I'm having a hard time believing that Anneliese is already a week old! It feels like we just brought her home from the hospital yesterday, but no, a week ago at 6:25am she was born. Here's how it all happened. FYI this may be one of those "to much information" posts, you have been warned.
I really wanted to have an un-medicated birth, meaning no drugs to induce contractions or pain meds. I wish my reasoning were something along the lines of it's better for baby but really it was because I did not want a needle going into my spine and I was curious to see if I was even capable of handling a med free birth.
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I had convinced myself that I probably wasn't going to go into labor until at least a week past my due date, so when my mucous plug started falling out before midnight, Tuesday the 18th and I started having contractions just after midnight, I was pretty sure it was just braxton hicks. They were more painful then the braxton hicks contractions I had been having so I decided to time them anyways even though I was pretty sure that I wasn't in labor and it would end up just being another bought of false labor. While timing them though, they were about 3 minutes apart and 45 seconds long. And again, I was convinced that it wasn't labor because everywhere I read said that contractions start about 5 minutes apart. But after an hour of them getting closer together and the contractions getting longer I decided to wake Matthew up. Unfortunately for the poor guy I decided that in the middle of a contraction and so he got whacked on the head with a pillow until he woke up. I informed him of the situation and told him that he should pack his bag for the hospital just in case this happens to be the real thing. After getting his stuff together he called labor and delivery to see what their suggestion was. L&D said it was likely that I was in early labor and it could be awhile but if I felt the need to come in and get checked we could. I decided that a walk would be good, it would either slow things down so I could go to sleep or speed things up if it were actual labor. I thought the walk had slowed things down because the contractions became further apart, what happened though was that the walking distracted me from the contractions and so timing wasn't accurate. So when we got back to the cottage and they were now about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes apart and over a minute long I finally began thinking that I could be in labor. We left for the hospital about 2:20 and I have never known a car ride to take so long. Seriously, I told Matthew that this had to be the longest car ride ever, it was only ten minutes.
In L&D they told me to change into one of those lovely hospital gowns, hooked me up to the monitors and checked for dilatation. When the nurse said I was 3 centimeters I about cried because I figured if I was I actual labor I would have been dilated more. But she told me that 3 was actually a lot and they'd monitor the contractions and baby's heartbeat to see what was going on. About 3:30am the nurse said that my labor was the real deal and I would need an IV for fluids. The pain got worse and I ended up throwing up. After that I wanted to get in the shower. Oh the shower, it was amazing. I told Matthew that I was never going to get out. Time went by quickly in there, Matthew said I ended up hanging out in there for 40 minutes. I thought I was doing pretty great until the 5 o'clock hour hit. I was ready to throw in the towel and wanted something to take the pain away. After being monitored for twenty minutes to make sure that the baby was still doing good and handling the labor well, the nurse and Matthew convinced me to get in the shower and wait until 6am when she was going to check my progress. I wasn't a fan of this plan, but since I really wanted a med free birth I agreed. Another 40 minutes in the shower and I had decided that if I wasn't close I was going to need pain meds. Screw the med free birth plan, I could not handle any more. So when the nurse said I was at 9 centimeters I was happy, yet disappointed because I was ready for labor to be over. It became a huge mental game for me because I had to decide if I really wanted that epidural because time was running out, or if I wanted to stick to my med free plan. On one hand I was close to the end, on the other it could still be hours before the baby was actually born. What made my decision was the nurse telling me that I would have to sit completely still for 15 minutes while the anesthesiologist to did the epidural. No way was I going to be able to do that. 15 minutes later, and lots of tears, I was begging the nurse to check me again because I was ready. I was at 9.5 and my water ended up breaking. I was so close yet so far. The next 15 minutes were spent with Matthew and the nurse telling me not to push. Boy did I want to punch them in the face, Lucky for them I was too busy dealing with my pain to do anything about it. Ugh, those last 15 minutes were pure torture and I was terrified that I was going to have to end up pushing for hours. I kept thinking I should have gotten that damn epidural. Thank God that was not the case and after 10-15 minutes of pushing, Anneliese was born at 6:25am weighing 7lbs 13oz and 21 inches long.
In the end, I got my med free birth and a beautiful, happy, healthy baby. I couldn't be happier.
