If you are following along and reading my birth stories in order (one and two here), you will start to notice a heavy trend. Our third child was due at the beginning of May (third May due date) and we actually opted to find out the gender this time. We delayed the reveal by letting my mom open a gift a friend prepared so that the whole family could find out together at Christmas that year. My husband and I didn’t even know. I felt strongly that it was a boy though. No gender reveal party here, just a simple gift and fun surprise to share together. We joked that if it was another girl, we would be done. My husband didn’t want to risk having three girls if we had a fourth child. (He loves girls, three just seemed a lot to him. ha!) Make sure you read until the very end… be prepared, sweetness overload!
Anxiety and insomnia
We had moved to a different state, but I was still planning to have a midwife assisted, unmedicated hospital birth as I had done with my first two. (I’ve only used midwives for all of my OB/GYN needs since about mid-way through my first pregnancy.) After the crazy fast birth of our second born, I knew I had to mentally prepare better for this labor and delivery. I had heard that the first can be long, the second can be fast, and the third was a wild card. I was having a lot of anxiety and insomnia because of that leading up to this birth. I reached out to friends who offered me resources to help focus on staying as calm and peaceful as possible as I headed into the last few weeks of pregnancy.
My “due date” was May 4th according to the midwives. I was tracking May 6th according to the date I am most confident we conceived. I went to my appointment on Friday, April 29th and asked to have my cervix checked which I had never done with my previous two pregnancies. She was really high still and I was only at about 1cm dilated. The midwife didn’t think I would deliver for another week or so. I was happy to have been checked just so that I could relax a bit about the “immediacy” of labor starting. I should also note that I tested positive for Group B strep with this pregnancy. I never had before. They had already told me that because my second labor was so fast, I would probably need to come in as soon as I knew I was in labor, so they could start me on antibiotics before delivery. We stayed home that weekend just in case. We hung out with a friend some and she and I went to get a pedicure after lunch on Saturday. We went to church on Sunday and had a normal day. Monday was a normal day as well. I cleaned a good bit and did a lot around the house in hopes that would help with putting me into labor. I also made Tikka Masala for dinner. I fell asleep fine that night despite the anxiety and insomnia I had been having off and on.
A good night’s sleep and a prayer
Around 4 AM our almost two year old woke up crying and we brought her into our bed. Around 5:30 AM I woke up and put her back into her crib. I laid back down and just felt a really strong urge to start praying. I prayed for the baby I was carrying and the labor and birth. I thanked God for all of His many blessings and how I felt so grateful for all He has given to us. I started crying (emotional, much?) and I fell back asleep. Fifteen minutes later I woke back up to some mild menstrual like cramps. I thought that was a bit strange, but I fell back asleep fairly easily. Around 6:45 AM I stirred my husband awake to tell him I was having these menstrual like “contractions” and that I was going to get up and move around to see if they stopped. I told him I was going to go ahead and take a shower since I was already awake at that point. He didn’t seem to much care and kept sleeping. He figured I would let him know if this was the real deal or not. I still felt crampy while I showered and I came back out to tell him that he should probably plan on me having a baby that morning and get up and get his stuff ready. I texted our friend “on call” around 7:00 AM or so to have her call me or let me know when she was awake. Once we talked I said that I was going to call the midwives to tell them I thought I was in labor and then talk to my mother-in-law about coming over to relieve her. She said she could get to my house in about an hour.
Midwife on-call
I called the midwives right around 7:30 AM…my favorite midwife, Donna, was about to be on call! I was thrilled. I was concerned that I wouldn’t get her, but I’m so glad it worked out that I did. I spoke with her briefly as she was hurrying to get to a laboring mother and she told me I could either come to the office and be checked or go straight to the hospital and have them check me there. The office didn’t open until 8:30. I started having more intense contractions…more like real contractions and not menstrual cramps while still at home. While we waited on my friend to arrive, we went ahead and woke up our two children so that they could see us before we left. They were both super excited, and I’m so glad I thought to get a picture. Once my friend arrived, we just showed her a few things around the house and then we packed up and drove to the hospital around 8:50 AM.
I decided to go ahead and just head straight to the ER because I was almost 100% sure I was in actual labor and I didn’t want to mess around with waiting at the office. My husband dropped me off and I checked in while he parked. They took me to the Maternal Assessment Center (MAC) and started monitoring my contractions and checked my cervix. I was only at 2cm and the baby wasn’t that far down really. We started thinking, or at least my husband did, that this may not be going as quickly as my second birth. They monitored me for about an hour there and didn’t actually admit me yet. I stayed mostly on my feet and swayed to help move the baby down. My contractions were getting stronger and I needed William to put some pressure on my back every once in awhile. I’m not sure if they checked my cervix again while I was in the MAC or not.
Movin’ on up, Movin’ on down
They eventually wheeled me up to a L&D room an hour later (around 10 AM) and got me hooked up on the antibiotics for the Group B Strep. I cannot remember if they checked my cervix or not again then or waited a bit. I had to sit in the bed while I was monitored for about 20 minutes and the antibiotics took about 20-30 minutes to fully administer. Once they took that out, I was able to walk around a bit. I pretty much stayed on my feet and leaned over the side of the raised bed while holding a pillow the whole time I was contracting. We were talking and laughing and things were really going well! I used a slow “hoooo-haaaa” as my vocalization of choice. Not sure why, but that felt right in the moment! I vocalized into the pillow a good bit too. This was around 10:40 AM or so. We were still waiting on a doula (the hospital offered them at no charge) to arrive for me so a regular nurse was assisting my husband and I at this point. Donna had to be with another laboring mother and had popped in before to check on me. William and I were discussing possibly turning on some music and I told him maybe now was a good time to go get our stuff out of the car. He left the room around 10:45 AM.
Bad timing, honey
I had several strong contractions almost as soon as he left and the nurse was applying counter pressure on my back as I swayed at the edge of the bed. My water started trickling down my leg! I texted my husband at 10:50 AM and just typed “water breaking!” Once he got back, they asked if I wanted my cervix checked again… it took me a while to be able to stop contracting enough to climb up in the bed. Once I did around 11 AM, they said I was at 5cm, 80% effaced and station 0. The contractions were really strong at this point, and I didn’t get much of a break between them. The doula arrived at 11:05 AM and helped me with comfort measures. I stayed on the side of the bed and swayed and moaned. As I labored for the next few minutes or so I started feeling a SUPER strong urge to push. Pretty much as soon as my water broke. I didn’t give in and tried to resist the urge a little bit, but also gave in some too. I cannot remember when Donna came back into the room.
She’s here!
Around 11:28 AM or so it was so intense that I wanted to be checked again, but it took a bit to get into the bed. I was at an 8, 80% effaced and station +1. I stayed in the bed and kept having the urge to push. They told me I could go ahead and push at this point. I was afraid to if it was still too early and I asked, “Are you sure it’s okay?? Do you see the head??!” Donna said, “Yes! I see a full head of dark hair!” That gave me so much encouragement and I knew I could probably just pop her out at that point! The doula wrote that pushing started at 11:32 AM… I pushed twice over the course of 45 seconds and little Lucy came right out! They had me reach down and grab her and I pulled her to my chest. The best feeling EVER!! I started crying. The doula wrote that I pushed for a minute, but she said it was more like 45 seconds! Ha!
Our sweet Lucy Wren was born at 11:33 AM and weighed 9lbs, 5oz and was 21” long. Another Tuesday morning baby just like our other two! We waited about 5-10 minutes and then my husband cut the umbilical cord. I delivered the placenta not long after. By far my easiest and smoothest labor! Not that my first two were “bad”. Even got almost a full night’s sleep the night before. Ha! They asked if I wanted to see my placenta and I figured since it was probably my last time having a baby I might as well. It was pretty fascinating actually! My husband got a picture. I will spare you. I pretty much immediately asked for the lunch menu because I didn’t want to miss my window of opportunity.
Welcome to the family, sweet one
Lucy latched on immediately just like the other two and seemed to have a good grasp of it. (She later had some issues during the first two weeks because she was slightly jaundiced and kept falling asleep while nursing. It all worked out well though!) I didn’t tear much at all and they sewed me up a little. The entire staff was great and we really had a nice stay for the most part. The postpartum room was really tiny, but we knew we wouldn’t have to be there too long. We actually found out that they were going to keep us for 48 hours due to the Group B strep, but we negotiated to be discharged late the next day and then to visit the pediatrician’s office the next morning to have Lucy looked at. They just needed to monitor her temperature and how she was acting to make sure she didn’t contract anything. Our first three babies we only stayed one night, we’d rather be in our own beds… and not pay for another night! Lucy was a super sweet baby and despite sleep issues (ya, know) the first year of her life, she was an absolute angel. Our other children took to her immediately and my heart just swelled seeing all of them together. Our family was complete… or so we thought. To be continued…
Same outfit as big sister.
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and nothing I have shared should be taken as medical advice. This is just my story and what worked for me. Please talk to your doctors, midwives, and/or medical staff about dreams you have for you own birth experience. I pray that you are blessed with the births of YOUR dreams!