So here's how it went down. Saturday night Dale's parents were here for dinner, and all through dinner I have having contractions. They were only coming about every hour so I figured, just like the weeks before, this would be another night just like the rest.
Around eleven o'clock, Dale and I were watching a movie and I had a couple of good, strong contractions about ten minutes apart. I wasn't alarmed, but I was hopeful so I told Dale that we might need to start timing them. With our history of labor Dale wasn't alarmed either, but went along with me thinking it was probably another false alarm just like every other night of that week when I mentioned that I had had a contraction. I had been reading up on every possible method of self-induction so I did everything I had been doing everything I could to get labor started. If this was it, I wanted to see to it that if this was it that it didn't stop. I sat on the exercise ball, ran up and down the stairs, drank a big glass of water, and then sat on the couch to see if they had stopped.The doctor had told me after each of my recent appointments that if I had six contractions in an hour that I needed to call so when the hour was up and I had, had six strong contractions I decided it might be worth paying attention to.
The wife of our church elder, Jenny, had agreed to go to the hospital with us in an effort to help me get through this labor without pitocin or an epidural. She has served as a doula several times so I called her first. She said that it would be a good idea to drink some water, lie down on my left side, and to call her when the contractions were five minutes apart. I did exactly that; I drank another glass of water and snuggled down on the couch with my timer in hand. The next contraction came just a few minutes after I had settled in. The next one was five minutes later and I started to tremor. The next one was five minutes later and that's when I got up and decided to take a shower. I knew from times past that if anything would slow or stop my contractions a hot shower would. Dale got up and started packing himself a bag at that point. We still weren't sure until I had a few more in the shower that hit hard and fast. When I got out of the shower I told him this was it and that we needed to go. He jumped in the shower while I called Jenny back to tell her we were leaving, called the hospital and finished packing my bag.
My girls were going to get up to let in our sitters so I ran up the stairs to let them know we were leaving. I also was so excited just to tell them that this was the real deal! I tried to whisper Kennedy's name so I wouldn't wake anyone else up but a contraction hit me and I dropped to the floor yelling her name. Finally she woke up and said, "Mom!?" I told her we were leaving and waited for it to pass before running back down the stairs to put my coat on.
It was snowing and close to midnight when we left the house. The hospital was about 20 minutes away in good weather conditions. I can't tell you how many people were on the road driving 30 mph and several were right smack in the middle of the highway. That made us both nervous; we were praying frantically under our breath the whole time Dale blazed a trail down the icy road.
In the car they were three minutes apart until we got into the city and they started coming two minutes apart. I could feel the baby moving during each one of those and I told Dale so. That's when he started to panic and missed the turn to the hospital. Thankfully I was calm between contractions and the Lord gave us His mercy in getting us safely to the front door of the ER.
Dale dropped me off at the door and parked the car. When I got through the front door I had a hard contraction and got down on my hands and knees. A woman in the lobby helped me into a wheelchair and took me to the registrars desk where they called for a nurse from the Maternity Ward to get us up there. I wish you could've seen the look on their faces at the desk when I said, "This is my seventh baby. I am ready to push. Please get me up there!" The girl behind the glass said, "Oh honey, I know it's bad. I have four myself." It was no consolation to me.
We got to the right place and they had it all ready for me. I was throwing clothes off as soon as they opened the door to my room. All I could think about was getting into that bed. It was like home base. If I could just get into the bed it would all be over. The nurses were moving so quickly in all directions and with each contraction I felt sure I would deliver before they managed to get the doctor called. The nurse checked me first thing and I was nine cm dilated. I told her I thought I needed to push with the next contraction and she assured me that I wasn't quite there.
Within a few minutes I was settled into the bed with the monitors and the IV all connected and she checked me again. I was ten cm and fully effaced. The doctor came in right away and with the next contraction I pushed and out came a beautiful, perfect baby girl. The nurse showed me later that we delivered eleven minutes after she turned on the monitor. YEOW!! I just sat there in shock. They handed me this precious bundle and I just stared. It all happened so fast that I couldn't believe it was really over.
Here's what's interesting about all of this. We were praying for some very specific things, me and the girls at church. We prayed for a speedy delivery, that I wouldn't need pitocin or an epidural, and that I wouldn't need an episiotomy. For the first one, I started laboring just before 11pm and delivered at 1:09am. In the past my contractions were erratic. I'd have one strong contraction and one weak one. They'd be three minutes and then five minutes and then ten and then two and usually peter off just when I thought we were getting close to the end which inevitably meant I'd have to start pitocin in the hospital. Another thing that has been normal for me is the contractions would piggyback each other. One would start and then back off just before another would hit hard. Sometimes three would come before I had a chance to rest for the next one. It was exhausting. This time they started slowly, gradually got stronger and then backed off completely. There was measured time between each one and I was able to breathe through them and then fully rest before the next one. Once they started they didn't stop until the baby was born. And as for the last one, I had been reading about some ways to avoid an episiotomy but studies had shown that once you tear and have scar tissue, the likelihood of avoiding it is nearly impossible. I've torn or had an episiotomy six times prior. This time, no tearing. The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.
I have to also credit some wisdom from a few women at church that not only encouraged me to drink Red Raspberry Leaf tea, but also stocked my pantry with it. I started drinking it in the ninth month three times a day and it made a significant difference during labor and in my recovery. Also I took a supplement called Evening Primrose Oil that is supposed to soften the cervix. I can't say for certain that that did anything magical, but my labor and delivery were certainly a remarkable difference from the six previous ones!
Scarlette Mercy was born at 1:09AM. She weighed 7 lb 10 oz and was 19 1/2 in long. She has coppery dark hair and blue eyes and the sweetest, most tolerable little cry. I just adore her. God has been good to me.
lvb
Around eleven o'clock, Dale and I were watching a movie and I had a couple of good, strong contractions about ten minutes apart. I wasn't alarmed, but I was hopeful so I told Dale that we might need to start timing them. With our history of labor Dale wasn't alarmed either, but went along with me thinking it was probably another false alarm just like every other night of that week when I mentioned that I had had a contraction. I had been reading up on every possible method of self-induction so I did everything I had been doing everything I could to get labor started. If this was it, I wanted to see to it that if this was it that it didn't stop. I sat on the exercise ball, ran up and down the stairs, drank a big glass of water, and then sat on the couch to see if they had stopped.The doctor had told me after each of my recent appointments that if I had six contractions in an hour that I needed to call so when the hour was up and I had, had six strong contractions I decided it might be worth paying attention to.
The wife of our church elder, Jenny, had agreed to go to the hospital with us in an effort to help me get through this labor without pitocin or an epidural. She has served as a doula several times so I called her first. She said that it would be a good idea to drink some water, lie down on my left side, and to call her when the contractions were five minutes apart. I did exactly that; I drank another glass of water and snuggled down on the couch with my timer in hand. The next contraction came just a few minutes after I had settled in. The next one was five minutes later and I started to tremor. The next one was five minutes later and that's when I got up and decided to take a shower. I knew from times past that if anything would slow or stop my contractions a hot shower would. Dale got up and started packing himself a bag at that point. We still weren't sure until I had a few more in the shower that hit hard and fast. When I got out of the shower I told him this was it and that we needed to go. He jumped in the shower while I called Jenny back to tell her we were leaving, called the hospital and finished packing my bag.
My girls were going to get up to let in our sitters so I ran up the stairs to let them know we were leaving. I also was so excited just to tell them that this was the real deal! I tried to whisper Kennedy's name so I wouldn't wake anyone else up but a contraction hit me and I dropped to the floor yelling her name. Finally she woke up and said, "Mom!?" I told her we were leaving and waited for it to pass before running back down the stairs to put my coat on.
It was snowing and close to midnight when we left the house. The hospital was about 20 minutes away in good weather conditions. I can't tell you how many people were on the road driving 30 mph and several were right smack in the middle of the highway. That made us both nervous; we were praying frantically under our breath the whole time Dale blazed a trail down the icy road.
In the car they were three minutes apart until we got into the city and they started coming two minutes apart. I could feel the baby moving during each one of those and I told Dale so. That's when he started to panic and missed the turn to the hospital. Thankfully I was calm between contractions and the Lord gave us His mercy in getting us safely to the front door of the ER.
Dale dropped me off at the door and parked the car. When I got through the front door I had a hard contraction and got down on my hands and knees. A woman in the lobby helped me into a wheelchair and took me to the registrars desk where they called for a nurse from the Maternity Ward to get us up there. I wish you could've seen the look on their faces at the desk when I said, "This is my seventh baby. I am ready to push. Please get me up there!" The girl behind the glass said, "Oh honey, I know it's bad. I have four myself." It was no consolation to me.
We got to the right place and they had it all ready for me. I was throwing clothes off as soon as they opened the door to my room. All I could think about was getting into that bed. It was like home base. If I could just get into the bed it would all be over. The nurses were moving so quickly in all directions and with each contraction I felt sure I would deliver before they managed to get the doctor called. The nurse checked me first thing and I was nine cm dilated. I told her I thought I needed to push with the next contraction and she assured me that I wasn't quite there.
Within a few minutes I was settled into the bed with the monitors and the IV all connected and she checked me again. I was ten cm and fully effaced. The doctor came in right away and with the next contraction I pushed and out came a beautiful, perfect baby girl. The nurse showed me later that we delivered eleven minutes after she turned on the monitor. YEOW!! I just sat there in shock. They handed me this precious bundle and I just stared. It all happened so fast that I couldn't believe it was really over.
Here's what's interesting about all of this. We were praying for some very specific things, me and the girls at church. We prayed for a speedy delivery, that I wouldn't need pitocin or an epidural, and that I wouldn't need an episiotomy. For the first one, I started laboring just before 11pm and delivered at 1:09am. In the past my contractions were erratic. I'd have one strong contraction and one weak one. They'd be three minutes and then five minutes and then ten and then two and usually peter off just when I thought we were getting close to the end which inevitably meant I'd have to start pitocin in the hospital. Another thing that has been normal for me is the contractions would piggyback each other. One would start and then back off just before another would hit hard. Sometimes three would come before I had a chance to rest for the next one. It was exhausting. This time they started slowly, gradually got stronger and then backed off completely. There was measured time between each one and I was able to breathe through them and then fully rest before the next one. Once they started they didn't stop until the baby was born. And as for the last one, I had been reading about some ways to avoid an episiotomy but studies had shown that once you tear and have scar tissue, the likelihood of avoiding it is nearly impossible. I've torn or had an episiotomy six times prior. This time, no tearing. The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.
I have to also credit some wisdom from a few women at church that not only encouraged me to drink Red Raspberry Leaf tea, but also stocked my pantry with it. I started drinking it in the ninth month three times a day and it made a significant difference during labor and in my recovery. Also I took a supplement called Evening Primrose Oil that is supposed to soften the cervix. I can't say for certain that that did anything magical, but my labor and delivery were certainly a remarkable difference from the six previous ones!
Scarlette Mercy was born at 1:09AM. She weighed 7 lb 10 oz and was 19 1/2 in long. She has coppery dark hair and blue eyes and the sweetest, most tolerable little cry. I just adore her. God has been good to me.
lvb
