Our Birth Story-part2

6 days after our group home visit I was woken up by mild contractions (surges) around 3am. They were strong enough to make me leave our bed and head to the shower. The shower had been my place of comfort for both of my previous losses. There is something so soothing about the warmth and sound from the water.

After awhile in the shower the surges started to die down and I was able to fall asleep on the recliner downstairs. Around 8am they started up again but they were manageable. I didn’t need to stop what I was doing when they would come on. I made babe and I breakfast and planned to go on with my day as usual as this was James’ second day of his new job. I drove my sister and babe to our chiropractor appointment then headed to TJMAXX where we shopped around for an hour or so before grabbing Chinese food and heading home. The evening wasn’t too eventful with surges happening every 7-8 minutes lasting anywhere from 30-120 seconds. I took a few more hot showers throughout the evening and headed to bed.

I was woken again this time around 11pm. The surges were stronger and I knew things were picking up. I showered again then watched tv while on the birth ball rocking my hips back and fourth but by 2am I was needing to stop everything I did to breathe through each surge as they grew closer together.

I called our midwife around 2am and we made the decision to have her come check me to know if I was in active labor or just going through a practice round. 3am she arrived and I was 2cm dilated and about 95% effaced! She wanted to wait 3 hours and check again to see if there was any progression to my labor so we just hung out in the living room talking and laughing as we shared stories like friends. Babe woke up around 4:45 am which is NOT like him at all. I think he could sense something was going on. I took him into our bedroom with James hoping he’d fall back asleep. On James’ 3rd day at his new job I woke him up by saying “you aren’t going to work today, our midwife is downstairs and we believe I’m actively in labor”.

Around 7am the boys came down to join us and soon after my sister arrived. I was checked again and this time I was 4cm dilated confirming our suspicions true.

The 5 of us spent the next few hours watching Bluey and sharing stories as I sat on the couch and birth ball breathing my way through each surge. Around lunch time my sister ordered us Subway to be delivered and the midwife took a break to get coffee and lunch. After lunch she checked me again but there was little change so she suggested I take a hot epsom bath to relax. Dozing off between surges for about 30 minutes still didn’t make the surges any stronger or closer together. Our midwife offered two options, take something to relax me and quiet down the surges or take something to amp them up. Her main concern was me getting too warn out before the big show where I would need a lot of energy. With being a week early with no signs of distress there was no reason slowing things down could hurt so I agreed with her and chose the first option.

Part3 to come!