Rosalie surprised us all, arriving 3 weeks early on Thanksgiving day! We sure have a lot to be grateful for.
The week leading up to her birth was the week that the anxiety really kicked in. I couldn't wait to meet my little girl, but I knew I still had a few more weeks before labor would start. I tried to focus on little projects to keep me occupied. This was easy until I woke up one morning with my "bloody show". I thought for sure labor was on the horizon, but sadly I just continued to have light bleeding for several days with no sign of contractions - that is, until Sunday night (the 23rd of Nov). We were driving about an hour and a half to family's house for dinner and about 20 minutes into our drive I started having regular, but not painful contractions. I figured it was because I was sitting in the same position for too long and as soon as I would get out of the car they would surely go away. They didn't. I tried bouncing on an exercise ball, which normally helps. As soon as I sat on it I felt even more uncomfortable and I felt a tiny little gush. It seemed too small to be my water breaking, but I still went to the bathroom to make sure nothing else came out. Nothing did so I took a little nap and when I woke up the contractions were worse. The contractions lasted about 6 hours until they finally tapered off.
The next day (Mon the 24th), I went in for a quick, last minute check up to make sure the bleeding I was experiencing wasn't caused by my placenta (I had placenta previa that was just barely cleared). My doctor did an ultrasound to check where the placenta was lying and my fluid levels. I was 1.5 centimeters dilated and 50% effaced. Everything looked great and he sent me home.
On Tuesday night (the 25th), I was waiting for my husband to get home from a late shift at work. To pass the time I was bouncing on my exercise ball and watching HGTV (my favorite!). All of the sudden, I felt another gush. This one slightly bigger than the last time. I decided to stop bouncing and just relax. At this point I was just so "done". Here I was having all these "signs" that the baby was coming soon, but they weren't going anywhere. It was then that I decided she just wasn't coming and that I was just going to be really uncomfortable for the last few weeks.
The very next morning (Wed the 26th), everything changed. I went in for my regularly scheduled prenatal appointment. I figured it would be the "norm": urine sample, weight, blood pressure, belly measurement, heartbeat and cervical check. I was right, except I didn't expect to be 2.5 centimeters dilated and 75% effaced. Pretty good progress for just being in there on Monday! I wasn't disappointed when my doctor estimated another 2 weeks before he'd predict a delivery day. Like I said, I decided the night before that I'd just be pregnant forever! My doctor left the room, I got dressed and headed out the door. But JUST before I walked out the door, my doctor asked me if I'd like a quick ultrasound. I had just been in on Monday and had one so I didn't mind not having one, but then again I didn't mind having another peek at baby either :)
At 3 pm he did the ultrasound. He had a puzzled look on his face and turned to me and said, "You have no fluid....just small pockets by her face." It was then that I remembered to let him know about the little gushes I had been experiencing (I didn't mention them before because I REALLY didn't think it was my water. I didn't want to "cry wolf"). His eyes got really wide and he said, "Elizabeth! Your membranes ruptured! You are having this baby TODAY." Total shock. From there he sent me right to labor and delivery!
I got into the car to drive myself the hospital and went through in my mind everything that just happened: OK. My water broke on Sunday and slowly leaked for 3 days. I went from 1.5 cm dilated to 2.5 cm. I went from "You're not having this baby for at least 2 more weeks" to "This baby is coming today!". I felt like a total idiot! How could I not know? Why didn't I say anything? Now there was a very good chance that the baby could get a terrible infection. All worrying aside, I was very excited. I called my husband and told him the crazy news and of course, he was excited too! He frantically arranged for the boys to be taken care of and headed to the hospital to meet me.
At about 4:30 pm we were all checked into the hospital, I was changed, on an IV and monitors. Not surprisingly I was already having regular contractions. At this point I was very nervous. I was not prepared mentally to go through labor. For weeks I had been mentally preparing to go over-due, not for early labor. I planned to have an all natural birth, so I was slightly bummed when they had to give me pitocin to help move the contractions along. I understood why. Generally, once a woman's water breaks, she must deliver within 24 hours or the risk of infection skyrockets. Clearly I was way past that 24 hour mark. We needed to get baby out.
My midwife and my husband were excellent at getting me relaxed. So much so that for the first 5 hours I felt NO pain. My contractions were 2 minutes apart and going up to 90 on the charts. I was actually getting annoyed that they weren't hurting because I didn't think they were doing anything. But they were! I was checked and at a 4. I was stuck at a 4 for awhile so my OB suggested that my midwife make sure that my water was completely broken (remember it was only a small leak). She did and there was still a little fluid so she punctured the bag of waters and let the rest release. RIGHT after that things got intense. The contractions were 1-2 minutes apart and hitting over the 100's on the chart. I really had to focus and breathe through them now. If were going to get an epidural, I would have got it at that point. It was bad.
4 hours later I was still working through them with no epidural. I was getting exhausted. I couldn't do any of the sitting or standing positions for laboring anymore. I had to lay down which made them even more painful, but I literally could not go on. It was 2 am and I finally asked for just a little pain medicine through my IV. I still didn't want to accept the epidural. It helped take the edge off, but it made me nauseous. You guessed it. I totally puked. Violently.
Just before 3 am I was in transition (moving from the labor phase to pushing phase). In my previous pregnancies transition went very quickly so I expected this to be the case this time as well. I was wrong. My midwife checked me and I was only 5-6 cm. I was so exhausted. I couldn't even left my legs or my head. I couldn't relax enough to progress. I was starting to shake really badly. I was defeated. I asked for the epidural. I got it no more than 10 minutes later. The relief was instant.....on my left side. My right side however, felt like someone was throwing a sword into it. I had to lay tilted toward the right so the medicine would migrate more to that side. It was so painful!! After about 20 minutes It worked and my OB got there. He told me to rest for about an hour and then he would check me.
Not 10 minutes later I felt her head coming down, but I didn't say anything. I was still so exhausted and I knew I wouldn't be able to push her out. 40 minutes later I was checked and she was ready to be born! I pushed for a total of 5 minutes.
Before I was even crowning, Daddy was getting emotional. As soon as he saw her head he totally lost it.
His tears were the sweetest, most memorable part of the delivery for me.
The last push was the longest and my Dr had ME deliver her.
I pulled her right out onto my chest. She was here!
This is my favorite picture from the whole day. It says it all, no words necessary.
Rosalie Ray
Novemeber 27th, 2014
4:09 am
6 pounds, 19 1/2 inches
I did it! 11 out of the 12 hours of labor were natural. Although I ended up with the epidural, I'm still proud of how far I got without it. It was a very intense and humbling experience. Kudos to the mom's who do it fully natural. I will definitely try it again.
I am so grateful for the gift of motherhood! I'm so blessed to have a healthy body that can produce children. My deepest, most sincere prayers and love to those women who cannot.
There is a special place in my heart for you.
There is a special place in my heart for you.
I'm so unbelievably blessed to have the support of a loving, compassionate husband and family. I couldn't have gotten through without them.
I had such a wonderful team of doctors, nurses and midwives.
Rosalie has so many people that love her! She is a lucky girl and we are even luckier to have her as our daughter.
Thank YOU.
Thank you, for reading and following my journey.
Thank you, for all the encouragement throughout my pregnancy and for all the congratulations and warm wishes in the event of her birth.
God bless you all!
And here's a little preview......
