Levi's Birth Story Part 1

At Home, Friday May 6th:

Mike's parent's were supposed to come to town that day to hang out with us for Mother's Day weekend but they cancelled at the last minute and decided to come Saturday. Both Bailey and Evie were with their other parents so Mike and I had an unexpected date night, just the two of us. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and after we went to Wally World to get desserts and a few random things. We got home and ate our desserts and caught up on one of our favorite TV shows, Parks and Recreation. We went to bed about 10:30 PM. All day I had been having contractions but none of them were painful, I knew that I was close to going into labor but I really thought I wouldn't have Levi til his due date, the same as with Evelyn. As I was sleeping I started having harder contractions. I didn't think much of it because again, I just didn't think he was going to come early.

At 1:30AM I got up to pee and felt a little gush. I wasn't sure if it was my water breaking or not so I stayed standing, waiting to see if I was leaking or what. Nothing more happened so I laid back down. I knew that if I laid down for a little while and then stood up that I would probably gush again when I stood up and that would be the confirmation I needed that my water really had broken. Throughout this whole thinking process I left the bathroom light on and Mike woke up. I explained the situation and he told me to come to bed. I laid back down, had some contractions with cramping, stood back up, and gush. Yep, my water had indeed broken. Mike bolted out of bed and started checking the hospital bag and getting himself ready. We both were really excited and shocked. We called the doula, my Mom, and his parents so that everyone could meet us at the hospital. Mike packed the car and off we went. I had harder contractions the entire way to the hospital.

We arrived and dragged our birth pool and bags into triage around 230AM. They looked at me and had me use a pH strip to make sure it was amniotic fluid I was leaking and not pee. It was definitely amniotic fluid. We were taken to an L&D room immediately, the biggest one they had because they knew we needed space for the birth pool. And then I was asked bunches of questions, and hooked up to a monitoring machine for 30 minutes. This was the only time that I laid in the hospital bed during labor or delivery. And let me say, thank goodness my contractions weren't too hard at that point because it was AWFUL being strapped down in one position through contractions. I can not imagine having a drug free birth if I had to labor in a bed the whole time. I don't think I could do it, it is soo uncomfortable.

Mike and I when we first got to the hospital.

At the Hospital, Saturday Early Morning May 7th:

While I was being monitored the doulas came, Cindy and Pam. And they brought their bags of tricks for helping me through labor without meds. They were both so excited and so happy, we all were! My contractions were continuing to be hard but I could still talk through most of them. When they became hard to talk through I got on the birth ball (fancy exercise ball) and that was very nice, I hadn't ever used a birth ball in labor with Evelyn, I highly recommend it!

Me on the birth ball.

My contractions weren't really picking up as fast as I wanted so we decided I should walk the hallway a few times to really get labor going. I knew that my Mom was on her way to the hospital and that she would be arriving soon. As soon as I saw her and hugged her my contractions hit a whole new level. I cried when I saw my Mom. She was with me through my entire labor and birth with Evelyn and having her with me for this birth was just as special.

My Mom took this pic of me having a contraction in the hallway right after she arrived.

At this point it was around 3AM. We went back to the room and I used the restroom (cleaned out the bowels). My contractions were getting harder and harder and I labored a little while longer in the room. When I started to moan through my contractions I decided I wanted to get in the birth pool. Mike had already set it up and filled it before we walked the hallway.

The Birth Pool

To be continued...