Easy Birth Story

7/11/13. Today was a Thursday. It was one of the last days to be together with my soon to be big sisters before getting induced on Sunday. Here’s what we did Breakfast with a friend, pet store, pedicures, park, 7-11 for free slurpees, garage sales, another park, ice cream, and then home to swim. By dark I was exhausted but we still had to do our nightly catch lightening bug walk. That’s when I got one bad back cramp. I told my husband when we got home and he seemed panicked. He quickly got the hospital bag and the girls’ overnight bag down by the door and packed one for himself. I was nervous too because I knew it was the start to real contractions. It was way different than the Braxton hicks I’ve had for the last few months. I continued about my night experiencing a few minor back pains/contractions. I wanted to sleep but I knew real labor was near and I was scared. I didn’t want to go to the hospital. I wasn’t ready to have this baby, even though I wanted it out for so long. This really might be the day the world gets to meet the little one that caused me so much stress and anxiety the last few weeks. Was it going to be boy or girl? I remember feeling a sudden sadness in the mix of pain knowing that this will probably be my last time being pregnant. It was a bittersweet moment. I wondered if I enjoyed being pregnant as much as I should, maybe I should’ve embraced it a little more. By 11 pm I had major back cramping and pain but nothing regular. I walked around my house trying to time them, while watching TV, doing dishes, and quick cleaning. Nothing more than 30 seconds, so I figured it wasn’t real labor. I also looked up if I was in labor or not because even though it was the 3rd time I still felt clueless. I downloaded an app to time the contractions but I still wasn’t sure if it was real contractions. At around 2 or 3 am I called my mom because I didn't want to drag the girls out in a panic if it was real labor. My mom got here and I still wasn’t sure since I was able to talk and function. The only weird thing is that I felt like I had to go to the bathroom with every contraction. I tried to go to bed in hopes that my water would break and then I would know for sure to go to the hospital. Finally around 5 am I was still asking my mom and husband if I should go in and decided to call my Dr’s office. The answering service told me it was my call and that the L&D nurse would call the Dr if they needed him (my Dr was pissed about this and said she should’ve paged him right away.) I still contemplated going because I read about a 5-1-1 rule (contractions 5 mins apart lasting 1 minute for at least 1 hour) mine weren’t like that so I still waited. They never got like that. Finally I got my husband. Of course, he had a headache and was obviously in more pain than me so we had to stop at Walgreens, which was closed. I told him we still had time and I thought Kmart was open. He got out of the car and that’s when I felt the most pain. I told him we needed to hurry. Then of course contractions/cramping stopped again. We got to the hospital around 5:45am, waited for L&D to come, which seemed to take forever. I told the nurse on the way up that I wasn’t sure if it was real labor and they’ll probably send me home but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t too far along because I wanted the epidural (which I didn’t get with my last 2.) She put me in the small room and told me to get undressed so she could check me. She had a strange look on her face and to my surprise and hers she said “umm you’re at 8-9cm, looks like you’re not getting that epidural this time either. We need to move you to a different room and get everything ready right away.” Omg. My baby will be here soon, now if only my Dr would hurry up. We made jokes about Candy Crush, pig semen and Kim Kardashian all while in fullest and hardest part of labor. The nurses loved me and couldn’t belive I was smilig and laughing (especially without drugs). They commentred on how I was such an easy patient. 7 am comes and Dr arrives and the nurses that I’ve dealt with for the last hour were about to leave. Dr breaks my water, I tell him I really need to push. I scream and cry in pain and push. Everyone cheers me on and says “the baby’s right there, we see hair, one more push, you can do it.” I push. They say “stop, stop, stop. Don’t push. You need to stop pushing right now.” I cry that I can’t and it hurts but they seem concerned and I do my best to stop. The baby’s head is out and I have no idea what is going on. No one seems to say anything. My husband later tells me the look on the one tech’s face was pure panic to the point he didn’t even care if it was a boy or girl. One more push and at 7:18 am “it’s a girl!!!” Turns out the cord was wrapped so tightly around her neck they couldn’t even unravel it and the Dr had to cut it off. I think, wow 2 contractions to push her out. That was the easiest labor and delivery. The nurses from the last shift stayed after just to see what I had and to congratulate us. They hand me my screaming baby girl and she was beautiful. They finally clean her up and measure her about an hour or two later. She weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 21 in long. We couldn’t decide on a name for the longest time but eventually decided on Cierra Rose. That’s how I remember the birth story. I actually just realized I have no pictures of me in labor and none of me and the baby or none of our whole family.