Several weeks before she arrived, I had many false alarms. I had everything ready to go the last week of March fearing that she'd come fast and I wouldn't be prepared.
She didn't come.
On Easter, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with the Spences. I ate a ton of food. Which Janelle graciously said that eating a large meal could bring on labor. I helped myself to 2 or 3 cheesecake brownies.
I woke up on Monday morning at 3 with a crampy feeling and decided that it was too painful to lay there and watch the fan, so I got up to do laundry, swept and mopped the kitchen and did other misc. jobs.
Travis and Tom got up, we called Miss Mary to come stay with Trav.
I had an appt. at 8:15, so I planned on going in to check things out. As we were on our way, the thought struck me that this could be real, so I called the on-call Midwife (our FAVORITE one) to ask her if I should cancel my appt. and wait to see if anything came about.
She said she'd rather see me and she'd cancel my appt. So at 9:30, after stopping at IHOP to kill some time (and to eat more food), we went to see my favorite Midwife. I was 4 cm. She stripped my membranes again and said that it would make me dilate faster. She also told us to be prepared for my water to break. She had to see patients for an hour, but told us to page her when my contractions were 3-5 min. apart.
We walked around Macy's for 30 min. and my contractions were 2-3 min. apart.
We paged and headed to the Hospital.
Labor was fast and furious from there. I was 6 cm when I got there and having serious back pain.
When my excellent Midwife got there, I was 7. 30 Minutes later my water broke and I declared that I couldn't do it anymore (I know I'm a drama queen). Then I announced that I needed to push. I pushed twice. The cord was around her neck, but God is amazing and she is healthy. I cried.
10 comments:
I love her.
oh my. she's precious and perfect.
WOW! What a neat birth story. Sounds like it went really quickly! And no drugs???? Really amazing. Glad she was healthy despite the cord being around her neck. She's really gorgeous. How are you feeling now? Able to get up and around some it sounds like?
You're not a drama queen. Labor is horrible. And oh, I'm so glad she was healthy! Ethan's cord was around his neck and shoulder too and we were told there may have been a "decision" had he made it into the birth canal. Looking forward to hearing about life with two kids in the Richardson household.
Oh, that's not drama. I told Eric I was dying. I love a good birth story. And a good quick birth. Evie's cord was around her neck too. Maybe that makes them come fast :)
One day, (hopefully soon) I am going to read that and smile at what an amazing story it is and how wonderful you did and how absolutely beautiful Layla is...because it is all true, but right now I just want to give you a dirty look (there's a positive of you NOT living in Florida) for actually typing out the 2 pushes detail...AHHHH! 38 hours, Jen, 7 were spent pushing...!!!
*maybe God made my labor so fun as a pre-punishment for complaining! Sorry! (I'M the drama queen!!)
OH! Interesting factoid...I really love reading about birth stories, so thank you for sharing yours :-)
Hope you're feeling well and enjoying mommy-of-2-hood.
Cool birth story. Glad there were no mishaps.
Thanks for sharing your story, Jen. How stinkin' scary that the cord was around her neck! I am soooo grateful that she is ok. What a beautiful photo of her, too. Love the black and white!
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