The midwives at my OB practice had
been wanting to induce me because of my age starting at 39 weeks which for me
was Tuesday November 20th. They would let me keep going as long as I would come
in twice a week for a biophysical profile ultrasound and check up so that's
what I did since I really wanted this baby to be able to come on his own.
I went to my doctor's appointment on Tuesday November 27th (my due date) and was
only 1 cm dilated. This didn't surprise me too much as generally I don't dilate
much before labor. I had another appointment set up for Friday November 30th
and would have to schedule an induction at that point as I wouldn't be allowed to go past 41 weeks. I tried to keep busy as much as possible for the next few days
so that I wouldn't focus on going over my due date. I was able to get quite a
few things done on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The last big thing I
wanted to be able to do before the baby came was go to Landon's All County
chorus concert on Thursday, November 29th. It was a great concert and I was so
glad that I was able to be there.
We got home around 8 p.m. and got all the
kids settled in bed. Around 9:30 p.m. I started feeling some mild contractions.
They didn't come very frequently but they kept on coming throughout the
course of the night ranging anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes apart. I got up
around 4:30 a.m. to use the bathroom and as soon as I stood up my contractions
started coming more frequently. I decided to go ahead and wake up Jason to tell
him it was time to head to the hospital. With my other fast labors I just
didn't want to risk giving birth in the car!
We got everything ready to go and
made it to the hospital around 5:30 a.m. I was checked upon arrival and was dilated to 5 cm and 50% effaced with
pretty intense contractions but they were still only coming about 5 to 8 minutes apart. This lasted
for a few hours and when I was rechecked at 9 a.m. I was dilated to 7 cm and
100% effaced. Things were going slower than I had anticipated but I was able to
stay on top of the contractions since they still weren't coming that frequently. I was tempted to get an epidural at this point, but decided to hold out as I was hoping for another natural birth experience. Some of the contractions were really intense but with enough of a break in between them I was managing okay.
The midwife on call that day was
Kendra and she offered to break my water at 9 a.m. but I wanted to wait a little
longer to see if it would break on its own soon. I was already leaking
amniotic fluid when I arrived at the hospital and could feel pressure
where the bag of water was sitting and thought it wouldn't be long before
a strong contraction would break it. I labored for another
on my own, using the shower, a birth ball and a rocking chair to help me get through those tough contractions. Kendra came back in around 10:15 am and again offered to
break my water if I wanted to speed things along. By this point I was
just kind of ready to be done so I accepted her offer. And boy did it really
speed things along! I dilated from 7 to 10 cm and pushed our little boy into
this world in just over 20 minutes! It was incredibly intense, and honestly very difficult and
painful, but also an amazing experience to have my fourth (and probably last) unmedicated natural childbirth experience. Our long awaited little boy arrived
into this world at 10:49 a.m. on Friday November 30th, 2018. He weighed in at 8
pounds 15.6 oz and measure 22 inches long. He was perfect in every way and it was
such a relief to have him here at last!! They immediately put him on my chest as
soon as he was born and I just felt so much gratitude that he was safe and healthy
and that I had been able to have the birth experience I had wanted without
being induced. We love you so much little one!!
