So here I am at 41 weeks. Never thought that my second child would be later than my first!
This is how my labor story goes...
It was Friday, December 23, and my husband and I were saying how we would be fine not having a baby until after Christmas. We had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this child, especially in the two weeks leading up to Christmas. Now that my due date was here and gone, and Christmas was upon us, we decided that it wouldn't be all that bad to just hold off until AFTER Christmas. Like we had any say in it!!
God obviously had different plans.
Christmas Eve we went to the Christmas service and I felt a few contractions, but wasn't getting excited, due to the fact that every other time they petered out.
Christmas morning I continued to feel occasional contractions, but the new piece was that they were painful. I kept telling myself that they wouldn't amount to anything and that I wasn't really in labor. To be honest, I think I was in denial. I didn't WANT to be in labor on Christmas, let alone deliver on Christmas. I hope that doesn't sound horrible, but I like to keep things honest!!
So, I was having painful contractions here and there all morning. At 1:00 pm I put Easton down for a nap and went to take one myself! I wanted to see if the contractions would go away with rest. Well, they didn't!
3 PM - I was determined to make our birthday cake for Jesus. This was one thing that I was looking forward to doing with Easton this year. So, I started making the brownies and with each contraction I would go back to my bedroom to breathe through them. I didn't really want family to know I was in labor and get everyone excited. At one point I was face-timing my brother and nieces and I cringed once during the conversation. My brother asked me if I was in labor, to which I responded, "NO. "
4 PM - I started timing my contractions as they were getting more painful and closer together.
During this time, I told my husband if he wanted to continue with our Christmas dinner plans, that he was going to have to be the one to prepare it. I was out of commission! We were planning an Antipasta platter and our friends were coming to join us at 5:30.
5 PM - My contractions were 2-5 minutes apart now, and had been for an hour. I decided it was time to call the Doctor. She gave me the clear to make my way to the hospital! My husband called our friends and told them dinner was off!! We're having a baby!!
5:45 PM - Arrived at the hospital
6:00 PM- 4 1/2 cm and 80% effaced. Continuing to have contractions 2-5 minutes apart.
7:35 PM- 8 cm. I was pretty painful at this time and debating whether to take something for pain. In my head I was remembering back to Easton's labor. At 8 cm my pain meds wore off with him and I remember it not being that bad from 8 to 10 cm. Once I could push, I remember feeling relief.
So, I decided against an epidural and opted for some Stadol. Ya, that didn't help much! It made me relaxed and drowsy between contractions, but did nothing for the contraction pain.
8:20 PM - 9 cm and wanting to push this baby out!!!!! My Doctor was in a C-Section and told me to hold off until she finished in the OR. I was thinking, "No thanks, get this baby out."
9:20 PM- 9.5 cm and now my body wanted to push. That is the strangest feeling when your body just starts doing it on its own and you can't do anything to stop it. I turned on my side to get the last part of my cervix to dilate.
9:25 PM - Started pushing!!! Not as much relief as I remembered from delivering Easton. This time my tailbone hurt.
9:45 PM - Titus Elliot was born!
That's how the story goes.
