Ruby's Birth Story
My precious baby girl is a week old today! I figured I should write her birth story before I forget all the exciting details! Here's the last photo taken of me pregnant with Ruby, three days overdue. I'm on the left, posing with my sweet friend Branda, at her baby shower.
Two Saturdays ago, I wrote about waiting on Ruby and described all the things I had been doing to get her to come out. That following Monday I called the midwives' office and asked to come in to check on her, as I was growing more and more anxious. I was hooked up to a monitor and it was determined that all was well. I went back to a midwife appt on Wednesday for my official non-stress test and ultrasound - to basically do the same thing - determine that all was well. I was checked and found to still be 3cm. I left the appointment feeling very discouraged. It certainly seems crazy now, but at the time I just felt like she was never going to come. The next steps were laid out in front of me - Induction scheduled for that Friday morning.
I cried on the way home from the appt, sure that I would need to be induced and that my dream of having a natural birth would never happen. But, at least I knew there was an end in sight. When I arrived home, sad and discouraged, my smart and amazing hubby announced we were getting out of the house. We packed a lunch and went to a local park. Kyle told me I could walk around on the trail while he played with the kids at the playground and I almost grabbed my phone, but then Jesus suggested I talk to Him while I walked. So I did.
I actually prayed outloud since no one was close by, and because I wanted to make sure my mind didn't wander to other things. I wanted to have an audible conversation with God. I begged and pleaded that Ruby would come soon, and then I got over myself and prayed for everyone who popped into my mind. It was wonderful. I ended the walk feeling better emotionally, and actually felt better physically as well.
During our visit at the park, and for the remainder of the day, I had a few painful contractions. But, they were very spaced out, not in a pattern at all.
After a good night's rest, I woke up at 6am to one painful contraction. The pain made me happy - maybe something was happening - but I tried not to get too excited. Five minutes later, another one. Kyle could hear me breathing and said he was going to get in the shower "just in case." As soon as he came out of the bathroom, another one. That's when I started thinking maybe this was it! I got up and started getting around. I started double checking my hospital bag, and the kids' bag to go to grandma's house, and finding something to wear. I hopped in the shower, and started getting as pretty as possible (my early labor tradition), all the while I'm having very constant and steady contractions.
We weren't in a huge rush, because I knew I wanted to be in active labor by the time we got to the hospital. The contractions started to become so painful that I had to stop what I was doing to breathe through them. Sometimes I'd hum, sometimes they'd be so bad I'd moan. And in the background was a mysterious echo - Joel mocking every noise I was making. Hilarious. But, not so funny in the moment, ha.
Around 8:30am we headed over to Kyle's momma's house to drop the kids off. The contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart and now I had two little people mocking my every breath and noise - both Joel and Zoe were joining in on the fun of all the silly sounds I was making! Kyle asked them to stop because it was making me laugh, which was making me hurt and Joel got defensive, "Momma, why are you sad?! You're about to meet Ruby?!" Yes, son, you're right. ;)
As soon as they got dropped off, I started feeling Ruby moving down the birth canal with every contraction. Craziness. I said, "I hope I don't have her in the car" and that's when Kyle's driving got a little crazy, ha. I remember at one point I started saying, "Oh my gosh, I can't do this." But then I immediately corrected myself and said, "I can do this. I can do this." It was difficult to remind myself that this was going to be just as much a mental endurance challenge as a physical one.
Kyle dropped me off at the hospital entrance and as soon as I got out, another contraction hit. I just held onto the potted plant and tried to breathe while a few guys standing outside offered to get me a wheelchair. I think I shook my head no, but a nurse from inside could see me struggling and she just took it upon herself to bring me one. I stopped by the admitting office and they called for a nurse to come fetch me because my contractions were "one on top of another." As I'm being wheeled down the hall towards the Maternity Ward, I'm passing a ton of people and I remember consciously not making eye contact as I moaned through the pain.
It was 9am when I arrived at Labor and Delivery, and I was not as silent as I'd like to have been. Nurses were coming out of everywhere and I was being asked a ton of questions, like if I had a history of fast labors. Ha, um, no. Let's just say that the pace of my contractions combined with my tense face and loud moans were making everyone think this baby was crowning. They put me in a room and everyone started getting everything ready for a newborn to arrive. My midwife arrived, checked me and declared I was at 5cm. Oh. My. Goodness. Five. A nurse looks at me and asks if I want my epidural. I say no. She then offers IV pain meds. I say no. Looking back, I'm sure she was thinking, "What can I offer you, since you're clearly not handling this well?"
I told my midwife I wanted to get in the tub, hoping that being in the water would allow me to relax and deal with labor better. She said they had to get me on the monitor for at least a little while before allowing me to go anywhere, but she didn't make me lie in bed. Instead she helped me get in a wide-legged stance and instructed me to sway my hips through each contraction. When I told her it hurt, she said she knew. When I said I can't do this, she said that I could. When I said it was hard, she agreed - and then reminded me that I had to not think about any of that, but instead deal with each contraction separately, stay on top of it, and when it starts to come down - realize I was now that much closer to meeting my baby. It was everything I needed in that moment. I was no longer loud as I got through the pain, everything became so much more manageable after our little talk.
Around 9:30, after seeing that Ruby was fine on the monitor, it was confirmed that my water had broken. (As in, my water had NOT broken at Wal-Mart the night before.) See the picture my hilarious hubby posted on Facbook just hours earlier:
My midwife said the tub would be perfect, that she'd had patients who entered at 4 or 5cm and were crowing when they got out. I remember thinking, "That may be a complete lie, but it's exactly what I need to hear!" I walked down the hallway to the tub, having to stop two or three times to deal with a contraction. When we got to the room, we found out our awesome nurse had turned down the lights and had instrumental music playing! The jetted tub was beyond wonderful. They suggested my belly be underwater and I found several positions I loved... until I hated them, haha, and I'd find another one. It felt like we were in that peaceful room over an hour, but we couldn't have been in there more than 30-40 minutes.
Kyle kept telling me how proud he was of me, saying he couldn't believe how calm and relaxed I was. While in the tub, I had perfected the hum-through-the-contraction technique. When I was trying to breathe through them, I was struggling not to get really vocal, but when I would hum it allowed me to inhale slowly through my nose and exhale slowly, all while keeping my mouth closed. I remember not communicating with him much, and he knew to bring the water straw to my mouth instead of to ask me. We'd talked about how I would get to a certain point in labor where my mind would sort of shut off.
Then I had three contractions in the water that were different than all the rest - my body was involuntarily pushing. Wow! I had heard of this happening during natural labor, that if you allow your body to do things on its own - it will! We aren't allowed to birth in the tub, so when the nurse came in to check on us I was able to verbalize that I needed to get out of the tub and now. Getting out of the tub seemed way hard, they decided to drape towels over me instead of trying to get my tank top back on. I didn't care. I just knew this baby was coming out and I had to get back to my room. They did offer me a wheelchair, but I honestly felt like I could walk and could do it on my own, so I did. Although, after three or four contractions in the hallway (where you could hear me bearing down uncontrollably), Kyle said he almost scooped me up and ran me to our room. The last contraction I had in the hallway was right in front of the nurse's station and my midwife came out of my room because she could hear me pushing. My wonderful nurse said to another nurse, "Standby. We might have a hallway baby." And as soon as that contraction was over I grunted, "I am not going to have a hallway baby!"
Around 10:10am, we made it to the room and I laid down on my bed. My midwife checked me and said, "There's her head! We're about to have a baby!" Kyle told me later how thrilled he was during this moment. I still can't believe how quickly I progressed! And I honestly don't think I could have relaxed my body well enough to go that fast had it not been for the tub.
I was immediately instructed to grab my knees and start pushing. This officially ended the silent, humming phase of my labor, haha. I really just wanted to cross my legs and stop the whole process. In my mind, I thought "If my body's pushing this baby out on its own, let's just continue doing things that way!" But, I complied and started pushing. I was screaming through the pain and my midwife, so wonderful, knew I had to re-focus. She sweetly instructed me to open my eyes, look at her, and she said, "This is going to burn and sting. And you're just going to push through that." Well, okay then. I will. I did a few pushes like that and she told me to look down to see Ruby's head. There it was. Amazing. At this point they kept telling me grab my knees and I finally said, "I don't want to be on my back!" So, they allowed me to move onto my left side which felt much more natural to me. I was able to tuck my left leg and only had to worry about grabbing my right leg - which Kyle had been doing since I wasn't listening. At this point, Ruby's nurse was by my head and instructed me to open my eyes and listen to her. She said, "If you just grab that leg, she'll come out!" So, I did! I was so curled up that I literally saw her being born. No mirror necessary. I did resume my closed-eyed, screaming-in-pain position when her shoulders were coming out. And I may or may not have yelled, "Get her outta me!" ;) Kyle said it was the loudest he'd ever heard me scream. It was insane - I actually felt all her body parts as they slid out of me. Here's a picture that shows how happy Daddy was, and how relived I was:
She was born at 10:23am. They put her on my chest and Kyle and I fell in love. She looked just like her big sister when she was born - dark hair, sweet lips. They allowed us to hold her so long, it was lovely...
For your reference, and mine, here's a link to the birth stories for my other three: HERE. Next blog I'm working on - My Timing VS. God's Timing.
Some Background
Two Saturdays ago, I wrote about waiting on Ruby and described all the things I had been doing to get her to come out. That following Monday I called the midwives' office and asked to come in to check on her, as I was growing more and more anxious. I was hooked up to a monitor and it was determined that all was well. I went back to a midwife appt on Wednesday for my official non-stress test and ultrasound - to basically do the same thing - determine that all was well. I was checked and found to still be 3cm. I left the appointment feeling very discouraged. It certainly seems crazy now, but at the time I just felt like she was never going to come. The next steps were laid out in front of me - Induction scheduled for that Friday morning.
I cried on the way home from the appt, sure that I would need to be induced and that my dream of having a natural birth would never happen. But, at least I knew there was an end in sight. When I arrived home, sad and discouraged, my smart and amazing hubby announced we were getting out of the house. We packed a lunch and went to a local park. Kyle told me I could walk around on the trail while he played with the kids at the playground and I almost grabbed my phone, but then Jesus suggested I talk to Him while I walked. So I did.
I actually prayed outloud since no one was close by, and because I wanted to make sure my mind didn't wander to other things. I wanted to have an audible conversation with God. I begged and pleaded that Ruby would come soon, and then I got over myself and prayed for everyone who popped into my mind. It was wonderful. I ended the walk feeling better emotionally, and actually felt better physically as well.
During our visit at the park, and for the remainder of the day, I had a few painful contractions. But, they were very spaced out, not in a pattern at all.
Ruby's Birth Day
After a good night's rest, I woke up at 6am to one painful contraction. The pain made me happy - maybe something was happening - but I tried not to get too excited. Five minutes later, another one. Kyle could hear me breathing and said he was going to get in the shower "just in case." As soon as he came out of the bathroom, another one. That's when I started thinking maybe this was it! I got up and started getting around. I started double checking my hospital bag, and the kids' bag to go to grandma's house, and finding something to wear. I hopped in the shower, and started getting as pretty as possible (my early labor tradition), all the while I'm having very constant and steady contractions.
We weren't in a huge rush, because I knew I wanted to be in active labor by the time we got to the hospital. The contractions started to become so painful that I had to stop what I was doing to breathe through them. Sometimes I'd hum, sometimes they'd be so bad I'd moan. And in the background was a mysterious echo - Joel mocking every noise I was making. Hilarious. But, not so funny in the moment, ha.
Around 8:30am we headed over to Kyle's momma's house to drop the kids off. The contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart and now I had two little people mocking my every breath and noise - both Joel and Zoe were joining in on the fun of all the silly sounds I was making! Kyle asked them to stop because it was making me laugh, which was making me hurt and Joel got defensive, "Momma, why are you sad?! You're about to meet Ruby?!" Yes, son, you're right. ;)
As soon as they got dropped off, I started feeling Ruby moving down the birth canal with every contraction. Craziness. I said, "I hope I don't have her in the car" and that's when Kyle's driving got a little crazy, ha. I remember at one point I started saying, "Oh my gosh, I can't do this." But then I immediately corrected myself and said, "I can do this. I can do this." It was difficult to remind myself that this was going to be just as much a mental endurance challenge as a physical one.
Kyle dropped me off at the hospital entrance and as soon as I got out, another contraction hit. I just held onto the potted plant and tried to breathe while a few guys standing outside offered to get me a wheelchair. I think I shook my head no, but a nurse from inside could see me struggling and she just took it upon herself to bring me one. I stopped by the admitting office and they called for a nurse to come fetch me because my contractions were "one on top of another." As I'm being wheeled down the hall towards the Maternity Ward, I'm passing a ton of people and I remember consciously not making eye contact as I moaned through the pain.
It was 9am when I arrived at Labor and Delivery, and I was not as silent as I'd like to have been. Nurses were coming out of everywhere and I was being asked a ton of questions, like if I had a history of fast labors. Ha, um, no. Let's just say that the pace of my contractions combined with my tense face and loud moans were making everyone think this baby was crowning. They put me in a room and everyone started getting everything ready for a newborn to arrive. My midwife arrived, checked me and declared I was at 5cm. Oh. My. Goodness. Five. A nurse looks at me and asks if I want my epidural. I say no. She then offers IV pain meds. I say no. Looking back, I'm sure she was thinking, "What can I offer you, since you're clearly not handling this well?"
I told my midwife I wanted to get in the tub, hoping that being in the water would allow me to relax and deal with labor better. She said they had to get me on the monitor for at least a little while before allowing me to go anywhere, but she didn't make me lie in bed. Instead she helped me get in a wide-legged stance and instructed me to sway my hips through each contraction. When I told her it hurt, she said she knew. When I said I can't do this, she said that I could. When I said it was hard, she agreed - and then reminded me that I had to not think about any of that, but instead deal with each contraction separately, stay on top of it, and when it starts to come down - realize I was now that much closer to meeting my baby. It was everything I needed in that moment. I was no longer loud as I got through the pain, everything became so much more manageable after our little talk.
Around 9:30, after seeing that Ruby was fine on the monitor, it was confirmed that my water had broken. (As in, my water had NOT broken at Wal-Mart the night before.) See the picture my hilarious hubby posted on Facbook just hours earlier:
My midwife said the tub would be perfect, that she'd had patients who entered at 4 or 5cm and were crowing when they got out. I remember thinking, "That may be a complete lie, but it's exactly what I need to hear!" I walked down the hallway to the tub, having to stop two or three times to deal with a contraction. When we got to the room, we found out our awesome nurse had turned down the lights and had instrumental music playing! The jetted tub was beyond wonderful. They suggested my belly be underwater and I found several positions I loved... until I hated them, haha, and I'd find another one. It felt like we were in that peaceful room over an hour, but we couldn't have been in there more than 30-40 minutes.
Kyle kept telling me how proud he was of me, saying he couldn't believe how calm and relaxed I was. While in the tub, I had perfected the hum-through-the-contraction technique. When I was trying to breathe through them, I was struggling not to get really vocal, but when I would hum it allowed me to inhale slowly through my nose and exhale slowly, all while keeping my mouth closed. I remember not communicating with him much, and he knew to bring the water straw to my mouth instead of to ask me. We'd talked about how I would get to a certain point in labor where my mind would sort of shut off.
Then I had three contractions in the water that were different than all the rest - my body was involuntarily pushing. Wow! I had heard of this happening during natural labor, that if you allow your body to do things on its own - it will! We aren't allowed to birth in the tub, so when the nurse came in to check on us I was able to verbalize that I needed to get out of the tub and now. Getting out of the tub seemed way hard, they decided to drape towels over me instead of trying to get my tank top back on. I didn't care. I just knew this baby was coming out and I had to get back to my room. They did offer me a wheelchair, but I honestly felt like I could walk and could do it on my own, so I did. Although, after three or four contractions in the hallway (where you could hear me bearing down uncontrollably), Kyle said he almost scooped me up and ran me to our room. The last contraction I had in the hallway was right in front of the nurse's station and my midwife came out of my room because she could hear me pushing. My wonderful nurse said to another nurse, "Standby. We might have a hallway baby." And as soon as that contraction was over I grunted, "I am not going to have a hallway baby!"
Around 10:10am, we made it to the room and I laid down on my bed. My midwife checked me and said, "There's her head! We're about to have a baby!" Kyle told me later how thrilled he was during this moment. I still can't believe how quickly I progressed! And I honestly don't think I could have relaxed my body well enough to go that fast had it not been for the tub.
I was immediately instructed to grab my knees and start pushing. This officially ended the silent, humming phase of my labor, haha. I really just wanted to cross my legs and stop the whole process. In my mind, I thought "If my body's pushing this baby out on its own, let's just continue doing things that way!" But, I complied and started pushing. I was screaming through the pain and my midwife, so wonderful, knew I had to re-focus. She sweetly instructed me to open my eyes, look at her, and she said, "This is going to burn and sting. And you're just going to push through that." Well, okay then. I will. I did a few pushes like that and she told me to look down to see Ruby's head. There it was. Amazing. At this point they kept telling me grab my knees and I finally said, "I don't want to be on my back!" So, they allowed me to move onto my left side which felt much more natural to me. I was able to tuck my left leg and only had to worry about grabbing my right leg - which Kyle had been doing since I wasn't listening. At this point, Ruby's nurse was by my head and instructed me to open my eyes and listen to her. She said, "If you just grab that leg, she'll come out!" So, I did! I was so curled up that I literally saw her being born. No mirror necessary. I did resume my closed-eyed, screaming-in-pain position when her shoulders were coming out. And I may or may not have yelled, "Get her outta me!" ;) Kyle said it was the loudest he'd ever heard me scream. It was insane - I actually felt all her body parts as they slid out of me. Here's a picture that shows how happy Daddy was, and how relived I was:
She was born at 10:23am. They put her on my chest and Kyle and I fell in love. She looked just like her big sister when she was born - dark hair, sweet lips. They allowed us to hold her so long, it was lovely...
For your reference, and mine, here's a link to the birth stories for my other three: HERE. Next blog I'm working on - My Timing VS. God's Timing.
Such a beautifully written story, Meghan. Brought me to happy years for you. :) So happy for you and your beautiful family.
ReplyDeleteOh Meghan, I am soooo proud of you!!! This made me cry bc I had mine natural too. And it is soooo worth it! Isnt it how it if over as soon as they are out...And yes the feeling of the head, crowning, shoulders....WOW! And I did scream "I DONT CARE (too see with Eli) PULL IT OUT!"
ReplyDeleteWonderful it is over that was...
ReplyDelete