Stella's Birth Story: Part 2

Though we had a few minor scares throughout my pregnancy, I was so fortunate to have a pregnancy that progressed quickly and fairly easily.  It’s a little weird to share some of these details with such a broad group of people, but when I was pregnant, I really enjoyed reading others’ birth stories so I feel like I should return the favor by writing mine. It’s more for myself than anyone, but maybe you’ll enjoy it, too. And, if you don’t like birth stories or babies, you’ll pretty much hate this blog going forward. 

At 36 weeks, I was already 2-3 centimeters dilated, 4 centimeters at 38 and 5+ centimeters at 39. While it was interesting and somewhat relieving to know how quickly I was progressing with little to no pain or effort on my part, it made for a grueling last month of my pregnancy. The “any-day-now” mentality really got to me. I was so anxious and experienced a lot of pre-term labor pains leading me to believe I was in labor about four different times.

The real show began on the evening of September 21 (39 weeks).  I began having pretty regular contractions. We were hesitant to believe them because I had experienced several bouts of false labor previously. But, at around 8:30 p.m. when they were around 4 minutes apart, we decided to get some ice cream and prepare to wait it out to see if things would slow down or keep up. I could only eat a little bit of the ice cream and quickly lost my appetite for it. We continued timing the contractions, and when they were coming steadily at around 3.5 to 4 minutes apart, we knew it was time. I was getting to the point where I couldn't talk through them and definitely could not continue walking during them.

Travis decided to go ahead and call our doula to share an update with her. Unfortunately, she had fallen extremely ill and informed us she wouldn’t be able to make it to the hospital. At first, I thought it was no big deal, and I knew we could handle it on our own. Then, I started getting really nervous as my plans were falling apart. She was prepared with a backup, but the thought of someone I didn’t know well attending the birth was not one I liked. Fortunately, one of my dearest friends is an aspiring doula and had offered to be our doula from the very beginning. I turned down her offer because I wasn’t ready to bear it all to someone I see on a regular basis. In the moment, though, I changed my mind. I wanted her, and her calming presence, there. Fortunately, despite last minute’s notice, she jumped at the opportunity and agreed to act as our doula. I now can’t imagine it any other way.

Prior to the birth, a photographer approached us via our original doula offering to photograph our birth (you know, the first moments when you lay eyes on your child, etc.) free of charge. Though we hadn’t really considered it before, we warmed up to the idea and thought it would be a great opportunity and would also leave Travis, our doula and nurses free to focus on keeping me happy rather than trying to figure out our camera. Despite our efforts to plan, our photographer had to go out of town unexpectedly to attend a funeral. That meant no photos for us. So, as I contemplated our trip to the hospital with my original plans falling apart, I started falling apart myself. In hindsight, it wasn’t a huge deal, but I am a planner by nature so when things began unraveling, I was frustrated.

I have really amazing friends. A dear friend of mine loves taking photos, does a great job and had already offered to attend our birth and photograph it for us. Again, I wasn’t ready to expose myself to people I see nearly on a weekly basis, and I was pretty terrified I’d turn into a complete beast, so I declined her offer. Having already had my heart set on photos with my new family, I decided to see if she might be willing to attend our birth with basically no notice at all. And, she was! In fact, she arrived at the hospital the exact same time we did. I’m telling you, I am extremely blessed with fantastic friends.

We arrived at the hospital around 1 a.m., and I already knew there was no way they would be sending me home. At the initial check I was already dilated to a 7. We assumed that meant we'd be having a baby shortly thereafter. After several hours of pretty intense labor, my water still had not broken, and I appeared to be somewhat stuck at 8.5 cm. We considered having my water broken and went back and forth on that decision for a little while. We wanted to avoid any interventions, but we eventually decided to allow my water to be broken. After that, the contractions became even more intense and more "productive."

To be honest, the labor was far more difficult than I had ever imagined. Obviously I knew it wouldn’t be a cakewalk, but wow, it was terrible. During our Bradley classes, our instructor (who had given birth with no pain medication to six children) described contractions as “waves of energy.” Pardon my language, but that was complete bullshit. It hurt. Very badly. Yikes. It. Was. Awful. I didn’t know bodies could even feel that much pain. Either that, or I am a weenie.

Travis was definitely my key support throughout the entire labor. He was right by my side for almost every single contraction. It’s safe to say he probably only missed 4 to 5 “waves of energy” throughout the entire process. And that was because he had to use the restroom or grab a drink of water or something like that. He was unbelievable, and I don’t think I could have done it without his support and prayers.

My sweet friends were also pivotal. They helped by applying counter pressure, encouraging me and praying for me. When I say I can’t imagine the event without them, I really mean that. It meant so much to have them there with us.

Back to the story…I really thought I had hit the transition phase of my labor multiple times, but when it really hit, I knew it. It was not pretty. I’ll spare you all the details, but whoa, it was U-G-L-Y. After that portion was over, I pushed for about one hour, and then baby arrived! Travis announced the gender to me and I was stunned. I was sure we were having a boy, but I was instead handed the most beautiful, chubby, dark-headed baby girl in the world. It was such a surreal and incredible experience that I will never, ever forget.

Stella Breann joined our family at 9:07 a.m. weighing 9 pounds 8 ounces and measuring 21 inches long.  She hasn’t stopped showing off since.

And, if you’re wondering if I turned into a beast during labor, I’d have to say no. Foul-mouthed animal is more like it.  My phrases went from, “Oh boy, that really hurts,” to colorful expressions I intend to never repeat.  I will forever be haunted by Luke 6:45 “…because the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.” That doesn’t apply to childbirth, right?

Checking in.

It was tough, I tell ya.

                                        

Love at first sight.

First photo as a new family.

Here we go!

The greatest day of my life. I will treasure these photos forever.