At our 39 week appointment, my doctor had said he was surprised I was still pregnant and expected Olivia would make her appearance that week. I still thought she was going to be late and that she wasn't going to come out until we made her. Turns out the doctor was right. On Wednesday March 12, 2 days after our appointment, I felt my first contraction. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for months, and in the weeks leading up to Olivia's birth, they had been increasingly uncomfortable. But when that first labor contraction hit, I knew it was different, and I hoped it meant we'd be meeting our baby soon.
Everyone experiences labor differently, and I was wondering if I would know right away when I went into labor. I had been wondering that for weeks. I was nervous and anxious because I didn't know what going into labor would feel like, or if I would know right away. My first contraction hit at 8:30am while I was driving to work, and I knew right away it was different. For me, labor contractions felt like really bad menstrual cramps. I didn't have much pain in my lower back, and I was surprised that my tummy didn't get as tight as it did during Braxton Hicks. I wasn't convinced right away that I was in labor, but I did know that what I had felt was completely different from Braxton Hicks. By the time I got to my desk at work, another contraction had hit, so I started timing them. I was expecting the contractions to be more regular than they were but they continued coming and, slowly but surely, got closer together. At this point I was pretty sure I was in labor, but since I had read about contractions starting and stopping, I was reluctant to stop working. I wanted to spend all of my maternity leave with Olivia, not waiting at home for days.
So I stayed at work. I didn't get much done, mostly I just waited for the next contraction to come. I went home on lunch. Tim and I went for a walk and I continued to time contractions, and I decided that it was probably time to start my maternity leave (duh!). I spent the rest of the afternoon resting at home. Waiting. I also showered, braided my hair, and finished packing our hospital bags so I was ready if the time came to head to the hospital. By 7pm, my contractions were roughly 4 minutes apart (some a little more, some a little less), so we packed up and headed to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital, we first went to a room where I was checked and Olivia and I were monitored. After an entire day in labor, I was only 3.5cm dilated, 1cm more than I was at our appointment 2 days earlier. We waited in the room for an hour to see if I was progressing fast enough to be admitted. After an hour I was at 4cm, and the doctor wanted to wait another hour to see if things would continue to progress before admitting us. At 9:30pm, after 2 hours in that room, I was 5cm dilated, and we were admitted to the hospital.
Once we were in our labor and delivery room, we met the doctor that would be delivering our baby, since our doctor was not on call. She checked me and then broke my water to move the process along (I had heard that breaking the water hurt, but it wasn't any more uncomfortable than the cervical exams). I discussed my desire to have an epidural with the nurse, and decided to wait a while to get it, since it can slow labor down and I was managing the contractions on my own. Big, big, big mistake.
Everyone expected Olivia to arrive sometime later the next morning. The doctor went home to wait for me to get further along, my sister and mom showed up and prepared for a long night, and nobody was rushed to get an IV in me, my admittance questions out the way, or my blood work drawn. Things were progressing normally.
See? Just chilling.
I think it was around 11:00 when things started to change. My contractions were getting more painful, and I decided I wanted to start the epidural, but we were still waiting on my blood draw. I got up to go to the bathroom for the millionth time (the catheter that would have come with the epidural would have also been nice) and in that short time I had 2 contractions that were really painful and way worse than any I had been having thus far (this is when the moaning and groaning started). The contractions started coming one right after the other, and I again asked for the epidural. As soon as I laid back down, the nurse checked me again, and I had gone from 6cm at the last check to a "lip". The nurse called for the doctor and at this point I kind of started freaking out a bit. It felt like the contractions were coming one right after the other. I no longer had time to relax in between them, and they were so painful I was shaking. And I still didn't have my epidural.
I continued to ask for my epidural. The nurse wouldn't tell me, "you're not going to get one", so I just kept asking. She started saying things like, "your baby is going to be here really soon and I don't think you're going to need one". Umm, how bout we get that epidural. Not long after those crazy painful contractions started, I started getting the urge to push. The doctor had still not arrived, and I began cycling through asking the nurse where my epidural was, asking when the doctor was going to be there, and telling my mom "I can't do this" as if I had a choice in the matter. Tim lucked out because I preferred a death grip on the bed railing to his hand. Since I had been planning to have an epidural, the doctor hadn't arrived yet, and I was getting the urge to push with each painful contraction, I got pretty freaked out (where's the doctor?!?). The phlebotomist finally came to do my blood work, and somehow managed it while I was having a contraction, with my arm in the air holding onto the bed railing. She was talented.
Since the baby was coming any minute, a doctor that was already in the hospital came to fill in. They got everything ready and he checked me as our doctor entered the room. She suited up, and as soon as she sat down, I started pushing. They put an oxygen mask on me and a monitor inside to check Olivia's heartbeat. I don't think it took long, just 10 or 15 minutes. It all seemed to happen so fast. The nurse said it took 3 pushes for me to get Olivia out. And then she was here! She came out screaming and was placed on my chest. She was perfect and beautiful and I loved her immediately.
I was told I did great. Not sure why because I felt like a big baby :) I was pretty efficient getting her out when the time came, though. It was also pointed out that I never yelled at anyone or said one curse word, which was pretty impressive for an unmedicated delivery. We stayed at the hospital until Friday afternoon. We loved everything about our stay at Salem Hospital (except for the fact that I didn't get my epidural). All the nurses were wonderful and we felt very well taken care of.
Olivia was born on March 13 at 12:22am, 3 days early, 7lbs 3oz, and 20" long. I was in labor for a total of 16 hours (4 at work, 7 at home, and 5 at the hospital). Every bit of pain I experienced, not only during labor and delivery, but during the year it took us to conceive our precious babe and all the discomforts of pregnancy, was completely worth it. That said, next time I will be asking for the epidural as soon I get to the hospital :)
~Kaylee
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