On Monday April 15th my mom arrived in LA and I was so excited to see her because the last weekend was really hard as I started having some contractions and Adam had to work the entire weekend. When my mom got into town I picked her up and we had the best day together going out to lunch and pinkberry and shopping. It completely took my mind off of feeling so big and pregnant. That night when we got home I couldn't eat any dinner because my stomach started really cramping up so I went to bed and was excited to have a fun birthday the next day. That night I woke up to go to the bathroom at 3:45 am {like I usually do a few times a night} and as I'm walking out of the bathroom this big gush of water drops down my pants, I knew I didn't wet my pants because I had just gone to the bathroom so I rushed back to the toilet and couldn't believe my water had just broken. I got in the shower for awhile and then changed my clothes and got back into bed to see if I could get some more sleep before contractions started. I was just laughing to myself thinking how funny this was that my water actually broke on my birthday and that I was going to be birthday twins with our little girl. I waited to wake up Adam because I knew that he would need his sleep for the day we had coming and I wanted to wait as long as I could before we went to the hospital. I laid in bed and couldn't fall asleep because not even an hour later the contractions started so I got out of bed and started gathering up everything for the hospital. I woke up my mom and Adam at 5:45 to tell them the exciting news and everyone got ready to go to the hospital. At 7am we checked into the hospital because I was having regular contractions at this point that were 4-5 min apart and I was feeling the pain.
After getting all situated in our labor and delivery room my cute Douala Connie arrived. She was our birthing class instructor and after we talked to her how I planned to have a natural birth she volunteered to be my Douala and help me get through labor. She was really the greatest support and the reason that I made it through the day. I was very hesitant at first to go natural without any medication, but after Adam and I researched about it - I came to the decision for myself that this is really what I would like to do. I had learned all the breathing techniques and felt prepared for this. When I got to the hospital I was only dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced even though I was having intense contractions, so I knew I still had some progress to make. I spent those first hours of labor walking the halls of the hospital and stopping with each contraction to lean on Adam as I breathed through it while Connie stroked my back. My favorite place to be was the birthing ball, especially as the contractions got really intense. I got in the shower after awhile and the warm water on me felt good as I would sit on the ball. The worst part of labor was when they had to put me on the heart monitor to check the baby every hour and I had to get in the bed for them to do this and being in the bed was my own personal hell through those contractions, I felt like I was strapped to a torture chair.
My doctor didn't want to check my progress very often since my membranes had ruptured and the risk of infection is very high, so she waited until 4 pm when I was really going through what I thought were level 9 contractions. I was anxious to hear what I was at since I had been having consistent contractions since early that morning. My doctor gave the discouraging news that I had only progressed to a 4 and was still 80% effaced. We were all shocked. I knew that I really had to dig deep to make it through these next hours because I was running on no sleep and no food since lunch on Monday and I was so physically drained. It is so hard to describe the exhaustion your body goes through in labor because it is so physically and mentally draining . . . I would rather run a couple marathons in a row than go through the day I had again. So for the next few hours I went through even harder contractions and got through them with Adam squeezing my hand and my mom stroking my back as I clenched the side of the bed on the birth ball and then tried to regain my strength between each one. Just before 7 pm, my doctor came back to see if I had made any progress and I had not. I was at the end of my rope at this point because I had been in labor for 16 hours and was so physically drained that I knew I wouldn't be able to survive another day of labor if I was progressing this slow and the risk of a cesarean birth would increase. At this moment I was shaking on the bed in pain and my doctor told me that I should get an epidural. I was crying because this wasn't what I wanted, but I told myself when I decided not to have medication that I wouldn't be disappointed if something else happened. So I turned to Adam and he told me that I did amazing but it was up to me what I wanted. I knew that it was the right decision for me to get some medication because I wanted to be present when our baby girl arrived and I was about to pass out on the floor. They sent the anesthesiologist to me and waiting for him to come was some of the most painful contractions, the only thing getting me through them was thinking that it's almost over. As soon as the anesthesiologist came and got everything set up and went through the process of giving me medication, it was like I turned into a different person . . . my coloring came back in my face, I could talk to everyone, and I actually had a smile on my face and the best part was that I could actually lay down and rest. It truly was heaven sent. The anesthesiologist did such an amazing job with the medicine to make sure I received the lowest dosage so that I could still feel the contractions and move my legs to be able to push and I felt the pressure of each contraction, I just didn't have that unbelievable pain with it.
The nurse wanted to see how I would progress in an hour after having the medication, so when she came back to check I still hadn't progressed any further but I was still having constant contractions so they gave me some petocin to help move things along and finally I started to make progress. They kept increasing the petocin until at midnight I was fully dilated and ready to push. We couldn't believe it that she wasn't going to be born on my birthday because who would have thought I would be in labor this long, but I guess that little cutie just wanted her own birthday. As soon as I told the nurse I was really having the urge to push and she said we could start and I was so excited thinking that we were going to meet our baby girl really soon, but it took 2.5 hours of the hardest minutes trying to push her out. I was throwing up, they had to put me on oxygen, and I started to get a fever so they had the NICU on hand when she was born, but luckily she was perfectly fine and I was healthy after.
The moment when my doctor told me to look down and see my baby girl as she pulled her out and layed her on me was the greatest moment ever. I was crying and couldn't believe it. I will never forget that moment when Adam and I met our little girl for the first time. It is such a miracle to see your little baby that has been inside you for the past ten months and to realize that you did it and she is ours. We are so in love with her and feel so overwhelmingly grateful that she arrived safely and is just our perfect little angel.
