It's hard to believe it's been almost two months since Alanna was born. She is growing so quickly and I love her more and more each day! After having two very difficult births with my first two children, it was wonderful to have an amazing birth experience. So here is her birth story as I can remember it. If you don't like reading about blood clots, and other such things that occur during labor... this post may not be for you! If you love child birth as much as I do though, Enjoy! :)
Thursday 11-14-2013:
I woke up at
about 6AM from a contraction. It felt
stronger than the braxton hicks contractions I had been having over the past
few weeks. I decided if I got another
one like that, that I would start timing them.
A few minutes later I felt wet and thought maybe my water had
broken. When I got up though, something
came out of me and I started to panic a little bit. When I checked, a huge blood clot had come
out. I immediately called my midwife and
waited for her to call me back. By this
point it was 6:30AM. Nathan was at the
fire station so I called him to tell him what was going on. He called his part time job and let them know
he wouldn't be coming in to work because he was going to be having a baby! My midwife called me back and said that she
wanted to wait about thirty minutes and see if the bleeding would stop. If it wouldn't stop, then she would want me
to come in to make sure Alanna was doing OK.
At 7:30AM I called her and told her the bleeding was light but hadn't
stopped. She told me to go ahead and get
ready to head to the hospital to meet the midwife that would be on call since
she was getting ready to leave. Nathan
got relieved from the fire station and
got home around 8AM. We packed up the
last few things we needed, and got to the hospital around 8:50AM.
Jean (my midwife), met us around 9:20AM and
took me back to check Alanna's heartbeat and see if I was dilated any. Alanna's heartbeat was fine but she was a
little concerned about how it looked. At
10AM when she checked me, I was 5 centimeters dilated. Jean said I wouldn't be going home since I
would be having Alanna in the next few hours!
I was sent to room 202 and hooked up to an IV since I had tested
positive for Step B and then hooked up to the monitor since I was having a
VBAC. I was so excited that Alanna was
going to be there in a few hours but I started stressing out pretty soon after
getting into my room. I hate being
hooked up to the monitor and the IV. And
I hate the hospital gowns. All of it was
making me feel like a crazy person.
Every time I went to the bathroom, I had to take the IV stand with me
and then the monitor would fall down in the way and all the gooey stuff would
get on my legs and my gown would start to fall off. My hair was also in my face and driving me
crazy. My contractions at this point
weren't even that painful but I was beginning to feel like I couldn't possibly
make it through the day. Nathan texted
Selina (my sister and one of my best friends) at that point and told her he felt like I needed her there. Kim (my best friend and also photographer for Alanna's birth) arrived around 11AM to take pictures of
the labor process and to make sure she didn't miss the birth! Selina arrived around 12PM. She braided my hair for me, and helped me get
some makeup on so I felt a little more human.
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| My sister Selina. |
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| My husband is an amazing support during labor. |
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| My sister has coached several of her friends through natural births. It was amazing to have her there with me! |
We all took guesses
as to when Alanna would be born. Jean
said 7:30PM, I said 8PM, Selina said 6:30PM, Nathan said 4:35PM, and Kim said
5:20PM. Jean broke my water at 3PM to help make things move faster.
I hate the feeling of the warm water running down my legs. It stresses me out so bad. By 4PM I remember feeling like I couldn't
take much more of it. I thought I would
deliver around 8PM and the thought of four more hours of contractions was
exhausting. Soon after that I started to
get really cold and shaky. I felt
nauseous so Nathan got a bowl ready for me in case I threw up. I kept putting a blanket around my shoulders
and then throwing it off when a contraction would come.
Close to 5PM I threw up. Selina told me that I had to be getting close
to being ready to push because throwing up and being shaky were all signs of
going through transition. Jean asked if
I wanted her to check me because if I was at 9 centimeters I could start
pushing. When she checked me she said I
was at 9 centimeters but the cervix was in the way still. She told me to do a small push to see if I
could move the cervix out of the way. I
did one push and she said to do one more.
After the second push, the cervix moved out of the way and she told me I
could start pushing her out. I didn't
realize I would be pushing so soon. I
thought I would have to wait until I reached 10 centimeters. After the first push she said she could see
Alanna's head. I only pushed for about
ten minutes and then I felt her head come out and then the rest of her body
just seemed to slide out. She was born at 5:19PM. Kim had been so close to picking the right time...only 1 minute off!!
It burned so
bad while I was pushing. It hurt so bad,
I kept yelling "it hurts, it burns".
It felt better to yell during the contractions but I did try to breathe
through the times I wasn't contracting.
When I pushed her out, they put her on my chest. It felt so good to finally hold her.
She was so beautiful. I looked up at Nathan, he was crying.
He wanted a baby girl so bad. He was so happy she was finally here. I kissed her for the first time... she was so
soft and smelled so good. I nursed her for the first time and then gave her to my husband so that the nurses could weigh her.
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| Obviously not happy that she was under the bright light, away for her Mama. |
My mom brought the boys to the hospital
around 7:30PM. Ruy brought Alanna her
pink elephant and Liam brought her pink bear.
Ruy was so excited I could tell he was trying not to smile and Liam just
had the biggest grin on his face that I have ever seen.
They both were so happy to see her for the
first time. It was such a sweet
moment. They both kissed her and just
kept smiling. Ruy and Liam loved holding
her. Liam kept trying to take her back
from Ruy saying "it's Liam's turn".
Ruy kissed her when he was holding her and said that she smelled like
money. He looked up at me and said
"mommy I wish we could take her home tonight". It was so sweet to see how much they both
loved her right away.
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| Liam's first time holding Alanna. |
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| Ruy's first time holding Alanna. |
Nathan and I felt so happy and blessed that evening! It was truly one of the greatest days of our lives!!!
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| Our first family photo after Alanna's birth. |
I am so thankful for the wonderful experience I had with Alanna's birth. Nathan and I prayed so long that it would be and God answered our prayers. I am thankful for my best friend Kim being there for me to take all the beautiful pictures of my labor and Alanna's birth. It was amazing not having to be stressed about who would be taking pictures of her for me. I was able to just relax and focus on delivering her. It was her first time photographing a birth and I am so happy I got to share that with her! I am thankful for my sister Selina being an incredible support through labor and spending hours massaging my back through contractions. I am thankful to my mother for watching Ruy and Liam while we were at the hospital. It was my first time being away from Liam longer than six hours. I was nervous about that, but my mom is amazing with them and Liam didn't even cry when they had to leave the hospital. It is wonderful to have someone you can trust with your children. And most of all, I am thankful for my husband. He is so strong during labor for me! He is my rock and I would not have been able to make it through without him!
Made me tear up! Child birth is such a privilege.
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