I went into labor on Thursday September 6th. It started gradually with me losing my mucus plug in the morning. I told Andrew that today was probably going to be the day but I had a feeling it would be similar to Josie's birth so he didn't have to worry about not going in to work. Contractions started around 3 pm and kept going through the evening. Around 6 pm I started timing them and they were never really consistent. Later in the evening I was thinking about going to the hospital because I knew it was going to be soon, but around 10 pm the contractions had stopped. So instead of going to the hospital I went to bed. I really didn't want to get there and have to come home because I wasn't having any contractions. Around 1 am contractions woke me up. I got up and went to the bathroom and I had more bloody show so I woke Andrew up and told him it was time. I got myself dressed and sat on the bed and just stayed there until Andrew had everything ready to go. The contractions had intensified and I couldn't walk without assistance. I used Andrew as my walker as he walked backwards and I directed him where to go. In the car I was able to close my eyes and breathe through the contractions. It's about a 30 minute drive to the hospital and I kept praying, "Please make it to the hospital. I don't want to have this baby at the 7-11." A few years ago a friend of mine really did have her baby in the 7-11 parking lot. We got to the hospital and parked and again I had to use Andrew as my walker. We would go a few steps and stop for the contraction and go again until we reached the main lobby. The guys at the front desk got me a wheelchair and called up to labor and delivery to tell them we were on our way up. Here's where the fun really starts. We get upstairs and go to check in and even though I had been there only two days before they couldn't find any information about me. The lady doing the checking in seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that I was very much in labor but I finally had a nurse come out to take me to get checked in to triage. I stand up to get weighed and I have a contraction as I'm getting off the scale and even though the bed is only a few feet away I can't move. I tell the nurse I have to go to the bathroom and that it feels like I'm peeing my pants as I stood there. So she puts me back in the wheelchair and takes me to the bathroom. So I go to the bathroom and as I'm trying to get up she asks if I'm doing okay which is right when I have the sensation to push and tell her no I'm not okay and I think my water just broke. So she rushed in checked me and helped me get my underwear back on for the wheelchair ride back to the bed in triage. We really had everyone in a tizzy at this point and so I get up on the bed and they tell me to try not to push, which if you've never had to NOT push it is REALLY hard. Every time they told me not to push I would tell them I'm trying not to. So I'm trying to breathe through the contractions and not push they push my bed and try to figure out where to take me. I heard some discussion about which room and someone said no to one room because they weren't sure I was going to make it to that room. So we end up in the closest open room and I get into the labor and delivery bed, still not pushing, waiting for the all the necessary things to be set up. I now have 3 doctors, none of them mine and one is definitely a resident and one is a med student, standing at the foot of my bed all just looking at me, it seems like forever but they are waiting for me to have my next contraction to push. At first I'm really tense while I'm pushing but I'm able to catch my breath and am able to relax a little to help me push. I don't know how many pushes it takes but it seems like forever for them to say his head is out and then another long round of pushing before his shoulders came out. They told me that from the time my water broke on the toilet to the time he was out was 8 minutes. Since he spent so little time in the birth canal he didn't have enough time to have all the fluid squeezed from his lungs so they had him for a little while before I got to hold him. I had a little tear that they had to repair and then I got up and changed into the hospital gown and then I got to hold him.
I was telling my doctor my birth story later that morning and when I got to the point where the nurse wheeled me to the bathroom instead of checking me to see how far dilated I was she said, "I'm going to have a talk with someone." because she was definitely supposed to check me before taking me to the bathroom. Though I'm thankful my water broke on the toilet and not somewhere awkward, like in a wheel chair on the way to the elevator. I had been having second thoughts about having Elias completely natural with no epidural at all and going to the hospital in transition really made my decision for me. It was really nice not being tied down to an I.V. after the birth, though I had tested positive for GBS which meant I was supposed to get antibiotics in my I.V. before the birth but they really didn't have time for that. Since I didn't get that Elias and I had to stay two days in the hospital instead of just one for observation to make sure Elias wasn't affected by it. Let me just say, the delivery beds are not very comfortable and even though the recovery beds were heaven at first, two days with nowhere else to go makes for a very sore back in an increasingly uncomfortable bed.
My Mom flew in on Wednesday night so she got here just in time. It was great especially since we had to leave so late that we could just go without worrying what to do with the kids. I don't think I would have made it to the hospital if we'd had to drop them off somewhere. Peter and Josie got lots of Grandma time and they loved it. Andrew's Dad happened to be in town for Jared's ordination so he came down from Phoenix and visited with the kids on Saturday and he and Tim came and visited me in the hospital. I got out of the hospital Sunday morning then Andrew and Peter and Grandpa went to Phoenix for the ordination.
Elias is such a sweet baby, he's super chill and just loves to cuddle. At first Peter didn't care one way or another about Elias but now he likes to tell me when he's crying, so I can take care of him and make him stop crying. Josie has been in love with Elias since we brought him home always trying to mother him. Now she still tries to mother him but she also tries to play with him. Which results in me yelling things like, "Stop sitting on Elias" or "Get your foot out of his face" or "Just let him roll on his own." She means well and most of the time he laughs but he has a distinct "Josie's bothering me" cry.
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