On Thursday January 20 I went in to my appointment with my midwife. As I walked into the hospital, the lady at the front looks at my belly and asks if I know about the new visitor restrictions for labor and delivery. I say no and she tells me that only one visitor is allowed for my entire stay and they cannot have any symptoms at all. I nod my head and proceed to the clinic as tears well up in my eyes.
Just that morning Jordan woke up feeling sick. He told me that it would be best if baby could wait a few days… if I had any control over that.
I was very concerned that I would end up having a baby without him. I even considered having the baby at home if he couldn’t be there… I did it once before… this time would be different if we actually planned it.
I talked with my midwife about the policy. I never mentioned anything about Jordan being sick, but she said “if your husband is sick, tell him not to say anything.” I was relieved that she was on my side. She checked me and I was dilated to a 3 and 60% effaced. I told her I didn’t want to rush things, I wanted to get through the weekend. So she said to schedule an appointment on Monday if I want to get my membranes stripped since she was leaving town on Thursday… just another thing for me to stress about.
Monday morning rolled around and nothing had happened. I was relieved because it gave Jordan time to get feeling better. I decided I would call and see if I could reschedule my appointment to the next day. I was just feeling anxious about Monday for some reason. Monday night I had consistent contractions that kept me up all night long. About every 20-30 mins. I knew a lot of what was keeping me up was anxiety. I was worried about who to call, if they would answer, what to do with the kids. At 5am I decided to get up and pack a few things. Then I did my lashes and went back to bed for a few hours. I went to my doctors appointment at 11 and was dilated to a 4. She stripped my membranes this time.
I called my mom to let her know what was going on. She said she would plan to drive down the next morning. I felt good about that since I didn’t know if I would be going into labor or not. But an hour later she called me back and said she was in the car on the way down! She couldn’t wait any longer. I was grateful to have her come so that I wouldn’t have to stress all night long about what to do with the kids if we needed to leave in the middle of the night.
Jordan took the rest of the day off, so we went home and took a nap. I woke up with steady contractions.
3:10pm
3:17
3:28
3:32
3:36
3:51
3:55
They were starting to scare me being that close together. That’s how close they were when I only had minutes left until Lucy was born.
I knew Mom would be there in less than an hour so we would head into the hospital just after 4.
Now let me back up to last December… In the hospital there is a birthing suite. It is a room dedicated for less intervention and unmedicated births. They decorated it less like a hospital, it has a more homey feel to it, and a queen size hospital bed. In order to have a baby in this room you have to take a birthing class. Kari Pickett was the instructor for the class. She happens to be one of Jordan’s best friends moms. She talked about how she had been a nurse for 45 years and was always the one put in with those who wanted to go unmedicated. But she then told us that she was retiring at the end of the year. I was bummed knowing we wouldn’t have a chance to get her as our nurse.
At the end of December Jordan happened to run into Kari at the hospital where they both work. He told her that we were bummed she wouldn’t be around for the birth of our baby in February. She gave Jordan her number and said to call her and she would come in! So kind!
On January 22 I decided to text her to see if she was still willing and available to come in. She said she was and just to text her when we were headed to the hospital.
On Tuesday morning Kari text me out of the blue to let me know that she would be certified by that evening as a doula so that she could attend the birth in the hospital since covid restrictions won’t allow anymore guests. She asked if she could come meet us to chat before baby comes. We planned for her to come to the house to meet us at 4.
At 3:30 I almost text Kari to tell her not to come because of my contractions. But I decided to let her anyway.
My bag had been packed and in the car because I took it to my appointment that morning just in case.
Everyone was gathering. Kari arrived just before 4. She asked how I was doing and I told her that we were actually getting ready to head to the hospital. She asked if we wanted her to meet us there. We said that would be great!
My mom and my sister Bailee arrived at 4. After saying a quick hello we said goodbye and headed to the hospital.
When we arrived I was definitely having to breath through my contractions. The nurse checked me once I got settled in the room and I was dilated to a 5.5-6.
Kari suggested a bath. She got it all set up for me and I probably labored in there for an hour. When I got out, I sat on a birthing ball. Contractions were coming about every two minutes.
Around 7pm Josi came in to say that she has to assist an emergency c-section.
I continue to bounce on the ball and get up to walk around a bit. Contractions start to get more intense. Josi comes back around 8. She checks me. Still dilated to a 6 which was very disheartening. She breaks my water at about 8:15 to see if we can push things along. Contractions are much more intense now. Really have to stop and breath through them. Bouncing on the ball between contractions and walking around to move baby down. I’m feeling very ready to be done. I was exhausted from being up a lot the night before with contractions. Kari asks what she can do to help. I say, “just help get this baby out.”
She recommends laying on the bed on my side while she pushes on my hips to see if that helps baby move into position. The contractions are super intense. She pushes on my hips through two contractions. All I can do is breath.
I’m not sure how much longer I can do this.
I say a prayer in my head asking for Heavenly Father’s help.
With the next contraction, it feels like he’s coming.
Kari rushes out into the hall to call for help since she is the only one in with us.
Jordan rushes over with gloves to help catch baby.
I ask if I can get up and Kari says you don’t want to do that.
She tells me to push into my bum.
I breath and push three times within 30 seconds. The first one hurts a lot. The second one something came out- maybe his head? The last one with a big rush of fluids and out he comes.
Jordan caught him and handed him to Josi who then handed him to me. 8:54pm
Finally.
Holding my baby.
So exhausted.
So happy.
He has so much hair! Came out crying and no complications. We got to snuggle him the rest of the night. He was so sleepy. I had to wake up him to nurse after 4 hours. But he would not wake up, it took me 45 minutes to try and wake him.
Such a sweet baby boy. So grateful all went smoothly and that he is here and healthy!
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