Reese Marian, Birth Story

Warning: Pictures at the end may be a bit graphic

 I feel like I should count the 2 weeks of contracting prior to Reese's birth as part of the labor. It got me to 4 cm before I was actually in active labor, so I guess it was worth something. And I'm giving all the details because I don't want to forget it.

 I woke up on Nov. 9th having regular contractions, but didn't think much about it since they weren't any stronger than they had been. I went to my Dr. appointment that morning where she stripped my membranes and confirmed my fear that the baby was "sunny side up". (She had been in the perfect position until the day before) After leaving the Dr. my contractions got a little bit more intense, but I just figured it was because she has just messed with my cervix. My back was hurting really bad with each contraction because of the baby's position. I took lunch to Glenn at work because it was his birthday but I could barely sit through lunch. I left and headed to my parents house where I put the kids down for a nap so I could lay down and see if the contractions would go away. They didn't. I called Glenn and told him that contractions were 7 minutes apart, but I was doing ok through them so he didn't need to leave work. He left anyway and picked me up & took me back to our house to try to turn the baby. I was on my hands and knees for a long time, then moved to leaning over the table swaying my hips, but nothing turned her and contractions stayed at 7 min. I didn't want to ruin Glenn's birthday so I frosted his cake and we headed to pick the kids up and get dinner at Chipotle. After the birthday festivities I tried different positions again to turn the baby. No luck. I went to bed at 9:30am exhausted from contracting all day.

 I woke up at exactly midnight, Nov. 10th, feeling really gross and so tired that I didn't figure it out right away. I went to the bathroom a few times and rolled around in bed trying to get comfortable. I was dozing off, but waking up to contractions. I finally decided to look at the clock and realized they were 4 minutes apart. I woke Glenn up at 2am and we headed downstairs to try to turn the baby again. As soon as we got downstairs the contractions hit hard. We called my parents so my Dad could stay with the kids and my Mom could come with us. They got here really fast (but it seemed like forever to me) and we headed to the hospital. I had decided I wanted to get an epidural because I knew I was progressed far enough and my back was hurting so bad from the days of back labor. By this time contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart and I was shaking. After the rough ride to the hospital we checked in at about 3:15am and I had the nurse check my cervix before I commit to the epidural. She said I was at least a 6 but could be stretched to a 7 or 8, which she didn't want to do because it would hurt. They had to get all the admitting done before I could get the epidural. Finally at about 4:00am I met the anesthesiologist who instantly became my best friend. By 4:15am I was smiling, happy and praying that everything would work out. By about 5:15am I was feeling pressure to push during the contractions. The nurse checked me and found that I was completely dilated and the baby was at 0 station. She told me to let her know when that pressure was constant. It was probably about an hour later that the pressure became constant and the Dr. wanted to see if my water would break on it's own. (It was getting close to shift change and I don't think he wanted to get involved with a delivery that would keep him past his time. But I have to say that I LOVE this Dr. and was so glad he ended up delivering me anyway) So, I told the nurse that my body was pushing the baby out and I didn't have much control over it. She checked to see how low the baby was and said "Wow, there's a lot of pressure in..." but before she could finish there was this super loud POP and my water exploded everywhere. Seriously, EVERYWHERE! The nurse disappeared then came back with clean clothes and told me the baby was at +2 and we were going to start pushing. I pushed through 1, maybe 2 contractions and she called for the Dr. He had me push through 1 contraction then stop to stretch my out. He said "Wow, your baby has a good amount of hair" and I was like "What? You can see the hair already?" and the Dr. said "Well of course we can, the head is out." And he pulled out the baby's arm that was by her head and started waving it at me. Before I knew it baby Reese was out and kicking it on my belly, totally silent just blinking her eyes and looking around. She was born at 7:20am. I kept asking if something was wrong with her since she wasn't crying but they assured me that she was totally fine. I did find out later that there was meconium in the water, which can be very bad, but nobody seemed worried about it. I ended up with 1 stitch. Yep, just 1. Awesome.

It was a party in the delivery room while they cleaned me and the baby up. Because it was shift change there were double the nurses. Reese was totally calm while they checked her out I barely heard her cry at all. I kept asking if she was okay and everyone kept assuring me that she was just fine. It seemed like forever, but was probably only 5 or 10 minutes, when they gave her back to me to nurse. She nursed like a champ! We hung out for a little while when they told me I had to get up to use the bathroom because they needed to move me to recovery. My legs were still totally numb so Glenn and the nurse had to help me walk to the bathroom. My knees kept giving out and I had no control over them. It was the weirdest feeling, but I finally made it back to bed and they moved us up to our room.

 Glenn and I kept looking at each other and asking "What just happened?" We were used to these marathon labors and we were prepared for that. This one happened so fast and was so easy that we couldn't believe it was over. It was such a great birth! And I am so in love with this super mellow, beautiful baby girl!