I spent almost a year repeating "March 12" over and over again to friends, family, strangers in the grocery store. As I approached the end of the third trimester, I was told I would probably deliver early by my obstetrician, my mother, friends who had children of their own.. but of course I was not so lucky.
I had been in and out of labor and delivery for weeks. My blood pressure was all over the place at every appointment and around 35 weeks I started swelling. I resembled the michelain man, sans pasty white hue and funky hat. I was miserable.
The day after my due date I spent much of the day on the couch. I was tired, swollen, my back hurt, I had a headache. I wanted Camille to come out! I complained to anyone who would listen, and received sage advice "What got her in there will get her out!" from several people. I kept telling myself I shouldn't get my hopes up because she wasn't going to come until she was ready but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try anyway, so we did the deed and went to sleep.
I woke up a few times to change positions (a huge chore when you're exhausted and 9mos pregnant) because my back hurt. I think I started to notice that the back pain was accompanied by cramps around the time the sun started to come up. It was still too dark to see the clock, but the moment I realized I might be having contractions I was awake, and there was NO getting back to sleep. I was still in denial until around 7am. I was finally too uncomfortable to stay in bed, and I was definitely having contractions. They weren't overly painful at that point... they felt much like menstrual cramps. I got up out of bed and let Neil sleep. It was Monday, March 14th. Neil would be getting up to get ready for work around 11, so I would wait to see if things started to progress before waking him up and telling him I thought I was in labor. I couldn't keep it to myself though so I called my mom and told her that I thought I was in labor and I would keep her updated as the day went on.
I repacked my hospital bag (for about the millionth time) had some coffee, and had a nice big breakfast. Finally my contractions were starting to really progress. I started timing them, they were about 7 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds to a minute. I woke Neil up around 10:30 I think. "Hey sweetie, do you wanna have a baby today?" He startled awake and started looking around frantically.. "Huh? What.. what's going on?". I told him to call work and let them know he wouldn't be coming in.
The contractions were really starting to feel miserable. They were now 3-5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute, to a minute and a half. Time to call the OB! They told me to head up to labor and delivery to be checked out and monitored. Much to my dismay, I was told I was only dilated 1cm and still only 50% effaced, as I had been since 37 weeks. Lame. BUT- I was in labor now! Hooray! They asked me to walk the halls for an hour or so to see if I would progress at all. For an hour I walked around L&D, contractions getting too painful to stand through. I'm so glad I had Neil there with me. He made jokes, and held me up when I felt like I couldn't stand. I couldn't have done it without him. After that hour, they fed me some lunch and checked me again. I was heartbroken when they told me I still hadn't made any progress. They gave me the option to stay, or leave and labor at home. I chose to go home since we were so close. I figured I would be more comfortable in my own home anyway.
The moment we pulled in the driveway, I had the answer to the question "How will I know if I have back labor?" I was curious about it for months, because I've had back problems in the past. I always wondered if I would be able to tell the difference between back labor, and a back ache. There was no mistaking the fact that I was feeling back labor. After that first 'back contraction' (which hurt from the middle of my butt, up to my waist and sent a burning/sharp pain down the sides of my thighs) I turned to Neil and told him that I didn't know what I was thinking when I had planned to at least try to go without an epidural. "Eff that" I think were my exact words. I would not wish that pain on my worst enemy. For 2 hours I tried to distract myself. First with facebook, then with TV, then with episodes of 'The secret life of the american teenager" on nexflix. I think we made it half way through the second episode before Neil was begging me to go back to the hospital. I was certain that I would just get sent home again. It had only been 2 hours. 'But honey you're in so much pain'.. DUH Neil! I'm in labor! It's supposed to be painful.. we expected this!
Finally, I realized I was having trouble relaxing between contractions, I had the shakes, and I was feeling light headed because I wasn't concentrating on breathing through the contractions as well as I probably should have. Neil grabbed my phone and asked for the number to the hospital. I begged him to wait, still convinced that it was completely normal to be in this much pain.. first time moms usually labor like this for 12-24 hours right? That's what the OB kept telling me anyway! I called my mother, thinking that she would be able to assure Neil that what I was experiencing was perfectly normal- instead she told me that I needed to call the hospital and head back to labor and delivery. She said it really sounded like I needed to be there.
Defeated, I called midcoast and they gave me the "well.. you can come back if you want.. but it's only been 2 hours." Um- thanks.. I forgot about that part. Did I mention I was having trouble breathing? Yes, I DO want to come back and get checked out.. why else would I have called? I arrived around 4pm, and they brought me to a room. They gave me a gown, but I never put it on. It was all I could to get my pants off and lay down on the bed. The nurse said something about the bag of waters when she started to check me.. I thought 'great.. I've at least made some progress' but I must admit I was entirely unprepared for it when she told me that I was dilated to 8cm, just 2 and a half hours after I was sent home at 1cm and not progressing. I didn't believe her. I asked if she was serious 4-5 times I think. In retrospect.. I'm not sure why I thought a L&D nurse would joke about that kind of thing.. but it still took a minute to sink in. I was almost there. She asked me if I wanted the epidural, and I said yes. I asked Neil to call my mother, and the room filled with nurses.
There were 2 on one side trying to start an IV, a lab tech trying to draw blood.. my BP was still all over the place so they had the cuff strapped to my arm going off every 5 minutes. One nurse asking me questions and filling in stuff on the computer. They were so great. They would stop everything they were doing to hold my hand and help me breathe through the contractions. The nurse who checked me came in with a shot of nubaine (spelling?) to take the edge off until I could get the epidural, but it did nothing. After 20 minutes or so the anesthesiologist showed up and I had my epirudal after a few minutes. Sweet relief! My mother arrived shortly after I started to feel fuzzy from the epi. The on call OB showed up and broke my water. They told me to rest for a couple of hours.
I'll spare all of details of the actual act of giving birth, except to say that she was face up, instead of face down for much of the time I was laboring. She came out fairly quickly after she finally turned, but I almost ended up with a C-section.
Finally, at 10:22pm on March 14th, 2011 we reached the moment we had been waiting on since July 5th (the day we found out we were pregnant). We were finally holding our baby in our arms. She was perfect. Beautiful. They told me she was going to be huge, but she only weighed 6lbs 12oz, and she was 18 inches long. After that first perfect hour with her, Neils dad, my dad, and my sister came in to meet her and left. The nurses took her away for a bath, and another came in and gave me the low down on 'post baby hoo ha care'... but I didn't need any stitches (thank god) so I didn't really have any super special care requirements. I actually wasn't in that much pain. I definitely had some sore muscles.. there was NO denying that I just had a baby.. I guess I just expected it to be more painful than it was.
I don't know how I slept at all that night. Actually I don't think I slept at all that night. I remember changing her first poopy diaper around 530am. I got to sleep sometime after the sun came up.
I don't really have anything else to say about that day other than the cliche 'the best day of my life' stuff.. but it really was the greatest day of my life.
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