Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 5:23 am MST:
It’s happening. It is actually happening. And by “it”, I mean my baby is coming. She’s COMING! My precious baby girl – no, scratch that, Alex’s and my precious baby girl – is on her way. How do I know?? Well, it’s pretty hard to miss. First of all, I was having contractions for several hours yesterday evening, then I woke up to some REALLY intense contractions, then my water broke!
I’ll rewind a little for Keira’s sake. Who knows, maybe she’ll want to read her birth story. So I’ll write what I can when I can. Right now I am waiting patiently (well, as patiently as possible) for my contractions to pick up and intensify (not that they’re not intense already). Labor’s not too intense yet, though, so I figure I’ll write about up to this point.
So for the past few days I’ve been doing what just about every mom who has reached ‘full term’ does, even though I’m only 48 weeks pregnant: searching for homemade ways to induce labor. I’d been working the pressure points (the ones on the ankles, feet, shoulders, and lower back) that are supposed to help with labor. I’d been taking Evening Primrose Oil. I’d been drinking Red Raspberry Tea (the herbal stuff, of course. …I think that’s the only kind there is, but I could be wrong). I’d been doing crunches and pelvic tilts at night. Nothing was working, at least not in a ‘visible’ way. So my momma and I decided to try a recipe we found online that some midwives swear by. We went to the store on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011, and bought Castor Oil and Almond Butter for it (I also bought strawberry jam, a chocolate-chocolate chip muffin mix, and some black cohosh for good measure), then I made a concoction with the Castor Oil and Almond Butter, and ½ a cup of apricot… syrup? I don’t know, the syrupy stuff that comes in a can of apricots. Then, holding my breath, I drank it down. Every last drop. At least that’s my story. ;-)
It was 4:00 pm when I drank it. By 7 I started having some pretty regular contractions, so my mom and I decided to go for a walk. We walked for a good 2 miles (with a half-hour break in between) and got back around 9:30-ish. I drank another cup of Red Raspberry Tea, then went in to take a shower. However, when I was in the bathroom I noticed some bloody show. I was ecstatic! This was it! …Right?
We called the midwife and told her that I’d been having really regular contractions (they were about 2 ½ minutes apart at this point) and that I’d had some bloody show. She told us to meet her at the birthing center as soon as possible (probably because at that point she didn’t know whether or not I was Strep B positive or not). So we loaded up the car and headed out at 10:15 pm. We got there at 10:40 pm. Once we were there, the midwife – Tracy – checked my blood pressure and the baby’s heartbeat. I don’t know what my blood pressure was (I wouldn’t have understood it anyway) but she said it was fine. Keira’s heartbeat was a steady 140, so she was perfectly fine, too. She then checked my cervix and told me I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Even though she said she cared much more about how effaced I am than how dilated, I was pretty discouraged. Only 1 cm?? She then said that she wanted me to stay for about an hour, and we’d see how I was doing. If I wasn’t progressing she was going to send us home.
An hour passed with me sitting in the waiting area in a recliner (they didn’t have a recliner in my room) and rocking, but at the end it didn’t appear that I had progressed any. So she told me to go home and go to bed, implying that it would probably be at least a few more days before anything happened. After all, first-time mommas usually deliver after their due date.
I was pretty crushed. I had really been hoping this was the real thing. But when I got home and was getting ready for bed and saying my prayers, I thanked Heavenly Father for at least letting me be in what appeared to be early labor (even though I know early labor can last several days, if not a couple of weeks), and I decided I would just be patient and she would come when she is supposed to come. I’d continue to take the Evening Primrose Oil and the tea to help soften my cervix and tone the muscles of my uterus (which, really, is all they do anyway), but I decided I was going to quit trying to push labor up and let it happen in the Lord’s time.
It’s funny how that always seems to work…. Give or take 9 months ago I had decided that very thing about getting pregnant, after being disappointed month after month for about six months. 2 weeks later I found out I was expecting! Now, at the end of the pregnancy that I had so desperately wanted, I again decided (finally) to quit trying to push the Lord’s hand in how soon my daughter was born. Five hours later, I started waking up to some very intense contractions. I had thought they were intense before, but every time I would start to gain consciousness (I didn’t fully wake up for a while) I would find myself moaning low in my throat. When I finally woke up I decided to post on Facebook about finally understanding what they meant about not being able to help moaning through contractions (or finishing a thought, for that matter, as I had to stop halfway through the post).
I hadn’t even submitted the post when all of a sudden I felt a sudden gush! I reached my hand down to try and catch whatever it was that was coming out of me (I really don’t know why I did that. What was I expecting to find?? Keira’s head??) and got a handful of liquid. Woah! I ran to the bathroom and sat down on the toilet as probably about ½ a cup (maybe a little more) of amniotic fluid gushed out of me. I felt several emotions at that point: confusion (what the heck? That was my water breaking, right?), excitement (YAY! This is really happening!) nervousness (what if my water didn’t really break? What if I just peed the bed?) and denial (No, this can’t be happening. I must be imagining it.) Still, I did my duty as a laboring mother, noted the time (It was then 4:50 am) and called the midwife. She asked all the questions a midwife is supposed to ask (“Tell me what happened. How much? What color? What does it smell like?”) and then told me that I very probably had several more hours of laboring at home. She told me to call at noon, or if my contractions became extremely intense and really close together. Then she hung up.
I woke my mom up to tell her that my water had just ruptured, then I went back to my room and started making phone calls to tell the grandparents (of Keira, haha) that labor was now eminent. I talked briefly with Maren, my mother-in-law, then called my parents to let them know as well, but I got their answering machines. So I left a message explaining what had happened, then hung up.
It is now 6:10 am and I am sitting at the kitchen table writing this. I have to stop every little while (I’m not sure how often, I’m honestly not keeping track just yet) while I have a contraction. So far I wouldn’t define them as painful. They’re uncomfortable and I have to breathe – and moan a little – but nothing so intense I would classify it as pain. Daddy is making breakfast and momma is about to run to the store to get some chocolate milk, because I am craving it really badly. Don’t ask why, because I really don’t know, but I am. I am also praying that Alex calls soon. I’m expecting him to call in the next couple of hours since I told him yesterday that I was going to take that Castor Oil mixture. He said he would. Now I’m just hoping that the phones are up so he can. I want him to be able to hear his baby girl’s first cry, if at all possible.
Alright, well, I’ve caught up to where I’m at currently, so I’ll go for now. I’ll try to update this periodically, but who knows; labor could pick up rapidly at any minute (I know that’s not likely, but it’s not likely for a first-time momma to go into labor before 41 weeks without medical induction, either ;-))
Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 9:24 pm MST:
Alright, it’s been 16 hours. Holy cow, it’s hard to believe it’s been that long. I figure I’ll update this to this current point. After I finished my last post I hung out with my family and ate breakfast. After that we decided to email the Relief Society in our Church Ward and let them know that I had gone into labor. I also called my Visiting Teaching companion and gave her husband a message that I’d just gone into labor and wouldn’t be able to accompany her to the Sisters’ houses that we were supposed to Visit Teach. After that we decided we should call the Red Cross to get a message to Alex so he knew that he definitely needed to call me. However, when I called I had a lady tell me that they don’t send active labor messages, only birth messages once the baby is actually born. I got off the phone and was very confused, because I’d been told by my FRO that they would send either an “I’m in labor” message OR an “It’s a boy/girl” message. So then my mom got on the phone. She called back and talked to someone else, and he told her that that person obviously didn’t know what she’d been talking about. She then started calling around to the FRO and the base Chaplain to try and get the message to Alex.
Around 8:30 am or so my mom and I decided to go for a walk. We hadn’t even made it out to the trails we wanted to walk around when my phone went off. It was Alex! He said, “Hi baby,” all cheerful, and I immediately said, “Hi honey! I’m in labor!” ….the phone went silent. Finally I heard, “What?” HAHA! I repeated myself, and his next response was, “I… You’re… You’re in…. huh?” When he finally caught his breath he started getting pretty ecstatic. We talked for a few minutes and then I told him that, to save on minutes, I was going to let him go so that he could call in a few hours, since I wasn’t having a baby for quite some time. He got off the phone and my mom and I continued walking. The contractions were getting more and more intense, and I started having to stop or at least really slow down with each one and breathe through it. We reached the turn-around point and I suddenly REALLY had to pee. So we went over to the Rec Center that was just off the trail – with me stopping for contractions every couple of minutes – but it was closed for maintenance!! Luckily a worker was coming in and she saw that I was literally dancing around because I had to go so badly, so she let me in. I ran to the bathroom (I had to ask a man who was working in it if I could use it for a moment, haha), greatly relieved.
As soon as I had finished my phone rang. It was Alex again! He was calling from the office phone on ship, so he didn’t have to use his minutes! I was so excited. We talked as mom and I walked back home, and it was good for quite a while. Then, towards the end of it, sleep deprivation and loneliness started getting the best of him, and his tone got really sad. That broke my heart, of course, and I started worrying about him. As I worried about him, my contractions grew further and further apart. Finally mom said something about it, and I agreed with her and told him that he needed to go take a nap and call me in a couple of hours with a happier attitude, because I needed to focus on being happy and being in labor. If I was focused on him, I wasn’t going to be able to labor well. He agreed, though he wasn’t happy about it, and we said goodbye, agreeing that he’d call back in about two hours.
Around noon the now on-call midwife, Cassie, called me to check up on me. She asked about the amniotic fluid (which was still leaking out of me a little at a time, which is perfectly normal), and I told her it was a clearish-yellowish color. She was a little concerned that there might be some meconium in it (meconium is that baby’s first bowel movement, and it can be fatal if inhaled in the womb and not treated quickly) and asked me to send her a picture of it, just in case. I did, and while I was waiting for her response I drew a bath and Alex called again. We’d been on the phone maybe 10 minutes when she called me back to tell me that she wasn’t sure from the picture, and wanted me to come in just in case. She asked me to be there around 2 o’clock, so I dragged myself out of the warm water and got dressed (Alex was on the phone the whole time), then went to tell momma that we needed to head up to the Midwifery Center.
I talked to Alex until we were almost there, then told him to call me back in about an hour and a half to two hours so I could tell him what was going on. He agreed and we said goodbye. Once inside the midwifery center we set up in the log bed room (I wasn’t sure whether I wanted that or the tapestry room until I got there. I felt too crowded in the tapestry room, so I vouched for the log bed room, instead). We had to wait about 20 minutes (we were a bit early) for Cassie to get out of a meeting, during which time I walked back and forth through the room, breathing through some very intense contractions that were coming about every 2 or 3 minutes. When she did come in she took a look at the amniotic fluid, then checked my cervix to see how far along I was. She then informed me that I was now 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced (yay for effacement! Remember, that’s what’s most important for first-time mommas!). She also told me that Keira is at the -1 station (that’s good. It means her head is down and pressing against my cervix), and that it did look like there was a little bit of meconium in the amniotic fluid, but not enough for major concern. Still, that made me quite nervous.
Cassie then told me that she wanted to give me a liter and a half of IV fluids because I was dehydrated, which was probably why my contractions were so close and so intense even though I was only technically in early labor. After that she wanted me to take some Benadryl, go home, and get some sleep, since she guessed I’d probably be in real, active labor sometime tomorrow afternoon.
While I was getting the IV fluid Alex called again. I explained that I was supposed to go home and go to sleep, and I asked him to call me back in about 5 hours or so. He agreed, especially since he needed sleep too (It was midnight for him!) but expressed his concern for me. He said, “My girls had better be safe” right before we said goodbye and hung up. It was really cute.
After I finished with the IV fluid (it got ‘sucked in’ by my body really quickly, so I guess I was really dehydrated!) I went to the bathroom, and then mom and I headed back. Again. :-/ We stopped at Burger King because I was craving a cheeseburger (I ended up getting two cheeseburgers, a large fry, and a medium chocolate shake. O.o I guess I was hungry!). On the way home I called my step-Daddy and asked him to call the Home Teachers so they could give me a blessing, because I was a little nervous about the fact that there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. When we got home I went to the bathroom again and laid down for a few minutes, and was almost asleep when the Home Teachers arrived. I went out to talk to them for a few minutes and they gave me a blessing. I was so tired that I don’t remember much of it, but I do remember being told that I would be blessed according to my faith, or something to that affect, and that even though it wouldn’t be easy I’d have the strength to make it through. I was really happy to receive that blessing, and after they left I fell asleep feeling quite reassured and at peace.
I woke up about 3 ½ hours later at about 7:30 pm, then stayed in bed for another half an hour. I got up around 8:00 and came out to sit with the family, but I’d only been sitting down for a little while when Alex called again. I talked to him for about ½ an hour and told him everything the midwife had told me (I’d forgotten to do so during our last phone call), then asked if he’d fast for me and Keira – especially Keira. I’d asked a couple of other friends, as well, because I felt very strongly that it would help. He agreed, happily so. I told him I was going to go to sleep again soon, and asked if he could call me back in another 5 hours. I had to make sure he understood that if he called 2 or 3 times with no answer, that it just meant I was asleep, that’s all. I told him that if anything was wrong or if I was just in such active labor that I couldn’t answer the phone, that mom would answer for me. So basically, if no one picks up, everything’s fine.
After we said our goodbyes again, I made myself a PB&J sandwich and sat down to Facebook for a little while. Then I started writing this, and here I am! Now I’m going to end this post and try to go and sleep some more. When I wake up I plan to watch NCIS and the Twilight Zone for as long as I can ignore labor, since it will probably help distract me until I’m in active labor. We’ll see how it goes!
Saturday, June 25, 2011:
The baby is here!! But before I go into detail about that, I suppose I should tell you about the rest of labor.
I didn’t get much sleep on the 22nd. After a couple of hours I woke up to some extremely intense contractions. I tried to watch the Twilight Zone to distract myself, but I could barely get through one episode. They were still about fifteen minutes apart or more, but so intense that I couldn’t watch the show through them. In fact, I started getting really mad at it because it was distracting me from breathing through the contractions properly. So I shut it off and got on Facebook for a while. I don’t remember what time I started dozing off, but I was finally able to sleep through contractions, though I woke up for each one. I finally got up the next day (June 23rd) at around seven in the morning because I couldn’t sleep anymore.
I labored at home for a few more hours, ate some breakfast, and talked to Alex some on the phone. At around nine in the morning Aubrey, one of the midwives at the Midwifery Center, called and told me that she wanted me to be at the birthing center by 10:30 so that they could monitor the baby through contractions and maybe start me on some herbs to get me into hard, Active Labor. So at about 9:45 momma and I packed up the car and headed out again, praying that this would be the last time.
The car ride was horrific. I was in such terrible pain every time I had a contraction because I couldn’t move through them. I tried to ignore the time and was SO relieved when we pulled up to the Midwifery Center. But then I was in just as much agony, since they had me sit in a recliner while I was strapped up to a fetal monitor for twenty minutes. I had to be still through the contractions, which was just as bad as the car! Finally it was over and I was able to get up and move around once more. Aubrey told me that they wanted to start me on Cotton Root Bark to get my uterus more receptive to oxytocin (one dose every fifteen minutes for an hour), and after a couple hours possibly take some more and also use the breast pump (it helps get contractions going). So we started with the herbs. After an hour they told me I could walk around and get some lunch if I wanted, but that I needed to be back by one (it was noon at that point).
Mom and I decided to go to Subway for lunch, and while I was there I had two or three contractions and made several workers and customers nervous. One lady even asked if she should call an ambulance, which I told her wasn’t necessary because I was giving birth at the birthing center just up the street. After lunch we walked next door to Big Lots and walked around until about ten minutes to one. Then we went back to the birthing center, and they had me take the Cotton Root Bark every fifteen minutes for an hour again, and use the breast pump in between. They were merciful, though, and let me stop using the pump between contractions so I could move around. I found that I preferred to be on my knees while leaning against an exercise ball and rocking my hips. It helped with the pain (and at that point it was definitely pain) a lot.
After that things are kind of a blur. Alex called around 1:30 pm and I told him he could either call back in about two hours or I could put him on speaker phone while I labored because I couldn’t hold the phone and I wasn’t very talkative at that point. He opted to be put on speaker, so he called his droid and I set it on the phone with him on speaker, able to hear everything and talk to me in between contractions (and when I was receptive to conversation). I was finally in Active Labor around 2:30 pm, though they didn’t check me until 3:00 pm (at that point I was 4 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and Keira was at +1 station [that means she was really low]). I remember walking around (a lot) and thinking my baby was never going to come. My contractions got closer and closer together and I celebrated that fact, but then I was devastated at the thought that I might be in Active Labor for another twelve hours or more. After all, Active Labor for first-time mommas is, on average, 8-12 hours long. I remember that I felt an odd sense of euphoria when each contraction ended, despite my exhaustion. I also remember having to use the bathroom every ten minutes or so, so I did quite a bit of traveling back and forth through the hallway, stopping to hang on the swing outside the bathroom door as I had a contraction to and from the bathroom.
Daddy, Danielle, and Patrick showed up at about 3:45 or 4:00 pm and Danielle and Daddy came in to see me (Patrick stayed in the waiting room). My contractions were maybe two minutes apart at that point, so I hung on Daddy through several of them. I don’t remember much about that, but I do remember saying I wanted to get into the water, and momma asked Aubrey if I could. She said yes, but that I’d have to wait a few minutes for it to calm down. I was fine with that; I’d be getting into the water soon! A few minutes later I got changed into my swim suit thing (it was a tank-top and a swim skirt) and they monitored Keira’s heartbeat through a contraction before I got in.
When I was finally in the water I felt SO much better! The contractions were still killer, but I could manage them a lot better. Then they got worse. I don’t remember it, but apparently my voice got a ‘tone’. Aubrey had been in the hallway when she heard it, and rushed in to check my cervix. She looked at me and said, “Do you want to have a baby?” “Yeah,” I said, not quite comprehending her meaning. “Okay then,” she said, “let’s have a baby.” “Now?” I asked. “Now,” she said. I was thinking this was some sort of cruel joke, so I said, “You mean I can push??” “You can push!” I was ecstatic, relieved, euphoric… and shocked! It was only about 4:30! I had gone from 4 to 10 cm in just over an hour and a half! I started shouting at the phone to Alex that I could push, that we were having a baby!!
A few minutes later I started pushing. When I did it helped with the contraction pain, but it also hurt so bad! I moaned and even screamed (I apologized for screaming in between contractions, haha) as I felt myself tear. It was NOT pleasant. At one point I remember saying I didn’t think I could do this. I also prayed a lot for Heavenly Father to help me and be my strength. Gone was the sense of euphoria, but I talked to my baby girl and told her that we COULD do this! Alex told me that he loved me (mom held the phone close to me so I could hear) and that I was doing such a great job. That helped so much. Hearing his voice really gave me an extra boost of strength, and I felt so blessed that he was able to be on the phone. Tiffany, the assistant midwife, periodically wiped my face and neck with a cold cloth, which I loved and which also helped a lot.
I pushed for about twenty minutes or so, then let out one final scream as I felt her head come out. The midwives started pulling on her to get her out, which took me by surprised and I accidentally screamed again (more out of surprise than anything else). Then I looked down into the water and saw my baby. I reached down and pulled her all the way out of me, then pulled her up out of the water crying, “My baby! My baby!” I couldn’t believe it!! She was here! She was very limp for a few moments, which made me a little nervous, but then she started to cough. A moment later she let out her very first cry, and the room erupted. People were laughing and saying, “There she is!” I said, “Shh!! Let him hear!” and everyone quieted down so that Alex could hear his daughter’s first cries. I kept saying, “I did it! Alex, we did it!” I was crying and smiling and looking at my precious baby. It is amazing the love I felt for this little person who had just been the cause of so much intense pain! But I did, and I was so happy to share that moment with this new creature, and with my husband over the phone. It was so much more than I had been expecting. I was of course happy to have my momma and sister, Danielle, there with me, but at that moment I was consumed with thoughts of my husband and daughter.
To surmise, Keira LaNae Chandler was born on Thursday, June 23rd, 2011 at 4:54 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 ½ inches long. She is the pride and joy of her momma and daddy’s hearts, and we love her so much. She is now two days old, and she and I are happy, healthy, and home (we actually got to go home four hours after the birth). I am so blessed to have had this experience, and to have been able to share the precious moments of my daughter’s birth with my deployed husband.
Keira, you were worth every second. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
