The week of my due date I was definitely feeling more Braxton Hicks contractions, especially at work. I was due on Saturday, November 7 and my last day of work was Thursday, November 5. That Thursday I had BH almost all day. They were never painful, my belly was just incredibly tight all day.
Chris and I were both off that Friday and Saturday and were able to spend some time nesting/organizing our home office. It was much needed! My parents decided to come into town Saturday afternoon. My mom suggested we go get a pedicure to see if a good foot massage might induce labor.
When I woke up Sunday morning I felt normal. As I got ready for church I felt a little crampy. It was hard to tell if it was contractions or what. I texted Chris around noon "I may be contracting. It's kind of constant though, not really letting up like I've read real contractions do. Definitely more uncomfortable than I've felt thus far." We went to eat lunch at Texas Roadhouse with my parents and I still felt uncomfortable, but I didn't think much more of it. We had gotten the nursery pretty much set up so my parents wanted to get a picture of Chris and I in the nursery. I am so glad my mom suggested this!
Around 3pm I started feeling more uncomfortable. My mom and I walked down to the mailbox and I could tell something was different but still wasn't certain that what I was feeling were contractions. About 3:45pm the contractions became pretty regular and I could time in between them. I went and laid down on our bed and asked Chris to download a contraction timer app on his phone. At this point they were about every 4 minutes and lasting about 45 seconds. I timed a few of them while lying on the bed and then he called his sister, Jennifer and she suggested I get in the bathtub to see if it helped the pain. So around 4pm I moved to the tub and it definitely helped make them a little more tolerable.
At this point Chris and I knew that I was in labor and we were likely having a baby today! I already had most of my bag packed, so he took my list and added the last few things I needed. He got everything together and put in the car while I labored in the tub. He set his phone on the side of the tub and I would push start/stop every time I had a contraction! He would walk through the bathroom and say, Oh that was a long one! He was so great about staying calm and being as helpful as he could be. They were still about every 3-4 minutes and lasted about 45-60 seconds. At this point I wasn't able to talk through them. It was difficult to even walk out to the car during a contraction.
We left for the hospital at 5pm. Thankfully they got me checked in pretty quick and I didn't have to wait very long to get up to L&D. Once we got upstairs MaryAnn put me on the monitor and checked me and I was 5cm!
Things moved pretty quickly from there! They got my IV started about 5:45pm. She got it on the first try and it really wasn't bad at all. She drew blood with the IV and that allowed them to know if my platelet count was stable enough to call for the epidural.
During my contractions the most comfortable position for me to be in was either bent over against the bed or in the bed on all fours. Neither one was really a great option because I was hooked up to the fetal monitor, blood pressure cuff and the IV, so it was easy to become a tangled mess! At one point the nurse told me she was impressed with how calm/quiet I was. The contractions HURT, but I just buried my face in the pillow and held my breath during them.
My platelets were stable, so the epidural was placed at 6:30pm. In the days/weeks leading up to my due date, this is what I was most nervous about. But during labor, I didn't care! The hardest part was enduring the contractions and sitting how I needed to sit for him to place the epidural.
The numbing medicine they use first did sting, but it kicked in pretty quick. He actually had to put more numbing medicine because when he started with the epidural I could feel what he was doing. Chris sat in front of me and held my hand and I rested myself on his knee. I think it took about 15 minutes for him to finish placing it and I had about 3 contractions while he was working. While he was placing it, it made the muscles to the right of my spine spasm. That was pretty uncomfortable and weird!
Once the epidural was in and working, I felt GREAT. It was the weirdest thing not to feel the contractions now but my stomach would be tight to the touch. My legs were warm, numb and heavy, but I never lost complete function of them. This sounds dumb, but I didn't expect my stomach to be numb. It totally makes sense that it would be, but I only anticipated my legs being numb!
Shift change happened about now and Tara took over. At 7pm I was 7cm.
Landry had a decel with the first contraction after the epidural was placed, so I had to wear oxygen and lie on my left side. She improved with that and her heart rate came back up.
She was floppy and had very little color when she was delivered and once they got her to cry and pink up they kept her under the warmer for a little bit while I got stitched up.
I was so relieved that she was finally here and pretty exhausted, which you can tell by the pictures that were taken of me!
We almost took our first family picture here, but as soon as this one was taken I basically threw Landry at Chris and told the nurse that I needed to throw up. I threw up twice and then felt fine.
Chris' parents with their first granddaughter! (She's the third grandchild on both sides though.)
This special group of friends waited at the hospital the whole time! Chris and I are very blessed with great friends and Landry is so loved by them already.
Around 3pm I started feeling more uncomfortable. My mom and I walked down to the mailbox and I could tell something was different but still wasn't certain that what I was feeling were contractions. About 3:45pm the contractions became pretty regular and I could time in between them. I went and laid down on our bed and asked Chris to download a contraction timer app on his phone. At this point they were about every 4 minutes and lasting about 45 seconds. I timed a few of them while lying on the bed and then he called his sister, Jennifer and she suggested I get in the bathtub to see if it helped the pain. So around 4pm I moved to the tub and it definitely helped make them a little more tolerable.
At this point Chris and I knew that I was in labor and we were likely having a baby today! I already had most of my bag packed, so he took my list and added the last few things I needed. He got everything together and put in the car while I labored in the tub. He set his phone on the side of the tub and I would push start/stop every time I had a contraction! He would walk through the bathroom and say, Oh that was a long one! He was so great about staying calm and being as helpful as he could be. They were still about every 3-4 minutes and lasted about 45-60 seconds. At this point I wasn't able to talk through them. It was difficult to even walk out to the car during a contraction.
We left for the hospital at 5pm. Thankfully they got me checked in pretty quick and I didn't have to wait very long to get up to L&D. Once we got upstairs MaryAnn put me on the monitor and checked me and I was 5cm!
Things moved pretty quickly from there! They got my IV started about 5:45pm. She got it on the first try and it really wasn't bad at all. She drew blood with the IV and that allowed them to know if my platelet count was stable enough to call for the epidural.
My platelets were stable, so the epidural was placed at 6:30pm. In the days/weeks leading up to my due date, this is what I was most nervous about. But during labor, I didn't care! The hardest part was enduring the contractions and sitting how I needed to sit for him to place the epidural.
Once the epidural was in and working, I felt GREAT. It was the weirdest thing not to feel the contractions now but my stomach would be tight to the touch. My legs were warm, numb and heavy, but I never lost complete function of them. This sounds dumb, but I didn't expect my stomach to be numb. It totally makes sense that it would be, but I only anticipated my legs being numb!
Shift change happened about now and Tara took over. At 7pm I was 7cm.
Landry had a decel with the first contraction after the epidural was placed, so I had to wear oxygen and lie on my left side. She improved with that and her heart rate came back up.
By 7:30pm I was at 9cm and they called Dr. Jansky to come in. At 8pm Dr. Jansky came in and broke my water. It was meconium stained, so that meant the NICU team would have to be present for the delivery just to be on the safe side. At 8:40pm we started pushing with each contraction. They were still coming about every 3-5 minutes and I pushed 3 times for 10 seconds each with every contraction. She still hadn't crowned, but we were trying to move things along. We did this for THREE hours. She was sunny side up, and not coming down! The first hour went by pretty quick, but when hour two came I was getting pretty tired. Around 11:10pm the Neo team came in and Dr. J started asking how I felt about using the vacuum. By then I was open to whatever! They tried vacuum suction once and it came off as she was trying to pull her out. With the next two contractions she used forceps to try to get her out and the second time she was successful. At 11:32pm, Landry was finally here!
She was floppy and had very little color when she was delivered and once they got her to cry and pink up they kept her under the warmer for a little bit while I got stitched up.
I need to take a minute and brag on this guy. He was so incredible during this whole process. Neither of us knew what we were doing and Chris was so supportive and encouraging. He held my left leg through every single contraction while I was pushing even though his shoulder hurt. At one point he asked me if he could do anything for me and then followed that up with, "I'm going to keep asking you that." He said he felt very helpless but I couldn't have done it without him. So so grateful for him!
Chris' parents with their first granddaughter! (She's the third grandchild on both sides though.)
This special group of friends waited at the hospital the whole time! Chris and I are very blessed with great friends and Landry is so loved by them already.
Unfortunately I ended up with a stomach bug that came on while we were on our way home from bowling, but we had a blast and always enjoy visiting my family!!
