Charlotte's Birth Story - Part 1

My 40 week appointment had come and gone and I'd come to terms with the fact that I would be induced the following week and was no longer anticipating labor. I'd run, had eggplant parm, pineapple, bounced on the exercise ball, had my membranes swept --twice--, taken evening primrose oil, drank red raspberry leaf tea...nothing seemed to help.

C's room, almost ready for her arrival!

I was frustrated. I couldn't get through even a couple hours of the day without getting some sort of text, call, or even comments from random strangers. "Have that baby yet?!" "You are still pregnant?!" That coupled with the advice of "Go home to your husband and get this show on the road! Oh, wait...he's deployed." Kick a preggo while she's down, ya know? I wanted to throw my phone against the wall. I know everyone meant well, but I was just done. My mom had been visiting for almost 2 weeks and I knew every day the baby didn't decide it was go time, was another day I would lose her help after delivery.

On Saturday the 23rd we had a nice day at home. I remember making a new recipe for dinner (which I will share one day when things get less crazy around here!) and my sweet neighbors bringing us over lemon cupcakes. She had researched and lemon was supposed to be another natural labor inducer, so clearly I had two...just in case. ;)

I woke up several times during the night to pee, during each of which I noticed what felt like a real contraction. Nothing that kept me from falling right back to sleep again though. I finally awoke for the day right after 6am, and the contractions were still there and had picked up, to the point that I texted my mom (who was sleeping still) and let her know that this might be the start of something. She came downstairs and decided to shower and get ready immediately and suggested I start doing the same. I really doubted that this would turn into anything, but she wasn't buying it. I was four days overdue and chances were, it was finally time.

8 Weeks

40 Weeks

I showered and slowly started getting myself together. Grace had woken up and was laying in my bed watching her morning shows while I put last minute things in my hospital bag and dried my hair in between contractions. I texted my girlfriend who was on call to watch Grace and let her know things were happening and I'd get back to her later. Not even 30 minutes later I re-texted and asked her to come over within the hour. Things were getting closer together quickly. What started about around 10 minutes apart was now 7 (which was when the hospital suggested I head in), and were lasting about 45 seconds. By the time she arrived and we left, they were over a minute long and maybe closer to 5 minutes apart. It was 9am.

Once we were in the car and driving they started coming every 2 minutes. We had a 30 minute drive...and it was raining. My mom drove like she was in a race and I tried to keep calm timing things on my phone. Nothing was changing. It was every two minutes like clock work.

When we got to the hospital I waddled up to the 4th floor and went to triage. My mom and I wondered how far along I'd be. She guessed 5ish...I knew better based on how slowly I progressed with Grace. The checked me and I was a 3. A freaking 3. I'm pretty sure I burst into tears. They kept me on the monitor and contractions kept coming quickly. They were more painful than I remember them being with G and I started throwing up, which I hoped would let people know I was serious about how bad I felt. I didn't have to wait long, they admitted me and I quickly got a room and IV. It was 10am. I guess the difference between being 37 weeks with Grace and 40.4 with Charlie is that people take things a little more seriously. Thank. God. I prepped for what I was sure would be a long day of labor. I had already thrown up breakfast and recalled how starving I'd be by the time this baby arrived.

Little did I know I'd barely have time for the epidural to be done properly...

More to come. :)