She decided to come on a peculiar date and 10 days late, but it couldn't have been smoother. I woke up at 6:30 am in my usual spot, the couch, surrounded by pillows since it was the only way I could sleep. I'd been awakening with cramps almost every morning along with contractions that never amounted to anything. I started getting contractions, but I ignored them. I didn't really pay attention to them at first, but they were coming every 10 minutes or so and they kept coming instead of dying down after a half hour of getting up and moving around. I texted my doula Jess after an hour and a half, just to let her know there was something going on. The contractions weren't painful, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. I'd been in the same situation a few times already, including a trip to the hospital with false labor.
After a few hours, they hadn't gone away. I started to time them and they were coming regularly, but still not too painful. I asked Mike to come home from work around lunchtime. I figured that it was probably "the day" since I'd been having contractions for a solid 6 hours. I asked Jess to come as well because they were starting to get more intense. All afternoon I labored at home with Jess, Mike, Lauren (nanny) and Dexter. They continued to get intense and started requiring more and more of my attention. Around 5pm, they started to die down a bit and Jess recommended taking a nap. Both Mike and I laid down to catch some sleep because this labor could go on for another 12 hours for all we knew. The contractions died down just enough for me to catch a 45 minute nap. I was awoken by a strong contraction.
After the nap, the contractions were much stronger. I really needed Jess to help me focus through them. I started moaning a low ohm sound that reminded me of Yoga. I'd read about the sounds laboring mothers make sounding like a song, so this was my birth song. It felt natural and allowed me to get through the contractions as they got more and more intense and closer together. Lauren had taken Dexter to the playground to get him out of the house. When he came back he heard me singing the birth song, he kept asking what the sound was. Jess later told me he sang with me, but he was in a different room so I didn't hear him.
At this point I was only comfortable in a couple positions. I kept having to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes. The contractions were strong and I was singing louder. Then something changed. I started getting a cold sweat. I knew it was time to go to the hospital and I remember telling Jess that something had changed and we needed to go. She and Mike got everything in the car. Dexter was in the kitchen with me, so I said goobye to him and told him I loved him and that he'd get to meet his baby sister tomorrow.
I had one last trip to the bathroom and then I knew it was really going to happen. At this point, I was in a daze. It was really odd, but I was completely relaxed. I felt the pain, but it wasn't anything like with Dexter. The contractions were coming one right after another. I had 3 just getting to the bottom of the stairs. I was hoping that I was at least half way through labor. I wasn't sure if I could continue to handle it for much longer at that intensity, let alone if it got any worse.
We drove the 10 minute drive to the hospital. Mike practically held me up, as we walked all the way to the farthest corner of the hospital and took the elevator to the 15th floor. We made it to the Welcome Desk where we were supposed to check in. As the lady was filling out Mike's visitor badge, I had a strong contraction and my water broke. Then my body took over and I started pushing uncontrollably. I thought she was going to be born on the floor right there. Jess had ran ahead and told a nurse who came running down the hallway with a wheelchair. She was yelling at people to get the room ready and ran the wheelchair back down the hallway to the delivery room.
I didn't have time to put on a gown. As I took off my bottoms, I noticed the telltale signs of meconium (poop from the baby - can be a very bad sign). I got on the bed as more uncontrollable pushes started happening. I did my best to hold back, and after seeing the meconium, I was really worried. When they checked to see how far along I was the nurse yelled that I was complete and that I should start pushing. I heard someone say I was a "rockstar pusher" which continues to make me laugh.
There were probably 10-15 people in the room rushing around trying to get everything ready. The nurse trying to put the monitor on for the baby was trying to pick up the baby's heartbeat, but she couldn't find it. It was really scary for a few minutes because she couldn't find it. Luckily, little Brixton had already crowned, so they put an electrode on her scalp to pick up her heartbeat. That was all pretty useless. They told me that since she'd pooped they weren't going to let her cry. Then they told me to push. I was really anxious to know whether or not she was okay.
I pushed and screamed. They told me to push more and I screamed louder than I think I've ever screamed. I never wanted to be the "screamer" that scared the other women in labor, but I'm pretty sure I did just that. Mike and Jess were at either side of me and then Brixton came out screaming like a banshee. There wasn't any way they could keep her quiet. It went so fast - literally just a few minutes after I was in the delivery room. Mike watched his daughter be born and said "Whoa! There's a baby!" It freaked him out bit because it was such a whirlwind.
I'm not sure what happened when after that, but I held her and she was beautiful. She was pink and so mad. She was crying so loud. I'd never heard such a loud cry from such a little person. She had dark hair with a slightly darker complexion. That was truly odd considering Mike and I both had blonde hair as babies, and Dexter has strawberry blonde hair and a light complexion. She must be taking after her Grandma Cole or Great-Grandma Branam, both of which have darker hair and blue eyes.
I had a little issue with bleeding that had me in the delivery room for a little bit longer. Jess went to Burgermeister and picked us up some hamburgers. I was starving after doing all that hard work. I hadn't eaten since lunch. When she got to the restaurant, they had just closed. With a little begging and explanation, they went ahead and made our food for us. How awesome is that? So I got to eat a fantastic burger, seriously tasted like the best thing ever, at 10:30pm in the delivery room. I couldn't have planned it better. It felt like a mini-birthday party. I had an all-day labor, mostly at home, with no pain meds needed. It was a smooth and relatively quick birth of a healthy baby girl.
I felt so awesome afterwards that nurses thought I was a little crazy, even crawling over my hospital bed like it was nothing the day after delivering. It took a few days to slow down, but for the most part, I have felt better than being 10 months pregnant! I was in the hospital a total of 25 hours. I requested to go home as soon as possible because I can't really sleep in a hospital when they are bugging me every few hours along with all the noise.
Brixton is doing well and I'm practically back to my old self, but I'm so out of shape it's ridiculous. She lost a little too much weight at first - just under 10%. She gained 4oz in 2 days though, and that was enough to impress the doctor.
All in all it was a fantastic birth experience. I wish it would've been that easy with Dexter. I wouldn't have been so apprehensive. With Dexter I was induced, spent 3 days trying to go into labor, had to have an epidural because the pain was too intense, labored all night long, had a morning delivery, was exhausted from the start and had a tougher time recovering.
The second time around is much easier.
