Our sweet Monkey Jr., now named Eloise Joyce, made her appearance at 8:22 am on Monday, April 8, 2013 weighing in at 6lbs, 5oz. and 19.5 inches.
I got my all natural birth and have written her birth story below. In short, it was MAGICAL, and waaaaay different from
Adalyn's birth. Eloise looks a lot like her big sister, but has my olive skin, a different nose, way less hair, and darker eyes. She is perfection, just like her big sis.
It happened one night:
Eloise Joyce Ralph – Birth Story
4/8/13 – 8:22 a.m.
6lbs, 5 oz. 19.5”
I was feeling consistent yet painless contractions Saturday
morning (the 6th) and wasn’t
feeling baby move at all. I decided to
call my OB, Dr. H, because I knew she was on call at the hospital and would
quickly hook me up to the monitors and ease my mind that all was ok with Monkey
Jr. I got to L&D around 10am and a
20 min. NST confirmed that Monkey Jr. was doing awesome and that I was having
contractions every 3-7 minutes. Just to
make sure I wasn’t in labor, Dr. H checked me and confirmed that I was still
1-2cm dilated, and about 70-80% effaced.
She seemed pretty confident that she would be seeing me at my
appointment on the 11th.
I was up almost all of Saturday night with consistent/timable,
but mild contractions and really thought I was in labor. I called my doula, Kadi, and she urged me to
try and get some rest since it was likely the beginning. I took her advice and was able to fall sleep
for a few hours, but was disappointed to have the contractions gone by
morning. We headed off to church Sunday
morning and I braced myself for the “Oh you’re still pregnant” comments,
despite being 8 days away from my actual due date (the 15th). God blessed with me a lot of peace about her
arrival and I started to feel better about waiting for His perfect timing. We went for a nice long family walk after
Adalyn’s nap and then headed over to my parent’s house for dinner. I was feeling mild contractions throughout
the day, but nothing consistent or timable, so I just decided to try and ignore
them. Toward the beginning of dinner, I
noticed that I didn’t have much of an appetite and perhaps the fact that I had
zero desire to finish my icecream for dessert should have given me a clue that
something was up.
Andrew and I were in bed by 10pm and I had planned to have
our nanny come in the morning so that I could go get a manicure and
pedicure. Hey, I had to make the best of
it!
But….I was almost jolted out of bed right at 12:15am with a
very strong contraction. I layed there
for a few minutes until another, a relatively painful one, followed a few
minutes later. I decided that there was
no way I was going to sleep through these so I went downstairs to watch TV and
rock on my hands and knees. I got my
contraction app open on my phone and started to time their length and
duration. They were about 5-7 min. apart
and lasting about 45 seconds each. As
the hours passed, like real labor is supposed to, they grew closer together and
longer and were getting increasingly more uncomfortable. I went upstairs to take a bath and despite
the fact that we have been in our townhome since June, I realized I had never
taken a bath in our home before. I could
not get comfortable in it, so decided to take a shower instead. I think this was around 2:45am and I
accidentally woke Andrew while trying to get dressed. I wanted to let him sleep and urged him to go
back to bed. “I bet these are the false
ones again”, he said. I wondered too,
but something was definitely different this time because the contractions were
starting to wrap around my sides and back.
At around 3:50am, my app was
telling me that the contractions were 3 min. apart and lasting for just about 1
min. each. Having to use my breathing to
get through each one, I knew that this was it and woke Andrew again with, “Hey,
I think we are going to have a baby today.
Can you call my mom?”
Andrew told my mom to come over in about a half hour and I
finished packing my hospital bag and camera bag, which really helped to
distract me from the pain. My mom
arrived at 4:30am to stay with Adalyn and Andrew and I headed toward the
hospital. The car ride was difficult as
I have a really hard time sitting through contractions. Andrew grabbed my hand and the sweetest
prayer over the labor and for Monkey Jr. and I. We arrived at the hospital around 4:45 am,
and by 5a.m. I was admitted at 4cm and 100% effaced. I was elated to be told that this was it.
Our doula, Kadi, arrived at hospital a few minutes later and
I started to walk around the floor.
Going into the post partum wing was great, as I was able to hear babies
crying and focus my thoughts on the outcome of all of this hard work. Just like with Adalyn, I did not want to be
touched during a contraction and had to be completely still, standing and
leaning on something, to be able to work through one. Dr. H came in the room around 7:15am and told
me that her shift for the weekend was over and would be passing me off to Dr. U
from the practice. I really wanted her
to be able to deliver me, but I understood and still assumed that I had a lot
time left before delivery. She checked
me and I was 6cm. Yes!....though I knew
the pain to come and did feel a bit nervous. I continued to labor in my room, on the bed, leaning in the bathroom, you name it, I tried it.
I had agreed to intermittent monitoring of Monkey Jr.’s
heartrate, which meant that I didn’t have to be stuck in bed, but one of the
monitoring sessions around 7:40am showed decels in her heartrate and the nurse
made me get into bed. At this point the contractions
were coming every minute or so and I can’t even describe the agony of having to
be lying in the bed through each one.
The nurse grew increasingly nervous and I tried to explain to her that
she didn’t have the machine low enough…at this point I could feel pressure in
my butt and knew that Monkey Jr. was REALLY low. I asked her to call Dr. U in and Andrew told
her to turn the volume off on the monitor.
Hearing all of the beeps made it impossible for me to relax and I was so
thankful that he jumped in. Kadi helped
me to remember my hypnobirthing breathing techniques and I tried to relax and
breath through each one. I then suddenly had the urge to vomit, and must have through up about 6 times. I didn't feel bad that a lot if it ended up on the nurses shoes - she was making me mad! I told her to "get this $hit (the wires) off of me!"
Dr. U came in
the room and with a very calming presence assured the nurse that all looks good
and that I was probably near the end and that’s why her heartrate was doing that. He asked if he could check me to confirm and
I said yes. He was so incredibly
respectful of my birth plan and knew that I had requested no cervical checks. But, before he could check me, I told him
that I was feeling a ton of pressure and had to push. My body naturally pushed on the next
contraction and I felt Monkey Jr. move down the birth canal. Dr. U ran out of the room to get his gear on
and before he could run back in, I screamed that I had to push again. I must have said “help me, help me” about a
thousand times because I was feeling things that I didn’t get to feel with
Adalyn. Kadi helped me breath and right
as Dr. U check me he said, “woah, she’s at a +2, +3, +4, and he removed his
hand and told me her head was about to come through. He said “try not to push” as a rush of nurses
came into the room and he scrambled to get his booties on. With the next contraction, lying on my side,
my water broke, and then I passed Monkey Jr.’s head. Then there was a bit of a panic when I
heard, “get peds in here stat”. Dr. U
looked at me and calmly said, “I need you to hold off on one more push”. He explained to me that there was meconium in
the fluid and that he needed to suction her mouth. Within seconds, a team from peds rushed into
the room and I said, “sorry, I can’t stop!” and with one push passed her
body. Eloise Joyce made her entrance
into this world at 8:22am, just a little over 3 hours after arriving at the
hospital!
Dr. U lifted her right onto my chest and assured me that all
was well. I couldn’t believe it! I was in utter shock that she came out so
fast.
The pediatrician in the room told
me that he could let her stay on my chest for 5 minutes but that he would need
to evaluate her for 5 minutes, but would do it in arms length from me. Dr. U brought Andrew over to the cord and
showed him that it had stopped pulsating (we requested delayed cord cutting)
and asked him to cut it. A few minutes
later, I handed Eloise to the pediatrician and birthed my placenta in one
push. Dr. U was super excited to tell me
that there was absolutely no tearing.
He complimented me on birth plan and how reasonable and perfect it
was. I thanked him for being so
respectful of our wishes, and then, sweet Eloise was all mine again. She was placed back on my chest and naturally
rooted and breastfed for the first time.
It was magical – the whole experience – and I feel incredibly blessed to
have had it go so well. Once again, I
relied on Andrew and Kadi to pull me through it all, and I can’t thank them enough
for helping me to get my ideal birth experience. Andrew was quick to say that we could do this
again, and I told him I needed just a bit more time ;) …..but don’t worry, we
are planning on more.
I really did wonder how I could love another human being
like I love Adalyn, but boy, all that they say is right…your heart just grows,
and I am so incredibly in awe and in love with her. Adalyn amazed me when she came to visit at the hospital. She actually asked to hug and kiss baby....my heart <3
More images from our hospital stay:
And yes, I'm aware that we need to change the name of our blog. Coming soon - acubedplus1 !!
