It's time!

I am ready to share Oliver's birth story!

Part 1

2.23.19

I was 4 days past his "due date" and feeling so good! I wasn't feeling the urge to clean the house myself but I did want a clean house, so maybe that was the first signs I was getting close! At this point, I had not been checked to see if I was dilated. It was the first warm day in a month so we took a walk, it felt so good to be walking! I had one contraction on the walk that lasted about a minute, I was a little out of breath from it but I was excited to be feeling something, my favorite thing about this day is what Cain said once the contraction came on:

Cain - "Should we go home now?!"

Me - "NO! Let's keep going!"

2.24.19
5 days past due date

8:00am I woke up and found some bloody show after peeing. YES! This was signs of my mucus plug and I texted my doula Natalie a picture to confirm. She was excited! Cain was away for the morning with the Army. I didn't want to text him because I knew he would leave at the sign of anything exciting happening, so I waited to tell him when he got home.

The rest of the afternoon on Sunday was normal without any noticeable contractions. I was not as comfortable though as the day went on. We enjoyed my niece's Ballet Recital without any signs of going into labor.

8:00pm we were watching a movie (I can't remember what it was!) when I started to feel contractions. I called Natalie to explain what I was feeling and asked what I should do next. We thought it best to go laid down and try and sleep (I never went to sleep that night!)

9:50pm I made a group text with my midwives Rhoda, Lauren and doula Natalie to show that I had more bloody show after peeing and it was becoming slimier.

11:30pm we made the decision to have Natalie come stay the night in the spare room - I felt so silly asking her to come, I was afraid my contractions would stop and it would all be for nothing.

She got to the house sometime around 1:00am and went to bed. I was up the night with Cain working through early labor, I liked keeping track of the contractions with the app on my phone. It helped me see how close I was getting and kept my mind on something while going through those early labor pains.

Monday, 02.25.19
6 days past due date

4:30am

I woke Natalie up in the guest bedroom to ask what she thought about me taking a bath. I was ready for some relief after laboring all night long. I got in the bathtub and although it felt great my contractions were getting closer together and it was getting harder to get comfortable between contractions!

5:44am - Natalie texted a screenshot of my contractions. Rhoda asked what I was doing during contractions. Natalie replies:

"Rocking, moaning, hanging on hubby. Leaning over couch rocking hips. Less responsive than she was earlier"

Lauren: "Awesome! That makes me happy!"

6:00am Natalie text: "2.5-5 min apart and always over a minute long"

6:45am Rhoda: "We are all headed"

Natalie replies: "I'm going to need to cancel my prenatal at 9:00am haha" (Natalie was 31 weeks pregnant!)

This is the last text between my midwives and doula! After this, they were all with me!

During this time in the early morning, I was doing just what Natalie said. Working through contractions the best way I knew how. After seeing natural births and going through the amazing Birth Matter's classes I was able to get through each contraction and knew to do low sounds (moaning) also to be moving (walking, bouncing, swaying hips) I really think these things helped me reach 10cm in such a great amount of time. Not to say this was easy! It's always easier to write it out then to go through it.

I felt very focused from the very start. I was home, in my safe place. I believed I could do this and knew every contraction brought me closer to my baby.

Next post I will be sharing my take on things as I progressed throughout the day into the evening. Although I was very focused on the task at hand I do remember things about the day I won't ever forget.