Birth Story

So I guess I had better write this down while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind! I'll try to keep it as "not gross" as a labor story can possibly be :)

Sunday morning I woke up feeling some contraction's. Throughout the day they gradually got a little bit stronger and by around 3:00 they were starting to get uncomfortable. We even had our home teacher's over, while I was having contraction's! I told Brian jokingly after they left that we were going to have to go to the hospital tonight. As the contraction's got worse I started panicking a little and started cleaning our house like crazy. By about 8:00 the contraction's were getting to the point where I'd have to stop what I was doing because of the pain. After a while of the more painful contraction's I decided we should probably be timing them, and was pretty shocked to see that they were about 2 minutes apart! STILL I was unconvinced that I was actually in labor and begged Brian to let me vacuum before I'd go to the hospital (which he did not).

When we got to the hospital, there was only one lady checking in a few people and told us to take a seat in the waiting room. The waiting room! After a several minutes she came back out and asked what we were there for and I told her I thought I was in labor and that my contractions were about 2 minutes apart. She seemed sorry for making me wait and sent me to triage. We had Ayden with us and decided to call around for someone to watch him just in case I was really in labor. Once I got set up in triage they checked me and to my surprise I was 4 cm dilated and 90% effaced! So while Brian waited in the waiting room with Ayden trying to find someone to watch him, I was in triage by myself. My contraction's all of the sudden started getting WAY worse and closer together. For some reason throughout my pregnancy I have been terrified that I would have back labor, and guess what?! I had back labor, and wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone! Those contraction's were about 100 times worse than with Ayden! I'm not 100% sure of times after this because I was alone and in quite a bit of pain, but I'd say around 10:00 they got me into a labor and delivery room.

As soon as I got into the labor and delivery room my contraction's were so strong and close that the nurse's frantically tried to get everything ready for the baby to come. They called for someone to give me an epidural but said that they didn't think I'd have enough time for it. So at this point I'm alone, with no epidural and just totally not ready for the baby to come! Brian and Ayden came into the labor and delivery room, right as they are about to give me my epidural. I was a total mess and I think Ayden was pretty shocked to see me that way. I tried so hard not to cry or show much pain while Ayden was in there but he knew something was not right and quietly said goodbye a few minutes later. Brian's aunt was able to come and pick him up and watch him for the night (thank you SO much Cindy!). Right after they gave me the epidural Brian came back to be with me. Once I had the epidural things slowed down quite a bit and I still had 1 cm to go for about 3-4 hours. My epidural with Ayden didn't quite work and this time it was SO weird to actually feel it. It made me super cold (like teeth chattering cold) and my back was aching but I couldn't feel the contractions anymore. I was extremely tired but couldn't sleep because I was freezing and uncomfortable.

At about 1:30 I started feeling a lot of pressure and asked the nurse to check me about 3 times in a half an hour but each time I still hadn't progressed. Finally the pressure was getting painful and the nurse moved the baby and ended up breaking my water (why they didn't break my water 3 hours ago, I'm still not sure about). My epidural had been turned down at this point, so I would be able to push (load of crap, in my opinion :)). Within a few minutes I was pushing and the baby was crowning. They had called the doctor, but it would be about 20 minutes before he could get there. So for 20 minutes I had to not push and breath through the contractions which was VERY painful and hard to do! When the doctor finally came he had just about enough time to put his gloves on before she came out in one push! Amazingly I didn't tear this time which has made recovering pretty painless (in that regard). I am SO grateful for that!

Charlotte Marie Cluff was born at 2:36 on Monday morning, weighing 8 lbs and measuring 21" long. She shares a birthday with my dad which is SO cool! She is such a good baby and is even smiling already. Ayden has been slowly warming up to her and is very sweet and soft with her, but mostly keeps his distance. I know he is gonna be a great big brother once he gets used to this "new arrangement" :)

So that's Charlotte's birth story, I hope it wasn't too gross or graphic but I figured it be a good idea to record as much as I could remember while it's still fresh in my mind!