So since we successfully sold our house and bought a new one I think my body knew that it was time for more exciting things and that the REAL show could begin.
On Thursday July 28 at around 9:30pm we were packing up our extra bedroom. It was our extra bedroom/office and we had lots of junk to sort through. Of course we planned for it to take 20 minutes and it took a couple of hours. Part way through going through stuff I felt something wet drip down my leg. I told Jason and was like, "Did I just pee my pants?" I cleaned myself up and thought it was a false alarm but minutes later- more and more liquid just kept on coming. And I said to Jason, "I'm pretty sure my water just broke!"
I didn't feel any different and hadn't felt any contractions so we used that time to prepare for the hospital. We packed as much of the room as we could within reason and we cleaned the whole house. We packed hospital bags and did lots of prep stuff for dropping Nora off with friends. This process took about 2 hours.
Since I had taken a hypno birthing class and was trying to go as natural as possible I knew one of the biggest strategies for childbirth is to labor at home as much as possible. At home you can be distracted and do what you want to stay busy and manage the pain. Unfortunately, I was also Strep B positive and I knew once my water broke the clock starting ticking on delivering this baby. So we loaded up the car and took Nora to Jen's house.
We chatted with Jen and Tim for a few minutes and at this point my contractions still hadn't started. We got Nora transferred to bed at their house and I think we were just all in shock that this was really happening!
So THEN we headed to the hospital AFTER we stopped to get Jason a Mountain Dew! Priorities people! Jason was hilarious this go around. Once my water broke at home he was totally dazed and worthless. I had to tell him exactly what to do because he was freaking out! Poor guy had been working like a dog at home and at work and I think he hadn't had much mental time to prep for this baby! So when the time came he was like "NO WAY!" Luckily he calmed down after I bossed him around at home for awhile and he was ready for showtime when we arrived at the hospital.
We checked in and were taken straight to a Labor and Delivery room. They checked my urine and eventually me and confirmed that my water had broken and I was dilated to a 4. I was both excited about being a 4 and a little bummed because I really wanted to arrive at an 8 and then just be done soon after! ha! Wishful thinking. I was also given my first dose of penicillin. Ironically, that stuff was probably as painful as a lot of my contractions since I had a large IV in my hand and it burned while being dispersed. While laboring, they are required to give it to you every 6 hours so I was hoping to labor no more than 12 to receive only 2 doses (you don't receive anymore once the baby is born).
So I began laboring in bed and then switched to the chair for the first few hours. I told the nurses I wanted to hold off on the epidural and ideally, never receive it. I was explicit that I didn't want any narcotics since they messed me up last time!
I labored in medium pain from about 12-3:40 in the morning. I asked to be checked at that point and I was at a 6! I felt so accomplished! I was sure the baby was coming ASAP and that I could do it all myself with the help of the techniques I learned in my hypnobirthing class and with Jason standing strong at my side.
So I continued laboring with the contractions getting more and more painful, unable to sleep all night. At 5:30am I asked to be checked again and hadn't made any progress- I was still at a 6. I also received another dose of the horrible antibiotics at this point.
I was handling the pain well overall- breathing through the contractions and trying to focus and stay calm. I don't agree with all of the hypno birthing ideas but I did love the feeling of control, peace and calm I had as I managed my own labor.
At 7:45AM I asked again to be checked. They don't always recommend this and the nurses never pressured me to be checked but I felt it was the only way to know what was happening and if I was moving forward. At this point I had made it to a 7.5/8 and I was still optimistic! I even put on makeup at this point and brushed my hair to prepare for the birth! (I was trying to look a little less dead at this point than I did during Nora's labor)
The pain was growing more and more intense but my contractions were still very far apart. The entire duration of my labor- even though I was progressing and I felt lots of pain, my contractions always stayed about 5-7 minutes apart (without intervention). So this provided me long breaks to rest in between/distract myself but also made my labor much much slower.
At 9:45AM I again asked to be checked. I was growing restless and the pain was becoming worse and worse. I just knew I was so close and that I could make it a little while longer! But after 2 more difficult hours- I was still at only an 8.
BUT I PUSHED ON!
I continued laboring with Jason coaching me through contractions and watching them come and go on the screen. I squeezed his hand to death and breathed loudly and often yelled and writhed in pain. It was completely horrible but also wonderful as I was so proud of myself every minute that I continued! Somewhere between the 6-9 I jammed to some music while standing and pushing through the contractions (see video below) and it was fun for awhile and helped distract me. Eventually I had to get back in bed but I will never hear Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling" without thinking of bringing Venna into this world!
At 11:45AM I was checked and was at a 9! I had almost made it. I had incredible nurses supporting me every step of the way and my doctors followed my lead on my wants. (Everyone had assumed I would have had the baby long before this point but they let me make my decisions since I told them that is what I wanted). Again, I was SO SO PROUD that I had made it this far but I was also exhausted! I hadn't slept in over 28 hours and had been laboring for 12 hours straight. If I continued at this rate it would still take me 2 hours to get to pushing and I didn't think I could do 2 more hours of labor and have the energy to push. My labor wasn't stalled but it was definitely progressing slowly at a point where you hope it will speed up! The nurses and doctors suggested pitocin and I finally agreed that I had made it far enough on my own and needed just a little push to help get us to the finish line!
I casually mentioned the epidural to my nurse, assuming she would say it was too late to receive it at this point. She said NO! It's almost never too late to receive it and that if I wanted it that the anesthesiologist could arrive shortly. Jason and I discussed and we felt like it was the right call to receive it. I could labor more peacefully and prepare for the arrival of our baby without being any more exhausted. I'm not going to lie, the pushing at the end and delivery of the baby and placenta also terrified me to feel all of it. Plus, my contractions would only intensify with the pitocin drip and I really needed a break. (Also, all of this justification is for ME. No one else cared how I labored-Jason, the doctors, the nurses, my friends. All I wanted from this birth experience was for ME to be happy and confident with the way things played out).
So at 12:30pm they started the Pitocin and at 12:40 I received the epidural. It took a bit for it to kick in and it was only fully working on one side. I think I called the doctor back and they fixed it to more evenly distribute? That part is a little hazy as things were picking up at this point. I do know for sure that one side was extremely numb and the other less so - but I wasn't in pain so I wasn't complaining too much!
People started gathering in the room and I began happily pushing at 1:25pm. Dr. Orth was so great and so positive the whole time and so were all the nurses. We would chat in between the contractions and they, along with Jason, gave me the strength to keep going. I was definitely having a harder time pushing than with Nora since I had been laboring for so long at this point.
After all of that, Miss Venna Rose Elizabeth was born at 2:05pm-healthy and beautiful! I was so excited, so proud and so aware of the whole experience that it was wonderful! We asked for delayed cord clamping and Jason did the honors when the time came to cut the cord. We also did immediate skin to skin and breastfeeding and it was just such tender moments while the staff did their thing all around me. Eventually they took her and wiped her off for us and Dr. Orth continued cleaning me up. At this point I was on such a high! I was telling all the staff about how I had sold my house, bought a house and then had a baby in the past 3 days! And that I went into labor on my due date!
I am so happy with our birth experience and so proud of all that I could do with my own body and perseverance. I'm proud I managed the whole experience and Jason supported me the whole way and was my advocate when I needed him. We had a great experience at the hospital and I'm so content with the whole experience.
Venna weighed in at 7 pounds 14 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She came with red hair just like her sister and she was swollen for the first 48 hours or so until we got home and we could see her real looks :) But she was perfect in every way and we knew she was meant to be ours!
Welcome to the world Baby Venna! We are so glad you joined our family!!
These were taken at 8:40AM- I thought I was getting close so I cleaned up a bit! turns out I had 5 more hours to go!
Here she is!!
We did it! One of the happiest moments of my life bringing that sweet girl from Heaven.
Proud Daddy!
Not her most flattering shot but it didn't take too long for her to cuten up below:
Sweet baby Venna-how we love you!
