I better write this post before I truly forget all the magical details. I guess it's not entirely bad that I'm busy with two precious babies:)
I had my 38 week appt on March 2nd, where the mid-wives were both gone that day so I had the NP. She offered to check me & my original plan was to also ask about getting my membranes striped but since she wasn't my delivering mid-wife, I knew she wouldn't be able to. She checked me & nothing. She said she was sorry she could even tell me I was effaced at all but my cervix was at least ripe & soft. Boo! I was SO mad... I was in a horrible mood the rest of that day.
I called my mom to tell her that I wasn't close to anything & knowing my luck, I wouldn't even have this baby while we was here for 15 days.
I then posted on FB about labor-inducing ideas... My cousin's cousin Kara said something about labor cookies... Well I was trying pineapple & herbal teas & primrose oil. So I figured, let's give it a go & maybe if I eat a couple in the next few days, she will arrive on her due date (March 11th). I went to the store on Wednesday to get all the ingredients.
Side-note: Wednesday, Pierce asked if I was ok enough to not go into labor if he went and played basketball with the law school friends. I encouraged him to go and then later got a call that he had really hurt himself. Great! I thought! I felt horrible for him but said there wasn't much they could do at the Urgent Care if he had torn something so I think he waited until Thursday morning to go.
These cookies were SO yummy! I made the batch Thursday afternoon & also made some delicious dinner. Pierce was late coming home that night so I ate dinner without him & ate 3 cookies! I also heard that if you insert primrose oil up there, that can help soften your cervix even more, so I put 2 capsules up there before bed.
Friday Morning: felt fine and pregnant still... Had 4 labor cookies (they are delicious ok!!) for breakfast; even Emmett liked them lol.
Emmett had some friends come over that afternoon to play and their mom set up the church for the YW fundraising dinner and I got an hour or two of work done. I think the rest of the day, I just layed around while Emmett played. Pierce was home about 4 & asked how I was feeling... Which was great so I wasn't happy about that ha. We debated to go to the YW banquet at 6:30-7ish and I was just too tired so we ran to the grocery store and ordered Chinese from their in-store restaurant & we bought ice cream while we waited. I was walking around the grocery store and started feeling sick. We got home and ate and just hanging out and my stomach kept feeling blah, suddenly probably around 8 I was like "maybe these are contractions"... So I thought I would time them next time it got bad. 8:40 finally thought ok I'm going to start recording these for real! I got Emmett ready for bed & packed him a couple things in case we decided to drop him off to our neighbor instead of having her come over.
Hopped online and found a contraction counter that helped time them. They were 10-15 mins apart for about an hour... Then suddenly they were 8-9 mins. I knew you had to call when they were less than 5 but around 10:30 I called my midwive just to tell her how quickly they were. She said that I probably was going to be like this for the rest of the night since I had been at 0 on Monday and they just started a few hours ago. I got in the bath and braided my hair (horribly I might add) and texted our neighbor that I might be calling in the middle of the night for her help with Emmett.
Before that I will say that around 9:30, Pierce had called our sweet bishop over to help give me a blessing and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sit through it but luckily we got a beautiful blessing in between and then I excused myself to go downstairs while Pierce chatted with the bishop for a couple mins. I was really trying hard to not scream while he was there hahaha!
I put on some foundation and mascara but truthfully I don't know how people feel good enough to get ready in between contractions because HOLY COW they started getting so so bad. My midwife had kinda bugged me because she was like "I don't want you to go in and be lower than a 4 and have them send you back home" and I knew it was she wanted some sleep too haha! So I just kept telling myself that maybe they weren't bad & just to go to bed.
About 11:30, we called Pierce's aunt Michelle and I was just crying through every contraction at this point and she told Pierce I was ready. I called the midwife and told her I was going to get ready to head to the hospital because we had to wait for a babysitter and we lived 20 mins from the hospital.
I also ate an apple and some string cheese in case I really was in labor and would have to starve (Emmett's labor was 22 hours so I was HUNGRY after all of that!). My friend Robyn came over and we hopped into the car. There wasn't traffic but we kept hitting every light! I was so uncomfortable in the car and crying so I think Pierce might have ran a light or two;)
We pulled into the hospital and I didn't know where to go at night because the hospital front doors were locked! So this sweet officer told Pierce to go park in the ER parking lot and grabbed me a wheelchair and wheeled me all the way over to the ER and up to the maternity ward. We got into our room at 12:30 and they had me change before they would check me and hook me up.
They checked me & I was at a 5!! I felt so happy that I really was in labor and had labored a good portion at home! I requested an epidural ASAP but they had to run my blood work and all that. I was having a ton of back labor so my midwife got me to lay on the labor ball and stretch and she rubbed my back and oh my heck, suddenly it all changed and wasn't as painful! Bless her heart my midwife!
I got my epidural around 2 AM and felt amazing within minutes! My nurse was getting ready to insert my catheter & suddenly my water broke! She checked me & I was at a 6-7, so my midwife said for all of us to get some sleep & she would check in at 5-6AM!
Pierce & I got some rest & then I woke up about an hour or so later & said I felt pressure like my catheter was bugging me. My nurse came in went to check... And said "that is the baby's head, I better go wake up the midwife" and "DO NOT push". Her and another nurse then had to steal a labor table from another gal bc it was all set up outside her room but I was progressed much further and faster. I was ready to push and had been trying to keep my legs together. Everything was set up and the midwife walked in around 4:12 and I pushed for a few mins.
Norah Ruth was born at 4:23 AM after a wonderful and quick labor. 8 lbs 19.5 inches of perfection. My labor process was almost completely opposite from Emmett's for both the good and bad. We are just blessed!
