A's Birth Day:
My due date was December 24th, 2009. As much as I understood that my babys arrival was not up to me, I told my mid-wife that she would not see me in the hospital on Christmas. A few weeks before my due date we had everything washed, the nursery painted, taken classes, and we were ready! My baby some how got the message to wait until after the holidays, as much as I would have loved for her to enjoy that Christmas with us, I knew she would come on her own time.
The early, early morning of December 29th at about 1:50am I awoke to go to the bathroom which had become a nightly routine. As soon as I got comfortable back in bed I felt this huge gush! Although people say your water breaking feels like your peeing, it didn't. I'm not even sure how to describe the feeling, just that I knew this was it! "Tom, Tom, get a towel, my water just broke!" Is what I shouted as it was happening. One look at the towel and I knew a water birth was out of the picture, there was clearly meconium in the fluid. I tried not to let this upset me, but looking back now, I realize this affected my whole labor.
I wasn't having any contractions at this point, but after calling the hospital they told me to only come in if there was no movement within an hour. I had a glass of orange juice, laid on my right side and after an hour...nothing. I of course freaked out and wanted to get to the hospital. Looking back now, I know that night time was always A's quiet time, she moved around a lot right before bed, but she was very quiet in the middle of the night. But having no idea what was ahead of me, and knowing that my little one was on her way I wanted to be at the hospital. So we woke my mom, who was staying with us, and told her we were on our way to the hospital!
Once we arrived I finally started having contractions, but very little ones and very far apart. They hooked me up to monitors just to check the baby out, and everything was good. I tried to go back to sleep, but I was way too anxious, I was able to lay in bed and relax. At about 5:30-6am the contractions were getting stronger and closer. But I was only dilated to about 4cm. We got the water running in the tub in our room and I can vividly remember banging the walls with each contraction. Instead of letting my body relax and breathe through them I was clenching my fists and tensing up my body. This is NO way to labor! It only makes it worse! But I didn't know any other way to deal with the pain at the moment and I was not trusting my body and the birthing process. The midwife was not schedule to arrive until 7am, so it was just Tom and the L&D nurse trying to get me through this.
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| Breathing through a contraction at 4am |
I was uncomfortable, stubborn and all I wanted was an epidural at this point. Tom knew I did not want it this early on in my labor, the nurse even offered some suggestions to help and instead of trusting my body, my head took over and all I could think was get me out of this pain! Shortly after my midwife arrived, so did my epidural. After the epidural I was finally able to relax a bit and even get a little sleep. My labor did slow down after awhile so they gave me some pitocin. At about 2pm they checked me and I was getting closer. About 15-20 minutes after that I was ready to start pushing. My midwife informed me that since there was meconium in the fluid that they would not be able to put my baby on my chest right away, but she would stay in the room while they cleared out her airways and then she could be with me.
I've heard that most women cannot feel their contractions with the epidural, but I was able to feel the pressure and knew when to push. After about 30 minutes of pushing Allison entered this world, with 10 fingers and toes, beautiful blue eyes, dark blonde hair and a good set of lungs! After Tom cut the cord, and her airways were cleared out, she was put on my chest, and we both just rested! Our daughter, our beautiful miracle was here!
A's First Day:
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| Welcome to the world, Allison! |
On this day we also welcomed a Minnesota snow storm, so we knew only a few people would visit us. We wanted to spend some time with just the three of us, so we waited about 30 minutes before we called anyone with the news of her arrival. As soon as my mom's phone rang she was right there to greet her first grand-daughter. Also Tom's mom and sister visited. Our plan was to be out of the hospital within 24 hours of her birth, so we told most people to hold off and visit us at home since the weather was not at all favorable. Allison nursed like a pro, she had a good latch and seemed to get the hang of it! The day went by fast, we spent tons of time cuddling, and day dreaming of our life with her. There was no more talk of "what do you think she'll look like" she was here, and looked exactly like her daddy! Now instead of feeling her kick through my belly, Tom could hold his daughter in his arms and hold her tiny hand!
The first night went great, Allison slept for 5 hours straight, and the next day was a lot of tests, nursing sessions and a bit of a struggle to get out. With it being New Years weekend and most offices closed they wanted to make sure that if something happened we had a way to get a hold of someone. But I kept pushing, and finally at 7pm we were released! We dressed Allison in the same outfit I went home in over 24 years ago.
There really is no place like home! We walked through our door and said "Welcome home, Allison!"
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| A's 1st day at home! |
