On January 3rd, one day past my due date I was desperate! I had no progress at my appointment the day before and I was feeling large, tired, and incredibly uncomfortable. Logically I decided to recreate the day before I had Mason which consisted of a pedicure complete with the massage chair, as well as getting fries and a blizzard on the way home to share. Surpisingly it worked!!!! At around 5am on January 4th as I was awake shifting from one side to the other I felt something funny and then felt my water breaking. This exact same thing had happened with Mason so I let Carter know and then went to the bathroom with my phone to make all the appropriate phone calls to get people prepared that "this was it". As we finalized everything and I peeked in on a sleeping Mason one last time, I didn't have any contractions besides the perpetual "I just peed my pants" feeling that happens when your water breaks.
We calmly got in the car and began the 45 minute drive to the hospital. Luckily it was Saturday so we didn't even have to worry about traffic which was nice since our hospital was in the heart of Seattle. Halfway there I started to get some pretty intense contractions but they really were not timeable, after getting out of the car I realized that they were mostly encouraged by the bumps in the road as well as my sitting position in the car as well.
At the hospital they checked us in immediately and stated that they would need to make sure that my water had broken but once they saw how wet my pants were just from they drive over I think they had no more doubts ;) So I was shown to a room immediately and then waited around a bit as they were changing shifts. Most laboring moms would still be at home at this point but because I was attempting a VBAC and had tested positive for Strep B once again, I needed to have a penicillin drip several times during the laboring process. Once we got all situated in the lovely hospital gowns in our spacious room with a view, I made sure to let them know that people have problems getting my veins, and of course they did. I ended up having the pic line in my hand but it was still a much better experience then last time.
My midwife Sally came in around 10am and there really was no progress at all and I was hardly feeling any contractions. She recommended I spend a lot of time walking around the halls as well as bouncing on the balls so we obliged.
As I was eating lunch was when I remember getting the first contractions that caused me some actual discomfort. I remember talking with Carter and my nurse and having to actually stop talking in order to get through them. Then we began walking the halls even more with taking plenty of breaks for contractions. As time moved on I became tired and needed to lay down or rest which was fine until a contraction which hurt the most if I was sitting or laying. The most bearable way for me to get through them was to hold onto Carter in a "dancing" Position and sway with him. This part was horrible because as the day progressed I did not dilate more but the contractions were coming hard and around 5 minutes apart. We tried the tub which did not seem to help and was uncomfortable. I remember getting out the first time and being so incredibly chilled that my teeth were chattering (stupid hormones)! It was around this time (maybe 6pm) that I began to doubt myself. I was exhausted and in extreme pain but I couldn't sit or lay down to rest. I physically felt as if I couldn't do it and despite wanting to go "natural" all the way I asked my midwife for an epidural. This was an incredibly hard decision for me and I felt as if I was letting everyone down, my midwife included, but I just was desperate. Sally and Carter however were able to talk me down from it, especially when Sally told me that my chances of c-section were high if I got an epidural at that time and I remember giving myself incredible amounts of positive self-talk and I kept trying to imagine Carter, me and Molly "dancing" through the contractions. At this point I was getting very little breaks between contractions (at least that's how it seemed to me) so I decided to try the tub again. It did provide me the longest breaks between contractions so that I could rest however when the contractions hit they came back to back with EXTREME pain. I decided that it wasn't worth it and needed something else. Sally and my nurses brainstormed and decided that maybe if i sat backwards on the toilet leaning on the back of it may bring me some relief. It did, sort of. However, I was done. I was spent every way possible and in tears with the pain. I asked to be checked at at around 8pm I was only dialated to a 7...so not what I wanted to hear as that was what I was several hours before. I once again decided to ask for an epidural and my midwife suggested I try a narcotic first. She said it would take the edge off of the pain as it was searing and I could feel it all the way to my toes. Sally also said that I would hopefully be able to doze between contractions helping my exhaustion. The only down side of this was that since it was a narcotic I needed to lay in bed (remember sitting/laying made my contractions worse). However, I was desperate!! Let's just say that the narcotics did pretty much nothing for me at all. I wasn't able to rest and the contractions hurt worse. It was at this point that I said I wanted the real epidural, it was just tooooo much! Thankfully the anesthesiologist was already on call for me and came quick around 9pm. Within 5 minutes of that epidural was sweet relief although it seemed to take forever to kick in, but I remember feeling the pain dissipate and not feeling the shooting pains down my body.
At this point in time I was finally able to get rest, although I had various alarms and things going off it was the most relaxed I'd been all day. At one point in time it looked as if Molly was sunny side up and so they put me on my stomach which was just as awkward as it sounds being 40weeks pregnant and unable to move your legs :) Somewhere around midnight a nurse came in saying they couldn't hear the babys heartbeat anymore and it was just the monitor slipping, but then she couldn't find Mollys heartbeat which was at first scary, but then we realized it was because she had dropped so low. I then told the nurse that I was feeling pressure on my rectum and she said she was going to go ahead and let Sally know to come check me. I remember Sally being slightly perterbed with the nurse for calling her down because she was already going to come check on me at 12:30am but proceeded to check me anyways. The look on her face when she did was hilarious and she told me that she barely put her finger in before feeling Molly's head, and it was go time, there was no chance of needing a c-section! Carter and I couldn't believe it and I was so excited to get my VBAC!! Here is the funny thing....Molly was esentially birthing herself. I didn't feel the urge to push which was good because they told me to not even move until the delivery nurse was there so we had to wait for her! When it was time it was incredible because nobody even helped deliver her. They all just stood near and told me to push and all it took was a couple sit-up type motions and she slid out all on her own....the pushing didn't even take 5 minutes...I was in shock, I pushed for over 3 hours with Mason!! One of the coolest things was getting to reach down while I was pushing and feel her little head, wow! Molly was imediately placed on my chest and we got to smile at her and snuggle her. The hospital we delivered at was wonderful and they did all of her evaluations on me, never taking her away. We eventually did ask for her to be weighed and measured but that was when we were ready for it. When talking with my midwife afterwards she shared that I had the "ideal" epidural and must have gotten it at the perfect time because it relaxed me to the point of being able to let my body do what needed to be done. This is way tmi but she even showed us Molly's placenta and umbilical cord (2x longer then average). I am so in awe over this birth experience and although I didn't go "natural" I still got my VBAC, and that was the most important thing to me!
Now we have our sweet Molly Rose Davis and our life is eternally changed!
