's birth was very fast and I was having it again with Piper. It makes it really hard to know when labor is truly starting. The Sunday night before she was born I had at least an hour of almost real feeling contractions. that lasted for over a minute and came every 7ish minutes or so. You can see what I charted in the screenshot below. At around 12am I fell asleep and woke up around 2:30am to nothing. They started back around 3am and those felt real strong but I only had a couple and they stopped so I didn't chart those two. Monday night was strange. Atlas cut his head enough to need stitches so I spent half the night at the ER with him and my mom. I think if that wouldn't have happened I may have had her that night if my body was relaxed and I wasn't getting home at 11pm still in a daze from my son having blood all over him. (he's totally fine, just three stitches and he never complained about it hurting at all after that.)
Anyway! Moving on, we went to Park Day on Tuesday. I knew it might be a lot for 41 weeks pregnant but I also thought maybe it might get things going. My mom met us there to help out. It was a great park day, I'm so glad we got to go. Went home and gave the kids all baths and got a shower in myself, feeling the regular contractions I've been feeling for weeks throughout the day, nothing unusual. While we were at the park Sallie had texted me and told me about our next steps since neither of us wanted me to go much longer. I was going to call Inside Story the next morning to get an appointment that week to check fluids and make sure it was all good still. (I didn't end up needing to call) She also told me to increase the birth prep I was taking that afternoon and rub some castor oil on my belly before we tried applying it to the cervix later on that week. Lastly, she told me to try to relax, we were in the home stretch. I completely trust Sallie. I did exactly what she said. That night we got Chick-Fil-A for dinner to keep it chill and after I put the kids to bed, I sat down with a brownie (that I don't usually let myself have while pregnant) and turned on the movie What to Expect When You're Expecting to laugh and enjoy and rubbed castor oil on my belly. All very relaxing.
 |
| 12 hours before labor started |
I finished my movie with no remarkable contractions. I decided to turn on a silly teen dramedy for a bit before I headed to bed. It was right before Midnight that I felt my first contraction that made me think, "Huh, that could be real." BUT! This happens to me all the time! Especially around 11pm-Midnight. They always seem to fall off or I fall asleep through them. I decided to track them for the next half hour. They were about every 10-12 min. It was almost 12:45am by then. So I told Sam I was going to bed but it might be tonight... He came to bed right after me and I was still looking at my phone to track them. We both decided to try to sleep but we ended up talking for the next hour or so and I kept tracking. They continued to be about 10 min apart and getting a little stronger. At 1:28am I texted my mom and Sallie saying the contractions were 10 min apart for about a minute and somewhat hard to talk through and I had been tracking them over an hour. I just wanted to give them a heads up and told them I would call if they got stronger. They both responded with a thumbs up. I tried to sleep and I think I may have dosed between one or two of them but they kept waking me up each time. I felt Piper kick me in the bladder and I had to get up to go to the bathroom. Then the contractions were about 8 min apart but sometimes a not as strong one would only be 3 min after. After I got back in bed I felt a contraction that I knew had to be real. It was 2:45am and I called my mom saying I was pretty sure this was going to be it! She told me she'd gather her things and be on her way. (she lives only 5-7 min from me.) I called Sallie right after and her phone went straight to voicemail. AH! I thought, but I texted her and she called me right back. Said she would be on her way as fast as she could. I told Sam I was going to move to the couch since I would need my mom to get the bed ready when she got there. He followed me to the living room to wait for my mom and Sallie to arrive.
OH my goodness.. y'all... How fast the contractions intensified from there was unreal. I felt a very strong one I had to groan through as soon as I sat down on the couch. Then every contraction from there was very painful and just before my mom arrived at about 3:05am there was a contraction that I felt pressure to push. I thought, Oh no... they're not going to make it. Lots of thoughts started streaming through my head. "Should I have Sam draw the bath so I can give birth there since nothing is ready??" But I could barely finish the thought before another contraction would bear down on me and it's all I could think about just to get through it. I tried to pray but every time I started to pray another contraction came on. (I think I would relax as soon as I would start praying and then the oxytocin that brought on would bring another contraction.) When my mom walked in the door she heard me groaning and she told me later she thought, "Oh my! She almost ready to push!" She asked immediately if Sallie was on her way and we told her, we thought so, but hadn't double checked. My mom said later she realized then that Sallie might not get there in time. She said she started to freak out but calmed herself and thought, "Ok, we can do this." I asked her to get the bed ready first.
 |
| Last Ultrasound |
The next 10-15 min I continued to feel an urge to push and resisting it made the contractions more painful. But I didn't want to give birth without Sallie. So I continued to resist. Sam was trying to call Sallie to see how far away she was, but we couldn't reach her. I knew it must mean she was driving. My mom came back and said the bed was ready and asked if I wanted to move to it. I told her I wanted to but I was afraid if I got up I would have Piper right away and maybe not even make it to the bed. I didn't really want to have her on the floor. For two of my births I was able to stay on that couch, not move until Sallie arrived before I had the baby. It had worked before, so I was going to do it again. Right before 3:30am I had a contraction that was super intense and the pressure was immense. I remember saying "Damn" and "Oh God" (I wasn't even able to get the word "help" out) I was so scared to give birth without my midwife. In between that contraction and the next I was able to say shortly, "I can't stop, I have to push! I'm sorry!" (I knew my mom was scared too) The next one was the strongest contraction I've ever felt. I started screaming! My body started pushing all on it's own and my water broke. My mom sprung into action. (I should mention that the only birth experience my mom has is being present at the birth's of my other children) She pulled my pajama bottoms off and then I started to push on purpose because I couldn't handle the pain anymore. My mom said "I see the head! Keep going! You can do it!" I kept going, then stopped for just a moment to breathe for just a few seconds then pushed again and at 3:33am Piper came right out into my mom's arms! My mom put her right on my chest and we heard a tiny cry, but then she was quiet. My mom suctioned her nose and mouth and she cried a little again. I asked my mom to grab a towel so we could rub her back. (all my birth supplies were in the bedroom) We started rubbing her back with the towel and finally lots of loud cries! She was all pink already too. Sam finally got Sallie on the phone and said, "You better get here lady, baby is already here!" Sallie said she heard the cries and knew everything was fine, she was 5 min down the road. I was crying, just overwhelmed by what just happened. I think I said, "Sorry" again, My mom said, "No, it's ok!! You did it! It's over, She's here, she's fine!!" I felt some fluid come out and asked for my mom just to make sure it wasn't too much blood. It wasn't, just some fluid. I was fine too. I said, "well, I guess we'll get a new couch!" ;)
 |
| Cutting the cord |
Right around then the kids walked out of their room, Jane, Atlas and Xan. (we let Flynn keep sleeping) They were sooooo excited to see Piper! Those smiles and looks of awe were the sweetest. They came up to her to say hi and touch her hand. Finally, Sallie arrived, I say finally, but it was really only about 5 min. She immediately checked us both out and said, "Way to go!!" We were talking about cutting the cord, but Sallie said it was still pulsing, so we could wait a few more minutes. My dad was on his way because we had said he and Jane would do it together. While we waited for him we talked about how Sallie and I were both being so careful to not go to far from our houses and staying aware because of how fast my labors go, but she still missed it!! She does not miss many. She mentioned how cool it was that grandma got to catch her. About then my dad arrived and he and Jane cut the cord together. Such a sweet moment. Sam put the kids back to bed since it was still around 4am then and I handed Piper off to my mom so I could deliver the placenta which came out perfectly with no issues at all. My dad also got to hold her during this time. I could hear Piper crying and I knew she was hungry already, but I wanted to get to my bed first. I had a feeling Piper was going to nurse a while once she got started and I didn't want to be on a wet couch covered in birth fluids myself as well. So I moved to the bed and got some new clothes on. Sallie took my blood pressure again, which was fine. I said I was ready to nurse Piper but Sam had put her to sleep rocking her in the recliner and they were both content. So we waited just a little while longer they got some sweet bonding time.
She woke up just a little later and I got to nurse Piper for the first time. She latched right away and proceeded to nurse for like an hour. I don't even know how long really. We let her take her time. We were all in my bedroom chatting about the birth and how incredible it was. Technically, Piper was born 3 1/2 hours after I started timing contractions but only about an hour after they became closer than 10 min apart and hard to talk through. Sallie was glad that her arriving a few minutes after the birth allowed my mom to have the special experience of catching Piper. She always wanted my mom to catch but was pretty sure if she was there already my mom wouldn't have felt the need to catch. It's pretty fun because Piper's middle name that we had already chosen is part of my mom's name. Marianne. It's also my middle name, Ann.
After we let Piper get nice and full, we weighed and measured her around 5:30am. Sallie made sure I had made it to the restroom fine and told us all the signs to watch out for and let her know about in case there were any issues and headed out to let us rest. My dad also headed home then. My mom, still high on adrenalin, went to clean up the couch before the kids got up and try to save it. (She was successful!!) All was quiet, Sam, Piper and I all resting in bed as the sun came up. Pretty perfect if I do say so myself. Sure, it was kinda crazy, kinda scary and very intense, but I remember every powerful minute of it. My body gave birth all on it's own. Woah, I still barely believe it just writing it out. I'm so grateful I had the support of my mom and Sam through it all and Sallie right afterwards.
In closing, our 5th child and 3rd born daughter. Piper Ann Daniels was born safely at home on Wednesday, 8/17/2022 at 3:33am weighing 8lbs 14oz and measuring 22 Inches. We are all so in love and grateful to God for the blessing that Piper is to our family. God is good!!
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment