We had such a beautiful birth experience with Jacob! I feel beyond blessed that everything went smoothly and he came as such a healthy, strong little guy. I was sure that I would be pregnant longer with this baby than my others because I wasn't progressing as much as I had with the other boys. At my 36 week appointment, I was 1 cm dilated and 10% effaced. I was thrilled to hear that there was progress already at this point but at my 38 week appointment, I felt a bit discouraged. I was only 1.5cm dilated and still 10% effaced or as my doctor said it, "You have a ways to go". Great! ;) My doctor also felt that I did not have enough pockets of amniotic fluid (they did an ultrasound) and she wanted me to hydrate a ton and have a non-stress test done. Baby Jacob sounded great on the monitors and thankfully Joshua was a pretty good hanging out in his stroller with his books/snacks. The nurse checked and found plenty of pockets of fluid but did recommend just staying extra hydrated to help ensure the baby had enough. Apparently the concern is that if you don't have enough fluid, the umbilical cord could get compressed and cause stress on the baby.
So I anxiously awaited any sign of labor after this appointment for the next few days ... losing mucus, contractions etc. However none of this really happened, so I thought for sure this little guy would be hanging out in the womb longer than my others. It was really hard to not try and do too much either. I didn't want to make any commitments and then find that all of a sudden I was in labor. So we just hung out at home mostly cleaning. I had my blood draw done on Monday, June 12th to have my platelets checked (my doctor wanted to monitor them weekly at this point since they were low - 100s range). I found out that they were 96 and knew that if they went to 90 or lower I would be put on steroids to boost them for the birth. The idea was that they needed to be above 90 or I would not be a good candidate for a spinal block in the event that I needed an emergency C-section. It was apparently safer to do versus having general anesthesia and being knocked out entirely. Both did not sound ideal to me so I remember telling Steve when I found out my results on Tuesday morning (the 13th) that we needed to hurry up and have this baby before my platelets got any lower which is what leads me to...
Tuesday, June 12th - it was Andrew's last day of school :). I was grateful I wasn't in labor yet because I didn't have to worry about him missing any of the last day of school festivities nor did I have to worry about calling in any absences. Andrew was happy/sad it was his last day. I started to feel some discomfort that morning around 8am but I thought it was because I needed to have a bowel movement (too much info... sorry! however there will be more to come). My bowels seemed kind of off the night before. I had more trips to the restroom than usual (3) and I was contracting about every 10 minutes for a couple of hours. I thought at the time they were just triggered by me needing to use the restroom. Well on the morning of Tuesday the 12th, I was feeling similar. I had started timing my contractions and found that they were occurring every 10 minutes apart starting at 8:30am. I figured it wasn't the real thing because I had felt them many times before. These ones were more intense but I thought it was surely because my bowels were a bit off.
Steve was working from home so I of course alerted him (poor guy!) and told him that I was having contractions approximately every 10 minutes. However I told him they would probably go away and I would keep him posted if they continued. So I just went about my morning cleaning the house. Josh and I vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms and made some Mason jar salads (or something like that). I was still contracting and I thought it was probably because I was moving around so much. So when I was finished, I had a greek yogurt and got ready to pick Andrew up from school. I continued to time my contractions and noticed they were still occurring every 10 minutes apart at 11am when I was waiting in the pick up line at Andrew's school. I thought that it could possibly be the real deal however I didn't want to get my hopes up but they were continuing. I also had emptied my bowels three times that morning as well (in addition to the three times the night before). I knew that loose stools could be a sign of labor but this was different because my body had not necessarily gone into labor on it's own except when my doctor had stripped my membranes with my previous two babies.
Andrew got in the car and told me about his day. He had a great day and had extra recess time, which made him pretty happy. Josh was happy to see Andrew as well. We drove home after that and I fed the boys lunch. Around 12pm, I told Steve that I was still contracting. He told me that I needed to let him know when we needed to go to the hospital. He was worried that the baby would come too fast and we'd end up having the baby at home, which was cute. Poor guy! He was just on pins and needles wondering when the right time was to go. I assured him that we were okay since I was still able to talk through my contractions. I told him though that it could be labor since my contractions were not going away. The boys finished up lunch, Josh went down for a nap and Andrew watched a tv show. I decided to lay down and see if my contractions would continue or go away. They weren't too intense but they were noticeable when I did have them.
I timed my contractions and found that they were still occurring. I texted my doula, Lisa Hart, and told her that I wasn't sure if I was in labor but I was having consistent contractions. She said to let her know if anything changed and to not wait too long either since third babies can come rather quickly. At 1:30pm, I found that contractions were starting to come 5 minutes apart. I wasn't sure at this point how dilated I was since I was only 1.5 centimeters the week prior. I had read online that active labor begins when your contractions are 5 minutes apart so I figured I still had a ways to go. I told Steve that my contractions have gotten closer together and that I wasn't feeling quite like it was time to go to the hospital yet. 3pm hit and I started to feel my contractions get a little more intense and they were starting to come 4 minutes apart. I didn't want to get to the hospital when I was in the most intense part of labor or sit in the car for that part, so we packed everything up and headed to the hospital. We dropped the boys off at Kids Camp in Folsom first - only to find that we forgot Josh's shoes. So I texted my sister the news that we were on our way and to pick him up a pair of shoes too if she had a chance (size 9 toddler ones). I also texted Lisa that we were heading to the hospital.
We put the IZ Hawaiian music CD on in the car and I started to focus more on opening up, relaxing during contractions and breathing deeply through them. Steve looked at me a bit worried because I wasn't talking as much through the contractions. I reassured him that I was totally fine, just practicing. The contractions weren't too intense but definitely noticeable. They didn't really hurt too much. I looked at the clock in the car and noticed that the contractions were still only 5 minutes apart. I felt unsure still if I was even in labor and started telling this to Steve. He reassured me and said well we could just go on a date or walk around if I wasn't progressed enough. I told him I'd feel bad though if Lisa went to the hospital and we realized I wasn't in labor. Also, I was worried that the hospital would send me away (like they did before) and that we'd be in a weird limbo wondering do we go and pick the boys up again? Do we go home? What do we do?
So we arrived at the hospital. I helped Steve grab my yoga mat, water bottle (I had also eaten a little bit of Quaker Oat cereal at home at lunch and an orange Gatorade... but was worried that my bowels would be off more if I ate too much so I decided to go light on the snacks), IDs, camera and his snack bag. We headed inside holding hands. It was reassuring having Steve by myside and knowing and I wouldn't be going into Triage alone. I had to go to the restroom, so we both headed to the bathroom in Women's and Children's Center. We had never been in there before and discovered a lot of vending machines and a large waiting area. My contractions were still 5 minutes apart but they were not as strong as they were at home. I was worried that I wasn't in labor. Nevertheless, we waiting in line for Steve to get his picture ID badge. Awkwardly we told the security people at the front that I was in labor (which I wasn't sure of lol) and we headed back to Triage. We didn't know how to open the door but apparently there was a camera where they saw us and opened it anyway. We then headed over to the desk in Triage. The nurse there told us that there were others ahead of us and to have a seat. Thank goodness I wasn't in any dying labor pains at this point.
As we sat there, my contractions weren't that intense and were still about 5 minutes apart... some maybe even 7 minutes apart. I was worried they wouldn't be frequent enough still but then thought that perhaps my worrying was inhibiting them from getting stronger. So I tried to think that I was safe and this was a safe place to have my baby (cheesy but I think it helped). They had me do a urine sample and then go to room 6 in Triage. Lisa was on her way and had texted me that she was closeby. They had me go in room 6 alone to make sure that I felt safe and that Steve wasn't beating me etc. I told them it was all good :) and Steve was able to join me shortly thereafter. I also told the nurse that was in there (her name was Stephanie) that I wasn't sure if I was in labor. I did have contractions that were not going away since that morning and that this was my third baby. She said that they would hook me up to the monitors and see what was going on. She also told me that she would go over my pain management options as well. I told her that my platelets were too low to really have anything and that I was planning to go all natural as I did with my last babies. It saved her the time on telling me all about them at least :).
Lisa arrived shortly thereafter and things started to feel a little more real that we might actually be in labor having a baby. However I still was not sure how progressed I was, so I just still told myself that it may not be the real thing either. The nurse looked at the monitor part way through. I still had a happy, cheery/excited demeanor and she said, "Um, how long have you been having contractions as strong as that last one?". I told her, "Oh for a while... for the past 2 hours or so". I think she realized that I was contracting a lot more that what it looked like since I wasn't screaming out in pain. I still really didn't feel that uncomfortable. I just was trying to embrace each contraction and let my uterus work. It helped a lot thinking this way. The nurse also explained that I could have a midwife or a doctor deliver my baby. I didn't think this was possible with my low platelets but I was excited to find that I could have a midwife, especially since they specialized more in natural births. The midwife was busy at the moment, but was able to stop by quickly to meet me. Their shifts changed at 8pm though, so it would be a different midwife if I were to have my baby after that. The doctor came by to check how dilated I was at 4:40pm and announced that I was 4 cm dilated and the baby was pretty low. Lisa asked how low and he doctor asked if I understood anything about that. I said, "Yes" and that it had to do with a +2 station etc. The doctor said that I was at a +3 station. That made me feel at ease in knowing that I was in labor since the baby indeed was dropping down lower and I had dilated to at least 4 cm. So I chose to be admitted!
At this point I changed into a hospital gown. I didn't previously since I thought that they might not admit me. We opted for 2 gowns (one to cover my backside), especially since there was a hospital tour going on. That might get awkward... Anyhow, we didn't walk very far. We just went down a hallway and into a room there. I rolled out my yoga mat and started to feel the contractions getting closer together. I did some pelvic circles on my yoga mat and my contractions were coming close together (about 2 1/2 minutes apart). Lisa noticed that they were not very strong though and she said that sometimes moms will have adrenaline rushes with the excitement of the baby coming. She said that they hinder the progress of contractions, making them less productive and
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