I have been wanting to write the story of Norahs birth and finally have a quiet afternoon to myself so I thought I might as well write it here.
New years eve Travis and I were looking forward to spending one of our last quiet evenings together before the baby was born. We were sitting in the living room and it was about 11:30 p.m. Zion was sound asleep and we had just put on the cheesy new years show and poured some sparkling grape juice for a toast. I was feeling some tightening in my stomach but was just trying to ignore it but when I sat still I started to feel it more and it was coming fairly frequently. I told Travis hmmm.. something might be happening. Travis laughed and asked if I was serious. Then he jokingly told me that I should hurry up and get the baby out. We were running out of time to get our tax break. Ha ha!
Then all of a sudden Zion woke up screaming. Goodbye peaceful evening. There were fireworks going off in the neighborhood and she was awake and scared. I was sitting on the couch and decided to call the midwife to check in. She told me to keep track of the contractions and make arrangements for Zion. Our original plan was to just let Zion sleep until we had to leave but since she we were not able to get her to go right back to sleep Travis took her over to Tims. My contractions were getting closer together and when Travis got back we tried to sleep. I could not sleep. (Travis was out snoring) so I got up and took a bath. My contractions then felt a little bit better. Travis got up with me for awhile and then I was finally able to go to sleep for a bit. When I woke up my contractions had spaced out again. They were coming about every 6-7 minutes and they were back to 8-10. In the morning I called the midwife again and she said I could come in if I wanted and she could check and see what was going on or I could stay home and wait it out. I was feeling restless so I told Travis I wanted to go to the hospital.
When we got there at 11:30 a.m. I was 5 cent, 90% effaced and at -2 station. My contractions were about 4 minutes apart but not too bad. The midwife gave me the option to be admitted or go home. I really was feeling ready to have the baby that day so I decided I wanted to stay and see what happened for a little while. The midwife ordered me some lunch and informed the nurse that I was not going to put on the hospital gown because I was going to wear my own clothes. The nurse then came in and asked me if the midwife really said I was allowed to have food and I said that she was the one that said I should eat. We were admitted into a birthing room at about 1:30 p.m. and our doula Rene arrived. We decided to go take a walk around the hospital to see if that might help move things along. We walked quite a bit. Towards the end of the walk I was having to pause when I had a contraction so it seemed to do the trick. At 3:00 p.m. the contractions were stronger and Rene suggested we go the jacuzzi tub down the hall. I felt a bit weird about going down the hall to be in the tub and then having to come back but I agreed to give it a try. I felt SO much better in the water I could hardly believe how much better I felt. The only bad part was when they made me get out to be checked. At 3:30 I was 7 cent, 90% effaced and 0 station. I then went back in the water. At about 5:00 or so I was feeling pressure so I decided it was time to get out of the water and we walked back down the hall to our room. The contractions were a lot more difficult to deal with when I was out of the water. I sat on a ball for awhile and then laid across the ball which felt better. At 5:30 I was at 8 cent.
Earlier in the day a girl that looked like she was about 12 years old came in and introduced herself and said that she was a new resident and did I mind if she followed my birth. I told her that would be fine. I totally understand the needs of students especially in a hospital and was fine with being a "learning experience" She had never seen a "natural birth" she said and she was really excited. She kept coming in especially towards the end during the most difficult part and staring at us from a distance to see what we were doing. She was really funny, cute and awkward. The midwife asked me how I felt about her catching the baby because she had asked about it and I told the midwife it was up to her because apparently she had never delivered one before. I guess the midwife thought better of it.
At 6:40 p.m. I was 9+ cent and mostly effaced. I started pushing at 7:00 p.m. and I was already feeling tired. I was thinking because of what people told me that my labor would be shorter the second time and it had already seemed really long. With Zion I was in labor for a total of about 10-12 hours and I pushed for about 15 minutes at the most. While I was pushing I remember thinking there was not way that I was going to make it. I told Travis that I was just too tired. Rene kept putting cool washcloths on my head and giving me water to drink. Sounds simple but that helped a lot. Travis never left my side and held my hand. I also remember thinking that I was crazy for doing this without an epidural but it was too late. Then I got a really sharp pain in my side so bad that I could not concentrate to push and I told the midwife I had to move. I turned on my side and pushed that way and then I felt like something was happening. A few minutes later I turned back on my back and she was born at 8:03 p.m. The minute she was out I held her and she looked at me with wide eyes. They checked her and took care of her all while I was holding her. We couldn't believe that she was here and she was perfect and we loved her instantly just like we did Zion.
My nurse for most of the time was Nicole and she was awesome. She was very supportive of what we wanted to do even though it was not the norm. She was encouraging and made sure we had everything we needed. She had to leave right before Norah was born and so did the midwife. We had Laura as our midwife during the labor but Carolyn came on at about 6:30. Laura was very encouraging and supportive but she was pretty busy with other births during the labor so I was really glad we had Rene. Carolyn was with us for the last hour the whole time and was very patient and quiet but gave encouragement when I was getting discouraged.
Right afterwards I felt really great and was able to get up after a few minutes which was a big change from out it was with Zion. I think it was because I did not have any of the effects of the epidural. I did not even feel all that tired. We were just so excited to get to know Miss Norah. Zion came with her grandparents, Doug, Ashley, Beth, Abbey and Jordan to meet her just after she was born. Zion was so precious with her....I was so thrilled to see them together and to see Zion love her, hold her and kiss her. Nothing could be better than that. We enjoyed the rest of our time at the hospital spending precious moments with her. My mom brought me yummy desserts and pepperoni rolls so I could satisfy my post gestational diabetes cravings and it was delicious. I basically ate non stop the next day because I was so hungry. Norah was an easy baby and had no problem eating and hardly cried at all the first few days. Overall we could not have asked for a better experience even though labor was a bit long. We were excited to get home to our own bed....especially Travis who had to sleep on a fold out chair. Now we could not imagine life without our sweet Norah.
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