I went into work on Wednesday, January 25th and felt really good. My goal was to work right up until I couldn’t work anymore due to labor. I started feeling surges around 9 a.m. They felt more like Braxton Hicks then actual surges. I texted Jason around 11 a.m. to let him know I was experiencing some crampy feelings and would let him know what the midwives said at my appointment. Jason then called me to ask me how I was feeling. He made the decision to stay home from work and go to my midwife appointment with me since I felt I was in Early Labor at this point. I finished work and picked Jason up from our apartment to go to our midwife appointment at 3:00 p.m.
We got to the office and Jen was the midwife seeing me that day. On a side note I thought that the midwife that would deliver Gemma would be Mandy or Jen since these were the two I had been seeing a lot of near the end of my pregnancy. Jen checked me and I was dialated to a 1 and 90 percent effaced. She let me know that the head was low and the effacement was a good sign. Jen didn’t seem to think that Gemma would make her grand entrance anytime soon. Jason and I headed home and I didn’t realize until we got home that Jason had been nesting that whole day. He had cleared our walkway from snow and ice so that if we had to leave in the evening everything would be clear. He also cleared the room I was going to be laboring in and we both made sure all of our bags were packed and ready to go. I cleaned our bathroom and finished laundry. I would have finished the dishes but ran out of time.
When dinner time hit Jason and I both decided that it would be best for me not to cook. So we went out for my last meal (we didn’t realize it would be at the time). :) I picked Chick-Fil-A chicken wrap with fries and Chick-Fil-A sauce. After picking up dinner I wanted to go to Sodalicious for a Ginger Ale with Raspberries, Coconut, and Lime. This last meal was the best meal I have ever had. Jason then drove to Culvers to get him his favorite dessert, custard. While we were out and every time I would feel a surge (contraction) I would say: “Here Comes the General.” I have been a little obsessed with Hamilton and that is the one soundtrack that really kept my mind elsewhere. We went home and ate and relaxed. Jason put on a funny movie (Pacifier) to keep my focus elsewhere. We had learned in our class that during early labor you want to keep going about your business and relaxing. This will help labor keep progressing rather than stopping it. So that’s just what we did.
After dinner and the movie Jason’s sister, Kara, texted me and told me she would give me a foot massage to hopefully speed up the contractions. :) So we went over to his parents and Kara gave me the best foot massage ever and painted my toes. I would still say “Here Comes the General” every time I would feel a contraction (expansion is what we called them during labor). That night I let my labor team know what was happening that included: Debbie (my doula), Linda (my mom), Rachel (sister), and Teresa (Jason’s mom). At the point I contacted them my expansions
were about 5-15 minutes apart and weren’t consistent with length of expansion.
When Jason and I got home from his parents house we decided to go to bed. I slept for about 2 hours before I was up with surges. I decided to take a bath and listen to some meditations. That helped me relax a lot. After that I was up snacking on the healthy snacks and electrolyte drinks we had bought a month before. During this time my birth soundtracks were keeping me company. I sang and danced through the surges. Hamilton was the soundtrack of choice. Jason would periodically check in on me to make sure I was doing good and could still talk through the surges. He came in after he showered at 6 a.m. to see how I was doing. I told him I thought I could go to work but he told me to text my team and let them know I wouldn’t be in. Then he started timing my surges because I wasn’t able to talk through them. As he was keeping time we were watching shows, swaying, and listening to music. I informed the team at 6 a.m. as well that we would start timing. I started losing my mucus plug at around 9 a.m. Jason called the midwife, Jen, at Valley OBGYN to report the numbers and see what she thought due to the numbers being inconsistent (we wanted to do the majority of laboring at home so we wouldn’t be at the hospital laboring for very long). When he called Jen she asked if that was me making birth noises in the background. Jason said it was and then she told him he needed to get me to the hospital now. We got the car packed thinking we would be laboring at the hospital for a good portion of the day and maybe even into the night. As we were leaving Jason’s grandma (we live in his grandparent's basement apartment) wanted to take our picture. We informed my birth team that we were leaving for the hospital. My doula (aunt) Debbie Mayne met us on the road and followed us to the hospital. She had Jason get out of the car with me and take me up to the labor and delivery floor while she moved the car with my mom. My mom and aunt brought everything in we needed for what we thought was going to be a long labor. They checked me in and took me to the triage room. Jen came in to check me while they were asking me a bazillion questions. They told me 2 weeks prior that I wouldn’t have to do the questions again but there I was answering questions while having strong surges (contractions). Jen told me that I was dilated to a 6.5 and was 90 percent effaced. They were trying to get my room ready as fast as they could.
They didn’t even finish the questions before having me walk down the hall to my room. I would have to stop every 2 minutes to work through my surges. I don’t remember the walk but I remember going into the room and needing to pee. I was actually really nervous at that point to use the bathroom due to me feeling like I had to poo and afraid Gemma would come out into the toilet. After I went pee I leaned over the exercise ball while Debbie put pressure. Poor Jason was trying to get the room set-up how I wanted it before Gemma entered the world. The nurses then asked me to sit on the edge of the bed so she could get the IV in my wrist. She would have to stop during the surges since my body tightened up. They finally got the IV into my wrist and I wanted to go back to the ball. That’s when Jen suggested I move the ball to the bed so I could be more relaxed. At that point we had everyone in the room that I wanted to be there. Jason, my mom, Debbie, Rachel, and Teresa (Jason’s mom). At this point my blood pressure and temperature were high. Jen told me that she ordered Tylenol to drop my temperature. I asked her if there was anything else we could do to drop it. I really didn’t want to take Tylenol. She told us we could do cold rags on my back and body. My mother-n-law had the brilliant idea to drop peppermint oil into the water since that oil has properties that can drop someone’s body temperature. My body temperature regulated. During this whole time all I remember is the cold rags feeling so good, Jason whispering in my ear, Debbie doing back pressure points and my mom taking the cool rags on and off me.
