41+3 weeks pregnant with a team green baby and I was feeling like I was going to be pregnant FOREVER no signs of impending labor and the week before at my midwife appointment my cervix was high, closed and not even %50 effaced 🙄
Me and my hubby tried everything but this baby literally taught me he was on his own timeline no matter what.
April 12th I woke up about 6 am with light menstural cramps coming and going but it wasn’t anything crazy I literally couldn’t tell if I was having cramps or I had to poop 😂 I told my husband and he asked if I wanted him to stay home from work to which I replied “no I don’t want to jynx it, go to work” lol so he left for the day and I proceeded to wake my two other littles and start the day I made breakfast and we ate while watching Clifford.
I made sure to inform my doula and kept her updated throughout my morning, about how far apart they were and she instructed me to concentrate on the intensity more so the closeness.
I started to have to focus on breathing through the cramps but they were not so bad I had to stop what I was doing, I then decided I would load my kiddos up with all the things they would need for a couple days at my folks house just in case this was the real deal. So we headed down to my parents house and I thought worst case scenario I could drop them off and go home and labor till my husband came home.
I got to my moms at 10 am and they definitely increased in intensity and pretty soon I couldn’t sit so I started having to walk around, I decided about 11:15ish to get my kids car seats out of my car and install them in my parents car. I got them out but decided I should call my husband to come home from work and finish it up then we could at least go labor at home.
My contractions definitely picked up and it was really hard to do anything else while having them, I just kept deep breathing through them.
My husband got to my parents home between 12-12:15 and finished loading up car seats and came in to check on me, I told him we needed to leave because I was super uncomfortable and wanted to get into the tub at the birth center but we still needed to hit our house and get our things, we rushed out the door at 12:20 I got in the back of our car and moaned through every contraction very loudly the entire car ride.
My husband called my doula at 12:26 telling her to meet us at the birth center, he then called my chris (my midwife) to let her know we were on the way and we would be there in 30-45 minutes and that I wanted the tub to be filled so I could get in immediately.
We got home and I stayed in the car moaning while my husband gathered our bags, the baby car seat, he changed out of his suit, he put our cats in there room, got them fresh water and loaded up into the car. That time frame felt like an eternity, My husband then remembered to call our photographer also saying it was go time! All I can think is that my husband must have drove like a bat out of hell because we arrived to the birth center at 1:00 pm I was on all fours in the back (which was very uncomfortable but I didn’t want to move again) when we pulled up i finished up the contraction with a lot of LOUD moaning.
Chris apologized for the stairs I would have to climbed, and I told her it was fine if I could get upstairs before the next one started, so I bolted( I’ve never moved so fast in my life) I Made it to the room just as another contraction started (the rest of this was a bit of a blur) chris took me to the bathroom and then had me take my clothes off so I could labor in the tub, the hot water felt AMAZING and I had several contractions in the tub before I opened my eyes and realized my Doula and my photographer had shown up and then I asked chris if I could have more water so that it was covering my belly completely. She brought it in and I remember being in a laid back position that was the only comfortable position I wanted to be in, my doula noticed tension and suggested I sway my hips in the water so I did and that definitely helped for a while.
At one point I felt my body push on its own (which I had never experienced before) and that was followed up by a pop (my water broke) which again I had never experienced the feeling, then the contractions really picked up my husband had his arms underneath me holding me up so I could just relax in between but they were coming pretty frequently.
I started to feel SEVERE pressure and it was so uncomfortable nothing anyone said or did mattered to me I just remember screaming how much it hurt and chris kept telling me to push past the pain. I was definitely not one of the lucky ones that it felt good to push, honestly that was the worst pain I have ever felt .
Pretty soon I noticed chris telling my husband to come down to catch the baby and she would hold me up, I just kept screaming and pushing and the next thing I knew they said my babies head was out and baby had a lot of dark hair but my body only gave me a short break before it was time to push the rest of baby out, and boom baby was on my chest and I was done!
I was so overwhelmed with emotion I cried cause it was over and then my doula asked who this little person was, we were team green so we had no idea my husband took a peek and it was a boy!
It was the most empowering and painful thing I have ever felt, afterwards I was in such a euphoric state I felt completely pampered chris and her assistant Heidi made me feel like a queen they showered me and made sure I had fluids and suggested places I could order food from that delivered, they let us stay as long as we wanted. Chris made my husband some fresh hot coffee that he really enjoyed, they dawned over our little guy, we laughed and shared stories, they left us alone to bond and spend time just us three it was amazing. I honestly felt like chris was family and I’m sad this was our last baby and we found her so late.
Every woman should experience this!
From active labor to delivery 3 1/2 hours my shortest labor.
Bowen J. 4/12/17
8lbs 5oz 22inches long