As most people know I was just about over due on my pregnancy! Remington decided to be a stubborn little guy and stay in there up until the day before his induction date. I was 41 weeks and 6 days pregnant when he was born.
Starting about 24 hours before he was born (so the night before, August 31st, around 8PM) I started having spaced out but noticeably uncomfortable contractions. They were a lot more crampy feeling than what my regular braxton hicks contractions had felt like. But because it felt like he was never going to come out on his own I kinda told myself that it wasn't really labor.
My parents had stopped by that night to see Kaiden and when the contractions started getting a little uncomfortable they agreed to just take Kaiden with them just in case Remington decided to come that night. Luckily they did because contractions picked up a little bit and were starting to get closer together. Me and Jake went on a walk around our neighborhood to see if we could get labor going. They started to space out a little bit around 11PM and then I was really convinced it wasn't labor, because everything I read said if its "real" labor than the contractions get stronger, longer and closer together. Not more spaced out and shorter lol. Me and Jake played some monopoly to kill some time to see if the contractions would start back up and I decided to make some cookies for the nurses just in case I did go into the hospital that night. Around midnight we headed to bed. Contractions lasted the whole night ranging from 7 to 10 minutes apart so I didn't get much sleep at all because every time I would have one I would wake up and have to breathe through them. And let me just ad that laying down with a contraction makes them 10 times more uncomfortable. I tried to get as much sleep as I could because I knew I would need the energy when it was time to go to the hospital. By the time morning came around they were still pretty spaced out, but they were definitely still there, and a little more manageable than the ones I was having the night before. I decided I couldn't lay in bed anymore around 8:30 AM I got up and got ready. Then I woke Jake up and insisted that we get this labor started! I knew if I layed around the contractions might quit and then I would end up being induced. We decided to get up, go get some breakfast/ lunch and then go do stairs. We decided the best place to go would be the capital building which is full of stairs and a lot less crowded than the mall would be. Not to mention it was right next to where I would be delivering. So we walked up and down the stairs for half an hour. Contractions started picking up a little bit more and during some of them I would have to stop to breathe through them. After that we went to the park and walked around for another hour. Contractions were definitely getting stronger. I decided not to time them until they got really consistent. By the time we left the park I could not walk during a contraction. After the park we went home and played a little more of our monopoly game from the night before to somewhat distract me from the contractions. By this time it was around 5PM and during my contractions Jake had to start doing the double hip squeeze so I could get through them. That was seriously a life saver! I decided shortly after to go take a warm bath and relax a little bit (well, try to relax). I was in the bath for about 30 minutes before getting out. As soon as I got out my contractions started to be what felt like one after the other. I had to hum through my contractions while Jake did the double hip squeeze as well. I knew it was time to go to the hospital then. We already had our hospital bags in the car, so we grabbed our last minute things and headed out the door. It took me a few contractions of stopping and humming through them before I could get to the car. I knew I wouldn't be able to stand sitting confined in the front seat so I decided to sit in the back. Every time I would have a contraction I would lean over the car seat and breathe through them. We got to the hospital around 6PM and took our time breathing through contractions until we made it up to labor and delivery. We went into triage to check babies heart rate and to see how dilated I was. To our surprise I was already 6CM dilated. The last time I was checked was at my 40 week appointment and I was only 3 CM. They tried to have me lay on the bed to get an accurate reading of Remingtons heart rate but every contraction I had to get up. It was to painful to lay there through them. Jake was still doing the double hip squeeze with every contraction. We were told that my midwife wasn't on call the night before so we weren't expecting her to be in but when she showed up we were VERY happy to see her. We were then checked in to a Labor and delivery room. My midwife walked us over there and stayed with us until Remington was born. About ten min after we got into our room contractions were really starting to pick up. I put on my bathing suit and tried to get into the bath. As much as I wanted to lay down and relax in the bath, contractions were so much more painful when laying down and when they would start it was hard for me to move so I wasn't able to sit up so Jake could do the hip squeeze so I stood in the bath through a few contractions before deciding that wasn't working at it was time to get out. At this point I was contemplating getting some pain management so I went ahead and got the IV hep lock in just in case. Little did I know how fast I would be in transition. When I told my midwife I wanted some form of pain management she knew it was on my birth plan that I did not want the epidural she told me about nitrous gas which is pretty much what they give you at the dentist office. Its supposed to take the edge off the contractions but doesn't help with the pain at all and it doesn't affect the baby. She also told me about a few things they could put through the IV but would have to see how dilated I was if I wanted those since labor was progressing so fast and the other ones take some time. She checked me around 7:30 and I was already between 8 and 9 centimeters. I think this is when my birth photographer showed up, I was so focused on getting through every contraction that other people in the room was more of a blur to me. Although I'm surprised how calm I was between every contraction. She knew how badly I wanted a natural birth so she suggested the gas. About 20 minutes later the guy with the nitrous gas came in and gave me the mask and explained that it doesn't take the pain away just puts you in a different state of mind. At which point I was thinking whats the point of that. At this point around 8PM contractions felt almost unbearable so I asked for the epidural. I was still coping through the contractions standing up next to the hospital bed and leaning over the birth ball with Jake behind me doing the double hip squeeze immediately during every contraction. Everyone in the room knew I wanted to do this with out pain meds and that it was the contractions talking so my midwife checked me and I was already 10 CM dilated, I thought she was joking when she told me to push. I was thinking, I just got here how am I pushing already. At this point I still had a bulging bag of water so with my first small push my water broke. I started pushing around 8PM. I layed on my side while pushing. My mom, Jake and my midwife helped coach me through every contraction and push. Because my contractions were so short only about 40 second long I would push about two times during every contraction. My midwife asked if I wanted to see his head with a mirror while I was pushing, I said yes but couldn't really see much. Once he was crowning I got to feel the top of head which was more motivation for me to push through every contraction. About an hour later at 9:15 PM ON LABOR DAY our handsome baby boy was born. We waited to cut the cord until it stopped pulsing which happened only minutes after he was born. We did immediate skin to skin before doing anything. We also were able to nurse almost immediately after he was born which he was already an amazing nurser from the second he was born. I was bleeding a lot so I had him nurse for an hour before we did anything else which such an amazing experience. I was bleeding more than the doctors were comfortable with so luckily for me I already had the IV hep lock in so they had to give a bag of pitocin to help the bleeding slow down/ stop. After that they took Remington to weigh him, and give him his vitamin K shot and swaddle him up. While they were doing that I got out of bed and changed and was already up and walking an hour after he was born! They told me he was 8 pounds 10.4 ounces! I was not expecting him to be that big since the ultrasound just a few days before estimated 7 pounds 12 ounces. They then measured him and he was 21.25 inches long. Almost 2 inches longer than Kaiden was. The nurse then swaddled him up, gave him to me and we went up to our post partum room. I still was in shock that he was born so fast and only after getting to the hospital 3 hours prior. I was definitely glad we headed to the hospital when we did. My mom then went home so we could get some rest. We were happy that our hospital room had a full size bed that both me and Jake got to sleep on. We stayed up for a few hours just staring and falling in love with our little man and aw'ing and every facial expression he would make. The nurses would come in every so often to check our vitals and one of the nurses brought us some food since I was so hungry and it was almost 3 AM at this point and the kitchen was closed until 7 AM. I then nursed him we swaddled him and went to bed :) I don't think I could have asked for a more perfect birth. Everything was so peaceful, only my midwife and one nurse in the room as well as my mom, Jake and the birth photographer when he was born, the lights were dimmed down the whole time, and he was here before we knew it. My midwife was more than amazing the whole time, and every single thing on my birth plan happened exactly how I had planned. We are so in love with our little guy and are enjoying life adjusting to a family of 4. :)
