Happy 1 Week

Hanging with the babies

...just because I want to remember.

Mabel's labor and delivery according to mom.

Sunday Nov. 14. I started having contractions early that morning. They weren't painful or consistent yet, but they definitely felt different than the Braxton hicks contractions I had been having all along. Finally at Church, I started timing how close they were together. They were every 10 minutes, but still not significant in intensity. We decided to go home after the first meeting because there were still some things we had to get ready and we needed to teach Jared's mom more about taking care of Claire. I was fairly certain Sunday or Monday would be the day.

Things started getting a little more intense after dinner. They still weren't bad, but were now every 4-6 minutes apart. Jared and I decided we would go to the hospital and see where things were at. Excitement was in the air! Claire and Benson were so excited the baby was finally going to kick out! So was I.

At my apt a few days before, I was dilated to a 2. Upon checking in at the hospital Sunday night, I was at a 4. They had us walk around for an hour and come back to see if I dilated any more. I was still at a 4 so they sent us home to 'labor' on our own. They (and I) were certain we'd be back later. And so we came home and began watched Dan in Real Life. Funny movie. But I was getting more miserable as the night progressed. I soon began having to breathe through the contractions and by midnight, we decided it was time to head back to the hospital.

I was dilated to a 6 when we got there and they checked us into room #3. I loved walking in the room, seeing the 'crib' for the baby, and knowing my little one would be born in this room! But we still had a bit of work to do. My goal was to have another natural birth, with no epidural or other pain meds. So now it was time to get into the zone. My best friend has created a maternity meditation. They are basically positive affirmations about the whole labor and delivery process. And it was exactly what I needed. It totally helped me focus on relaxing and letting my body do what it needed to do to allow this baby to enter the world. I told Jared to go rest on the couch and try to get some sleep while I laid in bed, with the i.pod listening to my best friend relax me through labor. I really enjoyed it and felt very calm and relaxed. But things didn't progress as quickly as the doctors would have liked. The contractions were certainly intense by now, but they were still every 2-6 minutes apart...and they wanted to see them every 2 minutes consistently. So they decided to break my water.

They broke my water, but it ended up being just a small bag of water...and not the main, bigger one. (I didn't know there was more than one). So it didn't do much to get things moving along. A few hours later I was still only a 7, so they wanted to start some PIT and break the other larger bag of water. And it was pretty much over from there. I believe if they would have broken the larger bag first, things would have moved quickly and they wouldn't have needed to start the PIT. But regardless, things picked up real REAL quick. Now is when I needed Jared. In my face....no relaxing maternity meditiation anymore! And Jared was perfect. I "transitioned" quickly from a 7 to a 10 and was thrilled to hear the words "PUSH!" 3 or 4 pushes later and she was out at 6:43 am!!

After getting her head out, they found that her umbilical cord was wrapped around her head twice, so they quickly had to cut it so they could get the rest of the body out. It was a brief worry, and the doctor called for help, but was able to do what needed to be done without any other assistance. Mabel's head was bruised and quite blue because of the cord being wrapped around it, but she was breathing fine. She didn't cry at all, though...and with a blue, bruised face we of course asked if she was alright. She was great…perhaps just a little stunned!

It was a perfect labor and delivery as far as I'm concerned. I was totally relaxed and in a good "labor zone" up until 7 cm dilation when they broke the water. Then focusing on breathing (as opposed to dying) was pretty much the only thing that could get me through the next second! Labor is exactly what the word says it is: hard. work. But the reward was a prize worth laboring over!!