Thursday, April 20:
I'm not sure when my contractions actually started since I had Braxton Hicks all of the time since I was about 15 weeks. But after dropping the kids off at preschool and going out to breakfast with my parents, I decided to start timing them. I recorded my first one at 10:30 a.m. and they continued to be about 30 minutes apart for the next six hours (until about 4:30 p.m.).
For the next two and a half hours, from about 4:30-7:00, they were anywhere from 10-25 minutes apart.
Starting around 7:00 p.m., right when we were putting the kids to bed, I noticed that they were getting closer together and even stronger. They were now 10-12 minutes apart.
All day I went about my normal activities. I did have a 30 minute foot reflexology massage at 1:45 in the afternoon, which might have helped things progress, and it definitely helped me relax for a bit.
I told Micah about the contractions when we were getting the kids ready for bed (my parents went out after dinner). I told my parents about the contractions when they came back around 9:30 p.m.
Unfortunately Alexis had been sick and coughing, and when we were getting ready for bed she had a crying / coughing fit, so we decided to put her on a mattress in our room. This was better in a way so that she was close by, but her heavy breathing made it harder for me to sleep. Plus, the contractions started becoming slightly more noticeable once I laid down, so I gave up trying to sleep and sat in a comfy chair in our room.
Friday, April 21:
Contractions began getting closer together and they were coming about every 5 minutes for several hours. I woke Micah up and told him I thought we should go to the hospital (I called triage first to ask the nurse's opinion). I texted our Doula to let her know what was happening, but I told her to wait to come to the hospital since this was my first time being in labor and I wasn't sure how serious things really were yet. Thankfully my parents were in town so we could leave the house without making arrangements for the kids.
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| The last photo I took before heading to triage |
I arrived at triage at 3:00 a.m. and, of course, my contractions slowed down. Sadly I was only dilated 1 cm, so we went back home. I felt embarrassed that I thought I would be further along after all of those contractions, but as this was my first labor I really didn't know what to expect or what labor contractions really felt like. We were back home by 4:30 a.m. and I was able to sleep (interrupted) until 7:30 am. Since I was up all night timing my contractions, though, those three hours were the only sleep I got Thursday night.
Although the contractions slowed down when I was at triage, they picked back up again in the morning. Once again I was convinced that I should go back to triage as now the contractions were coming every 3 minutes apart, but we decided to have our Doula come over to our house first. Megan, our Doula, came over at 10:30 a.m. and suddenly my contractions slowed down again. We all agreed that I should stay home awhile longer to see how my contractions progress.
Although in hindsight I wasn't technically "in labor" yet since the medical world only counts labor as starting when one is 6 cm dilated, the contractions were already painful. Although I could feel them in my abdomen, the contractions were really painful in my back. Megan helped me figure out my breathing, she showed me some ways to use a rebozo (long scarf) to help with the pain during contractions, and she put counter pressure on my back during contractions. Contractions were 3 minutes apart but bearable at this point. They would slow down when I laid down, so I was still in early labor and we knew it wasn't time to go to the hospital yet.
Because of the back pain I was experiencing, Megan thought the baby might be posterior. She walked me through the Three Sisters poses from Spinning Babies to try to make sure the baby would be anterior. Around 12:30 Megan took a break for lunch and we ate too as it didn't seem like things were moving very quickly.
At 2:00 p.m. Megan came back and we did some exercises to help engage the baby. We did some rebozo sifting, laying tilted on my stomach, and step walking (this was done on our landscaping bricks in the backyard and the kids were quite puzzled as to what I was doing). The step walking was pretty tiring since I was exhausted from not sleeping much, I was super pregnant, and I was not in any sort of cardiovascular shape.
Around 4:00 p.m. we decided that labor didn't seem to be progressing, even though I'd been having noticeable contractions for over 24 hours, and that Megan should go home. The contractions simply weren't coming regularly enough to be active labor since they would slow down when I rested. At this point I felt extremely frustrated since I was already exhausted from not sleeping the night before and the back pain was intense with every contraction.
After Megan left I decided to try to sleep again, and this time contractions did NOT slow down. I rested for about 30 minutes before Micah and I decided that things were actually getting serious and it was time to head to the hospital. We left our house around 5:30 p.m.
I texted Megan on the drive to the hospital to let her know that she should head that way as well. I was in SO MUCH PAIN with every contraction during our 20 minute drive. Of course traffic was terrible because of construction once we got off the highway, which had Micah driving through parking lots and such to keep moving. I was in a lot of pain and he was getting concerned. During that unbearable drive I decided that I wanted the epidural (I was hoping to go without, but I wasn't completely against it if the pain got too intense). The back labor was sooooo bad, and I was soooo exhausted from the lack of sleep, so I told Micah that I definitely wanted the epidural (we had a "code word" that I was supposed to use to let him know I was serious).
We arrived at triage at 6:00 p.m. They wanted to weigh me and take my blood pressure, but since we had done that the previous night and I was in excruciating pain with every contraction, I convinced the nurse that it wasn't necessary. I felt very out of control with every contraction and I was not doing a very good job managing the pain and my breathing. I think I was just too exhausted since I had been 'working' all day. The midwife checked me in triage and said I was 4 cm, which was the minimum dilation required to be admitted. I was discouraged that I wasn't further along, but I was very thankful that they admitted me.
They moved me to labor and delivery very quickly, and I got the epidural around 7:45 p.m. (I was 5.5 cm at that time so at least things kept progressing). Megan arrived sometime before the epidural.
The epidural was amazing! It took a little while for it to fully kick in, but once it did I was able to relax and sleep, and thankfully it didn't slow my labor at all! (My biggest reason for not wanting an epidural was because I had read that it could slow labor, which could lead to interventions, which could result in a repeat C-section which I really wanted to avoid). I was fully dilated by 11:20 p.m., but the bag of waters had not broken. The midwife said we should give it an hour to let it break on its own and let the baby move down.
While we waited I started getting nervous about some pain that I felt in my lower abdomen with each contraction. I had the ability to increase the epidural dose, but I didn't want my legs to feel completely numb (although in the end they did). I was concerned that the pain I was feeling was due to uterine rupture, which is the biggest risk of a VBAC, although the risk is less than 1%. I talked to the midwife and she assured me that I was fine and that I was probably just feeling the contractions.
Saturday, April 22:
At 12:50 a.m. the midwife came back and manually broke the water and then the pushing began. I pushed for 2 hours, which seems like forever, but didn't seem like that long to me in the moment. Micah caught Graham and he was born on his due date at 2:50 a.m. (he was anterior at birth, but I think it is possible that he was posterior during labor which would explain my back pain). Graham weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and he was 20.25 inches. He tried to breastfeed almost immediately, which was amazing to witness. Seven minutes after he was born the placenta basically delivered itself, which seemed to surprise the midwife. Micah then cut the cord.
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| Graham just a few hours old |
I am so thankful that I was able to experience a VBAC. This experience was a stark contrast to having premature triplets born at 31 weeks via emergency C-section. Although having triplets is amazing and knowing that Alexis, Jack, and Faith started as 3 lb babies is unbelievable, being able to hold Graham the second he was born is an experience I will never forget. It is truly indescribable.
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