I woke up early on Sunday June 25th, 2006 with heartburn and nausea. I took some Tums, but it didn't seem to help. I had some cramps, and I was trying to decide if it was gas, or contractions. I knew I didn't feel well enough to go to church, so I told Jason we weren't going to church. A little while later, I was pretty sure what I was feeling was labor, so Jason called my parents so they could come pick up Benjamin. It wasn't long after they arrived that I was wishing we were already at the hospital. Contractions were moving along so quickly and getting more intense by the minute. If we had waited for them to be 5 minutes apart for an hour before going in, we would have had Anna at home!
We got to the hospital around 11:30 a.m. and they took me to triage. I really just wanted to go straight to labor & delivery! I wasn't in triage long, they checked and I was 6 cm dilated and moving along well. I wasn't in labor & delivery long before I was in the "leave me alone" "get down to business" stage of labor. The nurse asked if I wanted the doctor to break my water, but I didn't want to be messed with, so I didn't answer her. In fact, the nurse came in a lot and asked questions, but I just let Jason answer because I was too busy with contractions. I had written out a birth plan (as I had done with our first child, Benjamin), stating what I wanted/didn't want. I had chosen to go without pain medication this time as well.
A while later, I got the first urge to push, so they checked my cervix again and I was fully dilated to 10 cm and ready to go. They hadn't gotten everything ready for the delivery yet, and they still needed to break down the bed, but the nurse told me I could push if I wanted to. The next contraction, the urge was stronger, so I went with it. WOOSH! My water broke, all over my legs, my socks, the bed, and even the nurse who was standing at the foot of the bed!! She said that was a new experience for her, she had never seen that before. It felt very strange to me too! After the water broke, they hurried to get everything ready for delivery and then I was able to get down to pushing Anna out. I pushed for a while, but I started getting so exhausted at one point I said to Jason "Are we done yet?!" the nurse, sensing my discouragement, allowed me to feel Anna's head -which was crowning. That's all I needed for that extra "boost" to keep going. 18 minutes of pushing, and she was born. It was such an amazing experience!
Anna was born at 2:00 p.m. on June 25th, 2006. She weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces and was 22 inches long.
The first thing I said after she was born is "IS it a girl?" because the ultrasound wasn't 100% conclusive, though we were pretty sure we had a girl. I asked it a couple times before someone finally answered that it was a girl. They put her on my chest and I held her for a long time. In fact, they didn't even bother cleaning her up right away. After her tests, my perenium tear was stitched up, and the "crowd" was gone, the nurse let me breastfeed Anna. As soon as I got a room, I was able to take Anna with me. She still hadn't had her bath by the time everyone came to visit!
My nurse was so proud of how beautiful and alert Anna was too! She told the other nurses "Mine is prettier!"
2 comments:
Rachel,
I really enjoyed reading Anna's birth story again, too. :) I love how each labor & birth is so unique, and we can really learn something from each one. Thanks for sharing it again!
Amy :)
I'm so thankful for Anna's birth experience, because it was so much shorter I was able to enjoy it more (it seems weird, despite the pain, to enjoy something like that!)than I could with Benjamin's. I remember how pleased I was that it was easier & quicker and that Anna was able to come into the world a lot "friendlier" than her poor brother.
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