I sat there, reading to Azelia and catching glimpses of the movie the kids were watching when 7:15pm hit and so did my contractions. I had my first contraction that I had to breathe through. "Okay...let's see where this leads to..." Following that one I started having contractions every 6 minutes for the next 30 minutes, before Liz called me to wrap up some details as she, Abby and Megan were going to head out here for the delivery. My mom graciously was staying behind to care for my Gram as she or Megan needed to be there, and she let Megan come be with us for the delivery of another sweet babe!
I folded laundry while chatting with Liz, stopping every 6-8 minutes to breathe through a contraction as we figured last minute things out. The movie was over now and the kids were running around a bit like they had just been given candy. (they hadn't lol!) Or maybe it was the usual amount of energy but I felt like it was extra as my concentration wasn't on them. I hadn't told Jarrod the contractions picked up and was just working through them, focusing on each wrap of pain around my back and abdomen, focusing on the fact it was moving my baby down and to work with the contraction instead of fighting it.
I sat on the birthing ball for awhile in the kitchen until Azelia found me in there and almost barreled me over in the middle of a contraction. LOL! Jarrod came to get her and found me working through a contraction and realized that labor had indeed, kicked in! Azelia was put to bed by Jarrod and I gave her a long hug before she was brought upstairs. Contractions started in every 4-6 minutes now with the need to breathe intensely through them. I changed rooms and sat in the living room on the birthing ball, working through contractions as Jarrod told the kids to kick into high gear and get the house cleaned up. It suddenly hit him that these contractions were intense and we were having this baby that night! (we hoped ;) ) Jadon and Kyla watched me through a contraction, unsure of what to do. Jarrod came in and told them to encourage me, saying "Good job" or "you're doing great Mama" or to massage my back. (Little backstory, up till now, the kids would climb up on the ball behind me and massage my neck or back as I'd sit on the ball during the many weeks leading up to labor. ) So another contraction starts in and Kyla tries to climb up behind me on the ball as I'm breathing through it to massage my back as she's been instructed. I can feel the ball starting to tilt as I'm trying to wave her off (Jarrod was in the other room still) and managed to scare her in the process. Jarrod comes back in the room to discover me on the tail end of a contraction and Kyla crying as Jadon is trying to explain it all to him. Then we had to try to explain to Kyla what was going on and how she could just say good job or hold my hand but no climbing on the ball!
Trenton came downstairs and had been completely unaware of what was going on. Last he knew, my contractions were 30 minutes apart and I didn't think they were heading anywhere fast! He walked in and we told him what was going on as another contraction hit. Jadon started in with a monolog of "gooood job, gooood job..." over and over for the minute my contractions were lasting for. It was so sweet and funny at the same time that I'd end a contraction with laughing. Jarrod would stand behind me and rub my neck and encourage me then dart off to finish the dishes or gather up the toys on the floor. Trenton watched through one and then got thrown into helping me focus through contractions LOL! Poor guy had never seen anyone in labor-hope I didn't scare him too much! The contraction would start and I'd grab his hand, that's all I needed right then. Just knowing someone was there.
Jarrod got the other two kids ready for bed and they came to say goodnight and were told that we would be at the hospital when they woke up but Uncle T would be here with them. Hugs and kisses and off they went. Trenton graciously stayed downstairs with me and helped me through the contractions.
I decided to go shower as quickly as I could as the contractions were 4 minutes apart now. We gathered up the remaining last minute items into our suitcase and Megan texted at 9 to see if she should head out here. I told her yes and she started on her way!
This was the tricky part for me. I told Jarrod that I really wanted most of the labor to be him and I. I didn't want to feel like I had a room full of people watching me for the next contraction, but I did enjoy the first moment pictures that others were able to get and encouraging comments towards the end of labor. So the plan was to have Megan, Liz and Abby head out here when I felt I was closer to the end instead of just starting the labor out.
We turned the tv on for some distraction in between contractions and I would stand as a contraction hit so Jarrod could support me by holding my arms/elbows as I sunk into a half squat. This really was the most comfortable way to labor and I thought it should be helping the baby move down faster! All the sudden it hit me that I was starting to feel nauseous and was shaking as a contraction came on. The only other one I had that happen for was Jadon, and it hit around 7cm dilated. I texted Liz and Abby and told them I didn't know when to tell them to come and explained how I was feeling during a contraction. Liz responded with, "Hey it sounds like a baby is coming!" I waited through one more contraction and felt like I could feel more pressure down there and told them they could head for the hospital as we'd be leaving for there soon.
Another tricky factor- I was strep b positive and the hospital wanted about 2 hours of me on antibiotics for it before the baby was born. I, of course, wanted to go to the hospital as late as I could to avoid the monitors and IV. Trying to time it, but not stress out over it. We left for the hospital around 9:55pm. (sign #3 as we got in just about 2 hours of the antibiotic and it was enough)
As we walked through the halls of the hospital it was calm. Unhurried. There were hardly any people around that time of night and it was a relief as contractions were hitting every 2-3 minutes by now. Not that I cared what anyone else thought at that point! I would just wave my hand at Jarrod and he'd grab my forearms and murmur encouragement to me as I breathed through a contraction. We got up to the maternity ward and they asked for my name and what number baby this was as they got me into a room. The nurse checked me at 10:30 and I was 7cm, 100% effaced! (another answered prayer as Jarrod was fervently praying I wasn't at 4cm!) At this point they wanted me in the bed because they wanted to get a good strip on the baby's heartbeat and I had to have the IV in. I wanted to keep working through the contractions while standing but found a way to relax through them while sitting upright in the bed.
I remembered in Ina May's book how she said to relax and keeping your mouth in an O shape can really help. I sat there, clutching Jarrod's hand and tried to breathe or pant through the contractions. Sometimes I'd moan a bit through them. Jarrod would remind me to relax my mouth, my hand, my legs and I'd visualize the baby moving down. I started thinking, "Ok baby, I'm doing my part. You just keep moving down."
to be continued...
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