39 Weeks
The eve before my 39 week date, I was feeling really "off". I can't say there was any one thing I can put my finger on, but Ryan absolutely had dropped significantly, and my pelvis was just on fire. I was so exhausted and sore and weary that I ended up taking my Epsom salt bath a full 2 and a half hour early that night, and then just barely made it down to help put Kendrick down to bed, where I passed out at 9pm with him. Mark woke me up at 10:30 and I hobbled upstairs to finish getting ready for bed (washing my face, brushing my teeth and filling my water bottle). I couldn't get back to bed for another couple hours, just sitting up and thinking about anything and everything, but aside from some sporadic Braxton Hicks contractions, there wasn't much going on...until about 11:30pm. All of a sudden, it was like Ryan had a Mt. Dew or something, because he was going NUTS! I've never had that much activity for that long a time with any of my kids. He flipped to "Sunny side up" (a.k.a. posterior) and was just stretching out all of his limbs for over an hour. I couldn't for the life of me sleep, and after such a strange night, I was a little freaked out about him having flipped like that.
He finally settled down after about 90 minutes and I got this random long stretch of sleep from about 1am to 5am with Kendrick in his bed, since Mark had been snoring.
The next day...
The next morning I woke up and got ready for work, and once again, the insane pelvic pressure that continued off and on all day. I still wasn't feeling myself, and having an extremely busy day at work was probably a good AND bad thing: Good in that it made the day go quickly, but bad in that I was on my feet a LOT, and the pelvic pressure and pain came and went all day long, so it was uncomfortable.
By the day's end, I just had this gut feeling that this was going to be the day. Earlier in the morning while sipping on a vanilla latte, I had a single pretty uncomfortable back contraction that lasted about 5 seconds, and the rest of the day felt just a super dull pain in my lower back.
That evening I went for a little walk with the boys, then barely could make it through browning some hamburger for supper and had to have Mark finish throwing together the casserole and getting it in the oven. We had supper around 6:30, then plopped the boys in the tub, and I suddenly felt like I REALLY had to go to the bathroom IMMEDIATELY. I ran downstairs and proceeded to pretty much clear my body out. After weeks of trying to keep up on constipation, I had been seeing continually softer stools that day, and this was the "final hoorah" as far as that was concerned. So far, I hadn't ever experienced any of these well-known signs of labor, but you can bet that after the strange last couple days, I was a little on edge at that point. And, of course, heading into bedtime Friday evening, it left me feeling a little uneasy about how the night would go.
I was beginning to feel a little crampy after that and tried to lay low the rest of the evening, fully aware that the night might grow very long. I was feeling pretty positive that Friday night, a full week before my due date, would be the night I'd begin labor.
And then...absolutely nothing. That night, I slept fantastic. For the rest of the week I had zero symptoms and slept pretty good.
I didn't think I would have gotten to this point with this pregnancy, and I had been in tears most of Thursday afternoon in full realization that this baby was just not coming. I kept trying to give myself pep talks, but I was just frustrated. I had been having mild cramping on and off for a couple days, but nothing significant, nothing that kept me from doing anything, and nothing even remotely close together.
I went to my appointment to check my cervix at 11am and found out that I was 2.5cm dilated but not at all effaced. I would say that overall that left me at least a little encouraged. Dr. Taber did a membrane sweep (a.k.a roughing up my cervix) and sent me home. Any cramping I had before was gone completely, though, so I felt even a little more discouraged.
I woke up at 1:58am to a very mild contraction that lasted only a few seconds. I didn't think too much of it, but got up, went to the restroom, and then came back to bed. Fifteen minutes later I had another very mild contraction, and then it started picking up from there. I had another one about 15 minutes apart, then they jumped to 11 minutes for about an hour, and then 8 minutes for another hour.
I labored in bed until about 5:45am before I got up and started moving around, at which point the contractions were closer to 3 minutes apart and they were getting intense enough to have to sit down to get through them. I texted Pam and let her know to start thinking about heading this way to watch the boys, then called the hospital to let them know I'd likely be coming in within the next hour or two. I then woke up Mark and let him know he should probably start getting ready.
Kendrick woke up around 6:30am, and the contractions had been slowing down a tinge to more like 4-5 minutes apart, but were gaining intensity. I got some really sweet snuggles in with him before it got a little more crazy, then sent him with Mark to get changed and dressed for the day.
I got myself dressed and ready to go, packed a few last-minute things, and then Pam and Jess arrived around 7am. Cashel woke up, and we told him that baby was on his way, gave him hugs and kisses, got him some clothes ready and then we made our way in. I called the hospital along the way to let them know that we were on our way. The nurse later said she was a little nervous that we were going to make it on time :) I told her it was my 3rd baby and I knew what "urgent" felt like, and this wasn't it.
We got there, but then I had to send Mark back home to get MY hospital bag, since I had forgotten to throw it in the car :) The nurses were out with a wheelchair looking for me just a few minutes later and were surprised that with the contractions being so closes I was still walking, but I had just a couple contractions on the way back to the delivery room to get checked in. Mark arrived after a little bit, after I had gotten into my gown and had gotten hooked up to the monitors. The nurse checked, and I was already at 6cm and about 70% effaced, but still at station -3, to my surprise! I mean, the contractions had really picked up, so pain-wise, it wasn't shocking, but the contractions were slowing to about 4 minutes apart. I was a little discouraged, though, to realize he was still so high. Nurse Jackie assured me, though, that with subsequent pregnancies, the babies go down more quickly towards the end.
We had about 45 minutes worth of check-in questions to answer beforehand, but the contractions were getting really intense, and were only about 2 minutes apart at that point. I was beginning to be extremely uncomfortable. Mark really was encouraging me to get into the whirlpool tub, but at that point, the contractions were so intense that I was pretty sure I'd be delivering in the tub before the water filled. I asked to be checked again before we considered it, and found I was fully effaced (for the most part, with just a slight anterior lip) and at 8cm, at which point I opted to stay in the bed.
From there, it got extremely intense. Prior to 8cm, I was just breathing through the contractions with the occasional "ouch!" or "oh man, that hurts!", but at this point, most of my contractions were filled with either grunts or yelling, and the occasional deep breathing. I had to start bracing myself to get through the contractions (my arms are extremely sore postpartum as a result), but was extremely thankful that they weren't completely on top of each other as they had been in previous pregnancies. I had about 45 seconds inbetween each one, which gave me a little downtime, thankfully.
I was so relieved to see my doctor arrive, and he got dressed quickly, just in time for a few of the last contractions before pushing. I don't even recall what time it was, but probably about 8:40am. The contractions completely knocked me off my senses, and I wasn't sure I was going to make it through, but I didn't have any other choice. It was so ridiculously awful, and I was screaming bloody murder through each one, to the point Mark was in tears just watching me. He would hold my hand, not sure what else to do.
It took me a contraction or two to remember how to push, but when I did, I felt like I was never going to get him out, and I was trying hard not to freak out. I had a slight anterior lip, but beyond that, I was complete and ready to go, so I just kept pushing, even after the contractions were over, and on the 3rd contraction, Ryan Charles was born, after probably about 5 minutes of pushing.
He looked so tiny to me, and I couldn't believe he was even 9lbs (my guess was 8lbs 15oz), but all the nurses and Mark were sure he was darn close to 10lbs. It was a good solid hour before they got the actual measurements (10lbs 3oz to my surprise!) but I got a good solid 20 minutes with him while I delivered the placenta, my doctor removed a few really large blood clots, and I got stitched up.
I had a second degree tear toward my rectum (as is the trend with my babies, apparently), which didn't shock me, considering Ryan had a 14 inch head, but this was the first birth where I also tore the opposite direction just a smidge, and I recall during delivery how much that hurt. I swear I don't recall the anesthesia needles hurting so dang bad, but considering I didn't feel the stitches going in, they were apparently very effective.
I was given a shot of pitocin after delivery to help shrink my uterus more quickly, as I had been losing large blood clots during and shortly after delivery. I would guess I probably lost about 15-20 golf-ball sized clots that first day, and this continued for a day and a half after delivery, and whoa man was I exhausted. I guess the blood clots are common when you can't get up and move around as much, which was absolutely the case the last week of my pregnancy, since I had sprained my ankle and was limping significantly. I was very very weak, almost passing out the first day when I tried to get up to go to the bathroom, but it was so peaceful just sitting in my recovery/post-partum room with Mark and Ryan, nursing most of the afternoon with him.
I'm still a little shaken up from the delivery, truth be told. I had dreamed of an unmedicated birth because the recovery with Kendrick, although unexpected, was a breeze. However, I wasn't out to be any sort of "hero". We just ran out of time to even make meds an option. The pain was so excruciating this time, that I'm pretty sure I scared the sweet little nurse-in-training who was observing the delivery from ever having children of her own. My doctor was concerned that I was alright, as he had been at my previous two deliveries and hadn't ever heard me scream so loud or violently.
I've been extremely weak since being home, but now at about 3 and a half days postpartum, I am so thankful that the bleeding has significantly lessened and I'm beginning to regain strength. I'm sure in a few more days I'll be back to feeling more myself, but for now, lots of fluids, lots of downtime, and lots of short little naps.
Ryan is such a gift from God, and I can't imagine another little one fitting more perfectly into our family :)
I am so thankful that this chapter in my life is closed and that I no longer have to experience the pain of childbirth again. I praise the Lord that it went as smoothly as it did, and that sweet little Ryan is here now with us :)
