I was absolutely positive that I would not have a late baby. At my 36 week appointment, I was dilated to 1.5 cm and 50% effaced. My doctor told me, “I don’t think you’ll have a late baby!” At my 37 week appointment, I was 3 cm. At my 38 week appointment, I was POSITIVE that I’d be at least 5 cm and they’d likely just send me over to the hospital to have a baby. HA. I was still 3 cm and remained this way at my 39 week appointment.
The weekend before my due date, we went to dinner and I’m not sure if the baby dropped while we were at dinner, but I left the restaurant significantly more uncomfortable than I was when we arrived. On the way home, I had a couple contractions and decided to go upstairs with my timer and told Bill that I was PRETTY SURE we were having a baby that night. Spoiler alert! We did not. You’ll notice that my intuition was pretty off for the last couple weeks of my pregnancy.
Our due date came and went. I was ridiculously irritable and contemplated quitting the internet. Tip: don’t ask a woman if she’s “had that baby yet?” In fact, don’t ask her anything. Just tell her she looks lovely and ask if you can rub her feet. My 40-week doctor’s appointment was on Friday the 11th and Bill came with me so that we could talk about next steps with my doctor. I was PRETTY SURE that we would not be having a baby that day.
We arrived at 9:30 and learned that I was FINALLY past 3 cm! Hooray for 4 cm! My doctor stripped my membranes (this is the 3rd week in a row that I’d had this done, so I wasn’t confident that it would work) and then we talked about what to do if we made it to 41 weeks without going into labor. We decided to induce on the following Tuesday. My doctor told me to get dressed while she went to schedule the induction. When I stood up to put my clothes back on, I felt a little trickle of water. Bill went out in the hall to grab the doctor. She came back in to test the fluid. She wasn’t sure that it was amniotic fluid, but she said she’d look at it under the microscope to see. While she was gone doing that, HOLY HELL, a huge gush of liquid came out.
What did I do? I began laughing hysterically. What did Bill do? He took my picture. Yes he did. We talked about whether we wanted to go home and start labor naturally or go straight to the hospital. Since I was already 4 cm, we decided to head right to the hospital (which is next door to my doctor’s office).
We arrived over there about 11 a.m. and I was horrified to hear, quite loudly, that there were two women in neighboring rooms in labor. Hearing one lady’s blood curdling screams was a little scary for me. Just how bad was this going to hurt? Our nurse came in and apologized for the noise, saying that both women were trying to have their babies at 11:11 a.m. Ridiculous.
Before I even got all hooked up to the machines and pitocin drip, I began feeling some contractions. And, then I laughed at myself for thinking all the “pains” I had been having the past few weeks were contractions. Silly Rhiannon. I was able to eat a little something (chicken noodle soup, cottage cheese, dry toast) before things really got going and for that I am very thankful. Eventually, the pitocin kicked in and HOLY HELL the contractions really came. I tried sitting on the birthing ball while Bill pressed against my lower back. I tried swaying back and forth. I tried imagining myself in my “happy place” from childbirth class (beachfront restaurant in Nice with a Nicoise Salad and a bottle of Rose’). Nothing worked. Though, my happy place did make me hungry.
At about 4 or 5, I was 5 cm and the nurse and I chatted about pain relief. She suggested that I try something in my IV to take the edge off and allow me to rest between contractions. I agreed and the medication worked for like 5 whole minutes. I remember holding on to the side of the bed for dear life while Bill pressed on my lower back. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get the epidural. By the time the anesthegiologist arrived, I was shivering SO HARD. They brought in warm blankets and I was able to warm up enough to hold still for the epidural.
The anesthegiolist was super quick and I started feelign relief almost immediately. The nurse told me to go to sleep and told Bill to go grab something to eat. I tried shutting my eyes for a bit, but I was far too excited to rest. What did I do? I ordered a dress from MYHABIT via my phone. “Henry, this is the dress that mama ordered while she was in labor with you.”
As it turns out, sleeping would have been pointless. My OB came in a few minutes later, checked my cervix and declared me dilated to 10 cm! I texted Bill, who had eaten two bites of a burger and three french fries in the hospital cafeteria and told him to come back up.
After that, things happened so quickly! A table full of stuff arrived, my doctor suited up and we began pushing. My epidural was still so fresh that I had trouble feeling my contractions,
despite the fact that the anesthesiologist turned it down before we began. I pushed for a little over an hour, but it really only seemed like a few minutes. At some point, my doctor said that we were having a baby on the next push, and then there he was. A boy!
I’m thrilled with how our birth went. I didn’t expect for things to go that quickly. I didn’t expect for it to be so easy (I know millions of women hate me for saying this). And, I didn’t expect to think, “I could totally do that again!” right after giving birth.
But, for now, I’m enjoying this little guy. He’s a dream and I truly can’t believe he’s ours.
