While putting together the finishing touches on dinner at about 6:30 pm I noticed that my back was really starting to bother me and it was hard to pick up Grayson. Then while we were eating I noticed that my back was hurting in waves even if I wasn't moving.... and started to wonder if that meant labor was on its way.
Ryan turned on his phone timer and it turns out there was a wave of pain across my low back about every four minutes- interesting- so we decided to try to just pay attention to that and timing and see what happened.
At about 7:10 I called my mom in Illinois and told her that I thought things could be starting and asked her to consider driving up to stay with Grayson just in case - she was happy to skip her dinner and hop in the car :) Ryan and I kept timing the contractions and they were staying about 4 minutes apart, but only lasting about 40 seconds or so and I was very comfortable in between- it didn't seem like things were moving all that quickly but it was also clear that they weren't stopping either.
By 9:00 I was starting to get uncomfortable so I hopped in the shower while my mom and Ryan watched the baseball game. I also started to think of all the things I had forgotten to pack in my bag- my glasses case, deoderant, lotion.... and so I sent my mom up and down the stairs a dozen times fetching things for me while Ryan iced his back and waited for me to feel ready.
At about 9:50 I told Ry I thought it was time to call the Doctor and let them know things were moving ahead. We ended up leaving for the hospital at about 10:15 pm and while driving there the contractions were too intense to talk through or ignore but I felt totally fine in between each one and actually commented to Ryan that I hoped we weren't heading to the hospital too soon. (On the way to the hospital during my labor with Grayson I couldn't focus on anything other than the contractions the whole time- so this feeling fine between was totally new to me.)
We arrived at the hospital about 10:40 pm and I knew it wasn't too soon, we got up to Labor and Delivery and the nurses took one look at me as I was getting through a rough contraction and took us straight to a room and let us skip triage (Woo hoo!) When we got to the room I felt really nauseated and kept feeling like I had to throw up (though I never did) and couldn't sit down because the pain became too intense. The nurse needed to check me so I had to lay down for a minute and when she did she discovered I was already 7-8 cm and there was a bulging bag of water. They called Cheri for us (she wasn't even on call and they weren't certain she would be able to come in) and when the nurse told her how far I was she said she was on her way (yay!) Our nurses were AMAZING- they let me stand while they did the fetal monitoring so I could sway and move rather than be stuck on a bed, they skipped triage so we could go straight to a delivery room, they were kind, quiet and supportive and seriously wonderful.
Shortly thereafter Misty arrived and I was pacing the floor. My feet really hurt from standing in the shower for an hour at home and then pacing at the hospital and I found good relief from wearing my sandals while I walked. Cheri got there while I was pacing as well and we chatted and spent time between contractions- it was hard work but doable for a little while. That is until the contractions started to double on top of each other- then honestly things got pretty uncomfortable- I would have one long contraction and it would start to slow down and another would start right away with no break. Eventually the only thing that made anything feel okay was Ryan jamming his palms into my low back on each side of my spine and just pushing until the contraction stopped- that made it manageable. After a bit of this Cheri wanted to check me again- which I dreaded because that meant lying down which I *did not* want to do. But I did- and when Cheri said I was 8 with a bulging bag it didn't even register that not much had changed. Then she said she wanted to break my water and the first thing I said was that Bridges told me everything gets a lot more painful after that- Cheri said we were moving in that direction either way it was just how fast- so we decided to let Cheri do whatever she recommended (thanks Ry for reminding me to just trust her- I actually made him make the decision because I felt I couldn't decide anything at that time). The downfall of agreeing to have the water broken was that I had to stay laying down for a while and OMG that hurt- I felt like with each contraction I was flailing on the bed (though Ry and Misty say that wasn't the case) it was very intense. After Cheri broke the water I got back up and stood for all of two minutes (repeatedly asking for my shoes by the way) before I felt like I had to vomit- which again I did not do- and then felt the undeniable need to push. Thank goodness for the nurse and Cheri who got me back in the bed or I would not have been able to do it on my own. I did come to the conclusion somewhere around then that it hurt way worse this time- and no one seemed to disagree with me.
Keegan had the cord wrapped loosely around his neck one time and pooped on his way out but otherwise was awesome. His 1 minute Apgar score was 7, his 5 minute apgar score was a 9, he snuggled on my chest skin to skin for an hour before they took him to weigh him or measure him, he nursed well on the table, he did all of the most amazing new baby things. He was born safely, surrounded by love and my most favorite people, with no meds- just his pure, sweet self surrounded by my awesome cheerleaders and support people. Once again- it was all worth it- the chiropractic care, the supplements, the pain, the determination, the nutrition, the choosing of our team of special people, all of it came together to support our sweet boy as he was born.
Before Keegan was weighed and measured Cheri came back to say good night and head home, Dr Dolan (the MD on call) came in to say congrats- and tell Ryan he was right I was in labor :) and then it was just me and Ry and Misty and Keegan.
After about an hour or so they weighed and measured him- to reveal that it *might* have hurt more than with Grayson since he was a whole pound heavier!
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