The crazy thing about being pregnant is that in just few hours it can change and you are not pregnant anymore!
Yesterday early morning around 2 am, I thought I felt a contraction. Just one so I didn't think much of it but I went back to sleep. I do remember having the thought "if we have to take the kids to someone's house right now, it will make the day little crazy with Saku's school". I slept well until 5 am when I felt another contraction, which made me think that this might be early labor. They came every 10 minutes or so, nothing too intense but definitely not just a Braxton Hicks. Around 5:30, I told Troy that I think I was in labor.
I went to the kitchen to make Saku's lunch and got things ready for swimming lessons because that is what you do when you are in labor with your third kid. I also decided to eat an English Muffin to have some food in my stomach as I wouldn't get anything once we got to the hospital. Then I got into shower so I could manage the pain and also to be nice and clean when it was time to push a baby out.
At six thirty, I was sure that this was the real deal so I called Rachael to see if Eerika could go and spend the day with Brad. Eerika was so excited to go and have a day with Brad that she demanded to eat her breakfast at their house so I packed it in her lunch box. Because I was doing so many things at once so I don't know how far apart the contractions were. By the time, we got in the car and started to drive to Saku's school, they were about 5 minutes apart and I could tell that I would have back pain with this labor.
I started to get the shakes as we were about 10 minutes from the hospital. I felt positive and in control as I figured if I wasn't progressing much, I would just get an epidural and enjoy the labor.
Troy dropped me off to check in and went to park the car to the garage. St Joe's has the worse parking situation for labor and delivery. I walk to the triage and explain what is going on as well as Eerika's labor situation. They calmly, oh so calmly, respond that it doesn't look that this is a repeat of this and hand me a gown and pee sample cup. Then I got hooked up to monitors so slowly. And finally after what seems forever, they finally check me to see how much I had progressed. No one is a fan of cervical checks, but I can deal with them just fine; however, this nurse was awful. It took her forever and it really hurt. I wanted to remind her that she was touching very sensitive lady parts of a woman in labor. Her conclusion was that she couldn't feel any cervix. Another nurse checked me and said that there was a bit of anterior lip left.
I am thinking that Little Ninja will be born in the next 30 minutes. Again, we slowly start moving to a room. Dr. Farias is being paged and she comes very quickly to break my water. I get poked twice for an IV and once for a blood draw. Neither of the IVs worked, but Dr. Farias being awesome said that I should be fine without one. She asked if I want an epidural, but I have no pain and I am thinking we will push soon and be done, so I decline. There are tons of people in the room to get ready And then we wait. And we wait and the quick delivery of this child that I had imagined is not happening. The water breaking makes my contractions more intense, but there is still that part of the cervix that doesn't budge and it doesn't budge until about 10 am. I was fine until about 9:30 and then I started having back and hip pain that gradually got worse and worse and so bad that I just couldn't deal anything. I started to whimper and cry with each contraction. Two amazing nursing students helped me by putting pressure on my hips with the contractions and telling me to start taking deep breaths when another contractions was about to come.
I asked for an epidural but there was no time for it. Dr. Farias came back. I could tell that she was surprised by the change in my coping mechanism and I could tell she was working hard to make things better for me.
When it was time to push, I was really in a bad place mentally. I didn't think there was any way that the pain would stop and I could push this baby out. I didn't feel any pressure to push and I felt so much pain, but somehow I was able to focus and follow the command the push. So I pushed for few minutes and he did come out. He had been facing up, which explained the back/hip pain and did some sort of a flip in the end.
I just cried and cried when he came out. He looked purple to me and he was the messiest one of our babies, but I didn't care. He was out, the incredible pain was gone, he was fine, and again the pain was gone. I kissed his messy little head until they took him away. He seemed so small, but he ended up being the biggest one out of the three. He was so calm. There was no crying while they examined him.
The labor was so good and manageable and even easy for so long. The nurses around me were so impressed and I felt a bit silly to receive so many compliments when I felt like the pain really was manageable. And then some kind of a switch got flipped on, and the back pain, hip pain and unbelievable pain and pressure in my uterus and and it just kept coming and people would tell me "you are almost there" and I just wanted to be done.
Edit: This was written a year ago and yes, it still sounds so fresh. I don't remember the exact time that he was born, but I remember the despair and then the relief when he was in my arms.
I went to the kitchen to make Saku's lunch and got things ready for swimming lessons because that is what you do when you are in labor with your third kid. I also decided to eat an English Muffin to have some food in my stomach as I wouldn't get anything once we got to the hospital. Then I got into shower so I could manage the pain and also to be nice and clean when it was time to push a baby out.
At six thirty, I was sure that this was the real deal so I called Rachael to see if Eerika could go and spend the day with Brad. Eerika was so excited to go and have a day with Brad that she demanded to eat her breakfast at their house so I packed it in her lunch box. Because I was doing so many things at once so I don't know how far apart the contractions were. By the time, we got in the car and started to drive to Saku's school, they were about 5 minutes apart and I could tell that I would have back pain with this labor.
I started to get the shakes as we were about 10 minutes from the hospital. I felt positive and in control as I figured if I wasn't progressing much, I would just get an epidural and enjoy the labor.
Troy dropped me off to check in and went to park the car to the garage. St Joe's has the worse parking situation for labor and delivery. I walk to the triage and explain what is going on as well as Eerika's labor situation. They calmly, oh so calmly, respond that it doesn't look that this is a repeat of this and hand me a gown and pee sample cup. Then I got hooked up to monitors so slowly. And finally after what seems forever, they finally check me to see how much I had progressed. No one is a fan of cervical checks, but I can deal with them just fine; however, this nurse was awful. It took her forever and it really hurt. I wanted to remind her that she was touching very sensitive lady parts of a woman in labor. Her conclusion was that she couldn't feel any cervix. Another nurse checked me and said that there was a bit of anterior lip left.
I am thinking that Little Ninja will be born in the next 30 minutes. Again, we slowly start moving to a room. Dr. Farias is being paged and she comes very quickly to break my water. I get poked twice for an IV and once for a blood draw. Neither of the IVs worked, but Dr. Farias being awesome said that I should be fine without one. She asked if I want an epidural, but I have no pain and I am thinking we will push soon and be done, so I decline. There are tons of people in the room to get ready And then we wait. And we wait and the quick delivery of this child that I had imagined is not happening. The water breaking makes my contractions more intense, but there is still that part of the cervix that doesn't budge and it doesn't budge until about 10 am. I was fine until about 9:30 and then I started having back and hip pain that gradually got worse and worse and so bad that I just couldn't deal anything. I started to whimper and cry with each contraction. Two amazing nursing students helped me by putting pressure on my hips with the contractions and telling me to start taking deep breaths when another contractions was about to come.
I asked for an epidural but there was no time for it. Dr. Farias came back. I could tell that she was surprised by the change in my coping mechanism and I could tell she was working hard to make things better for me.
When it was time to push, I was really in a bad place mentally. I didn't think there was any way that the pain would stop and I could push this baby out. I didn't feel any pressure to push and I felt so much pain, but somehow I was able to focus and follow the command the push. So I pushed for few minutes and he did come out. He had been facing up, which explained the back/hip pain and did some sort of a flip in the end.
I just cried and cried when he came out. He looked purple to me and he was the messiest one of our babies, but I didn't care. He was out, the incredible pain was gone, he was fine, and again the pain was gone. I kissed his messy little head until they took him away. He seemed so small, but he ended up being the biggest one out of the three. He was so calm. There was no crying while they examined him.
The labor was so good and manageable and even easy for so long. The nurses around me were so impressed and I felt a bit silly to receive so many compliments when I felt like the pain really was manageable. And then some kind of a switch got flipped on, and the back pain, hip pain and unbelievable pain and pressure in my uterus and and it just kept coming and people would tell me "you are almost there" and I just wanted to be done.
Edit: This was written a year ago and yes, it still sounds so fresh. I don't remember the exact time that he was born, but I remember the despair and then the relief when he was in my arms.
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