Better Together: September 2015

I really wanted to record this on my blog because it is a place where I can have the story and pictures all in one place. With that said if you are reading this I'll tell you that if you don't want to know details then maybe don't read it , I mean it is a birth story, and second it will probably be really long because I feel like everything is super important and that the story isn't complete without it.

So Saturday September 5th ( 3 days overdue) I had contractions ALL day long, they weren't really painful though so I'm assuming they were braxton hicks. Pat had the day off so we just hung around the house and went to 1st dam and feed some waffles to the ducks. It was a super nice day outside. We made cookies later that day and then Pat went to bed at 11:00pm. I got in bed at 11:00 but couldn't fall asleep because of contractions happening every so often. So at 11:30 I got out of bed because the contractions were getting harder to deal with and it was easier to deal with if I was standing. I dealt with the contractions until 3am and it seemed like the contractions were getting more painful. I was in and out of bed and walking around and swaying back and forth, and whatever worked at the moment. I had been timing my contractions since about midnight and they were 3 minutes apart and getting painful so I decided to finally wake up Pat at 3am. So I woke him up but told him I didn't want to go to the hospital yet because I was afraid they would just send us home, and he made me some apple juice and some pudding because I was also afraid they wouldn't let me eat anything when we went to the hospital lol. Then finally at 4:30am we decided to go to the hospital and I could get checked. So they checked me and I was only dilated to a 1 and still 70% effaced! I was like, are you kidding me, I'm only at a 1?! And I'm already having trouble with contractions, geeze. So we walked around the hospital for an hour and they checked me again and I was still only at a 1! So they sent us home.

We got back home around 6:30am and then decided to try and get some sleep. Not two minutes after we laid down my water broke! Of course lol. After that my contractions started to pick up in intensity and my lower back hurt super bad during all of them and sweet Pat would help me deal with them and rub my back during contractions. I decided to take a nice long hot shower and that helped me relax a little bit. Then I got out of the shower and sat on the couch for awhile and then the contractions really started picking up and I felt nauseous all of the sudden. Then I had a bad contraction and asked Pat to rub my back, but at the same time felt nauseous and said I need a bowl, and I could tell he was like well which one do you need first?! So he grabbed a bowl and I threw up. So much for eating the pudding earlier. Then I had some more contractions and threw up again. After the 2nd time I was starting to really not feel very good so we decided we should go back to the hospital. We got back to the hospital around 8:30am and they checked me again. We actually went back to the same room they had put us in before. I was so scared I was only going to be like at a 2 or something. But, they checked me and I was a 4 yay. By now the contractions were super hard to deal with, so I asked for some Fentanyl. It helped take the edge off a little bit. Pat was super sweet and kept rubbing my back and trying his best to help me through each contraction. The nurses were super sweet and helpful too, at this point they went to call the Dr. , my Dr was not available, so they went to call the on-call Dr who was a new Dr to the hospital.

Then what felt like super soon (Pat said it was just under an hour) I all of the sudden told Pat that he needed to push the nurse button and get a nurse in here now because I felt like pushing, but I knew it had to be way to early for that. So we pushed the nurse button and they came in and checked me and I was already at a 9! At this point I actually asked for the epidural, but it turns out that the anesthesiologist was actually at a C-section and couldn't come. So everyone was like Oh my goodness we need to get the Dr in here asap. So they called for the Dr and it seemed like it took Forever for him to get there. Everyone was telling me not to push ,and that is like the most impossible thing to do when you feel that need to push. The Dr finally got there when I was in the middle of a contraction and when it ended I remember telling the Dr sorry I didn't say hi when he came in lol. So the Dr. took a look at things and said part of my cervix was in the way so I couldn't start pushing yet, which I was not happy to hear, and then we found out that baby girl was head down but facing the wrong way, she was posterior. So the Dr tried to turn her but it wasn't working, Then they tried to do an ultrasound to see if they could see baby better, but for some reason it wasn't working. Again I felt like this was all taking forever! Then they had me change positions to see if that would help Brylianna turn. I wasn't very comfortable and this was a really hard part of labor for me. I'm pretty sure I was pretty loud at this point. The Fentanyl had worn off by now, and they won't give you any when you are close to delivering. Pat said the anesthesiologist came to the room at this point and said he would wait outside. I didn't even know he came. But I think that was a tender mercy that I didn't realize at the time, but I am glad I didn't get the epidural at this point because I'm scared it would have slowed labor down or something. But at the moment I totally wanted the epidural. So after several contractions we checked to see if she had changed positions and she finally had! So the Dr. said he would try to hold the last part of my cervix out of the way and I could start pushing. Thank goodness!!! It was super hard for me to push after everyone had been telling me not to and I had been concentrating and trying so hard not to push for several hours. But eventually I got the hang of it and I ended up pushing for about an hour and a half (longest hour and a half ever, I swear it was more like five hours) our baby girl was coming! The last several pushes were super hard and I was getting pretty exhausted. I hadn't slept for 24 hours now. But I finally just came to a point where I told myself okay let's do this and get this baby out of here! The Dr. was very encouraging and helpful too. (Later we found out he transferred from a hospital where 90% of the births were done naturally without epidurals, so that was a hidden blessing as well) Finally she was born! We had our baby girl at 12:06pm :) They handed her straight to me and she was sticky and bloody and I instantly loved her :) The first thing I noticed was her hair! I was like "I love her hair! And her cute little nose." After skin to skin time and the Dr. stitched me up ( I had a 2nd degree tear) they weighed her and measured her and dried her off and Pat got to hold her. She was 7lbs 5oz and 20.5 inches long. I never would have ever guessed I would go through labor and delivery without an epidural, but I did. I never could have done it without Pat and all of the love and support and back rubs he gave me, he is the sweetest husband in the whole entire world and I'm so grateful he was there by my side the whole entire time. And we love our little Brylianna, she is a perfect little angel and we are so happy she is part of our family and the sweet spirit that she brings.

First Family Picture

Moments after she was born

Daddy holding her for the first time

Skin to skin with mommy

In our room

I look super tired here, but Brylianna has a cute little smile on her face

We sent her to the nursery the second night in the hospital and every time she came back to eat she had like a new bow in her hair or a hat on. We think the nurses loved playing with her :) (Maybe that is why she is awake all night now)