I have been asked by a lot of people to share Rowen's birth story, so I figured that a blog would be the easiest way to do so. Here it is :)
I woke up on 1/3 not expecting anything exciting to be happening that day. It was supposed to be my first day back to work after holidays, and I was not looking forward to it. My alarm went off and my first thought was “Holy Acid Reflux!” Second thought was “Crap I have to throw up.” After I spent most of my morning in the bathroom I decided not to go into work that day. What’s one more day of vacation? Boy was I wrong about that one. As the day went on I began to feel much better and had no idea of the events that were about to occur.
At about 7pm Colin decided we were going to get ice cream, since we needed to buy water too. We enjoyed our ice cream and talked about the baby; our excitement, fears, and constant wondering of when we would be meeting our little girl and what she was going to look like.
When we got home, it was life as usual; both of us on our laptops watching TV and relaxing. I went to bed at 10ish like I usually do, and Colin decided to go ahead and go with me because he was really tired. About 10:30 I got up to pee. As I was peeing, I felt a little pop. I thought nothing of it, since baby had been known to kick my bladder while I was peeing on multiple occasions, teasing me that it was a sign she was coming. It wasn’t until I started walking the 4 feet from my bathroom back to bed that I realized, “O crap. This could really be it this time”. After the first step, I felt something trickle down my leg. Great, now I am peeing on myself. I turned around to go back to the bathroom and the trickling started to get heavier. At this point Colin and I had the “I-think-my-water-just-broke-or-I peed-myself”. Moment and he looked down at the bathroom floor and said “Yep, you are definitely leaking.”
At this point he had broken out into a mad panic trying to get our stuff together. We got to the car and Colin strapped in the car seat. I felt surprisingly calm. We got to the ER, and I got to stand there looking like I was peeing my pants because we got the slowest ER admissions lady EVER. After we finally got up to L&D I was asked “Do you think your water broke?” I laughed and told her that I was soaked.
They got us admitted and put in a L&D room about 11:30. I could hear sounds of babies crying and women screaming. I started to get nervous. My midwife came in and explained that we were basically just waiting for labor to start, and that she wouldn’t be doing an exam until I felt it was necessary, as to prevent infection. She told me to try and get some sleep before contractions started, I didn’t sleep much between then and about 2 in the morning. I asked for Ambien, and of course, right as I laid my head down, the contractions started. They were nothing more painful than Braxton Hicks, just more consistent and got a little bit more intense as time went on. I managed to get little 10 minute at a time naps from then until about 4 in the morning.
I remember waking up to a contraction and thinking “O wow. That wasn’t fun”, but still they weren’t unbearable and I could still walk and talk through them. They stayed consistent in length and intensity until about 6:00 that morning. At this point Colin and I were up walking around trying to make the contractions as bearable as possible. I had wanted to go med free from the beginning but kept an open mind just in case. About 7:00 I told Colin “I want drugs!” We had the midwife check and to my utter disbelief I was already at 8cm. At this point I thought, “I have made it this far, I can do this without.” The doctor gave me some Zofran( since I got to be one of those lucky women who vomit during labor.) At about 8:00 I had this intense pressure and felt like I needed to push. Midwife checked and said that I was only at 9 cm and had me lay on my side. At that point the pressure got worse and the contractions were getting almost unbearable.
At 8:30, I told her that I couldn’t-not push so she checked again and said that we were ready. Pushing was such a relief from the intense pressure. After 27 minutes of pushing our little girl was here. Colin both watched her head come out and cut the umbilical cord...the 2 things he swore he would not do. He was so amazing throughout the whole experience. I could tell he had no idea what he was doing, but simply telling me how awesome I was doing was more than I could ever ask for. I am so lucky to have him.
Rowen came into this world at 8:57am, and boy did she make an entrance! Not only did she shoot out like a torpedo spraying the midwife in the face, she apparently did not think that was dramatic enough so she proceeded to poop all over the midwife and pee all over mommy.
I remember the nurse saying “O she just needs a little help” and I freaked out on the inside. Little did I know she simply meant that she just needed to be rubbed a little so she would start breathing. They took her over to the heating table and did her assessment and she was perfect. I looked over and stared at her. She was so beautiful in all her slimy, purpleness. I couldn’t believe that she was mine. The midwife assessed the damage that my beautiful baby had just caused my body. Luckily for her, I didn’t tear or have any type of complications at all. I guess that means that she still gets a car for her 16th birthday J.When I finally got to hold her again, I did not want to let go.
She is so amazing. As I sit here writing this with her cuddled up on her daddy's chest, I feel like the luckiest person in the world.
