Thursday, May 6, 2010
Started as a day like any other day. Not too much going on. At exactly 39 weeks pregnant, I was definitely feeling uncomfortable and ready to welcome our baby into the world! As of the previous Tuesday at the doctors appointment, I was 1 1/2 cm dilated and baby was sitting pretty low. Encouraging for sure, but I knew it didn’t necessarily mean much!
Jim’s daily question (asked repeatedly) of “Are you having that baby yet?” was getting a little unnerving because I really wished I knew and was totally ready to get the show on the road. So in attempts to encourage the process we decided to take a nice walk around the mall that night. We had been doing this periodically over the last week or two, so figured to just keep it up. At home, I would bounce on an exercise ball in hopes to feel something happening!
Well, I got some “contractions” of sorts. They were painless and just a overall tightening. Braxton Hicks I figured. Just my body practicing for the real thing. These had been happening here and there throughout the past few weeks as well. Again, nothing to write home about.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Slept soundly for two hours and about 12:00 am I woke up to some achy cramp feelings. I stayed in bed for a good 20 minutes and realized they were coming in waves about 3 or so minutes apart. But they didn’t hurt. Just some mild discomfort. I decided to get up and go down stairs to have some water and monitor the situation. They were uncomfortable enough that I wasn’t going to sleep, so I told Jim what was going on and headed downstairs.
About 1:00 am they were still happening. So, I decided to jump in the shower to relax and see if that would change anything. Still coming….2-3 minutes apart, 60 seconds long. Seems like labor, but I just wasn’t sure.
Timing the contractions!
In the midst of one
I called labor and delivery at the hospital and figured I would describe what was happening and see what they say. They advised to just hang out a little longer and see if they became painful, and to just come by in about an hour or so. They also advised I call the doctor. Called the doctor on call (not my doctor) and she recommended the same thing.
We decided to give a ring to our parents. Jim’s parents were actually in Kentucky, so we knew we should try to get a hold of them and give them the heads up so if they wanted to start heading home they could. He called both his mom and dad….phone’s are turned off. What???
Called my mom….her phone is off. Really??? Called step-dad…no answer. Seriously??? Left a message, couldn’t do much else! Called my dad…he answered. Just told him we may be heading to the hospital, I’ll give him a call when we leave.
About 2:00 am rolls around and the pain is just tad more pronounced….this is probably the real deal! We decided we would make the trip at 2:30 am.
Well, 2:15 am we just said “let’s go”! We were anxious to get checked out and see what was happening. I wasn’t feeling too much movement either, so I just wanted to make sure that baby was doing well.
Finally Belly shot.
Daddy has the bags ready to go!
We got checked into the triage and I was sent to the bathroom for a urine sample. I returned to the room and got into my lovely hospital gown. All of a sudden a felt a small drip or two go down my leg. What? Did I just pee myself? Wouldn’t be surprised. Shrugged it off and was just hanging out still. Um…nope, that wasn’t pee. Kept dripping more and more. Yep, my water broke. Great timing! Glad it didn’t happen in the car.
Hanging out in triage.
Meanwhile we continued to call and leave messages with our parents, but got nothing! My mom wanted to be in the room with me, so I was getting a tad worried she might miss it. The hospital was at least an hour away from their house.
Anyways, hopped up onto the table and got checked out. Blood pressure good. Baby’s heart rate good. Checked my progress. 5 centimeters! Holy moly! I’m already half way there. Contractions were coming a little stronger now and I was looking forward to getting into my room.
Got into the room and had to go over some minor details and get a blood draw. Lady mutilated my right arm (after I told her to go with the left arm) and had to end up going to the left arm anyways. Got a huge bruise on the right arm for nothing! Ah well….back to business.
Finally we were left alone to just labor in peace. Hopped into the shower for a hour or so and definitely felt good to be in the water. Contractions were getting very strong. It was very uncomfortable to sit any longer and I was getting tired of standing. It was time to get out of the shower.
Headed to the bed and had to labor on my hands and knees for the majority of the time. I started out on the floor, and got a little nauseous for a moment. They adjusted the bed for me so I could drape myself over the back and rest on my knees. We got a cup of ice chips and were ready for the rough waters ahead. Contractions were a bit farther apart than they had started, thank goodness! They lasted about 60 seconds and peaked at 30. So a good 30 seconds of pain and then just relax and immediately have some ice chips to help me from being nauseous. Worked like a charm.
Crazy labor hair! haha!!(from getting out of the shower with wet hair and then hanging my head over the bed)
The doctor on call came in and I was checked again. 8 cm!! Wow, this was going really well. It was very painful, but I stayed very relaxed, very quiet until the height of a contraction I would have to kind of “moan” through it. I tried very hard to stay relaxed, but it was hard not to tense up in all the pain. Jim was an amazing coach and was sure to keep rubbing my back, telling me how great I was doing and just encouraging me the whole time. He was right there with my spoon full of ice chips right after each contraction. I couldn’t of done it without him.
I was kind of bummed that my doctor wasn’t going to be there, but tried not to think about it too much. The on call doctor was the other doctor in my office, so I had met her and she was very nice as well.
The nurses were great and pretty much stayed out of way most of the time. Occasionally she would come in to monitor the baby’s heart rate and the contractions. She told me that most likely I was at 10 cm by now and could push whenever I wanted. I didn’t quite have the huge “urge” so I told her we would wait it out a bit longer.
About 7:00 am rolls around and I still didn’t quite have the pushing urge, but I definitely had a lot of pressure. The nurse came in and I said let’s start pushing!! She called in the doctor to check me out and she could feel the baby’s head. The baby was right there and ready to make her debut.
The nurses switched shifts and I was sad to see her go, but the new nurse was very nice as well. My dad and step-mom had arrived in the waiting room about 6:00 am and FINALLY, my mom and step-dad were en route. Still no word from Jim’s parents at that point.
Pushed for an hour and by some resounding miracle, guess who became the on call doctor at about 8:00 am??? My doctor! He was going to be able to deliver my baby after all and I was just thrilled. Around that time, my mom showed up. The stars were apparently aligning.
The doctor got everything set up and after another push or two I started crowning. He asked if I wanted to set up a mirror so I could watch. Previously I had thought about that and thought that it would be too weird and I would never want to do that! However, in the moment I figured, sure why not. They could always take it away if I didn’t like it.
I am SO glad I had it there. It was absolutely amazing to watch the birth of my own child. It also gave me a great focal point to know where to focus my energy. I will never forget that moment of seeing her head emerge. It was an absolute miracle.
8:32 am, Emily Lynn Choate was born. They immediately placed her on my chest and I was just elated with joy. Jim had tears in his eyes and it was just a euphoric moment. They kept her on my chest and checked her out. She was perfect.
One proud mama!
Mama and "G-ma"
Look at that face!
Emily and the doc.
One happy dad!
Jim cut the cord and then came the dirty work. Delivered the placenta and checked that out. Pretty crazy thing going on there. All the things I thought I would never do (see the placenta, watch the birth, etc) I was all for it in the moment!
And then the real dirty work…..Second degree tear. Required some hefty stitching. The whole time, however, my beautiful little girl was resting on my chest. I could care less that I was being stitched up all over (though it definitely didn’t feel good!)
I attempted to breastfeed and was relatively successful! It was a bit painful, but that was expected, as that has always been a sensitive area for me anyways. We finally had gotten a hold of Jim’s parents, and they were going to start their trek home. Obviously they wouldn’t be there for awhile, but they would be there before the end of the day to meet their newest grandchild!
They took her away to give her routine shots and eye ointment as well and get her stats. My little lady was a big girl: 8lbs 11oz and a whopping 21 inches long. She is definitely her mommas baby!
The rest of the family came in to meet Miss Emily and I just relaxed for a bit. We finally moved to our Recovery room and tried to soak in what had just happened. We were a family. A completely amazing day that I will never forget.
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