Baby Cia is here! :D

So, I've been MIA again, but for good reason this time!

At first, I was hating the world because everyone else was having their babbies and I had no sign of having mine! So, I decided to stay away from the interwebz for a while so everyone wouldn't hate me for bitching constantly. I was feeling super depressed, it sucked.

Last weekend was a busy weekend, full of maple syrup and insomnia. We had an amazing turn out at the open house. But of course, all of the comments about how hugely pregnant I was didn't help my sour mood. A couple people mentioned the full moon on Monday night, and how they thought I'd have her then (complete strangers mind you). I just told them all I wasn't holding my breath.

Well, Sunday after the open house hours ended, I met up with Grama K and we went into the 'city' so I could go to Target and get a swing and a breast pump. We walked around forEVER hoping it'd do something. It didn't. We ate at Red Lobster since i'd been craving seafood because of all the Lobsterfest commercials on this time of year.

So Monday, D and I got up and decided to be ambitious and put the swing together. Grampa had to help us because a few parts of it needed more tools than a screwdriver and... well, I suck with the whole handy thing.  We got that put together and we played the rest of the day (and napped). I had been doing squats every so often the past few days and had did the acupressure points Saturday and Sunday nights. But, I thought nothing was happening. Grama went to bed at around 10 and had came up and told me her plans for the am (she was supposed to watch my cousins in addition to Donovon). I had an appt at 10:15.

I was just chatting on chat, getting depressed that ANOTHER mama due after me was in labor. I started having what I thought were Braxton Hicks sometime around then. I didn't pay any attention to them because I didn't want to get my hopes up and I'd been having BHs for weeks even consistent ones every 6ish mins for 12ish hours, with no results!

I ignored them and just went about my business. Around midnight I realized they still hadn't subsided, but still they didn't seem close (atleast not enough for me to notice) and were only uncomfortable, not painful. I decided to take a shower JUST in case it was the real thing.

I took a shower, got back in pajamas, etc. and got back online chatting with Meggie at 12:50ish, and she suggested I start timing them since it'd been going on for a few hours. So, I pulled up trusty ole contractionmaster.com and started timing them at 12:55. Much to my surprise they were coming 3 mins apart, and lasting just over a minute. I still wasn't convinced because they weren't that painful (but were definitely more painful than a while before) and again, I didn't want to get my hopes up. I couldn't time them perfectly because Cia was moving SO much between contractions I couldn't tell when a contraction started, or finished because her back would press against my belly.

At 1:30, I decided I had better call L&D, see what they thought, and go from there. They connected me to the midwife on call (who was sleeping at home). I told her what was going on and she said "well, it could be it, I'd wait about half an hour longer just to make sure they don't taper off, and then come in if they haven't."
They didn't. At about 1:45 they dropped to 2 mins apart, and I was having to get up and pace the hallway through them chanting to myself "it's okay, it's okay, it's okay". Swinging my arms, or pushing on my back... I kept feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom, but I'd sit down and nothing would come. I threw the rest of the essentials in my hospital bag that hadn't been able to go before and called my Grama to wake her and tell her we needed to go.

She got dressed and came upstairs. Meanwhile, D had woke up and was crying because he wanted me to lay back down with him, or hold him. I could do neither. The contractions were too intense. I loved on him some and told him I thought his baby sister was coming to meet us tonight... Etc. Then let grama take him downstairs to grampa so we could get on the road.


We left the house at 2:10ish, having contractions every couple of minutes in the front seat of a mini-van was not very fun. I was sweating profusely and downed an entire water bottle on the trip. About halfway there I remembered I was supposed to call L&D to tell them if I was really coming in or not. But, of course I didn't have that number programmed into my phone and couldn't find that paper between contractions. So I called Grama K (2:30ish am) and told her to call L&D and tell them I was coming. She asked if I wanted her to come and I snapped at her "I DON'T CARE JUST CALL THE HOSPITAL!" lol I was not in a chit-chatty mood.

About 3/4 of the way there or so, it got extremely painful, the pressure was like nothing I'd ever felt before. I tell my grama this, and she reassures me that it'll be okay (we HAD to make it to the hospital) lol. I didn't know that I was really probably fully dilated at this point and that pressure and the urge to push was the real deal...

So we get to the hospital, go to the ER entrance (apparently the wrong one but we didn't know, not like we go to the ER often), and an orderly comes out with a wheelchair. I was dying of heat AND it helped to be up and moving during a contraction not sitting, so I had gotten out of the van. He tried to get me to sit in the chair.. Um I'm sorry, but sitting in a wheelchair during a contraction when I could walk/stand to deal with the pain more... Ya, I don't think so. I just wanted to be in L&D! LOL I was almost in tears but somehow still had my composure, though I wasn't very quiet or nice when I tried to talk.

When the contraction subsided I sat in the wheelchair and apologized to him, "it just REALLY hurts" so we got to L&D, and as we got to the room to check my progress, I was having another contraction. The nurses were telling me to lay down on the bed to be checked... But, IT HURT and I couldn't. I had a hold of one of the nurses shirts, squeezing it, cause ya know squeezing cotton fabric helps a ton BAER. Finally one of the nurses checks me but says "I can't tell how dilated she is, the bag is bulging, RIGHT there." So, a different nurse checked me, who apparently wasn't afraid of the bulging bag. She didn't say out loud what I was, but she rushed to the door and hollers down the hall for the nurse at the desk to "CALL DEB NOW, JEN IS TOO FAR AWAY" Deb wasn't the midwife on call, but lived considerably closer than Jen did. Then as they were wheeling me to a room, I heard the nurse tell the other nurse "She's complete with a bulging sac, she probably really does feel the need to push!"

So we get to a room, they have me lay on my side (with my legs together, seriously! ha!), and Brianna (one of the nurses) was coaching me to 'blow out the candle' during contractions. Really, ALL I wanted to do was push. But, I trusted her and I really didn't want to tear. I didn't think I could get through it, the pain was INTENSE and definitely like nothing I'd ever felt before. My grama got to the room, I again asked for ice chips and got to suck on them (I was still dying of heat). They turned the air on in the room and gave me a cold washcloth for my head. I told my grama to call my mom, she did. My mom asked if I wanted to talk to her, so my grama asked me and I yelled "NO!" lol again, not in a chit-chat mood. But, I wanted my mom updated.

I was still having contractions super closely, I was gripping the side of the bed rail that had a little groove in it and/or my hair/washcloth. Trying to chant to myself in my head that i'd be okay. I felt like I had to poop and told everyone that a few times. LOL. Brianna assured me "No, honey that's just the baby's head." But man, it felt like I had to take a massive poop. Ha.

Brianna continued to coach me through contractions with "blowing out the candle" which was increasingly difficult to do, I just wanted to push- SO BAD. She just kept saying we need to wait for the midwife. So, I listened. My grama was amazing and encouraged me the whole time and fed me ice chips when I asked for them.

FINALLY I saw Deb walk in. She was washing her hands and I told her "I need to push!" She goes "Then push!" So they helped me turn onto my back, Deb broke my water and immediately said "I see hair!" lol baby girl was most def. ready to enter this crazy world. Then I realized: OH NO, WHERE'S THE CAMERA?! I told my grama where it was in my bag, she got it... it was on video mode from Donovon being silly earlier... So she didn't know what to do. (Mind you, i'm on my back having a contraction... but I was NOT going to have this baby without pictures since my mom wasn't there! lol) I didn't push, instead I took the camera from my grama, quickly put it on the right mode and told her "just press the button!" One of the nurses made a comment about how "She's going to show us all how to have a baby... AND work her camera!" That I did! So, a few contractions and pushes later, Miss Cia was born! Oh and, don't let me forget to mention that the 'ring of fire' they talk about, is no joke. It feels exactly like that.

I got to hold her for a bit until the cord stopped pulsing, then my grama cut her cord. We cuddled a bit more and then they took her to the little baby station they had in there to weigh her. 7 lbs 14 oz. Bigger than her brother! :) They gave her back to me and we nursed, Grama K showed up and both Grama's held her, then later the nurse gave her a bath and set her under the heating lamp to get her nice and toasty again. I needed to pee, (only an hour, maybe 2 after birth) so I took a shower when I did that.

They took her to the nursery to do whatever else they need to do, footprints and vitamin K, and length- 20.5 inches.

I was tired, but had all this energy from the adrenaline that goes along with having a completely natural delivery! I didn't really sleep until the morning after both grama's had left and Cia was sleeping soundly.