Around 2:15 I woke up with really uncomfortable contractions. I got up to use the bathroom and wasn't feeling so hot. I paced around the bathroom with all the lights on for a little while and finally decided to wake Cliff up. I told him I was having contractions that were finally hurting a little and that maybe we should call our neighbor that was planning on watching the girls should I go into labor. We decided to time the contractions for a bit first, but after a few more I decided we should just go. It didn't matter if they were 4 minutes apart or 8. They were very uncomfortable and that was enough of a sign for us. Something was happening. We packed our bags the rest of the way and gave our neighbor Nancy a call around 3AM. Nancy was fabulous. She answered on the second ring and was over at our house in two minutes, (she lives right behind us.) I chatted with her for a bit while Cliff got the rest of our things together. I would pause during a contraction and sway from side to side. Nancy could tell I was uncomfortable and we were BOTH wondering was taking Cliff so long! Finally around 3:20AM we were out the door and on our way. The drive was awful. I was holding onto the handle in the door and trying to push my feet against the floor on the way to the hospital. I did NOT want to be sitting, but what can you do?? Fortunately Cliff drove quickly and there was absolutely no traffic and no deer. We made it to the hospital and I thought that maybe I should walk around a bit first to make sure the contractions kept coming and didn't peter out. That had happened to me when I arrived at the hospital with Lilia and they wanted to send me home. I didn't want to feel like and idiot this time. That lasted for about... 30 seconds. I couldn't talk at all anymore during the contractions so we just made our way inside and didn't dilly dally. I stopped to use the bathroom once and then we checked in to L&D. We had called ahead and explained ourselves and that this was our third so they didn't put me through triage, but rather took us straight back to room #8. Our nurse, Elaine, started getting us checked in on the computer and took vitals. I changed into the nightie I brought and Elaine checked to see how dilated I was. This would be the first and last check of my pregnancy. I was 5 cm, 50 % effaced, and baby was at 0 station. "Huh. Only 50% effaced?" Elaine said not to worry. This was my third and she suspected it wouldn't take too long at all. How right she was.
She got me hooked up to the external monitor while I answered some questions. I was having trouble sitting still, though, so we asked if I could be monitored standing and Elaine said that was fine as long as they could get a good reading. Unfortunately the monitor kept slipping with my constant swaying and bending so Elaine looped another band around the monitor on both sides to keep it in place. Cliff set up our computer after this with my "relaxing spa music." The next step was to get an I.V. in so that I could receive antibiotics for group B strep. I was DREADING this part. I hate needles and didn't think I would be able to sit still. Elaine was really great, though, and got most of it in in between contractions. I did have to try to sit still through one and it was absolutely agonizing, but once it was in I could move again. The course of antibiotics would take about 30 minutes and then they could detach the tubing and I could just have the heplock. I would be able to get into the jacuzzi! I just needed to hold on for 30 minutes. I could do that! I was too uncomfortable standing and rocking so Cliff suggested I switch to a yoga ball and that is what I did.
At some point my doctor came in to see how things were going and ask if I would like any pain medication. I had decided after the negative experience I had with Ivy's epidural that I would NOT have any medication this time and Cliff and I had prepared ourselves to go "natural." I declined the doctor's offer and he left us alone. I continued to sway side to side on the ball for the next 30 minutes in increasing intensity. I tried to remember all of the things I had learned in the class Cliff and I took. This was productive pain. I could do this. You get a break in between. You're opening up. Ugh. It didn't make the pain less PAINFUL. I did a lot of low moaning and that helped a little. As things became more intense, though, I had trouble with my breathing. I had Cliff bend down in front of me with his back to me and I held on for dear life as I continued to sway and moooooooooooooan. I would get louder during peaks and I was sure I was scaring people in the hallway. (I later learned that no one heard me. Martha Jefferson must have some amazing sound proofing!) Poor Cliff was such a sport. I bit him once and I definitely left some nasty nail marks, but he never complained. He just offered me water and encouragement and never complained. He watched me closely and tried to gauge how far along I was. I was starting to get light headed and woozy. Cliff asked me if I felt faint and I heard Elaine comment that she thought I was hyperventilating. Cliff commented that he thought I was in transition. "No I am not." I tried to focus on my breathing. It was soooo hard. I had started shaking in between contractions. Then, FINALLY, the antibiotic course was through. On to the tub!! We stood up and I looked at the pad on the yoga ball. There was a small circle of pink. Cliff and I exchanged a "raised eye brow" look. I think part of me knew things were really happening at this point and part of me was still in denial. I commented to Cliff that I was going to try and use the bathroom again while Elaine filled the tub. I also mentioned that I was starting to feel a little pressure. Not enough to push or anything, but definitely some pressure. Maybe I just needed to use the bathroom....
Doctor Levit came back in and Elaine asked him if he thought I should be checked again. "Nah, you just checked her less than an hour ago and she was at 5. I think we can wait." He left the room. Elaine asked me if I was feeling a need to push. I admitted that I was a little, but I didn't think I was really ready yet because I remembered with Lilia and Ivy the need to push being extreme. It definitely wasn't an extreme need yet... I didn't think...
So I got on the toilet and the contractions kept coming and I was wailing at this point. I felt my brain go fuzzy and I couldnt really think straight. I made it through about two or three and then "POP!"
"My water broke!!" I screamed. It broke right into the toilet. Cliff was right in front of me. And then without skipping a beat, I screamed, "I'm PUSHING!!!!!" Cliff yelled for the nurses and tried to lift me off the toilet. He lifted me up and thought I was going to lean on him, but my legs came up too. I couldn't support myself and he couldn't support me either. Fortunately a couple of nurses rushed in and lifted me up with Doctor Levit trailing behind them. I kept screaming that I was pushing and then I just screamed because a baby was coming out of me. I was on the bed and pushing out a baby all in a matter of about 90 seconds. I pushed once to get the head out and once more for the rest of little Joel. Had we waited a minute longer he would have been born on the toilet. It was such a crazy blur. Joel was born at 5:15AM. We had been at the hospital about an hour and a half.
I later found out that Elaine was only half-heartedly filling the tub. Apparently she had given Cliff a look earlier and a shrug that said "suuuuure I'll fill the tub for you..." She didn't really think I was going to get to use it.
Joel was immediately laid on my chest and all I could do was just hold him and stare. I was in such shock! It felt so good to be done and so surreal. I couldn't believe everything had happened so quickly. Cliff made sure the doctor waited until the cord stopped pulsing before they clamped it and then he came over to my side. He told me he was so proud of me. I was too tired to feel proud of me at that moment, but looking back now is pretty crazy. I think I was probably in transition from the yoga ball on! No wonder I was wailing like a banshee! 5 to 10 in an hour is pretty intense. I'm grateful for how it all turned out, but wouldn't necessarily want to do it again tomorrow. Ask me again in a few months when my brain has turned on the rose colored filter :)
