iCreate: Gratitude Day 7 and Birth Story

November 7: Lexie is an angel baby. We can't get over how mellow and calm she is. Today I'm grateful for my mom and all the help she's been over the last few days. Also for our friend Beth Lee for her help yesterday. We are very blessed!

Recap: Up all night Monday night with contractions. They started at about 11 and were irregular and inconsistent all night until about 3am. We would almost be ready to go to the hospital but then I wouldn't have a contraction again for 10 minutes and/or it would be really light. They were uncomfortable enough that our bed felt awful. We went down to the family room and I slept on the couch. Corey grabbed the foam pads and made a bed on the floor.

**Throughout this time, I have been taking walks every day and sitting on the exercise ball doing hip rocks. I've also been trying to do yoga stretches of hips, etc. I've also been using oils trying to help progress contractions. Just a side note...**

Tuesday day - Midwife checked me and I was dilated 2 cm and 50% effaced. That was honestly a little disappointing because of how many contractions I'd had and the almost no sleep. I was up all night again that night. We went upstairs to bed on Tuesday at 10:30 and as soon as I laid down, I had a contraction. It was bad enough that I immediately told Corey that I needed to lay down downstairs. He got the foam pad again. Made up his bed again. We timed the contractions again. They were a little all over the place, but then they started to get a little more regular. Corey kept saying that he wanted to go to the hospital. I kept telling him "No, not yet." I'd had contractions 4-5 minutes apart for a little over an hour. I finally said 'Yeah, ok let's go.' Corey grabbed the bag, all the last minute stuff we needed, turned on the car to warm it up, knocked on my parent's door to tell them we were leaving, then I stood up to walk out. This was about 2:30 or 3:00. I decided I wanted to use the bathroom before we left and then all of a sudden my next contraction went to 7 minutes, then jumped to 12, and got worse after that. I sat back down on the couch thinking that moving around was what made the contractions slow down, and they just kept slowing and basically stopped about 5am. So we (kind of) slept for a couple of hours until the kids woke up at 7:00.

Wednesday - Got Nathan off to school, Beth took Nora, Grandma J did some errands, Mom and Dad took a nap, picked up Nathan from school, picked up Nora from Beth's, came home had lunch, took it easy on the couch, dozed a little, did homework with Nathan, put Nora down for a nap, Corey did some homework/watched a class. But today was Nathan first Parent Teacher Conference. The appointment was at 2:30. I'd sent Ms. Reeves a message and she knew that I was going to have a baby any day now and if I didn't show up she'd know why. Starting about lunch time, I started having contraction again. They were at least 20-25 minutes apart, weren't lasting very long, but were strong enough I couldn't carry on a normal conversation. I had a contraction in the middle of doing Nathan's homework with him. Another while we were doing his reading. I couldn't keep reading and my mom had to pick up were I was. Ha! We went to PTC. I had a contraction in the parking lot just as we were getting in the car. We walked in slowly, had a nice visit. Ms. Reeves was extremely surprised to me. We told her I was in-between contractions. That surprised her even more. She kept saying that I didn't really need to be there. We had our visit, everything was good, then we left. Right as we walked out of the school, I had another contraction. So I went to PTC literally in between contractions. Hahaha!! At about dinner time, so maybe 5 or 5:30, the contractions really started progressing. By 7:30 we decided we would leave for the hospital. I said goodnight to the kids. Nathan was actually a little nervous and a little worried about what was going on. My mom said that he said a prayer for me and Lexie. Mitzi, the dog, was actually acting really funny, too. She was following me around and acting very excited about everything. I got all checked in to the hospital around 8:30. I was very anxious to be checked to see how much I'd progressed. I was so nervous they were going to send me home! I had a contraction while we were being checked in. We got to our room, got out our oils and my birth plan. I was probably viewed as 'that one patient who doesn't want any medication'. I was hesitant about even getting an IV because I didm' want them to give me anything. The nurse did convince me that was if there was a problem they could quickly and easily get fluids or whatever in me right away. We also had to talk about paid meds during and after. When the midwife got there and checked me, I was dilated to 5cm and 80% effaced. I was so surprised and a little bummed again. I mean, really?!? I started talking to Corey about it all - my water hadn't even broken yet and I wasn't sure how much longer I could do this. I was just so tired already. The very little sleep 2 nights in a row was taking it's toll on me. They started bringing in the tub and filling it with water. They said it takes awhile to get it all ready. Corey and I decided that we wanted to have the midwife break my water to help things progress a little faster. She waited until I was in the middle of a contraction to break it. Things did start to progress after that. The tub did indeed take awhile. They water was first too cold but it was all the way full. So they had to bucket out some water to put hotter water in to get the right temperature. The hospital worker used a little bucket and just kept dumping it in the shower. Corey offered to use the hose and just blow air into it and would be faster....anyway, she just kept saying no. Finally, I got in the water, which was very comfortable. There was a built in seat that I sat on for the first little bit. Then moving around to different positions felt good. I could kind of float a little and that felt nice. I got on my hands and knees as the contractions were getting harder and harder. The midwife just said listen to your body. I started feeling like I needed to push and told her that. She told the nurse to prep things and just said to me again, ok, just do what your body tells you to do. The actual pushing part was really hard. I hurt, I'll be honest. And I screamed a little. Each time I pushed. I really think it felt the way it did because I physically was so tired. I didn't have the right amount of strength. I didn't have the right amount of stamina. Getting her head out was really hardest part. Once the midwife said things like "I see her head" and I also heard Corey say that too - "I can see her head, she's right there, she has lots of hair." - it was pretty easy to push the rest of her body out. So I was still on my knees, leaning over the edge when she came out. What a relief of pressure that felt like. The midwife just automatically picked her up out of the water. I turned over, lifting my leg up and over the umbilical cord that was still attached, and sat down on the built-in seat. They brought Lexie up to my chest and I held her there. A nurse brought over a blanket to put over us. I felt very ...shaky... the adrenaline, tensing up, being tired, all of those things, I felt like I didn't know how to hold a baby all of the sudden. After the umbilical cord stopped pulsating, Corey cut it. The nurses took Lexie to wipe her off a little, weigh her, etc. They helped me out of the tub, put towels around me and a dry hospital gown. I laid on the bed and they gave Lexie to me again. I still felt like I didn't know what to do. I felt weak and limp almost. It was really weird.

Eventually we made it up to our recovery room. We were both so so tired. I had to at least snap a couple of pictures.

Later, my mom brought the kids over to meet Lexie. It was all so fun. Nathan was really excited. Nora wasn't quite sure about the new baby at first. We love her!!!

My oil regimen. We ended up adding a couple of more after we took this picture.