Every Little Detail.

Here's another one of those "this is the birth story and it's really long and probably has TMI, but my blog is my journal and I want to write it down so I have a record of it so read it if you want or whatever" blog entries that have been popping up everywhere lately. So let's start at the beginning!...

On April 12th I went in for my 37 weeks OB visit. They asked me if I wanted to be checked and I thought, heck why not? So the midwife came in and I started feeling a little silly because I hadn't really been having contractions or anything, but she went ahead and checked me and said I was dilated 3 cm and 80% effaced. I was shocked, I was hoping at best I would be at a one. She predicted I'd be in to have the baby before my next appt. and although I knew better about things happening that fast I tried not to get my hopes up. I did start walking and trying other things to help me progress. Fast forward and I go to my next appt the following week. She checks me again and I've progressed to a 4-4 1/2 still 80%. I am ready, so we'll see if I make it to the next appt. The weeks consists of lots of walking, spicy food, and finally Matt went out and bought me some raspberry leaf tea. Contractions are super erratic but few and seldom and I continue to be MISERABLE, because I can't sleep and keeping up with Lincoln has become a complete JOKE.

So a little frustrated that I've made it yet again to another appt that I shouldn't have made it to we all get ready and head to the clinic April 28th in the AM. They call me back and before she checks me I beg that she strips my membranes. She says they technically aren't supposed to until i'm officially 39 weeks, which is two days away, but she's the on call midwife so she gets to decide and anyways she'll just 'check me' REALLY good. So she checks me and i'm at a whopping 5 cm (could be stretched to a 6) and 90% effaced. Pretty much I couldn't be more ready to go! (So why am i not in labor????) She says what would you like to do? I could send you to the hospital right now and break your water or you could go walk around a little. I decide to try give stripping the membranes a chance to do it's thing and if i get crazy by the end of the day i'll just go the hospital anyways!

So we instead of sticking close we decide to head home and get everything ready because I am feeling super confident things are going to start happening even though no contractions have really hit yet. We get home, Matt prepares shift at work while i get mine and Linc's bag totally packed. I jump on the treadmill and walk for a mile. No contractions that I can specify yet, but I'm definitely feeling a little discomfort and pressure. I sit down with Linc to finish the movie we are watching and I think, oh I should call someone to make sure I can drop Linc off, so I let my friend Lacey know and shoot, they aren't exactly available til 3. No big deal, i'll go next door and see if they are available until then just in case. So I hop on over there, have a quick chat and Matt and I decide lets go grab some lunch! Subway? Sounds good! So we start heading out the door and I think, Oh i'm pregnant I should go potty before we head out the door. But just as i'm finished up a gush of water comes out and I think, umm thats weird and I yell to Matt, "Honey, i think my water just broke... YUP! WHOA my water just broke!!! At this point Linc has escaped out the front door (because we were heading to the car) and I am stuck on the potty because every time I move more and more water rushes out and Matt is between the two of us trying to figure out what the heck to do!!

So i yell, "get me a towel or something so I can get up and get ready to go!" And of course we can't find my purse, which isn't that important except i know i need my ID for the hospital. So Matt is starting to panic a little (just out of excitement) and somehow I am still super calm. I finally find my purse and take Linc over to my neighbors, it had probably been seriously 4 minutes since we left and were back, surprise!! Contractions start up but they are nothing and we get in the car and head to the hospital. At this point I just think I am soooo cool because my water broke. I keep bragging to Matt that I'm part of the 10%, and I am just soo cool. We make it to the hospital and contractions are now 5 minutes apart and still not intense, I can talk and stand just fine. (oh my water broke at 12:30 and we walk in the hospital at 1.)

They check us in which takes a few minutes and by the time we are in my room contractions are maybe 3 minutes apart and I can feel them but still super excited. I change into my beautiful hospital gown and the nurses come in to check me into the computer even more. I get hooked up and in bed and although I had planned on skipping the IV I decided that I wanted it because I wasn't feeling super hydrated (and at this point I realize that i didn't get to eat lunch, dang...) So i'm laying in bed and she is asking me all these questions and man these contractions are getting close and intense! (at this point it is only about 1:21, I remember looking at the clock, lol) She is still trying to ask me questions but I can't talk because I am trying to relax through the contractions and it's kinda hard and I am thinking in my head, why aren't these guys checking me?? Finally I'm having a hard time because they are starting to be really intense and only about 30 seconds apart and everyone is asking me do you feel pressure and I am but not #2 I just really wanted to get up and pee again, lol. I stand up for a few minutes with Matt and the student nurse is feeding me ice chips and at this point they say hey lets call the midwife and I am just getting done saying to Matt oh, this hurts I don't want to do this natural anymore! The nurse checks me and she says, oh you can do this you are at a 9! Matt keeps encouraging me and saying you are so tough you are so close you can do this! And I think yeah! Besides, its gonna take forever to get an anesthesiologist in here lets just get this over with! ow ow ow ow!!

Jennifer my midwife walks in (i got her out of a boring meeting) she checks me me and says Complete! Lets do this! And now I start to panic inside.. oh my gosh, I have to push a baby out now??? So start it off, push one oh no that doesn't feel good!! Everything I had read and people i've talked to said that once you get to this point it actually feels good to push, but I had been having contractions for such a short time that that was not the case for me. Oh and it's only like 1:55 at this point. So i keep pushing and I'm freaking out and hollering and this one nurse would grab me by the face and say Lindsey! You are doing sooo good, you can do this! You are almost there!! She was awesome it really helped me to focus, and Matt was just as encouraging but I think he was freaking out on the inside a little bit too :) Contractions come a little different when you are pushing so I was getting a little confused when to push and how long, so finally i decided to just push when I wanted to. As he come down things got super tight and they wanted to give me an episiotomy because he could just pop out, but I really didn't want one, even if I tore and i'm thinking could it really be the much longer? After a lot of hard work in a very short period of time he finally came out at 2:10! That only like 1 hr and 40 minutes after my water broke folks! Once his head was through it was instant relief and no joke I immediately forgot all pain. Later I noticed that I had broken a bunch of blood vessels above my eyes because I pushed too hard with my face (not supposed to do that!) They put him on my belly and Matt cut the cord and oh it was so awesome to see my sweet baby for the first time! They checked him out while the placenta was delivered and she stitched me up a little and I got to do some skin to skin time for the next little while with my sweet Atticus James. He was a whopping 8 lbs 3 oz (which i think is exactly how big I was when I was born, right mom?) 21 inches long and just handsome as can be. He is a spitting image of his older brother and is very sweet and mellow so far. We call him Ace for short and if you attempt to call him Attie, I will cut you off.

We hung out in the hospital for as long as we could and big brother came to visit the morning after. He has really been warming up to Atticus and hasn't been too jealous or anything.

I have been having a FANTASTIC recovery. Nothing more than soreness and tiredness, and I was only hormonal for about a half a day (i know it's still early). I contribute my wellness to 1. the fact that it's my second baby 2. It was so short I almost feel like there was nothing to recover from 3. to delivering naturally which was the whole reason I wanted to go natural. But don't get me wrong, I LOVED that epidural last time and I've not made any decisions about future births!

Will you forgive me for such a long post? I'm never a fan of entries other people post that are so long and don't include pics, except for the birth stories. I promise next post will be nothing but pictures of my beautiful boy(s)!