In the wee hours of the morning, one month ago, I was awoken several times throughout the night to some uncomfortable contractions. This wasn't too unusual but after about the 8th time out of bed it dawned on me that these were different than usual. I was excited to get up in the morning, although pretty tired, to see what this day would bring.
As I was making breakfast, I timed my contractions that were coming 5 minutes apart for a couple hours and was becoming increasingly convinced that today was the day. After about an hour they went to about every ten minutes and we got ready and went to church. They were different than my previous contractions but nothing too painful. I only had 3-4 contractions during church and my excitement had wore off.
I took a nap with Karissa to make up for the night before and my parents came to visit shortly after waking up. They delivered some Easter goodies, brought some good food and we had an Easter egg hunt.
They stayed for a couple hours and by the end of the visit the contractions were coming back intense enough that I definitely noticed but only 15 to 20 minutes apart. They left about 4:30 and things continued that way for a couple hours.
At 7:00 I started thinking there was a possibility that today was the day and decided to take the dog for a long walk thinking it would help me figure out for sure. I told the babysitter I would let her know by 8:30 if we would need her that night. Josh jokingly said, "what if the contractions get bad and you can't get home?" I made some phone calls and texted some friends for advice and was trying to not get too excited that the contractions were coming 5 to 10 minutes apart. I walked for probably 30 to 45 minutes and by the end I couldn't walk through the contractions. When one in particular hit I momentarily thought that Josh was going to be right.
I sat on the exercise ball for awhile after getting home, took a shower, searched the internet and texted for advice. Around 9:15/9:30 I decided this was probably false labor since it had been going on for close to 24 hours with not much change. I texted the babysitter and told her I would keep her updated but things weren't progressing. Wouldn't you know as soon as I decided it wasn't real and laid in bed the contractions started coming 5 minutes apart. They hurt and I was in tears thinking that I wasn't going to be able to make it through labor when the "false" labor hurt this bad. Between Josh, and a couple friends, and an hour of intense contractions 5 minutes apart I realized this was probably the real deal.
We called the babysitter, got up, cleaned a little, and got ready to go the hospital. I was worried we would make it up there and it wouldn't be real one minute and then an intense contraction would hit and I'd be worried we weren't going to make it to the hospital in time. Around 10:35 the babysitter made it up to our house and we got her set up. I knew this was it when I had to stop talking to her to make it through a contraction. We got to the ER and thankfully after not to long of a wait made it up to labor and delivery. I was a 5.5 when they checked me around 11:30. Josh and I were both excited, it was officially official this was it.
I told the nurse that I wanted to make sure I got the antibiotic started since I hadn't got it in time with Karissa. (I tested positive for group B strep, a bacteria carried in about 25 percent of pregnant women. It order to decrease the risk to the baby the antibiotic needed to be in for 4 hours before the baby was born and that would also give us the possibility to leave after 24 hours.) She told me they were going to get things started right now but I probably wouldn't have 4 hours before the baby would be born and I started crying.
My tears didn't last for long, there was loss to be done. They got my iv started, moved me into another room, and hooked me back up to everything. The nurse spoke with the doctor who said I would need to be hooked up to monitor the baby for thirty minutes every hour. I really wanted to be able to walk around, one of the many reasons I wanted to be able to birth at the birth center, and you can't with the monitor. My contractions were tolerable in the bed for now though and, at least for me, when a position is working during labor I'd rather not move. Plus at this point I had made the incorrect assumption that things would be just like my last labor. With Kelsie, and in general, transition is supposed to go much faster and I was able to just lay in bed the last time and progressed.
Around 12:15/12:30 the nurse told me I was a 7 or an 8 and that she didn't want me leaving the room. Apparently with baby number three and a natural labor they are a little worried that the baby is going to pop right out. Things were getting really intense and I had no intention of moving. Unfortunately, that didn't work quite as well this time as last. I'm not sure if it was because the baby was bigger, if it was that I had gotten into bed earlier, or something else but things really stalled at this point. I was having the rough transition contractions but not making any progress.
An hour later, and way too many checks by the nurse I was still only an 8. They called the doctor to come when I got to an 8 because typically things do speed up then so I think everyone was starting to get anxious. The nurse came in and convinced me that if the doc broke my water I'd be done within a few minutes. With Kelsie and Karissa he broke the water when I was pushing so I kind of equated the water being broken with being done and didn't trust my instincts to avoid intervention. Anyway, around 1:15 the doctor came in and broke my water. The good news is the contractions didn't seem to get any worse, the bad news is it didn't help speed things up much. The nurse checked me what seemed like a thousand more times (remember the doctor was there in the middle of the night just waiting on me.)
I was kind of zoning out at this point and Josh helped me realize that every time they checked me it would throw off my concentration making the pain seem much worse. In fact I would start being much more vocal as soon as they came in the room. I did a lot of shaking my head and eventually saying no when the contractions would start like maybe they had to ask for permission and if I said no they would stop. Lucky for babies they don't work like that because I'm pretty sure not many people would be yelling "Yes! Yes! Yes!" during contractions.
Around 2:20 I got to the contractions that tell you it's time to push (whether you are ready or not). The nurse said I was still between an 8 and a 9 and I needed to hold back. That maybe lasted for 10 min and I let her know the baby was coming. She was happy to get Dr. Smith (I think I was making her nervous - I have that way about me sometime ;-) who waltzed in calmly as usual. I was definitely not calm at this point but I'm glad he wasn't quite as excited as me. Once he was ready he got me focused I pushed a few times and Jace was out. Well, almost. Apparently my big boy had some broad shoulders that took some strategic maneuvering but with a couple more pushes at 2:42 am he was on my chest.
And, what seemed like seconds ago would never end was now over and I had a beautiful little boy on my chest and I could hardly believe it. What an amazing thing.
My doctor who delivered all 3 of our babies (and who thinks as of now Jace's name is Logan.) He's been the best doctor for me, I'm very lucky to have had three amazingly healthy pregnancies and deliveries.
Our brand new babe snuggling with his daddy for the first time while Josh is trying to figure out what name suits him best.
Much to my dismay the process wasn't completed until almost 12 hours later when his sisters came to meet him. Kelsie heard Josh talking about it to my mom and said she liked Jace and it was settled.
