I need to backtrack a little bit to have the story told properly. A little over two years ago I gave birth in the hospital to Eva. She was healthy, she was beautiful, she was perfect. Her labor, delivery, and the care I received after, however, were less than stellar. You see, when I got to the hospital, the staff didn't believe I was in labor. So following all of their protocols, I ended up being monitored for an hour, walking the hallways for another hour, and then having Eva an hour later without being given any antibiotics. The reason I needed the antibiotics is because I was group B strep positive. Because no antibiotics were administered, Eva ended up being placed in the NICU at just 1 1/2 days old. There was no diagnosis ever made and no real reason was given, other than precautionary, for her being admitted to the NICU. After our experience with Eva, I swore that if I had another child, I would not give birth in the hospital. And that is how I came to the decision to use a midwife this time around. Such a good decision for our family. I know it isn't for everyone, but for me, this was the best decision!
On Thursday morning, March 20th, I woke up very early in the morning, about 3:00 am, with contractions. I laid in bed for about an hour timing them and glancing at the clock when I would feel another one coming on. In my foggy mind, they seemed to be coming every 10 minutes. I laid there thinking, do I wake Brad up? Do I call my midwife? Am I really in labor? I can't be in labor, I haven't even made it to my due date. I have never gone into labor prior to my due date. I wonder how long these contractions will last before they stop and I can get back to sleep. At 4:00 am, I decided to wake Brad up to let him know what was going on. He got me a pen and paper so I could write down the time each contraction started, so I could be sure if they really were 10 minutes apart or not. I timed them for another hour and they continued at the same pace. Sometimes they would be strong contractions and other times, they weren't very strong. I ended up having about 10 during that hour, although some of them were minor and didn't last very long. I continued to time them through the 5:00 hour as well.
I was pretty sure I was in labor, but I wasn't sure how quickly things would go. I was a little hungry and maybe a little bit crazy, so I sent Brad to WalMart for bananas (I was craving them - first, last, and only pregnancy craving!), some spinach because we were out, and some orange juice. While Brad was gone, my contractions continued. He was worried the whole time he was gone that I would be having the baby while he was gone. At about 6:30 am, I called my mom to tell her that I was having contractions and alert her that she would probably need to prepare to leave work early that day. I told her I didn't need her to come to the house quite yet, but that probably some time that day I would need her to come and help with the other three children.
My contractions continued and Brad took Jacob to school at about 7:45 am. I called my midwife, Brenda, while he was gone and told her about my contractions. I'm pretty sure I woke her up. She asked me how far apart my contractions were and how they felt. I told her they were coming every ten minutes and that they hurt, but weren't that bad and I could still walk through them and talk through them. She told me that she had a few home visits to do that morning and babies to check on but she would head my way when she was done. I asked her what time she thought that would be and she said she'd probably be to my house at about 12:00 pm, or around lunchtime. I was a little discouraged by that as I was thinking I'd have my baby before then...or at least that's what I had been hoping. Based on my midwife's reaction, I decided that Brad should go ahead and go to work and that I would just keep him posted throughout the day on my progress. So, at about 8:15 am, Brad headed off to work and I went about my day.
I took Levi to preschool at about 8:45 am and then came home and decided to work out. I work out every morning by riding my recumbent bike and I figured that working out couldn't hurt and maybe it would speed things along. So, I worked out for half an hour and continued to have contractions. Then I showered and got myself ready for the day. My contractions still hadn't really changed so Eva and I decided to go outside and swing and play around a bit. Eva had been a bit cranky that day, but she seemed to enjoy being outside with me. Then we had lunch and Brad and I talked on the phone. I told him my contractions still hadn't really changed so for the time being, I just wanted him to stay working. At about 12:30, I had one really long, painful contraction that lasted about 3 minutes. I'm not sure if it was more than one contraction or not, but it lasted forever. At about 12:35, I texted my Brenda to let her know that I was going to pick Levi up from preschool so if I wasn't home when she got to my house, she would know where I was.
I got Eva and myself into the van and headed to preschool. During this time, my contractions started to pick up and become harder and closer together. When I got to the school, I decided to go inside to get Levi rather than wait in car line because I thought it would be faster. I got out of the van, but Eva didn't want to come with me, so I ended up having to carry her across the parking lot while she was squirming and wiggling, all the while I was having contractions. I'm very grateful that Eva isn't a big girl because carrying a squirming 20 pound two year old while in labor isn't an easy thing, so I can only imagine how hard it would be to carry a 'normal' sized two year old around. I went into the school and we rode the elevator up to Levi's classroom because I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to make it up the stairs very easily as my contractions were quite a bit stronger at this point. I got to Levi's classroom and he had a substitute teacher that day and she was going on and on about how good Levi had been that day and what a good boy he was. I was very happy to hear this, but at the same time, I really just wanted to get out of there! I finally got Levi and had to carry Eva out of his classroom and we went down the stairs. While walking down the stairs, Eva tripped and fell face first down a few stairs and lost her shoe. Nothing about this trip was going quickly or easily and I was so ready to get out of the school! Once we were down the stairs, we walked past Levi's preschool teacher from last year and she told me I looked cute and asked when I was going to have the baby. My reply to her was, "Maybe today!" She looked at me and said, "Really?" And I said, "Yeah..." and hurried out of the school as fast as I could go.
Once we were in the van and ready to get home, Brad had texted me and said that his afternoon was pretty busy and that his last patient wasn't until 3:45. At that point, I was pretty sure I was in full-on labor, so I called him and told him that I didn't think I was going to make it until 3:45. I told him I wasn't sure if the baby would be born by then, but I told him I would need support before then. Luckily, he was smart enough to realize what was going on and he saw the only patient that was already there for the afternoon and then he headed home.
Once we got home, I tried to get everyone out of the van, but Eva didn't want to come again. So, I had to drag her out of the van and to her room for a nap. She did not want to cooperate with anything and I ended up leaving her in her room with her fan on, her music playing, her blanket, and her crying while standing next to her bed. But I was in so much pain that was all I could manage to do. Then, I went and laid on my couch while I waited for my midwife to arrive.
At about 1:30, Brenda, arrived at the house. She and I went into my room and she checked me. She told me to wait just a minute, and then she told me I was dilated to a 5/6. I called Brad and let him know and he told me he was about 5 minutes from home. I was so glad he had left when he did as I wasn't sure how quickly this baby was going to come. After I got off the phone with him, I called my mom and told her she needed to come to my house as soon as she could so that she could help with Levi and Eva and be at the house for Jacob when he got home from school. Brad got to the house at about 1:45 and at 1:55, my midwife got my IV started with the antibiotics I needed because I was group B strep positive. That was my biggest concern since I hadn't gotten any antibiotics with Eva and it was part of the reason why she ended up in the NICU. The birth assistant, Eva, arrived at about 2:00 pm, and I felt like things were underway. My mom showed up just after 2:00 pm and she took great care of the kids while I was laboring.
I sat in the rocking chair in my room while my antibiotics were administered. Brenda wanted me to sit as still as possible so that my contractions wouldn't pick up because we needed to have time for the medicine to get into my body. They recommend having the antibiotics administered two hours prior to birth, so I was trying to take things easy. Once the medicine was in, I started asking more questions. I asked how much effaced I had been when she checked me and Brenda said I was 100% effaced. I then asked her what station the baby was at and she said I was at a +3. She told me she hadn't wanted to tell me how far along I was when she checked me because she didn't want me to freak out.
At about 3:00 pm, I got into my bathtub to labor for a little bit as I was hoping the jets and water would ease the pain. It worked for awhile and I was able to talk with Brad while he knelt beside me. He was always so kind and willing to get me water or Chapstick or whatever else I felt like I needed. Whenever I would have a contraction, I would turn the jets on and shoot one straight at certain places in my back. It was nice because I had control over where the water would hit and how much pressure I would receive on my back and no one had to guess where my pain was the worst. After about 45 minutes, my midwife checked me again and said was dilated around 8/9 cm. She then asked if I wanted to give birth in the tub or if I wanted to get out. I told her I didn't want to give birth in the tub, so she told me I had better get out now so I didn't have a baby in the bathtub.
I got out and moved into my bedroom in front of my bed. I tried to sway or rock a little bit between contractions in an effort to get the baby to move down the birth canal. While having contractions, I would lean over on my bed and try to do some squats or something to ease the pain. Eventually, I didn't think I would be able to squat while having the baby, so I climbed up on my bed. They had me lay on my side and I labored like that for a little bit. At some point, I remember Brad telling me it was 4:00 pm. Around that time, my labor was really intense and painful and I was crying out in pain. Sometime in here, I felt a big gush of warm wetness as my water finally broke. At one point, my conversation with my birth team went something like this: "I don't want to do this! I want to go home!" They sort of chuckled at that, or maybe they were silent, but I knew it didn't make sense and I was sort of in my own world of pain at that point. Then I said, "I know that doesn't make sense because I am at home, but I just don't want to do this!" I was in quite a bit of pain and I didn't feel like I was making much progress. At this point, part of the baby's head was crowning, but I was having trouble pushing hard enough to get her all the way out. So, I rolled over onto my back and was able to get more range of motion from my lower half. Then they asked me to sit up some and I told them I couldn't. I just didn't have enough strength to sit myself up and push at the same time. So, Brad got behind me and was able to sit me upright a bit more and then I had more control over my pushing. Finally, I was able to push past everything and her head was out. By 4:13 pm, they had placed a baby on my tummy and I was finished! The first thing everyone said was, "That's a big baby!" I had never had a big baby before and she looked big, but it's hard to tell as the baby never looks like they should have just been able to fit inside of you, but she definitely looked big. Eventually they weighed her and we found out she was 9 lb. 1 oz. and was 21 inches long! She was by far my biggest baby. I still can't believe how big she is. Please meet Hope Charmayn Jones:
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| Getting all cleaned up. |
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| Me, just after giving birth. |
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| Jacob and Eva meeting Hope. |
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| Hope a few hours old. |
Levi was the first one who wanted to see the baby, but Brad didn't get a picture of that.
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| Sisters. |
By far, this has been my easiest recovery. The kids were able to come in immediately and see the baby. I was able to have a meal with them at about 6:30 pm right after my birth team left. Since the kids were around while I was in labor and right afterwards, I never felt like I was neglecting them. I also never felt behind on what normally happens at home. Things like paperwork/mail didn't pile up while I was gone, because I wasn't gone. The kids didn't have to have two parents gone or have their dad traveling back and forth from the hospital. I didn't have to sit at the hospital bored while Brad was home with the other kids. I just got to enjoy being with my family and doing our normal everyday things, but with a baby. It has been great and I definitely recommend it.
The kids are all in love with Hope. They all ask to hold her often.
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| Jacob and his sisters. |
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| Levi and Hope. |
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| Eva and Hope. |
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| All four kids. |
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| Beautiful sleeping Hope. |
