Keeping up with the Joneses: October 2010

Dearest Mia,

The day you were born will be with me forever. Your Daddy did an amazing job helping Mommy through the painful contractions leading up to your arrival. We didn't think you were going to make it on your due date since it took mommy 3 long hours to push you out. Mommy and Daddy were overjoyed with emotion when we first saw you. You were so beautiful(even though you had pooed all over yourself and me) and wide awake. I felt like I could stare at you for hours. I hope I never forget that special moment when I first saw you and you were placed on my chest. Mia, I am so excited and honored to be your Mommy.

Welcome home Mia!

Love,

Mommy

Here is the story of Mia's Birth... (This is going to be long because I want to remember every detail of this amazing day.) The above picture was taken at about 3am on Oct. 22.

I started to feel a little funky at work on Wednesday and my co-workers were a little concerned since my face was flushed and I wasn't my normal self. Once I got home from work, I was having consistent Braxton hicks contractions about 5 minutes or less apart. The contractions continued for hours so I called the nurse line to see if I could be in labor. Once I called the nurse, she asked if I had felt the baby moving and I wasn't sure because I was so focused on the tightening of my stomach. The nurse told us to go to the hospital, so we did. We got to the hospital around 11pm and was only dilated 1 1/2 cm and Mia's heart was beating perfectly so we were sent back home.

I went to work on Thursday and felt fine (but extremely tired) but was continuing to have Braxton Hicks contractions. Joe and I went to Panera for dinner, picked up some last minute supplies at Target and went for a long walk that night. At 11:45ish I woke up because I was having painful contractions (thinking...oh, this is what it feels like!) I didn't wake Joe because I figured I had awhile so I started timing the contractions and they were about 5 minutes apart and 30-50sec long. I woke Joe about an hour later and decided to take a warm shower and straighten my hair. : ) At about 3am we decided to go to the hospital because the contractions were getting closer together and lasting longer. (Word of advice...if you go to the hospital with your hair done, make-up on and smiling...you WILL NOT be taken seriously). Even though the contractions hurt, I felt completely normal between them. We got to the hospital and they put sensors on to monitor Mia's heart rate and to monitor my contractions. (See below) Mia's heart rate was strong and I was having consistent contractions but only dilated to 2-2 1/2 cm.

: ( I was so sad that I was having painful contractions all morning and only dilated 1 cm from the day before. Joe and I decided to go home and labor where we were most comfortable (they won't admit you to the hospital and send you to labor and delivery until you're dilated to 4 cm.)

We labored at home all day trying different relaxation techniques. Contractions were getting more and more intense but I had no idea when we needed to go to the hospital. Since we had already been sent home twice, we wanted to be sure on the third try. Instead of being turned away from the hospital, we decided to go to the clinic to check my cervix. Joe called and they could get us in at 3:30pm. It was hard to wait that long but we did. Once we got the clinic, I was in so much pain, I could barely walk. The doctor checked me and I HADN'T MADE ANY PROGRESS in 12 hours. I was still dilated 2- 2 1/2 cm. I felt like I wanted to cry. I was so discouraged and felt like I was going to be in labor forever. The doctor could tell that I was in real labor and thought we should go to the hospital but Joe and I didn't want to, especially since I was planning on having a natural birth. As we were leaving the hospital, we saw my wonderful nurse and she talked with me to see why we were in. She told us to walk around the clinic for about 45 min and she would check me again. This was probably the hardest part of my labor. Every time a contraction came, I was near tears (actually crying at times). I think the tears were a result of pain and frustration. In my head, I kept thinking there is no way I'll be able to do this without pain medicine which made me even more upset. Once the time passed, my nurse check me and I WAS DILATED TO A 5! I dilated 2.5 cm in 45 minutes...now we were making progress (no wonder those last several contractions hurt so bad). At this point, we needed to get to the hospital since we didn't know how fast I would dilate from here. Once at the hospital, I was dilated to a 6 and got checked into my room. I told the nurse I wanted to have a natural labor and she was very accommodating and immediately got me a birthing ball (the best position for contractions in my opinion). It was a little hard not to cave and just say, give me the epidural since they are so common that it is assumed that you will have one. After an hour or so, I went in the jacuzzi. It felt so nice to be in the warm water with the jets on. When I was in the water, the contractions started to feel "different" and I felt like I wanted to push. I got out of the water after about 45 min for my cervix check and was dilated to a 10! I was told that I could push whenever I felt the urge. I felt the urge almost immediately and we began the "pushing" phase of labor. At this point, it was about 9pm and we were super excited because Mia would be born on her due date! Well, little did we know that I would be pushing for about 3 hours. I was so exhausted that I actually fell asleep in between my contractions. At one point, the doctor wanted to give me Pitocin since my contractions weren't always 2 minutes apart. Since Mia's heart sounded great, I didn't see the need to take drugs that might stress Mia or make my contractions to painful to handle. So, we kept on pushing without medicine. An hour and half in, we saw the head and we continued to see the head for another 1 hour and half. I felt like she was stuck and I would never meet my baby. Finally, after 5 pushes in one contraction...Miss Mia Kathleen entered the world. The most beautiful moment in my life (running a marathon is not even comparable in regard to pain or the end reward). I got to have Mia on my lap, skin to skin after the umbilical cord was cut by Daddy.