The last two weeks I started to get more uncomfortable, but even more so in the last few days before birth.
Sunday 1/31
We went to church and I think everyone asked how I was doing and how much longer I had. I told them that was tired/exhausted/ready to not be pregnant and that I had about a week left. Ha! (This is why due dates are silly and I don't like telling mine until after. This pregnancy, I was due February 7th.)
Monday 2/1 Wee hours of the morning
I woke up several times to go to the the bathroom and once was almost soaked in sweat. I had a hard time getting back to sleep after the last potty break and when I finally did it was around 6:30AM. I was pretty groggy around 8:00 when I woke up for the day.
9:00 AM
Ty had just left for work and I was busy getting Anna's breakfast, cleaning up the kitchen, and starting laundry. My mother-in-law was coming that day to stay to help with baby and ironically, I thought it would be too early, but glad she was coming. I went to move a chair into the table and the leg came off. (It's an old set so that happens.) I went down to put it back on and felt a little leak. I went to the bathroom to find there was a bit of mucus. My body was definitely getting ready to have this baby.
10:00 AM
I started feeling some contractions and felt like I needed to go to the bathroom again, but this time there was bright red blood. My mind went immediately to panicked and nervous. I texted Ty to let him know and then called the birth center. I was able to talk to the midwife on call, Hannah, and described what was going on. I had a prenatal appointment scheduled for that afternoon so she said I could come in now since we would know more after being checked.
10:30 AM
Ty arrived home and we decided to pack everything as if we were going to stay for labor. I was glad, but felt silly because I thought we'd end up coming back anyway. There was a crazy snowstorm that day and the wind was blowing the snow everywhere across the roads. It almost made it look like fog. The whole while I was still having intermittent contractions that seemed to get closer together and longer when I was sitting in the car. I could tell that I was at least in early labor. By now, I could also tell that I was going to have back labor. Apparently, I'm just one of those lucky people who gets that.
11:15 AM
We made it to the birth center and contractions calmed down during my appointment. From what Hannah could tell, since the bleeding seemed to be slowing down a bit, I was losing my bloody show. It wasn't like this with Anna so I wasn't sure that was the case, but I'm glad I went in. She checked me and she and I were both surprised to find I was 5 centimeters dilated and 80-90% effaced. I figured I was a bit dilated, but not that much already. Hannah was convinced that our baby would be coming soon. We decided to wait to schedule a 40 week appointment because we both figured Baby Girl would here in the next few days. We decided to call our sister-in-law, Celia, and have her meet us there to pick up Anna. The snowstorm was still going and we wanted to make sure Anna was taken care of just in case labor picked up.
12:00 PM
We went downstairs to wait for Celia and her friend, Becca, who was driving her to us. Contractions started picking up, getting closer together. They have a room with a couple of couches that I was able to use and laid down while timing contractions on my phone. A little after noon, Celia got there and we said goodbye to Anna. I told her next time we saw her that her baby sister would be here. When they left, Ty asked how I was feeling and if we should go or stay since my contractions were getting closer together. I already had forgotten what Hannah said about how far apart we should wait for contractions so I asked him to go upstairs and ask again. When he came back down, he relayed the message that I could come upstairs and might as well stay if contractions were already that consistent.
12:30 PM
We got upstairs and I realized I hadn't eaten anything at all that day and that in grabbing Anna's things, Celia accidentally grabbed my purse. While we waited for her to bring it back, we decided on a sandwich place close so I could try to eat a turkey sandwich and get some protein. They offered me some juice they keep stocked in the fridge and I chose peach. It was so good and nice to have something other than water. While Ty went to grab lunch, I got situated in the birthing room. They took my vitals, checked baby's position, and heartbeat and started getting everything ready and set up. While we waited for Ty, I sat on a birthing ball and breathed through each contraction with the intern midwife, Roaya there to help me. I remembered Anna labor and birth and tried to avoid tensing and made a conscious effort to be loose and relaxed. Not easy, but I think I did okay.
1:30 PM
Ty came back and I started to eat my sandwich in between contractions. I really only got a few bites in before I felt a little sick to my stomach. Contractions were steadily progressing now and getting stronger. I knew if I wanted to keep down the little bit I had already eaten, I would need to stop or it would be wasted. They did another check of my vitals and baby's heartbeat. At that point, Hannah had started filling the tub and I couldn't wait to get in there. Ty was also very happy to not carry heavy pots of hot water up the stairs to fill it. Haha.
2:00 PM
I got into the tub and loved feeling the warm water. I stopped timing my contractions at this point since I didn't want my phone in the water. And really they were close enough now that it didn't seem to matter. I had planned to watch a movie during labor to help past the time and relax me. Ty set up the portable DVD player and put in "Willow". Hannah thought it was great and said it was definitely a first for a mom to watch a movie during labor.
2:30ish
I'm not exactly sure when I fit started feeling the need to push, but I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. I had prepared myself for a good few hours yet of labor. Hannah went to grab Roaya from a prenatal appointment and both were surprised that it was already time. I'm not sure when my water broke (think during one of the few pushes), but things were certainly progressing quickly. I didn't count pushes, but with each one I could feel our baby moving down. Before I knew it, I felt the ring of fire and the pressure of her head crowning. Hannah and Roaya were coaching me to go deeper with my moans and yells, and I tried, but I think there's only a certain amount of control I could have. With one final push, Adalind Louise Robbins was born in the water at 2:45 PM.
I immediately picked her up and held her, leaned back in the water and just stared at this beautiful new person. Her head was so round and hadn't coned at all. She came so quickly that I don't think she had the time. They put warm towels on us and checked both of us while I held her there on me. Adalind latched really quickly and she ate while we waited for the placenta to deliver. It seemed to take forever and we all jokes that it took longer for the placenta to deliver than the baby.
After I delivered the placenta, I gave Adalind to Ty, while the midwives helped me over to the bed. Just as I was getting out, Adalind peed on Ty. I'm pretty sure Anna did that after she was born. It seems to be a right of passage for our kids. Haha. When I got to the bed, and after putting a diaper on baby girl, I continued to nurse Adalind while they checked on my tearing and stitched me up. I tore the same as I did with Anna, but I don't know how many stitches I got this time.
In total, we stayed about four hours after Adalind was born. This included getting stitched up and watched for hemorrhaging, being able to stand and go to the bathroom, continued nursing, getting the baby checked and weighed, finish eating my sandwich (so glad I still had that), getting dressed and ready to go. It was around 7 o'clock when we left and we couldn't believe how early it still was. Overall, we really loved our experience, but I'm still hoping that if there's a next time, we can have a homebirth, mostly so we don't have to go anywhere after it's all over. For this experience, I couldn't have imagined it going any better. When Hannah and Roaya came over the next day for the day after visit, they were thanking us for letting them be apart of such a great birth. Apparently, they had had several births in a row that were pretty tiresome and long and it was so nice to have a quick and easy one. We feel pretty blessed as well.
