At my 38 week appointment, I was told that I was barely dilated at all and if I wanted to be induced the following week I would need to get to at least 1 centimeter by next week's appointment. I went into labor naturally with Dalton around 39 weeks, but induction was appealing this time around because my mom was going to be in town starting the day I hit 39 weeks. She was planning to stay for two weeks and I was looking forward to getting as much help as possible. Ryan also had a few court deadlines and needed to travel to Los Angeles for work for a few days the week of my due date. The inflexible legal calendar had me panicky and I was ready to do whatever it took to guarantee that Ryan was present for Daphne's birth.
After spending the week exhausting nearly every wive's tale I could find in hopes of naturally inducing labor, I went to my 39 week appointment on February 7 hoping for some good news and an induction date. The nurse practitioner told me I had made zero progress and asked me to come back in 3 days to meet with the OB to come up with a game plan. I left that 10 am appointment feeling completely defeated. I was convinced that this baby was never going to arrive, or she was going to pick an arrival during rush hour while Ryan was stuck in LA. The only good news was that my mom was officially going to be in town for the birth since her flight got in around 11 pm that night.
That night I decided that I was going to go to our aunt's house to jump on her trampoline in hopes that my water would break or contractions would start. We spent a few hours over there eating Chinese food and bouncing on the trampoline. (I don't necessarily recommend this as a safe way to induce labor...) My fortune cookie said "You will enjoy doing something spontaneous this coming weekend." I jokingly posted my fortune in my Instagram stories with the caption "Like spontaneously go into labor?!" We left her house around 9 pm and still no signs of labor...
My mom arrived at our house around midnight. Our family friend who had picked my mom up from the airport put a sticky note saying "Eviction Notice 2/7/19" on my belly when she walked in the door. My mom was exhausted from working the night shift the day before as a nurse, and flying all day from Florida to California. As soon as she arrived, we all went to bed. The contractions started as soon as I climbed in bed. Ryan passed out quickly, but I started tracking my contractions on an app. They were coming every 5 minutes initially and quickly switched to every 2 minutes. I felt like they were pretty intense, but I didn't think it was quite time to go to the hospital. After 30 minutes of tracking pretty regular contractions, I decided to go wake my mom up to ask when the best time to go to the hospital would be. In a nearly delirious state, my mom told me I still had time. It was now a little after 1 am and I decided to go take a shower to see if the contractions would stop.
Right before climbing in the shower, my app notified me that I was likely in active labor and not to panic. I used the same app with Dalton and never saw that notification. I had spent nearly 3 days off and on in labor with Dalton, and I decided it wasn't a big deal. I woke Ryan up and decided he should track my contractions while I was showering. At some point I asked him how many minutes I had between contractions because I wanted to shave my legs. I only had two minutes, but I managed to get it done. I decided that we probably should go to the hospital because things weren't slowing down and I didn't think we would get sent home. Upon climbing out of the shower, I immediately threw up into our bathroom sink and my water broke simultaneously. It was now 2:15 am, and Ryan told me we definitely needed to leave for the hospital.
I threw on a nightgown and a nursing bra. We grabbed our bags which were thankfully packed due to a scare two weeks prior, and made it out the door around 2:30 am. Ryan told my mom he would update her once we got the hospital. My mom wanted to attend the birth and was planning to leave Dalton with a babysitter in the morning. We walked out the car and I immediately got the urge to push. I didn't tell Ryan this initially, but I knew this wasn't a good thing and contemplated if we should go back inside to call 911. I knew my mom was capable of delivering the baby if necessary. I didn't want that birth story, so I forced myself into the car.
Ryan ran every red light and sped down the freeway to get us to the hospital that is about 20 minutes away without any traffic. Thankfully there isn't traffic in the middle of the night and we didn't drive by any cops. Upon arriving at the Hospital Emergency Room around 2:45 am, I was immediately taken up to Labor and Delivery. They put us in a waiting room where someone was going to bring us paperwork to fill out. I must have been in pretty rough shape because a nurse immediately came in and said she was going to take me to a triage room to "check" me. Ryan was told to stay behind to fill out the paperwork.
I was still getting the urge every few minutes to push. I didn't even know that was a "thing" because you really don't get that urge with an epidural. While still wearing the clothes I arrived in, the nurse checked me and announces "This baby is coming right now!" I was shocked by how quickly it was all happening and replied, "That means no epidural, huh?" This is where my memory gets a little foggy because of the insane amount of pain. I remember the nurse shouting for a labor room and a doctor. Several other nurses came into the room and wheel my bed full speed down a hallway. The whole time they are telling me to breathe, not push if I can help it. That was way easier said than done. As we pass the waiting room, I hear someone yell "Dad follow us quickly!" and Ryan was once again by my side.
As far as completely natural childbirth goes, I am not a fan at all. I've always been a big supporter of epidurals. I felt like I was much more "present" for Dalton's birth, both during delivery and immediately following. I was way too focused on the pain and getting through the pain to enjoy Daphne's birth. Maybe it is a different experience if you are mentally and physically prepped for a natural delivery? I also have had lots of issues with my back following this "natural" birth than I ever had after the epidural birth. The only positive I have found so far is that we won't be cutting a check to the anesthesiologist. I'm not sure if there will be a baby #3 in the future. The puking for 9 months straight didn't scare me off from the idea, but this speedy delivery experience definitely might.
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