We all felt as if we were waiting for Sawyer for much too long. I was told at my 36 week doctor's appointment that I had already begun to dilate, which made me {and EVERYONE else} think that this baby was going to come early. So we began to wait for her. And wait. And wait. And WAIT. 37 weeks. 38 weeks. 39 weeks. 40 weeks. I am a patient person in many aspects of my life, but waiting is not my forte. I was crabby to say the least. Where was this baby?!?! I was now 40 weeks + 2 days pregnant and heading to my doctor to check things out.
Thursday August 13th, 2015
At 3:10pm, I walked in to my 40 week check-up. 2 days past my due date {NOT expecting that I would have needed this appointment} I was thinking that there better be some progress happening down there. Before she began my exam, I asked her about a little procedure called membrane sweeping. Google it if you want the lovely details of what it is and how it's done. She told me that she could perform the membrane sweep as long as I was at least 1cm dilated. Good news! I was 1.5cm! She performed the membrane sweep and told me that it had a 50% chance of working. If it worked, "labor things" would begin to happen within 12 hours {her words}. If it didn't work, I was scheduled to be induced on Monday August 17th. We left my appointment feeling really excited and anxious and nervous. Would the membrane sweep work? Could I possibly go in to labor soon? More waiting.
At around 4:30pm, I started having crampy feeling contractions. Not painful, definitely not regular, but crampy. They were coming every 10-20 minutes or so. This happened for the rest of the afternoon and in to the evening. Slightly crampy contractions that were pretty spread apart and not regular. Sometimes I would have 30-45 minutes go by and not have any contractions at all. At 9:30pm, I went to put Harper to bed and decided to snuggle with her for a little bit. Laying in her bed, I wasn't having any contractions at all. I remember thinking to myself that I would probably go to bed and nothing would happen. WRONG!
I dozed off for an hour and a half. I woke back up around 11pm, gave Harper a kiss, and stood up out of her bed. The second that I stood up I had the most intense contraction that I had had thus far. Strong enough that I couldn't walk. I just stood there and held on to the foot of her bed. When it stopped, I went out to the couch and sat down to watch some tv. As soon as I sat down, another contraction. And then another one. And then another one. So I went to our bedroom and woke up Pat. "I'm wondering if I should call my mom," I said. My contractions were coming every couple of minutes and they hurt. I told him that. He looked at me, said "ok," and immediately began snoring again. I think he was in denial...and obviously still half asleep when I told him how close my contractions were. It seemed out of nowhere that my contractions were coming every 2 minutes. So I woke him up again. "I'm serious, I think I'm going to call my mom and have her come over." I called my mom around 12:30am and she got in her car to come over.
Friday August 14th, 2015
My mom didn't get to our house until 1:20am, almost an hour after I called her. Notice the text at 1:17am "Come on woman." I was getting antsy. She came in the house, I gave her the run down, had some more contractions, and we left. We arrived at the hospital just before 2am. I was put in a wheelchair and taken up to labor and delivery triage to be checked. My contractions were really coming. And they HURT. My nurse checked me and told me that I was 4-5cm dilated. I felt so relieved because I knew that I would be able to get my epidural right away. WRONG AGAIN. More contractions. Then the vomiting. With every contraction there was vomiting. Another nurse came in, put me in another wheelchair, and wheeled me in to my delivery room. On the short drive from triage to delivery, the contractions kept coming. But I was thinking about how it would be okay because I would get my epidural soon. NOPE.
I needed assistance getting from the wheelchair in to my bed because my contractions just wouldn't quit. As soon as they got me in to the bed, I felt the urge to push. I didn't say anything. But with the next contraction, an even stronger urge to push. So I said something. I distinctly remember my nurse saying, "uh-oh." And then the screaming began. I have never in my life screamed as much or as loud as I did on that early Friday morning. SO MUCH PAIN. SO MANY NURSES. AND SO MUCH SCREAMING.
At 2:53am on Friday August 14, 2015, our little Sawyer Quinn was born. Just 53 minutes after we arrived at the hospital, she was born. Drug free. DRUG FREE. That was definitely not part of my birth plan. One of my nurses told us that if we had waited even 5 more minutes to leave for the hospital, that we wouldn't have made it. We would have delivered her in the car. We would have been one of those stories you hear about where the woman delivers her baby in the car, or on the side of the road. WHAT?! I am so relieved that didn't happen! But it still feels unbelievable to me that she came so fast. I guess that membrane sweep worked!
Would I do it again without an epidural? Not by choice. Most definitely not by choice! This birth experience was unexpected and was on another level of pain that I never want to know ever again. I am, however, very grateful for the birth of a healthy and beautiful baby girl. And I'm glad it was fast.
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| SAWYER QUINN BORN 8.14.15 2:53AM 7 LB 3.5 OZ 20.5 IN |
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| ON OUR WAY HOME! |
