Ruthlyn's official due date was October 30th, but going into our 40th week, she was high, comfortable, and not seemingly in any hurry to make her exit. At my 39 week appointment, I was a tight 1cm dialated, with no progress from the previous week - and my doctor told me that 40-41+ was easily a possibility. I had an incredibly uncomfortable, itchy (and not clearly diagnosed) allergic reaction rash, was not sleeping, and in general, just very ready to be done being pregnant. Poor Jon and kiddos were hearing multiple times a day my very firm belief that this little girl was planning on staying in there forrrrrevvvver. [Jon will tell you that my despondency increases as we get closer and closer to (each) due date... he bases his predictions about when baby will arrive off of it.] I had a few contractions that week, but nothing regular, and they quickly went away, so I continued to self-sooth with copious amounts of ice cream and prepare for being (despondently) very large and overdue.
On Wednesday the 26th, we had our usual morning - dropping S off at preschool, E and mommy having a little quality time in a coffee shop for special treats and then at the playground, and then on to Bible study at church. In honor of operation Evict Ruthlyn, we did a little extra walking, and prayed with friends that she'd make an early appearance (please please puuuuulease), but nothing out of the ordinary.
That afternoon, as the boys napped, and I was working on a few sewing projects, I started to feel the first few (back) contractions, just before 3pm. Didn't time them because that's just stressful when they dissipate - but loosely noticed that they were happening about every 10 minutes. After about an hour of this, I told Jon that something was going on, so "just a heads up." I am told that this commenced a comical series of deliberations, emails, etc for him, as he was right in the middle of planning a whole slew of meetings, plus a website launch, in the next several days. I started timing, and they were between 7-10 minutes apart, nothing intense, and all in my back. We texted our friends who would watch the boys and basically said "Hey, so I don't know... but maybe baby sometime-ish? Like yeah. Maybe." And we called Jon's mom to let her know to *maybe* look at flights for the next day.
*Bear in mind, in labor with E, we went all the way to contractions every 2-3 minutes, went to the hospital, were stuck at 3cm, weren't progressing, and then contractions stalled out entirely, for like 6-7 hours and we had to go home again [before coming back later that night]. ::insert K's shame face here:: So we were cautious to make any definitive statements. If you really want to read the boys equally long birth narratives, you can find them here.*
Jon got home around 5:45p, and by this point, contractions were 5-7 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. I was having more trouble talking through them, but still non-committal to this being "really it." We made dinner, and ate together, bathed the boys, and cleaned up, trying to explain to the boys why mommy was starting to sound like a lowing cow every 3-4 minutes. I frantically tried to package up Etsy orders to get them ready to ship, becoming increasingly frustrated as the printer ran out of ink and squatting to fix it made contractions worse... Jon laughed at my insistence in carrying on with "business as usual," but told me, "pretty sure we're in labor for real now." I was still non-committal.
8pm - Boys go to bed, and we tell our friends, pretty sure this is happening tonight. Contractions are every 3-5 minutes and intensifying, still all back labor. We tell Jon's mom it's go time, and she buys a plane ticket for the next day.
9:30pm, we text our friends to say time to go to the hospital, contractions every 2-4 minutes and lasting for a full minute - since this is our third baby, and they say come in when they're 5 minutes apart and lasting a minute, we decide okay, time to go. I debate whether we need to start one last load of laundry "just in case." J, quickly taking over as the rational one, assures me that it can wait.
9:50pm friends arrive, we head out - contractions are 1-3 minutes apart - very painful back labor still. The ride to the hospital is 30 minutes and very bumpy, and the hormonal shakes from transition start taking over. At this point, I acknowledge, that this is probably actually for real. Maybe. And tell Jon that slowing down for potential speed traps is not really super necessary. We call family to tell them that we're en route to the hospital - my mom wanted to have a conversation comparing this labor to previous labors, and I'm pretty sure I still need to apologize for how that went down.
10:30pm Walking into the hospital, I am pretty sure I looked exactly like the movies portray women in labor looking - sweaty, shaking, swearing, etc etc. Shockingly, no one questioned that I was in labor (although no less than 2 people did show shock and awe that this was our third child and ask if we're done after this?? Because yes, having another child is exactly what normal people contemplate while in the throws of transition) and within about 3 minutes, I was in a labor and delivery room - fastest intake ever - with the doctor proclaiming me 6-7 centimeters and in "very active labor" and "once your water breaks, it'll be very fast."
Labor, intake, labor tub, ouch ouch yadda yadda for another hour and a half - I am checked again at midnight, at 9.5 centimeters, just a small cervical lip to go, baby is at position 0, waters still haven't broken, and still exclusively back labor. At this point, I am exhausted and we're fairly confident that baby girl is posterior, or sunny side up - meaning she's head-down, but facing my belly, in the less than ideal way to labor down. Labor slows down - contractions space out a bit - but are still exclusively back labor, and extremely painful through my back and radiating down through my pelvis and legs. The doctor tells us that she will probably need to rotate before she can come out, and we need to stay moving and in different positions to help her do that.
My legs are barely supporting me by this point, and I, on more than one occasion considered whether I needed to ask for intervention at that point - although also know that it will probably be harder to help her rotate if I cannot keep moving around. I had back labor briefly with S, but for only a very small portion of the labor, and now 10 hours in with exclusively back labor, I just wasn't sure that I would be able to sustain my own weight long enough for her to turn. After trying a few different positions, I finally settled for hugging the birthing ball, on my hands and knees on the floor, rocking and rotating. I should note at this point, that Jon was a pro and our nurse was fantastic, and both of them are kept me going and sane as I was quickly losing perspective and focus - vocabulary limited to "noooooo" and "I don't knowwww...."
2:05am, my water finally breaks - projectile explodes would probably be a better approximation - I might have been able to hit a target on the far wall, and I haven't seen Jon move that fast in a while. I am checked again, and baby is at +1, still posterior, still with the lip of the cervix to go, but I'm starting to feel the pressure to push soon and the back pain is excruciating. We hop back into the labor tub to try and hold out, but within just a few minutes (as Jon took his first and only 2 minute break to use the bathroom), I can't control the need to push, so back out we go again and the doctor prepares to see if he can manually assist me in pushing past the remaining cervix.
2:35am, I start pushing and 8 minutes later
2:43am Ruthlyn Valor was born, with her hand and arm coming out at the same time as her head (compound presentation - only about 1 in 1000 births - makes the surface area of the exiting baby bigger, possibly explaining why pushing was just a leeetle more painful this go-round), finally turning from posterior to anterior, only as she exited my body into the doctors hands. Screaming and red, but quite possibly my cleanest looking baby yet, she was finally here and all the feels and emotions and hormones flooded over me - not enough to keep me from noticing the pain of being stitched up (I can handle a completely non-medicated back-labor birth, but I'm a huge baby when it comes to them sewing me up again) but amazing nonetheless. She was laid on my chest for immediate skin to skin and I'm pretty sure that I just whisper-wept "hi baby... oh hi... hi" for way longer than any normal person, but I do not even care. We were just so glad to finally have her in our arms. No matter how many times I go through labor and delivery, there is nothing like the euphoric, spiritual, emotional high of holding your baby for the first time. After a little while, Jon cut the cord and baby girl rooted her way around and started nursing of her own accord, before they got her cleaned up, weighed, etc.
Just under 12 hours of labor (my shortest labor yet - S was 17 hours, E was 23 hours) - exclusively back labor - but like the others, thankfully able to be unmedicated, with no interventions needed. So very very many blessings and I am so thankful for all of the little details that worked out to bring this little lady safely into our lives.
Welcome, Ruthlyn Valor - we are so glad you are here! [And stay tuned for an equally long post on how we chose her name!]
Love this- thanks for sharing your story and welcome Ruthlyn!
ReplyDeleteWay to go! Thanks for sharing! Welcome, Ruthlyn! You have amazing parents:)
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