Delivery, LJW

So as most of you know, I was due 6/26. And that date came and went.

I went to my appointments and found out that both the baby and I were doing great….the worst thing I was experiencing (that anyone could see) was my swollen hands/feet/ankles.

The Thursday before Independence day, I had my last appointment and I was pretty much made to set an induction date because here in Minnesota the union nurses were going to go on strike starting the next Tuesday if there was no agreement reached…(nice to have to think about THAT when I am working on getting a kid out of my womb, right?!)

I ended up setting the induction for Monday. But we got a call later that day that due to the nurse strike, no inductions would be scheduled for the work week…so Sunday was when I was to come in. The midwife I saw mentioned that I would be induced by breaking my water….I was so happy Pitocin was not the first choice with all those horror stories out there!

So Sunday it was. And Sunday came and went. Apparently someone else needed to be induced out of necessity. I was moved to Monday.

And Monday came and went. Another necessary induction vs. my "elective" induction.

Finally, Tuesday morning I received my phone call to come in within the hour-we got to the hospital around 8:30am.

I got all checked in and the midwife came in and asked where I was dilated at my last appointment-I had only been about 1-2cm. So the midwife says, we'll do Pitocin, it would be the best option. NOT what I wanted to hear!

As we were talking, we just decided she would give me a cervical check, then decide. Whew!!

I think it was around 9:30am and she found that I was actually up to 3-4cm so we went ahead and stripped my membranes. I also walked for the next hour to try to get things to progress. And I did start having irregular contractions. They weren't that bad because I could talk/walk through them pretty easily.

By now it was 11:00 in the morning. The midwife came in and we decided we wanted to see how I would progress if she broke my water instead of giving me Pitocin (since I was already feeling contractions just with my membranes being stripped). Okay, sounds good.

WOW. That did not feel good.

I ate something by recommendation of both the midwife and Cameron. I was so hesitant because with Emmy I threw up and I hate vomiting….but I was a good girl. :)

Maybe around 12:30pm I was told that I would NOT be allowed to have an epidural. Basically, my platelets were low, as they were during Emalyn's delivery, however this time they were VERY low (low=100, I was at 73). The midwife said she was glad I mentioned I would want to try natural childbirth, because I didn't have a choice!!

On a side note here, I freaked. A little. Just because I had probably the most traumatic delivery with my daughter. And I had an epidural. All these what if's went through my head. I just wanted (badly) to have the epidural option in my back pocket. Just in case. I am just that way, always have plan B right?

But man, did this delivery progress after 1:00pm. Standing was most comfortable-forget that stupid birthing ball, it hurt so badly sit on it-and I swayed with every contraction.

Cam was a champ because it seemed like before I knew I needed something, he had it or brought it up or just knew how to direct me. That being said, he directed me to the bath and thought that would be a good idea. Which it was!

Contractions were so finally coming so hard that I had to get out, I was feeling "pushy." No joke, ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS PUSH. And as with Emalyn's delivery, if my body starts pushing, I really, really can't stop it.

The nurse called the midwife because I needed to be checked to see if I really could start pushing…it was funny because we later found out that the midwife upon entering the room thought all she was going to do was check me. Little did she know that I seriously was going to have this kid.

Twenty minutes of pushing and Liam was here. 2:50pm.

After it was all said and done, the nurse even looked back into her notes to see if she could tell where I had that big transition to the time I was ready to have the baby. She said it was interesting, because there wasn't that telltale time. I think we did actually catch them off guard (a little).

(Finally got around to getting this done....two months later :)!)