Fast forward to Sunday night/Monday morning and turns out I was going to need them a lot more than I ever could have guessed.
Here is the story of how our little Lucas came into the world.
Sunday morning I woke up early as the hubby was leaving for work. I took the pup for a walk around 7 and then headed to the grocery store to stock up on supplies for the week. All day I just felt even more big and miserable than I had the day before and I just kept thinking there is no way I can go to work tomorrow and be worth anything.
I ran some more errands throughout the day hoping all the walking would help move things along. My mom came over that evening with the last of her nursery sewing assignment and hung out for a bit.
We were talking and googling all the ways to try and start labor. Now anyone who has looked this up, you know there are a ton of these so called methods. Of all that we came across, the only doable option that I was up for was to drink a glass of wine.
No judging here! It was my first sip of alcohol in 10+ months and I wrestled with the idea of actually doing it, but after lots of research and remembering others who had had success with this, I gave in and dug around in the fridge to see what was in there. I didn't want to be the pregnant chick buying wine at the store so I found an old bottle of two buck chuck from Trader Joes... left over from a Halloween party 3 years ago.
Popped the top, poured about half a glass and bottoms up at about 8 p.m. I fell asleep on the couch around 9:30, woke up at 11:15 and got up to go bed, but made a pit stop by the bathroom. As I'm sitting there I hear a pop and feel/hear water fall out of me and I'm certain it is not pee. I pick up my phone and call the hubby at 11:21p.m. Thankfully he was on a call and heard his phone ring so I didn't have to call the fire station to track him down. I said, "my water broke, well I think it did" and told him what happened. He said he would be home as soon as possible, but he had to get back to the station and get someone to come cover for him. I told him not to worry, we had time, this was just the beginning of a long process. Ha!
As soon as I hung up and got myself cleaned up, I got my hospital bag and added in the last minute toiletries. My teeth wouldn't stop chattering as I was doing this. It didn't think I was nervous, but apparently was.
Hubby got hone a little before midnight and we were at the hospital at about 12:15 am. I was starting to feel what real contractions felt like by this point, but had only had about 5 of them. Two that were 5 min apart and then 3 that were about 1.5 min apart.
The nurses first did a quick check to make sure my water really did break. They have these paper strips that turn color when they come in contact with the amiotic fluid. I pass the test and sure enought, it did break so I get checked in right away. The nurse then checks me to see how far I am. 3-4 cm and 90%. effaced. The 2 nurses both start working on admitting me and get me hooked up on all the monitoring machines. I'm signing off on all my consent forms while I'm going through contractions and notice the nurses start moving a little faster as they see how close together and steady the contractions are.
I get asked about pain management and quickly respond, "I want an epidural and as soon as possible."
They order the blood work and casually mention if I progress too quickly I might not have time to get an epidural. WHAT???
So about 45 minutes later they check me again and and I'm 6 cm dialated. At this time the nurse tells me that if I get to an 8 before blood work comes back, there is no use in calling the anesthesiologist in. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" is all I kept thinking. I told them I wasnt good with pain and this was so not part of the plan.
One of the nurses became my breathing coach and she was amazing. I could not have done it without her. She helped me breath through every contraction and was firm with me. Kept telling me not to loose it.
Sure enough I kept progressing right through to a full 10 cm and around 2:30 we were just waiting for the doctor to get there so I could push. After the doctor arrives and checks me, he says, "ok, let's push."
I kept thinking I can not believe I am doing this, how did this happen. I'm suppose to be in labor for 12+ hours and be getting and epidural!!!!
I got a little wimpy on the pushing part. I gave a good push or two but by the third push of each contraction I was pretty much spent. I even 'rested' through a few contractions. But after about 45 min of pushing it was Happy Birhtday Baby Lucas and we finally got to hold him in our arms.
It was one of the craziest exeriences of my life, but honestly not as bad as I thought it would be without pain meds and of course the reward of holding him in the end made it all worth it. I also had a super easy time with recovery and even walked from the labor and delivery room to the postpartum room where we spent the next few days.
We booked a birth photographer to capture the birth. I'm a sucker for photos and wanted us to enjoy the moment and not worry with taking photos. I know it is kind of starnge, but highly suggest it. Below are some of the images.
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