{BabyT} Birth Story

Turner Lee is here and we couldn't be more in love!

After Arden's birth, I jotted down a few notes that I wanted to remember, but never fully wrote out her birth story & have regretted it since! So this time I made a point to ask Taylor to bring a laptop to the hospital so I could write out Turner's birth story while it was still fresh in my mind. It's amazing how quickly all the little details start to fade into one big fuzzy happy memory.

I'll pick up where my previous post (the 40 week "bumpdate") left off...

Monday 4/24 

(40 weeks + 4 days pregnant)

I went into work even though just about every person I ran into told me I should be at home.

There were a few last minute things I had wanted to finish up though!

After work I went to the chiropractor and got an adjustment - they too were surprised I still hadn't gone into labor.

Then Taylor and I headed to my 40 week OB appointment.

We got a sonogram and saw sweet babyT's squishy cheeks.

I let my OB do a membrane sweep. 

{I had decided at this point that I was comfortable with this moderate, but natural, intervention  to try to get labor started}

An hour after my appointment, I started having light contractions, about 20-30 minutes apart. 

I updated our Doula, Laura, on the appointment & the contractions and she said that she wanted to make sure I got a lot of rest that night. 

Side story:

A few months ago, we sat down with Laura and went over our birth plan.

She talked us through things we liked and didn't like about Arden's birth, and together we made a list of "hopes" for Turner's birth.

Things I wanted to do differently:

With Arden, my water broke at 10pm and we rushed to the hospital.

Unfortunately, that meant that 1. We were up all night and I was exhausted! 2. My labor stalled because we went to the hospital before I started having any contractions at all.

So this time around, I wanted to try to be as well-rested as possible going into labor (if it worked out!), and also labor at home as long as possible.

So, Laura encouraged me to have a carb+protein snack, take a long warm bath, diffuse some lavender oil and try to get a good amount of sleep.

We followed all of her suggestions and for the most part I did have a restful night. Contractions woke me up a few times, but they were light and I could go back to sleep pretty quickly. 

Tuesday 4/25

(40 weeks + 5 days pregnant)

530a-8a

When I woke up, contractions were about 10 minutes apart until we woke Arden up, and then they slowed down to about 25 minutes apart. 

It's kind of amazing how the human body reacts, isn't it?

I checked in with Laura again and she encouraged me to keep ignoring the contractions and have a good breakfast. Contractions were light and still spaced out so this was easy to follow!

I had decided that I would start working from home as of that day (Tuesday) (this ended up being a really good call!) so I didn't have to head into work but at this point I was pretty convinced that we weren't going to have a baby that day (but thought maybe the next day or the day after). Since my contractions were light and pretty far apart, Taylor and I decided that he should go into work. Before he did though, we dropped Arden off at daycare at the usual time together and stayed for "family breakfast" day. 

After daycare drop-off, Taylor went to work and I quickly ran to the grocery store to pick up a few things before heading home to start working.

My time in the grocery store probably should have been a sign.

I grabbed a basket since I only had a few things on my list...and ended up with my arms full of stuff because as I was walking around the store I suddenly had an urge to stock our pantry!

8a-12p

Once I got home and put everything away, I got set up to start working but after a little while I got an urge to start tidying up a bit - again, this should have been a sign that things were changing!

I didn't think anything of it, but quickly cleaned the entire kitchen. 

I sat down to work again and then realized that I needed to pick up the rest of the house. 

So I did that and then went back to working. 

And then I decided I needed to wash all of Arden's bedding. 

So I did that and then went back to working.

And then I decided I needed to do our laundry.

So I did that and then went back to working.

Then I thought I needed to wash all of our bedding, but at this point I was tired so I just kept working.

The funny part about this is that when I sat down to work, my contractions spaced out quite a bit.

Every time I'd get up to clean, they'd go to about 10 minutes apart.

Speed up...slow down...

When Laura checked in with me around 12p, we concluded that the inconsistency of the contractions was probably an indicator that they were just residual reactions from the membrane swipe and not the real deal. Laura reminded me that during active labor, contractions should continue to get closer together and last longer and become more intense. When they're real early labor contractions, even a change in activity won't stop them from following that getting-stronger-and-stronger pattern. 

After that conversation I was pretty convinced that we wouldn't be having a baby until the next day, so when Taylor suggested I meet him (and a friend/coworker, Fran) for lunch, I said yes!

12p-2p

I drove to Taylor's work and was still having light contractions so I kept timing them.
Yep, I had an app:

All three of us piled into Fran's car and headed downtown to CBD at the Joule.

We grabbed a table, looked at the menu, and ordered a few appetizers & our meals.

All the while I was timing my contractions.

When we first sat down, they were still light and were about a minute or so long and anywhere from 4-8 minutes apart - still pretty irregular and I was able to talk through them.

As we finished our appetizers they started to get a little more intense and I'd have to take deep breath to be able to talk through them.

As our meals arrived, the contractions started to ramp up and I had to brace myself to get through each one and at this point couldn't talk through them. 

I think this is where Taylor and Fran started to get a little nervous.

I still felt totally fine between each contraction, but as a new one started I just had to take really deep breaths and focus on getting past it.

We quickly wrapped up lunch and headed back so Taylor and I could go home.

I'm pretty sure Taylor suggested going straight to the hospital a handful of times, but I wasn't ready to do that quite yet.

2-3p

I checked in with Laura and she texted me something called the Miles Circuit, which is basically a bunch of stretches you can do to help get baby into the right position (helps when there is stalled labor/erratic contractions). 

I tried to get set up for the first stretch but as soon as a contraction started I was in a ton of pain and realized I couldn't do any of the stretches.

I went through a few contractions not knowing how I should be standing (or sitting or leaning!) to make them any better. I remember feeling pretty helpless for a few minutes. Taylor was running around the house trying to get last-minute things into our hospital bags. I had mostly packed but there were a few things on my list that I was still using every day so they hadn't made it into my bag yet. When he tried to ask me a question during a contraction, I wasn't able to even answer. It was like being in this crazy fog where the only thing I could do was close my eyes and breathe as much as I could. But as soon as the contraction passed, I felt clear-headed and could talk normally. Once we figured this out, he'd wait until a contraction was over and then I'd start talking really fast, answering everything he had been asking. Contractions were anywhere from 3-6 minutes apart at this point. 

This was when I finally gave in and took Laura up on her offer to come over to our house - and she arrived less than 30 minutes later!

3-345p
{Warning lots of birth details. If you're squeamish - just skip ahead!}

This is the part of the story where I can say that with absolute certainty: we could not have gotten through early labor & active labor at home without Laura.

Side story:
I've mentioned some of this here and there, but Laura is a doula with North Dallas Doula Associates (NDDA). You can read her full bio at their site, but in a nutshell, Laura is a rockstar. She's the manager at NDDA and has been to over 150 births - there is no question that she is a pro! When I had started my search for a doula, I just happened to be lucky enough to get paired up with her - now I know it was totally a God thing! I had scanned the profiles of a few other doulas at the office, but it turned out that Laura had availability and so I ended up meeting with her. I immediately liked her spunky, down-to-earth (and blunt!) personality. During our first conversation, I had a vague idea of what I wanted in a doula (and why we wanted one) but had been having a hard time putting it into words. Laura was able to very clearly tell me how a doula is an awesome support person in labor, and her confidence in her role gave me confidence to really be able to think about the kind of birth I wanted and made me feel like we could actually make that a reality - together. 

Laura told us she wanted me to try lying on my side for a few sets of contractions, so that's what we did. I went through 5 sets of contractions laying on each side - my bottom leg was stretched a bit behind me and my top leg was propped up by a stack of pillows. I had my arms wrapped around a pillow too. All things considered, it was a great position to be in to get through contractions - they still hurt like crazy, but it was way better than the way I'd randomly be standing and sitting before Laura got there.

At this point contracts were about 3-5 minutes apart. Sometime in the middle of the sets of contractions, I started feeling super nauseated (and was totally regretting having lunch earlier!) - Laura whipped out some peppermint oil, put some on a tissue & put it on the pillow next to my head. It helped SO much and after a few minutes the sick feeling passed.

One of my strongest memories from this hour is how Laura helped talk me through contractions - and how she taught Taylor to do the same thing. She and Taylor were timing the contractions, so when I would tell them that another one was starting, Laura would say things like "you're almost halfway through, you're past the halfway point, it should be easing up very soon, etc." It made an incredibly huge difference to know that I just had to hang on for a little bit longer for each contraction. I had my eyes closed through almost every contraction, so I would just focus on their voices and it helped so much.

During this time, Taylor and Laura also let me squeeze the life out of their hands, and each took turns rubbing my arm or back through each contraction. Laura also helped me control my breathing - slow deep breaths are best. It was easy to fall into the trap of starting to freak out because of the pain, and then I'd start taking really fast shallow breaths and those did not help!!


345-415p
After we made it through the 10 contractions, we had a brief pow wow on next steps. My contractions were still moderately irregular so Laura gave us some options of what we could do: it was early enough in the afternoon that we could go to my OB's office and ask for a cervical check (to see how far along I was) or we could go to the chiropractor and see if an adjustment might help move things along. Taylor and I weren't crazy about either of those two options - leaving the house and going somewhere seemed like a ton of work to me right then (in retrospect, this was such a God thing that we didn't try to leave the house!!).

The third option Laura gave us was to try going through another set of 3x contractions, in the bathroom, sitting backwards on the toilet. Not elegant or glamorous, I know, but at this point, we were very much in the middle of labor and I was willing to try anything! Getting up from bed and walking the super short distance to the bathroom was tough! That much shifting and movement definitely caused contractions along the way, but I made it after a few minutes.

Laura had me and Taylor hang out in the bathroom alone to get through the 3x contractions. Sitting backwards with my arms resting on the back of the toilet actually felt kind of good...until the 1st contraction started. That one hurt like crazy!! We got through it, and then the 2nd one started.
Aaaaand then my water (mostly) broke.
Major gush.
That took us totally by surprise.
Can I tell you how much of a good thing it was that I was sitting on the toilet?
(Last pregnancy my water broke when I was standing in our living room. Messy to say the least)
Immediately after, the 3rd contraction started and the rest of my water broke.

This is the point where my contractions went nuts.
All of sudden they were coming in super fast waves: just about 2 minutes apart!
To put that into perspective, each contraction was about a minute long. So that gave us approximately 60 seconds between each contraction. Crazy!

It kind of went without saying that we needed to head to the hospital at this point.
Taylor quickly tossed our (packed) bags into the car & made sure the infant car seat was in.

The contractions were coming so fast that I could hardly stand up and get dressed between them.
Finally the three of us made a plan that right after the next contraction I'd get dressed super fast, and then after the following one we'd be ready and hustle down to the car.
Just to add a fun twist to the story, I'll remind you that we live in a townhouse. So we had to get down 2 flights of stairs to the car!
I made it down one flight of stairs and had to stop on the 2nd floor to make it through the next contraction.
Then down the next set of stairs but had to stop to make it through the next contraction before getting in the car.
Going from standing to sitting in the car was rough, but we made it.


415-425p
At 415p we were off to the hospital.
Contractions kept coming as we drove over - I'm pretty sure I had my eyes closed the whole time.
I'm also really glad we live (literally) 5 minutes from Baylor!
The bumps in the road were the worst.
Any major turns hurt (good thing it was mostly just down one street to get there!).
Taylor swears we almost had a baby in the car.
I don't think it was quite that close...but almost.

As not-so-good luck would have it, all the parking spots outside the L&D entrance were taken.
So Taylor pulled up to the curb and left the car double-parked.
He grabbed my bag and we started to walk in.

Looking back on this part just seems so comical to me! It was basically straight out of a TV show.
Contractions were still about 2 minutes apart at this point, so I could basically walk a few feet and then I'd need to stop and lean on the wall to get through a contraction. I think we stopped 2 times down the hall leading to the check-in desk. When we got to the desk, Taylor started filling out paperwork and all I could do was lean on the side of the counter and try to breathe through the contractions.
The nurses started to get the gist that we were going to have a baby pretty quickly.
They started talking about which room to send us to, and quickly decided that we just needed the closest one possible.
Coincidentally, it was the exact same room where we had Arden!
By the time Taylor was done giving the nurses my name, DOB, and telling them that my water had broken, etc. (think 1-2 mins tops), there was a crowd of 4 nurses standing next to me & they quickly whisked us into our room.


425p-455p
Once we were in a room, everything started happening quickly (as if it could get much faster!).
Laura met us in our room and took over for a few minutes while Taylor ran out to move the car (which was perfect timing because a tow truck was outside when he got there!).
I remember Laura letting me hang on to her shoulders through at least 2 contractions.
I had brought my own gown (and even at this point in labor I was adamant about wearing it!), and Laura helped find it in my bag & helped me get into it.
The nurses needed to do a cervical check, so they had me get on to the bed - this was hard, and I couldn't really lay flat on my back (it hurt too much) so I ended up a bit awkwardly on my left side.
Cervical check showed that I was complete. As in fully dilated. As in ready to have the baby.
Things sped up even more at this point!
There were nurses on each side of me.
Taylor was on one side, Laura on the other.
A resident doctor came in and introduced herself.
Coincidentally, we recognized her...she was also at Arden's birth!

Since we had just arrived about 5-10 minutes before, and since we skipped triage, nurses starting pelting me with questions to try to get up to speed.
Some of them I could handle: yes I'm RH negative.
Some of them I couldn't deal with: a nurse who walked into the room late asked how far along I was. Then someone else asked if my water broke. I remember just saying something to the effect of "seriously!?" and fortunately, Taylor answered for me.

All of a sudden, my OB came flying into the room - she had her heels in one hand and her bag in the other and had clearly just been running. She was in work-attire clothing and didn't have time to change into scrubs - instead she immediately just put on a gown and gloves! We found out later that she had just happened to be at Baylor, in a different building, visiting another patient. She happened to see my name come up across a screen that showed admitted patients. She was in the middle of writing a prescription for the patient she was visiting, and before she could finish, the nurses had paged her and told her I was getting ready to push. So she literally stopped what she was doing and ran over to L&D. We are so thankful she did!

And then it was time to push.
I don't think I've ever held on to Taylor's hand quite as hard before.
I'll spare too many details here, but suffice it to say, it did hurt.
And I did scream. Quite a bit.
The funniest thing I remember from this part was my OB telling me to bear down (makes sense, having a baby and all!) but also to growl like a bear. Makes me chuckle just thinking back on that! I think the goal was low breaths/sounds instead of my screaming, but it made me laugh in the moment.
The good thing is, this part was literally no more than 10 minutes, tops.
It took 4 or 5 pushes...and Turner was born at 4:55pm!

Right after delivery, the nurses put Turner on my chest.
A bunch of other messy stuff happened (placenta delivery, a few stitches, etc.)
After a few minutes, we let Laura cut the cord.

Eventually everyone left the room and it me, Taylor and Turner.
We enjoyed the quiet and marveled at our new, tiny, perfect baby.
I also spent a long time marveling over his birth.
I remember saying "that was crazy!" over and over again.
It was incredible to be so clear-headed and alert and just aware of everything that had happened over the past few hours.
Turner's birth felt this major sense of accomplishment - I actually did it.
We did it.

I couldn't have done it without Taylor.
He is my rock. He's my comforter. He's my encourager.
There is no way I would have made it through without him.

I couldn't have done it without Laura.
She was our guidance, our council, an amazing source of knowledge with oodles of experience & had the most calming & confident spirit.

I couldn't have done it without Dr. Martin.
Dr. Martin had the best attitude when things were getting started (you know someone is in the right profession when they are downright excited for a delivery!) and throughout delivery she was an awesome encouragement. She reminded me more than once that I could do it - and that made a huge difference!

An unmedicated, natural birth was by far the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.
In the months leading up to it I was uncertain about what to expect.
In the (few) hours I labored I definitely had the thought "why the heck did I want to do this?" cross my mind a time or two.
It was a lot of work.
It hurt.
But all in all, it was downright amazing.

Would I do it again?
If you had asked in the hour right after Turner's birth, I may have said no.
But now, after a little bit of time to start having the (super painful) details get fuzzy...I'd say yes.
Yes I would.