Back to where we left off, I busted my hiney on Halloween night trick-or-treating hoping I would go into labor right away. Yeah, wishful thinking. I didn't want my kid to have a Halloween birthday, but my husband and I definitely didn't want her birthday to be on November 1st, either, since in the Philippines that is "All Saints Day," which is almost the equivalent to the Mexican "Day of the Dead" holiday. It just sounded creepy to have a baby on a day where people were thinking and celebrating all about dead people. So, I decided to give it a rest on that day and not try to jump start any labor until the next day after that. Yeah, well okay, before having any kids, I thought I could (somewhat) be in control of when I would go into labor. Bahaha. ha. ha. ha. *sigh*...
My swollen preggo ankles and feet. Mhmm, aren't they cute?
I had an appointment on that morning of November 1st. I had had some contractions that morning, but they weren't really strong or consistent, so I chalked it up to being Braxton Hicks again. Jonald decided to stay home from work that day so he could go to my appointment with me and my mom. When we went to my appointment, I asked my doctor (well, midwife) about her opinion on getting my membranes stripped sometime, since I was already 5 days overdue, and she said it was all up to me. Then, she checked me and said I was dilated at about a 2 still. All of a sudden, while she was checking me, and without warning (even though apparently 15 seconds ago it was "all up to me"), she stripped my membranes.
Me: "AHHHH!? OUCH!? What did you do?!"
Doctor: "Oh, I just stripped your membranes. Now you're dilated to about a 3 or a 4."
Me: "Uhmmm. Ok, thanks...?" (When I was actually thinking, "Seriously, lady? You could've given me a warning!?"
So, that was that. I left my appointment waddling and feeling a little bit relieved that I was dilated more, but still a little violated at the same time, haha. We dropped by Foodland to pick up my prescription for my really painful PUPPS rash (pregnancy rash) and then headed home. Starting at Foodland, my contractions started getting a little more intense, but I didn't know if that was from all the fun at the doctor's office, so I decided to ignore them.
When we got home, I decided it was probably a good time to pack my hospital bag, "just in case". (Hey, what can I say? I'm a procrastinator.) Jonald decided to take a nap, since he was exhausted helping me out all night with my PUPPS rash. It had become so bad to the point that I would be waking up every 15 minutes or so itching like crazy, despite putting on baby powder, hydrocortizone cream, and using some sort of stinky pine tar soap.
The contractions seemed to be getting stronger, so I decided to start timing them. They were about 10 minutes or so apart. For some reason, I wasn't too worried. I told my mom that I thought I was going into labor, and she decided to make me some lunch because she said, "Hey, with your first, you never know how long your labor will last. You could be in the hospital for hours or even days in labor and they won't let you eat while you're there. You better get some nourishment before you go and just let Jonald get a good nap, too." After eating, though, the contractions were still pretty regular and about maybe 7 minutes apart, and that's when my mom flipped her opinion, saying, "You're an hour away from the hospital! You need to go... NOW. You need to wake Jonald up." She then proceeded to tell me how she almost had my sister in the car/elevator of the hospital and started saying how I could have a fast labor like her. Uhm, I thought we weren't worried about this and taking our time to eat lunch and not worry so much? Haha oh well, okay...
Then, I woke Jonald up and we made our way to the hospital. Every bump and turn on the road made me want to scream and/or hurl. And, if you've ever been on Kamehameha Hwy., you know there are a LOT of bumps and turns from La'ie to Kailua! My orders to Jonald switched back and forth from "Hurry up!" to "Slow down! Ahh! Watch out for those bumps!" By that time, my contraction were about every 5 minutes apart.
We arrived at the hospital and I was put into a triage room where they would check me and observe my progression to see if I was far along enough in labor to stay in the hospital. They said I was still dilated at about a 3 or a 4, but wanted to observe my contractions. While we waited in the room, Jonald made some joke that made me laugh to hard I thought I had peed my pants. I said to my mom, "Oh my gosh. I think I peed my pants. Like... A LOT." She then said, "Oh, maybe your water broke. Let me get the nurse to check." The nurse then came in, and sure enough, my water had broken. I was given the all-clear to stay at the hospital. *Phew* I was off the hook. I didn't care so much if my water had broken, I would have just been really embarrassed if I had peed my pants that much.
The rest of my labor was mostly a blur, to be honest. I had decided to try and give birth all naturally, and basically just tried to survive from one contraction to the next. I used my breathing techniques from my Meditation and Relaxation class at BYU-H to try and take my mind off the pain. Yeah, well, that wasn't making the pain go away. It more distracted me from the time. What I do remember is my husband and my mom watching that one A Capella show on TV while I was laboring, and me yelling at them to stop watching TV because I was in labor, dang it!
Finally it was time to push. I remember that my nurse was a girl in my ward, and she was so sweet and extremely helpful to show Jonald places to put pressure on my hips and back to help with my pain. I don't know how putting pressure helps some of the pressure go away, but it was awesome with how much it helped. I was so glad she was my nurse! Then it became awkward when I went #2 and she was the one that had to clean it up (sorry, TMI), and I was going to see her again at church later on. Oh well. I'm sure she sees and has to do that often. Life as a Labor and Delivery nurse, eh? I tried giving birth on my hands and knees, but our baby kept getting stuck on my pelvis (sorry, TMI again?), so they made me flip over and lay on my back.
Another painful blur and lapse in my memory and our little girl had arrived! She was born on 11/1/11 at 9:54 p.m. She weighed 6 pounds, 15.8 ounces and was 18 inches long.
Moments after she was born. She was wide awake and trying to hold her head up already.
Daddy snapped this picture after she was checked and dressed by the nurses
I know that sounds awful that I didn't really want to hold her right after she came out (even though I did, for skin-to-skin contact reasons, and hoping I would feel that "connection" I had heard of so much). I was just so overwhelmed I didn't hardly know what was going on other than most of the pain was going away. I just held her and cried, and cried, and cried.
"My baby is here. Our baby. She's really here. I'm a mom."
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