When I went in for my doctor's appointment on July 24, a day before my due date (according to ultrasound), I was 1 cm dilated and my cervix was not thinned at all. Evelyn was very high and had not yet begun her decent into the pelvis.
I talked with my OB about what to do next, since I wanted to avoid a medical induction. My OB usually induces labor when a pregnancy reaches 41 weeks. So, I had a little bit of time to coax this girl out. Our plan was to visit the OB again the following Wednesday. At that same visit, I would have a non-stress test (NST) to make sure that everything looked good with the baby. During an NST, the provider monitors the baby's movements for a about 20 minutes. The results of the NST would determine the next step in terms of planning for delivery. Thankfully, Evelyn passed the NST with flying colors! But, I am jumping ahead of myself a bit.
When I left the doc's office on the 24th, I was determined to do everything within my power to get things moving. So, I immediately started taking evening primrose oil to encourage effacement (the thinning of the cervix that I mentioned earlier). Mike and I also started to walk longer distances and I pushed myself during those walks to really exert myself. We have a coffee shop, Roy's Station, that is just about a mile from our house. So, we walked to coffee. A lot.
On Monday, July 27, I had an appointment for an acupuncture session to promote my body's readiness for labor. The session was great and within a few hours of leaving the clinic, I started to have more discomfort and some mild contractions. If I remember correctly, that night I woke up to semi-regular contractions in the early hours of the morning. I told myself to go back to sleep, if this were labor I would wake up for sure. Lo and behold, I went back to sleep and that was that.
On Wednesday, the 29th, we went to see my OB and have the NST, which I mentioned earlier. I was thrilled to learn that I had dilated to 4 cm and that my cervix was now "squishy". I even brought in the evening primrose oil and asked my OB if she would use it as the lubricant during the exam. She agreed (I love my OB!!). In addition, I talked with her about having my membranes swept. Sweeping the membranes, in my lay-understanding of it, is a procedure where the OB uses her fingers to separate the bag of waters from the cervix. One description that I read was that of one balloon blown up inside the other. When the doc does her sweep, she essentially separates the two balloons from each other, releasing a ton of labor-inducing hormones. I had read that this process is pretty painful, but my OB was done before I knew it! All I felt was some mild cramping and lots of pressure.
The other good news from this visit (apart from the 4 cm of dilation!!!) was that my OB was able to feel the baby's head. So, she was moving her way down into the birth canal!!
That evening and the following day I continued to walk and to use the evening primrose oil. On Thursday, I began to lose pieces of my mucus plug. Now, losing the mucus plug could mean that labor would happen any moment, or sometime in the next few weeks! I called my doula and my friend Jenn, who were both part of our labor support team. The doula was on standby until labor was more established, and Jenn decided to come out from Fresno late Thursday night, just in case things started to progress. That night I began to have more regular contractions, and they kept me up for a few hours throughout the night. I was excited that maybe "this was it!", but again decided to try to sleep, which I did, just not that much.
When I woke up the next morning I was still having contractions, but they were irregular and their duration was all over the map. I was tired from having been up throughout the night. I felt disheartened that things weren't progressing further. I felt frustrated and I felt so tired that things were not even beginning yet. Thankfully, my labor support team was there to help me pull it together. Our doula gave me a little pep talk over the phone and Jenn encouraged me to get moving to help things progress into regularity.
So, we went out to breakfast, Jenn, Mike & I. Then we went to Lowe's and walked around the entire huge box of a store while Mike picked up supplies for our hot tub. When we got home, we went for a long, vigorous walk and then headed to the grocery store to get ingredients for baking cookies. The whole time I was contracting and slowly, a pattern started to emerge. The intensity was at about a 3-4 as we managed these tasks. The contractions did not stop me in my tracks. At times they slowed me down, but for the most part I was able to move through them.
At some point that day I also started taking the Labor Tincture from Herblore. I think that this was key in getting my contractions to establish more of a regular rhythm. I took it hourly for a few hours, and once the contractions seemed pretty steady, I discontinued use. It looked like my body and this baby were ready to go!
I called my OB to let her know what was going on. She and I had talked previously and the plan was for me to labor at home for as long as possible, hopefully arriving at the hospital dilated to a 7 or 8. When I spoke with her I asked her how I would know when I was that far dilated, since we weren't doing any checks here at home. She informed me that I should be having regular contractions at about 5 min apart or less for 2 hours, with an intensity level of 8. So, I soldiered on. I spent much of the afternoon on our birth ball or squatting during each contractions. It didn't matter where I was, once a contraction hit I was in a squat. Squatting helps to open the pelvis by 15%, so I figured every little bit I could do to help this baby move on down was so worth it. I talked to the baby a lot during this time, encouraging her to move down and visualizing my cervix opening and ready to birth her.
Throughout this time Jenn was baking cookies to take with us to the hospital. For some reason, I loved the idea of bringing cookies with us to the hospital to give to my OB and the L & D nurses. So, I had this notion that I would be baking cookies while in early labor. Ha! Jenn stepped up, though, and baked away while I moved through these early contractions. Let me tell you, those cookies were so good! We even took a tupperware full of them to the staff as a birthday thank you!
At about 3 pm I decided to take a shower. I wanted to have a shower before heading off to the hospital. The shower was amazing and served to speed up the labor process. As I stood under the stream of hot water the contractions began to come on with more intensity and frequency. Once I finished with the shower I spent about an hour gathering up last minute items to take to the hospital. Well, I didn't really gather anything; Jenn and Mike did most of the packing while I labored through each contraction. The most comfortable position was leaning over the couch or the bed and having Mike apply counter pressure to my hips and/or sacrum.
As the intensity of labor increased, I found that I only wanted to be lying down. So, I laid down on our bed as Jenn provided emotional support and Mike stepped up as my coach. Mike supported me with massage and visualization as each contraction hit. He took me on a walk through Yosemite, which served as a a very effective tool for coping as the waves began to intensify.
At some point in the early evening/late afternoon we called the doula to let her know we were ready for her to come to the house. She was about an hour away, and by about 7:30 I started to feel some pressure and a mild urge to push as each contraction hit. I said to Mike and Jenn that we needed to get to the hospital. I felt like I needed to get there and get settled to that I didn't have to worry about the drive over. I suggested that we contact the doula and have her meet us there, but by the time we got around to doing that, she was pulling up to the house. She assessed my readiness for going to the hospital, and at that point I didn't give a damn about readiness, I just needed to get there.
So, we hopped in the car and headed to the hospital. As Jenn drove us in my car, I groaned and moaned through each contraction. In between, I was telling her how to get to the hospital, even though Mike was in the car and was already giving her directions. In retrospect, staying present in that moment with Mike and Jenn by spitting out directions was my way of maintaining some sort of normalcy and control in a completely intense/hectic/out of control situation. The birth experience is really about learning to completely let go and trust the body to run the show.
So, we got to the hospital and I swear I have never moved so fast in my life. I flew out of the car and up to L & D. Mike was running behind me with a few bags in hand. As we walked/ran to the elevator, we came upon the hospital robot that delivers medications (I think that is how it works). Mike made a comment about how cool it was to see the robot and I think I uttered something quite un-ladylike under my breath about the robot. All I could think about was getting to Labor and Delivery. The entire time I was moaning quite loudly through the contractions. We got up to L & D and Mike had to call in from the lobby area. They buzzed us through and got us immediately into the room.
The nurse gave me a gown and had me undress, getting me ready for a check to see how far dilated I was. I remember trying to put the gown on and getting so pissed off with the arm holes, which were made by snapping together the material at the shoulders. The result was some extra holes in the sleeves, which just pissed me off to no end. Once I got the gown on and got on the delivery table the nurse checked me. I asked how far dilated I was, hoping and praying that I was at least a 7, and ready to do a serious jig if I were at 8. The nurse examined me and told me that she could not feel any cervix and that my bag of waters was bulging. She called the OB in, who also examined me and told me that indeed, I was at a 10 and ready to push.
Everything went so fast from this point on. There were people having me sign papers, my vitals were being checked, the nurse put the baby on the monitor, etc. My OB asked if she could break my bag of waters and I consented. OH MY GOD. That was quite possibly the best feeling ever. First of all, it felt like I had gallons and gallons of warm amniotic fluid gushing from me. Second, breaking the bag of waters released a TON of pressure and I felt a million times better! I was practically ready to hop of the table and head back home, thank you. Some time shortly after that the RN asked if I would like to try and urinate, but I just couldn't do it. So, I consented to having a catheter. I had been drinking so many fluids while at home that apparently the catheter released a ton of urine, which helped make room for baby to move on down even further into the birth canal.
Once all that business was done, it was time to get down to pushing. Pushing was by far the hardest part of labor. The sensation was so bizarre to me, and gave me the heebie jeebies throughout my entire body. I was afraid and overwhelmed as each contraction came. There was a lull between each contraction, during which I rested. I even began to doze off at one point! I pushed and pushed for what seems like forever and a minute all at once. I tried a few different positions during this time. I spent some time lying on my back, semi-seated. I tried pushing while lying on my side. I also pushed in a squatting position, using a squat bar as a support. I liked this position, but man it was exhausting! The doctor also had the mirror up, so that I could see the baby's head as it began to crown. For a long time I couldn't tell what I was looking at. Only a small bit of Evelyn's head was showing, and it looked like a walnut, all wrinkled and squished together.
At some point, the urge to push changed, and I felt like I was really starting to make some progress with each push. I could see more and more of the head with each push and everyone was encouraging me. Like I said, the pushing changed and I felt something very animal take over. Once I began each push, something took over about midway through and I couldn't stop the pushing. My doctor had asked me to push the head out, stop pushing and allow her to make sure the cord wasn't around the neck, and then push again to get the rest of the body out. No such luck. Once I began to push as the baby's head reached full crown, there was no stopping me. I remember closing my eyes and just going for it, and out came the baby, all in one push! Mike caught the baby, who came out face down. He handed the baby to the OB (he says she was so slippery!!), who turned the baby so that Mike could announce the sex. He looked, and said, "It's a girl?!" We were both so convinced that we were having a boy that we were utterly shocked that we had a little girl!! Mike cut the cord, and I think they handed her to me. I don't remember, though, because they had the NICU team there to assess her for any sort of meconium aspiration. There had been some meconium (the baby's first poo) in the amniotic fluid and they needed to check her out. All I know is that before I knew it, she was on my chest and nursing! Jenn asked if we were going to announce the name. We took a minute to deliberate, as the girl name we had chosen just didn't seem to fit our beautiful girl! As we deliberated, the name Evelyn Rose popped into my head. I whispered it to Mike and he agreed. We announced the name to everyone.
Those moments in the delivery room, right after she was born, were just amazing. I've been writing this post for a couple of weeks now, as much of my time is occupied with Evelyn and breast feeding. I have many more thoughts to share on parenthood and especially this first month, but don't know if I will be able to get them written - as I feel like I don't have any time right now. So, with that being said, I am gonna sign off and post this already, as it has already been too long!
More to come as time allows!
(only minimal editing done, sorry for typos, etc!)
