Birth Story

A blog all about Eli wouldn't be complete without the story of how he came into this world, so here ya go:

At 4:30 in the morning on July 18th, I woke up having some pretty strong contractions. I started timing them and they were 7 or 8 minutes apart. This had happened before, so I didn't wake Jake up, I just layed in bed getting excited, thinking it might be time. But then the contractions started getting further apart and I eventually fell back asleep. When I woke up again at around 8:30am I was upset that it had been another false alarm. I had contractions on and off all day, about one an hour. Later that day everyone was swimming so I got in the pool. It felt good to be in the water so I stayed in for about three hours. Around dinner time we got out of the pool and had some pizza. While I was eating, I noticed that the contractions were getting stronger and I was having more than one an hour. After dinner Jake and I took a shower. After the shower I layed down in bed and told Jake that I thought I might be in labor because the contractions were getting a lot closer together. He started timing them and sure enough, they were about 8 minutes apart. This was around 8:30pm. The contractions gradually got closer together so we called Laura, my doula, at about 10:00pm and she said she would be on her way in about an hour.

I had tested positive for Group B Strep and needed antibiotics during labor so we called the midwife to see if I needed to come in. She said yes, so we headed to the birthing center at about 11:00pm. The contractions were getting pretty strong at this point (or so I thought, haha). At the birthing center they checked me and I was 100% effaced and 3cm dialated. I was relieved to hear that I was actually in labor, although I already knew I was. After they gave me a bag of antibiotics through my IV they sent me home to labor some more. They told us to come back in 6 hours for the next dose of antibiotics.

We went home and continued to labor. After about an hour, the contractions got REALLY strong. I started to get overwhelmed with the pain and really scared. Jake was amazing and rubbed my back and encouraged me the whole time. At around 2:00am I was in A LOT of pain. I was starting to think that maybe I couldn't do it and I was getting very close to asking Jake to take me to the hospital so I could get an epidural. Jake called Laura (who had got back home to get her kids in bed) and told her that I was having a lot of pain and she probably needed to come back now. At this point I was sobbing and in sooo much pain.  Laura got to our house at about 2:30am and we went back to the birthing center at about 3:00am. I told myself that if I wasn't close to being 10cm dialated that I was going to insist that I be taken to the hospital and given an epidural because I didn't think I could take much more of how I was feeling.

So we got to the birthing center at about 3:30am and the midwife checked me and I was a 7! So they gave me the second dose of antibiotics and all the while the contractions were getting stronger and stronger.By the time the antibiotics were done I was sobbing and my legs were shaking. I knew I must be going through transition. They asked me if I wanted to get in the tub and I said I did. It seemed like an hour waiting for that tub to fill up! So finally it was full and I walked across the hall to the room I was going to have the baby in. They told me to go to the bathroom before I got in the tub. While I was on the toilet I had two more contractions which were absolutely horrible because I was sitting up. When I went to wipe myself there was blood and I got scared something was wrong but the midwife told me that it was completely normal and it was just because I was dialating. So I got in the tub and immediately felt better. It was like someone flipped a switch. I'm not sure if it was because of the water or because I was finally done with the transition stage or a combination of both, but I felt so much better. I was able to open my eyes and to talk to Jake and Laura, it was great. I had a couple more contractions but they were easier to breathe through being in the water. At 4:28am I told Jake that I wanted to try squatting to see if it would help my water break. So he helped me sit up into a squat but I started having a contraction and it hurt to be squatting so he helped me sit back down and POP, my water broke! After that I started to feel the urge to push. I told the midwife this and she said "Well then push, hon". So I started to push. It took a few contractions for me to feel like I was getting anywhere but then I started to feel him getting really low. He started to crown and the midwife told me to do little short pushes. They told me to reach down and feel his head and I did. It was amazing to feel him there but I knew that I needed to hold my leg and push some more. I kept pushing and all of the sudden his head was out! Then I heard the midwife say "We've got a cord, we've got a cord!" Instantly I knew that I wanted him out so I could make sure he was okay. So I pulled my last ounces of strength out of my body and with one push he was being caught by Jake! (Side note: The cord hadn't been tight at all so he was fine. The midwife just held it aside and Eli went through it.) Before I knew what had happened, my baby Elijah was in my arms. I was crying with joy and kept saying "We did it, we did it!" I looked up at Jake, both of us crying, our eyes met and it was a moment of pure bliss.

I knew in that moment that I had just done the most amazing thing I will ever do in my life. I have the best husband and best son and I thank God for these blessings He has given me.