Caylee's Birth Story.

5/11/2009

It was just another day of Braxton hicks contractions. I swept and vacuumed the house, cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom and I went to the grocery store so that I could make dinner for my in-laws.

5:30 Irritated. Lower back pain--felt menstral. . .irritable and braxton hicks 30 minutes apart. . .it wasn't painful, though so I thought nothing of it.

9:30 PM: So irritated that I was going to have another night of false labor that I picked Joshua up, put him in the stroller and took a very fast and hard walk around the park

11:00: Went to bed. Woke up to go to the bathroom a few times but still no labor.

5/12/2009

6:30 AM: Joshua came to bed with us and layed smack dab in the middle of my pregnancy pillow. I turned over to find another pillow and went back to sleep.

6:55 AM: Woke up to what felt like a BIG MAN HAND punching me in the cervix. I heard something. Didn't sound like a pop, though. I think I recall making some kind of sound. . .I got up and felt a gush of warm fluid. I thought I might have peed my pants. Seriously. So, I went to the bathroom and I sat there for about 5 long minutes contemlating. . ."pee or amniotic fluid. . .did I pee my pants or did my water break?" I had my first contraction at the end of that 5 minutes but it wasn't much stronger than the braxton hicks I had had over the course of the last month. I decided, just in case. . .I would take a shower. I looked over at my two peacefully sleeping men in my life laying so quietly on the bed and I closed the door to the bathroom. Another contraction. "What?" I thought. This was 5 minutes after the first one. This had never happened before. I got in the shower and the water felt so good on my achey back that I thought I couldn't possibly be in labor. It was easing whatever discomfort I was feeling. 2 minutes later? Another one? I took about a 15 minute shower and I had at least 7 contractions in the shower. . .each one harder and longer than the last. By the end of my shower I was still in denial that I was in labor. I dried off, went back into my bedroom and grabbed some hair lotion, slathered it all in my hair with the intent of going curly and by that time I couldn't even stand up straight. Didn't finish my hair. . .I was definately in labor with contractions 2 minutes apart.

7:20 AM. I whispered, "Chris!!!" As loud as I could, but trying not to wake up Joshua. He sat up in bed and frowned. He looked back at me and whispered, "What's wrong? Are you okay? What are you doing?" I was staring at him with sopping wet hair, clutching the wall to our bathroom (you can see the mirror of our bathroom from the bedroom---it's an open area without a door). I was doubled over in pain trying to talk through my contraction. By this time, Chris had no idea at all what was going on. The contraction ended and I walked over to the bed and explained that I thought my water broke and I thought I might be in labor. He told me to call the Birth Center. I told him to call his mom to pick up Joshua just in case. . .he did.

7:23: Joshua popped out of bed just talking away. . .I told him that my tummy hurt and not to be scared because It needed to hurt so baby Caylee could come out.

7:24 another contraction---halfway through the contraction, Joshua tapped me on the belly, "You're feelin' betta now, wite, mama?" I whispered, "Just go get daddy. . "

7:25: Chris brought me my phone and asked me if I had called the birth center yet. Still having contractions 1 1/2 to 2 minutes apart, I tried to explain that I couldn't. But, I pushed the saved # in my phone and attempted to tell the person on the other end of the line that I thought I was in labor. Yes, I said, "I think I'm in labor" and that took me about 1 full minute to get out. Chris was on his phone with my mom as I was doing this. I gave the phone to Chris so he could finish giving my info to the lady and she said the midwife would call me back. We had reached the answering service.

7:30: My midwife called me back. Chris answered the phone and gave it to me. She asked me what was going on. Again, I attempted to say, "I think my water broke at 7:00 AM and I can't even time my contractions." Later my midwife told me that she couldn't understand one word that I had said! To that she said, "I think it's time to go to the hospital. I'll meet you there."

7:31: I was sitting on the toilet because I felt like I had to poop. Sorry. . .too much information. Chris peeked in and said, "well, I'm gonna get a shower, then." To that, I remember yelling, "You don't have time to get a shower. We have to go right now!" I was holding the door to the bathroom with my eyes closed moaning ( I read about this somewhere) through the contractions. I then said, I can't do this anymore! Then, I immediatly felt like I was going to throw up and told Chris to get me some ice. I thought, "Oh crap, I'm in transition." But how was this possible? I was only 1/2 an hour into labor!!

7:32: Chris said, "Well, I'll get Joshua in the car, then. . ." He was rushing around with really wide eyes like he didn't know what to do. . .it was so funny. If I wasn't in labor, I think I would have laughed, but I couldn't bring myself to at the time7:33: Chris walked in the door, "where are the bags?" I told him. . .and he ran them out to the car. I still hadn't told him that I thought I was in transistion.

7:35: Chris helped me to the car, I turned on the seat warmer and got ready for the ride of my life.

7:45: Gary (my father in law) drove up next to our car right as we were getting ready to turn onto the main road to leave our neighborhood. We practically threw Joshua to Gary and we were on our way. We went through 3 school zones. . .stopped at all the lights, even the crosswalk ones and Chris drove like a crazy person! I told him to. He told me the highest speed he reached was 90. I remember when he did that because I closed my eyes as he was passing people using a turn lane and I thought hospital thoughts. "don't have the baby in the car, don't have the baby in the car. . ." "Do you want music?" Chris so sweetly asked me. "NO" I said as he slammed on the breaks to turn a corner again. He later told me, "When you drive fast, you have to slam on the breaks so you don't hit people." Every time he hit the breaks I was having a contraction and Caylee's little head slammed into my cervix. I'm sure it sped things along. About 10 minutes before we got to the hospital I told Chris I needed an epidural. He told me that by the time we got there I wouldn't have time for one. He said, "By the time we get there, you'll be ready to push!" I thought he was just trying to blow smoke up my behind to give me confidence. He kept telling me what a good job I was doing. I hummed through every contraction. . .It really, really helps! I finally let Chris turn on the radio. . he turned it to a Christian station. . .I don't remember the song that was playing, but I remember the radio went back off after about 5 minutes. By the time we got to the hospital, my contractions were 30 seconds to a minute apart.

8:30 I stepped out of the car, held on to Chris's neck and I couldn't move. Chris said, he remembers someone in the background saying, "I think she's in labor!" A security guard pulled up with a wheel chair, I sat down and have never ridden in one of those things so fast in my life before. Poor guy seemed scared that I wasn't going to make it to the room or something. He yelled, "Where do you want her?" My eyes were closed the whole time, but I opened them to my midwife's calm voice telling me that I had to stand up and get undressed so she could check me. I stood up, held onto the side of the bed and leaned on it with my hands. I couldn't move again. Contractions were one on top of another. They stripped me down to my bra and Chris walked in after having parked the car. When I think back on how he might have felt, it leaves me with another 'bout of laughter. My husband walked in as I was naked, big pregnant butt staring at him. I mooned my husband at the door. I can just imagine what his facial expression might have been like. Finally I layed down in bed so they could check me. Expecting to be there for another 10 hours I said, " I don't want to lay down!!" The midwife calmly but very assertively said, "you have to just for a minute so I can find out where we're at." So, she did. Contractions are still one on top of another at this point and my eyes were closed the whole time. My midwife told me to look at her. She could probably tell that I was in desperation at the idea that this kind of labor was going to last so many more hours. So, I looked at her and she said very firmly, "This is different this time around. You're already 8 to 9 centimeters. . .you're almost done. We're gonna have a baby!" I thought, "Yeah right, with my son I was 9 1/2 centimeters for 3 hours." My midwife talked me through the next 2 contractions. . .she said, "just moan through it. . " She demonstrated a deep throaty moan and I coppied her, "so that's the right way to do it," I thought as my midwifes voice sounded like it was in a tunnel echoing around me. She said, "now, breathe slowly and let you're body relax at the end of this contraction. I know it still hurts but it's almost over. . .just relax." And I did. Strange. I noticed that my hands were even relaxed. With Joshua, there's a picture of my hands gripping the side of the bedrail, with knuckes white as snow. She told me to lay down again so she could check me. "Already?!" I don't know if that was outloud or in my head. Apparently the baby's heartrate had dropped. I was unaware of this at the time. My midwife told me to flip to the left, then the right, then the left again. This seemed like an almost impossible task until she said, "it's for your baby!" Then I did it very quickly. She checked me and referring to the "station" position of the baby's head said, "3. . .2. . .1. . .crowing! Give me a glove! Give me a glove!" She only managed to get one glove on. and told me to push. I was astonished at the idea because I didn't feel like pushing yet. So, I started pushing. Then I really felt like pushing, so I gave it my best go. . .right when I was really into it at the end of that first push, She told me to stop! So, hesitantly, I did. I was later told that when I stopped pushing, she was unwrapping the cord from Caylee's neck. She told me to push one more time and I felt her whole body come out of me at once!!!

8:42 AM. Caylee Mae was on my stomach, skin to skin. All 6 pounds 14 oz of her. 18.5 inches long.

Crazy. Seriously, that is a really crazy memory for me. There was a wet, warm, screaming person on my stomach. Skin to skin. Cord still attached. It's what I had always wanted. What I invisioned. I was just so shocked by it all. My first thought was, "We just got here. . .Am I done already?" Then I thought, "Thank God Chris didn't take a shower." I just stared at her. She was so mad! The sound of my voice wouldn't make her stop crying, but it was precious. But it was loud! All I could think was, "Wow." They left the cord attached for a good 8 or 9 minutes. Chris cut the cord. My mom walked in the door before I delivered the placenta and I didn't tear! She's a natural nurser, too! She was nursing about 5 minutes after the cord was cut. Soon after that, my mother in law and father in law walked in the room with Joshua in tow. My blood wasn't clotting, so they had to give me tons of pitocin. . . they kept uping it because I was bleeding more than average. The pit made me feel sick and made me cramp really hard. It felt like the beginning of labor again. So, they had to give me two different shots of nasea medicine and two different pain killers before I was back in the bliss stage of just having a baby. So, when Joshua walked in, I was focused on not throwing up and breathing through the pain of the medicine. That's the only thing that really disappointed me. I didn't get to enjoy my kids meeting for the first time. I kind of saw his reaction. He didn't really want anything to do with her at first. Chris bribed him with new cars. Chris said, "you can have your new cars after you hold her. So, I'm going to post the picture of that. He had the Popeye face/Grand-dandy frown! I'll also post some happier pictures of the two of them. Before he held her for the first time, he looked over at me and I said Hi to him. Then he said a matter of factly, "My baby sister's here!" It was after that, that he asked for new cars. I told him that after Caylee was born, he would get new cars. So, I think he associated her birth with that. He's slowly warming up to her, now. My mom was visiting the other day and she was holding her. She was just about ready to go and Joshua told her, "You're not taking my baby sister." It took a couple days for Joshua to warm back up to me. He didn't want to hug me in the hospital. I bribed him with the bed. The adjustable bed that can close me up like a clam shell! It was fun. He jumped up and pushed all the buttons. I cuddled with him. . .he didn't know it, though. I had really missed my little boy! Last night, Joshua and I held hands while I nursed Caylee as he was watching a cartoon. He's adjusting.

So, my kids are like night and day when it comes to resemblance. JJ was born with bleach blonde hair . . .and not a lot of it. Caylee has thick dark hair. JJ had my feet and Caylee has Chris's! Caylee has my ears and Joshua had Chris's. He was a very soft crier. . .she can do an impression of a kitten, a baby eagle and a mouse. When she's not happy, there is no mistaking it. Joshua was a little bit more laid back and quiet. . .She's sweet, though. . .and a cuddler. Joshua just wanted Nah. She just want's Nah, but she'll let daddy cuddle with her as an alternative (at least for a few minutes of distraction!)

So, I'm still in a little bit of disbelief. We haven't reached her due date and yet, she's here. She wasn't waiting, either! It's a totally different experience to have a 1 hour 40 minute labor from start to finish vs. a 20 hour labor. I feel like our family is complete, now. It's a good feeling. Next goal. . .lose the baby weight! My little brother is getting married in two months! JJ will be the ring bearer. . .that's gonna be fun!