Thursday, December 21, 2017

Birth Photos - Cameron Heather

I am so excited to finally share some of the photos from Cami's birth! (Thank you to our birth photographer Sarah McKenzie Photography!!) 

When it comes to sharing and WHY I am open to publicizing such personal moments with the world...A few years ago, I came across a birth video on instagram. I have shared these words previously, but wanted to include them again here as well because the mama's caption spoke so deeply to me. She said it better than I ever could:

"Giving birth is such a special and personal moment and I know that unlike my obsession with watching birth videos, they are not everyone's cup of tea. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I had to share it if I wanted to continue my mission to spread the positive birth message to the world.
Unfortunately these days, women are inundated with negative stories of other women's birth experiences. Everyone from their mothers, family, friends and even strangers, are quick to tell them the horrors of giving birth. They have been conditioned to believe that birth is associated with excruciating pain and because of this, women today hold an unprecedented fear of giving birth. This unfortunately then leads to exactly the thing they fear the most - a long, painful and disappointing birth.
Birth should not be feared. When a healthy woman, carrying a healthy baby, trusts birth, is free of fear and is appropriately relaxed - her body will function normally, gently and calmly - just like nature intended.
To me, birth is addictive. I have had three amazing experiences and I could honestly do it over and over again. I am sharing Mabel's birth video here today because I want to spread the news that birth can be beautiful, it can be empowering and it can be the best thing you have ever done in your life. It certainly was for me." -@amyoloves and @earthboundbabies

(If you haven't had a chance to check out Cami's full birth story click here!)

Thank you for taking time to share a little piece of this incredible journey with us. 





Praying.



















Ryan clamping, Dr. holding and me cutting!


Much love and respect for this amazing organ that my body grew! Love that I can honor and thank my 
placenta at the very least with a photo this time. I know most people 
probably think this is gross but I think it is so beautiful. What a total miracle!

Bloody vernix-y hands - my favorite!!!





First latch.

Ryan's first time holding her.


We are a family of FIVE!

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Cameron's Birth Story - Part 2

Continued from Cameron's Birth Story Part 1

10:20ish - We arrived at hospital, grabbed the labor bag and headed inside. Walking through the waiting room, I remember feeling super overwhelmed (in a good way) and SO happy we were finally there to meet our baby. I was kind of hyperventilating just because of all of the emotions and adrenaline. We were directed to a small triage room, where I calmed down a bit, changed into a hospital gown and got hooked up to monitors and all of that.

10:45 a.m. - The hospital OB came in and checked me. I was 6cm, completely effaced and baby was at 0 station. (If those measurements don't make sense to you check this out for an explanation.) After he had checked me, he asked how big my last baby was. (8lbs. 6 oz.) He then said "Oh I think this one's going to be a lot smaller!" I TOTALLY didn't believe him at all - but got a kick out of his prediction. First of all, how on earth can you tell by shoving your hand up there and feeling the top of my baby's head? Second of all, I KNEW this baby was significantly larger than my other two because the end of this pregnancy just FELT. So. Different. I chuckled and knew he was wrong haha. The pain was still semi-manageable although definitely starting to get intense.

Sometime shortly after 11:00 a.m. - We went to our l&d room, which was just next door to our triage room. By this point I was in a pretty fair amount of pain and discomfort. I vaguely remember hesitating when they told me it was time to move rooms, but once the nurse said it was just next door I was okay with it.

Once we moved over to our labor and delivery room, my OB came in (yay!!). I was SO excited to see her because with my other babies it had been other doctors from the practice that delivered. I really wanted her to be the one this time! Yay! I have ALWAYS felt strongly that I want my water to break naturally and have been pretty against the idea of having someone intentionally rupture it, but as soon as my OB asked me if I wanted her to break it I said "YES PLEASE!" I was ready for things to move along and it was so relieving to finally feel that gush! We then asked my OB how she felt about letting Ryan "catch" to which she said "Sure!" After that, she left (and I assume she went back across the street to her office to continue seeing her other patients for regular appointments). We called our birth photographer back and Ryan's mom also brought Heidi into the room as well.

At this point, I was standing up with the hospital gown on and standing over what I call the "puppy pad" (whatever those mats are they have at the hospital that they make you sit on or stand on to catch all the amniotic fluid and junk). The nurse turned to me and said "oh there's some more fluid! That's good!" I said "Nope, that's just pee!" Haha.

I knew that having my water broken would intensify things, but I think there was a part of me that thought it would make me feel better or make laboring at that point easier or something. I had never known JUST labor without a broken water, so it felt very unnatural to have it intact during labor - like I didn't know what I was doing. I couldn't fully release my pelvic floor as I was used to doing in the past and also felt like (whether true or not) she couldn't fully engage. Even though I was in pain, I was still glad to just be able to open up and let stuff come out.

11:30 a.m. - Things by now were very painful. I was holding the hospital gown up above my belly (mostly to keep it from getting crap on it). Pretty quickly though I got sick of holding it so I just took it off. It felt SO good to ditch that thing. I was wearing a bralette that I had bought for labor but had nothing on aside from that. I don't know why I've never labored naked before but it was awesome. I was still laboring standing up and the nurse didn't really want to check me since my water had been broken.

By this time, I was actually pretty over labor. I was in a lot of pain and felt like things weren't very manageable. I was surprised I wasn't progressing faster and wanted to just push her out and be done with it. At one point, the room was full of people, ready and waiting and assuming that baby girl would be here any minute ("last time she delivered within 30 minutes of getting here!") but then once they realized it was going to be a while longer everyone left.

I asked Ryan to pray with me and to pray that baby girl would be here by noon. I wanted to pray very specifically that this would end soon. After we prayed, I didn't look back at the clock once. At one point, I think I knew it was after noon, but I knew I would be disappointed knowing for sure so I just avoided that all together. I think I STARTED to get a little pushy at this point.

So here's the thing. I've done this before. I know all of the signs, all of the sounds to make and all of that that indicates to the nurses that it's time to push baby out. BUT. My body wasn't really telling me to push yet. I didn't feel the overwhelming URGE. That PRIMAL instinct that I LOVE when your body just takes over. But this hurt. I wanted to convince everyone that it was time so that it would be over. (Also, I think our nurse was super inexperienced. She seemed really young and nervous and not very sure of herself at all.) So I gave her all the signs. Grunting. Pushing against the contractions. Being vocal. But it wasn't involuntary. It was just the opposite. I was SO present between contractions I could have played on my phone or texted my friends (though I didn't) despite being in a lot of pain. This also felt very unnatural to me. I am used to going into labor land. Zoning out. Finding my own planet and existing there for a while. So because of this I felt like something was wrong. Labor felt wrong to me. (For the record, if this happens to me again in the future, I'll know that that's perfectly okay to not be in the zone between contractions and I will embrace it and enjoy it! But this was new to me and I didn't know how to handle it.)

11:40 a.m. - By this time I think the nurse had started to get nervous (because of me semi-faking it and all). She told me to lie down so she could check me. (I think I was still a 6?) Having her check me was AWFUL. I've literally never had anyone check me so aggressively ever before. She would almost jiggle her entire arm around in there and it was always super painful and terrible to have her doing that.

After the nurse checked me, Heidi came back in briefly then left again. I stayed laying down and with each contraction I would raise my hand in the air, and pray that God would take the pain away. I would tell myself during the contraction "THIS is as bad is it's going to get right now and after this second it will get better", which seemed to help some. Just declaring when the pain would peak and being aware of it's decline. However, I knew that I was too "comfortable" on my back though and felt like I was stalling (still being at a 6 was discouraging). I could tell I wasn't progressing much in this position, even though I was in a ton of pain. It basically felt like with each contraction someone was slicing my belly open horizontally with a knife - exactly in the location where c-section scars are. It was pretty searing.

**Side note - I really hesitate to share that description of what the contraction pain felt like only because I don't want to instill fear in anyone about birth. BUT I also feel like it's so important for me to be honest. Yes it might hurt like Hell but it's for a (good) reason - not because something is wrong. I don't want to pretend that this birth was painless (even though my last one was!) and I think it can and will be beneficial for others as well as myself to have a little bit better of an understanding for what I'm in for next time. I don't want to forget that feeling - because Wells' birth really spoiled me ;). I think by going into birth preparing for pain appropriately is crucial, though if you are prepared it's not something to fear necessarily. I will say that even though contractions were very painful it wasn't at the point where I just wanted to die, I felt like I couldn't do it or that I wanted to be numbed - even though I WAS ready for it to be over I still knew my body was made to do this.**

Anyway, I really wanted to stand back up and asked the nurse to put another "puppy pad" down on the floor so I could do so. She basically told me no, that she didn't want me to stand back up because she was worried I would have the baby on the floor. (What?? Looking back, I wish I had fought this more. Being confined to a bed during labor is AWFUL and it's so essential during unmedicated birth that you have the freedom to move around as you wish. Also - this baby isn't just going to FALL out - which I think the nurse thought was going to happen.)

I should have just said screw it and stood up anyway because that's what my body was telling me to do. I know better. I did say out loud that I didn't want to stay laying down though, so she suggested we raise the back of the bed up and I kneel backwards over it.

Around 12:15ish - After a lot more (intentional and conscious) grunting and pushing and moaning on my part, the nurse decided to recheck me. She called my OB over. While I was laying on my back waiting for my doctor to come back over to the hospital, I could FEEL my baby entering the birth canal. THIS was a very cool feeling even though it burned. I at least knew this was a good sign and definitely recall "enjoying" that feeling and embracing it! Ah the feeling of your baby descending is such a good one and I'm glad I was aware of when it was happening. Once my OB arrived, she checked me as well and appeared to get kind of frustrated with the nurse because I wasn't completely dilated yet. (I assume she was blowing off her regularly scheduled appointments so I think she was a little ticked off the nurse called her over too early.) So they decided to give me some more time.

12:20 p.m. - I continued to labor on my back for a bit, moaning loudly and feeling a lot of pain. This is kind of when I felt like everyone was waiting on me. I was really worried that if I took too long my OB was going to leave and someone else would end up delivering. I eventually got back into kneeling position and at one point when I had my head down, out of the corner of my eye I could see my OB's shoes in the doorway for a few minutes. I knew she was observing me to see where I was at, so I continued to grunt and push and be vocal even though it still felt like a choice. (Doing those things during contractions certainly wasn't necessary at this point, but at the very least it was something to do during contractions instead of just letting the pain rip my stomach apart). I kind of felt like everyone was standing around looking at their watches and at some point more people started coming into the room to get stuff ready because things sounded like they were getting close I guess.

I definitely felt like I hadn't had a chance yet to "do my thing" and I can very clearly remember having the thought "I need to tell everyone to leave the room". We had both of our moms there, birth photographer, OB, my nurse, several nursing students and a few other nurses as well. I'm all for letting people learn and/or watch me give birth - if 500 people want to come see I'm all for it. But at this point in labor I *should have* told everyone to get out and give me more time. BUT. As soon as I had that thought I also realized "If I tell everyone to leave then I will have to keep doing this" and at this point I really really didn't want to keep doing that. So it was go time. Ryan was given a gown and gloves (!!!) and everyone assumed their positions.

12:51 p.m. - I definitely did not feel like my body was telling me to push yet. But I was done. With the next contraction I pushed. I could feel baby descending but could tell she wasn't crowning yet. With the next contraction, I pushed again. I pushed HARDER than I have EVER had to push. I could feel her crowning. It felt like my contraction had passed and I really needed and wanted a break. But as soon as I stopped pushing I knew I did NOT have a choice to stop. I was in so much pain there was no way I could just sit there and do nothing between the contractions. It felt like her head was halfway out so it was physically impossible to simply stop at that point even though it was not instinct telling me to keep going - just that it hurt too bad to pause there. I kept pushing (my OB had also told me to keep pushing). Out came her head... (Ryan said at this point my OB checked to make sure the cord wasn't around her neck) then another big push and...

12:53 p.m. - Baby girl was born!! Straight into her daddy's hands. The first words Cami heard her mama say after she came out were "HOLY F%*$!!" which I screamed multiple times before she was placed in my arms because that hurt SO bad and it was the HARDEST I've ever had to push any baby out ever. (Which, by the way I don't normally curse like that!)  After my dr. cleared baby's nose and mouth she started wiping her off a bit. Ryan told her that I wanted to leave the vernix on (way to go Ryan!) and then she told him to pick Cami up and place her on my belly - which he did!!

Right after she came out!
Right after Ryan put her on my chest.

I knew she was big and my OB also commented on her size - I could tell she was bigger than any of my other babies just by how much MORE work that took! I was honestly preparing myself for a lot of tearing and a much longer and harder recovery than the last time because of how forced pushing her out felt and because I knew she was the biggest yet. (Luckily, I "only" had a 2nd degree tear which is the norm for me and physical recovery has not been much different than after I had Wells. By the way mamas - the first baby is usually the toughest to recover from. After that first one, at least in my experience, physical recovery is never quite that bad again.)

Looking back, sometimes I regret not giving my body more time to take over. I question my decision to literally FORCE her out. Did I make the wrong call? Did I start pushing too early - before my body was ready? (Was I even 10 cm when I started pushing??) Why didn't I give myself more time? Did I disrespect the entire process? Was I too controlling? I have spent a lot of time doubting what I felt like were very voluntary thoughts and actions on my part. But a few realizations I have made... If my body had not been ready, I probably would have had to spend more than 90 seconds pushing. It's not like I was intentionally pushing against my body's will for an hour or anything. I literally pushed for MAYBE a minute and a half. It was basically 2 contractions. The other thing that was brought to my attention (by my therapist actually)... a 9 lb. 3 oz. baby isn't going to just slide out (third baby or not). That's going to take some work no matter HOW many babies you've had! So even though, I still have plenty of moments where I really regret not giving myself more time and my body more time to "get there" I have to remind myself of these things. My body must have been ready "enough" anyway...!

Usually, they pull the end of the bed away so you're basically delivering "into the air", but since Ryan was catching they didn't pull it away and I just delivered onto the bed. You would think that it wouldn't really matter, but it definitely felt different not delivering into the air! Guess they don't want to risk dad dropping that slippery babe!

Once I was stitched up, it was placenta time. I asked my OB if she needed me to push - which I have had to do a little bit of in the past to help get it out but she said that I didn't need to this time and it pretty much just fell out on it's own haha.

1:01 p.m. - We cut the cord! Cutting the cord has always seemed kind of gross to me, so I've never pressed Ryan to be the one to do it. (Up until now, the dr. has always done it.) This time I wanted to do it though! It was very cool because Ryan held the clamp, the dr. held the cord and I cut it. Very symbolic of this birth ;). And actually, the "texture" of cutting the cord wasn't as nasty as I thought haha! It was a pretty clean and easy cut.

As my dr. was about to take the placenta away I stopped her and asked to see it - something I have never been aware of enough in the past to ask for (or care about I suppose). She held up the cord told us it was nice a long, and then held the placenta up and showed us where it connected to my uterus and kind of turned it over and almost inside out so we could see the "inside" of it where it was next to baby. It was so cool to finally get to see one of my placentas!

1:35 p.m. - Cami was weighed but couldn't get a bath. Bigger babies tend to have blood sugar issues so she was tested immediately. Since her blood sugar was off she had to wait for a bath (she didn't end up getting one until almost 24 hours later - Yikes!)



1:45 p.m. - I nursed her for the first time. She's a pro!


Processing

This birth just felt very different. The first 12-24 hours I felt REALLY uncomfortable and pretty upset by the birth. It was just so WEIRD. Weird. Very weird. And painful. I didn't feel the "magic" I have felt before. I didn't feel empowered at all or like it wasn't really a big deal. In some ways I felt like I "did it wrong" and I forced it too much. It has taken me a while to process it (I still am) and to work through how I feel about it. Everything went just fine and about as well as it could have gone really. It really wasn't a BAD experience when it comes down to it, but I was definitely questioning whether I wanted to risk having that sort of experience again - which scared me.

I had been praying for 3 things specifically for this birth - safe and healthy mom and baby, no interventions/drug-free and that it would be painless. (I also secretly was hoping for a daytime baby and really wanted my OB to be the one to deliver.) I really got everything I wanted and more, with the exception of the pain-free part. But part of what I know about pain-free birth is that it's not and can't be an expectation. I have to be and AM okay with God not providing that with every birth. I still had expectations even though I tried really hard not to. I felt a lot of pressure to start pushing - pressure from everyone else but also from myself. It just felt rushed and forced and painful. I think I got into my own head a little bit. Also, just being so drained physically and emotionally already from a few really tough months, I was just so ready for it ALL to be over.

But I just felt like there was something missing this time. There were things I wish I had done differently, wish I could go back in time and change and things I say I want to do differently when/if we are blessed with a "next time". I'm working on trying not to say/think those things because I don't want to have regrets. Though I have those feelings less and less about wishing it had gone differently, sometimes I do still have those thoughts.

Some days I still struggle with not feeling the "magic" that I'm used to feeling about my birth experiences. But I think it will come. And at this point I'm okay with knowing they will come, it's just take a little longer than usual.

God played such an obvious role in my last two births I'm still searching for his role in this one. I know it's there. It has to be. I know HE was there. It's just going to take some time and some digging to really figure out HOW. And maybe this time it's not about ME. Maybe it's supposed to be about Ryan's experience, or something else that I'll never know. Maybe it's about preparation. If/when we are blessed with a "next time" I feel more prepared already. For both pregnancy and birth. Because both of those things this time were very different and tough for a lot of reasons.

The one thing that I do know - this was THE coolest thing that my husband and I have EVER gotten to do together. Ryan "caught" our baby. He was the first to pick her up and the one to give her to her mama. I know he even surprised himself and I'm super proud of him. He loves birth just as much as I do and I love him for that more than I ever thought I would. As hard and weird as this birth was, I would do it over and over again the same way if it meant that he got to have this experience.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD BABY CAMI!!





Cameron's Birth Story - Part 1

Unmedicated birth is and always will be one of my favorite things I have had the privilege of being able to do. With my first birth, it was so long and painful but empowering and amazing. My second time giving birth was quick, easy, fun, almost entirely painless and super spiritual. This time was... weird. That's really the best way to describe how I felt in the hours, days and weeks following the birth. It just felt weird. It's taken me a little while to process it. I'll go into much more detail about what I actually mean by all of this at the end of this birth story, but for now let's get straight to the good stuff! (Heads up - this is an obnoxiously LONG birth story. Sorry! I didn’t want to leave anything out... you’ve been warned!)

To begin, I want to document a few things that happened leading up to the actual delivery day (and if the words "mucus plug", "cervical check" or "membrane sweep" creep you out you might want to skip these first several paragraphs)...

Thursday, September 14th (17 days before my estimated due date)

I lost the mucus plug. In past pregnancies, there has been a time when I thought I was losing it, but it has never been THIS obvious. With my first 2 babies, the times I thought I was possibly losing the plug happened within a few days of their birth and was a fairly gradual process so this time this event really started messing with me mentally. Even though losing your mucus plug gives ZERO indication of a timeline, based on my previous experiences I started thinking I had less time than I thought. Is this baby going to be 2 and a half weeks early? Would she be arriving over the weekend?? I didn't feel like I had things ready yet! Also, I had been having braxton hicks almost my entire pregnancy, and was at 3 cm dilated. Also this being my 3rd baby and only 18 months since the last time I did this... you can see how the scale really seems to be tipped in one direction. I started feeling pretty stressed out (but I did of course make sure to snap a picture and send it to Ryan bc if I'm dealing with all of this he at least has to look at it haha! Don't worry, I'm keeping that one to myself though ;).)

A few minutes after discovering I had lost the plug.

Thursday, September 21st

1 week after I lost the plug (10 days before my estimated due date), I noticed that baby had dropped significantly and my belly was suddenly looking very skinny from the top down (but popped way farther out). I think this was due to baby spinning slightly to get into birth position maybe?? 

Top view. 

Front view - lower, longer and skinnier. 

Side view. 

Monday, September 25th (5 days before my due date)

Ryan was going in late, coming home early and working from home a lot during the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I needed a lot of help even just getting the kids out of the house to preschool because I almost couldn't do it physically. I really struggled doing much of anything and was pretty much helpless when it came to... well just being alive/doing anything besides laying on the couch. (This is why I knew without a doubt that this baby was going to be bigger than my others. It felt SO different!) So ANYWAY. That day, my aunt came to watch Heidi and Wells so I could have some alone time, but I just couldn't really focus on anything. I felt really stressed out and wasn't really in a place where I was capable of self-care. Ryan ended up leaving work and meeting me for lunch. During lunch, he asked "What's the deal with letting husbands catch the baby in hospitals?" I told him that I'm sure it just depended on the doctor but that it probably happens and then said "WAIT why is that something that you would be interested in doing??" "Well, yeah I think that would be cool!" he said. I really never though about even asking about this in a hospital setting and I certainly didn't think Ryan would come up with this on his own. (Even though birth is kind of a "thing" for him now too hehe!) So we just kind of left that as an idea on the table and thought it would be cool if it happened but realized that chances of having that opportunity were probably not that high.

Later that night I took this picture - the night before what would be my last dr. appt. 

Tuesday, September 26th 

We woke up, dropped the kids off at preschool and Ryan and I went to my 39 week OB appointment. I knew my OB was going to ask me during my cervical check if I wanted a membrane sweep. (A membrane sweep or strip is where the doctor basically runs her fingers between the cervix and amniotic sac to separate the membranes around the baby from the cervix. This causes a release of prostaglandins which can help to kick-start labor.) She had actually asked me the week before during my 38 week appointment if I wanted it done but our birth photographer was out of town and I wasn't sure how I felt about having that done that "early" anyway. I had my membranes swept with Wells (my second baby) the day before my due date and he came the next evening. That time, the membrane sweep was pretty "unnoticeable" aside from the fact that my OB already had her hand up there to check my dilation. 

ANYWAY. This time she asked again if I wanted it done and I said sure. It was much more uncomfortable this time than it was when she did it with Wells. After she did it (it only takes a second or two) she told me I could sit up and I just said, "no thank you"! The cramping was pretty intense and gross feeling and I just needed a few minutes to recover from that. I halfheartedly moved the sheet down to cover myself up a bit, said thank you (to which she enthusiastically replied "Any time!!" haha) and left. It took a few minutes before I felt well enough to sit up but I eventually got up off the table, got dressed and we left. I really wasn't sure how I felt about having that done - even though this was my second time to CHOOSE to have it done. It's really not THAT big of a deal, and they say that it's not really going to do anything if your body isn't ready anyway... but I'm just REALLY not into doing anything to force my baby or my body into doing something it isn't QUITE ready to do. Even when we were getting into the car, I told Ryan that I just wasn't sure how I felt about it, even though it was a choice that I made and knew it was coming. It was a weird feeling. I just want nature to be 100% in charge and I doubted whether or not a membrane sweep was preventing or allowing that to happen. Am I trying to control too much? Anyway, the rest of our day was pretty normal and I honestly can't even remember if I had any braxton hicks or not. The evening was uneventful and we went to bed like normal. 


Last dr. appt! Taken right after the membrane sweep. 3cm dilated.

Wednesday, September 27th

Around 6:30 a.m. - I woke up to pee and got back in bed. Ryan had already decided to work from home that day, mostly just because of my unstable emotional state at this point. (Perhaps he also thought there was a good chance things would start happening sooner rather than later.) He was upstairs working. I started noticing some cramping (which wasn't THAT weird or abnormal) but then I started to realize that there were definitely some periods of discomfort followed by a period of no discomfort. (At this point, it felt VERY menstrual - exactly like light period cramps.) So I decided to start timing...

6:51 a.m. - I timed the first contraction. After about 30 seconds it went away.  I kept laying there playing on my phone and didn't really think TOO much of it yet.

7:02 a.m. - The next contraction started and lasted 30 seconds again.

7:03 a.m. - I texted Ryan and asked him to come lay with me for a few minutes. Once he got into bed I told him I was having some "little baby contractions", they seemed kind of consistent, but I wasn't really quite sure yet.

7:21 a.m. - Another contraction, lasting 30 seconds. (I think there was a good chance that I had had one between 7:03 and 7:21 but I was too distracted or it was light enough where I didn't notice or time it.)

7:35 a.m. - I texted my mom and sister and said "little contractions for the last hour!" (but that they shouldn't get too excited bc maybe I just had to poop. HONESTLY. At this point in pregnancy, that wouldn't have been that weird if that's what it had been haha.) I told them we weren't sounding the alarms or calling anyone else yet but that we would keep timing and keep them posted.

7:41 a.m. - Around this time I got out of bed and contractions became much more obvious. They started feeling stronger and seemed to get closer together (around 3-5 minutes apart or so) but it was still hard to tell for sure because I was pretty uncomfortable between contractions too. This was the point when I felt convinced this was actually labor! I had put on a an adult diaper in case my water broke and we slowly started getting our stuff together. Ryan called both of his parents to come help us with the kids, I got myself ready and threw the things on my "last minute items" list into our hospital bags.

In labor, right after getting out of bed.

Engaged! Looking much different.

7:57 a.m. - I went to the bathroom and noticed some blood and junk (just a small amount - which is normal) but no broken water yet.  I called our birth photographer (from the toilet - hah! Sorry girl!) to let her know this thing was going down. My last labor that she photographed went SO fast, I think she was a little concerned that we weren't leaving right away! Since my water hadn't broken, I really didn't feel any sense of urgency and also I have NO desire to spend all day laboring at the hospital. Laboring in the hospital really sucks honestly. It's not comfortable, people are messing with you, IVs, plastic bracelets, distractions etc. etc. The less time I have to spend there in labor the better! I would much rather wait until the last minute and race over there so that I can labor in a place I feel more comfortable. Anyway, at this point we weren't heading out the door quite yet. I spent the next hour or so laboring around the house, pacing around our downstairs, listening to music on headphones and just enjoying that TODAY we were going to get to meet our girl.

Holding Wells and taking a few minutes between contractions
to soak in him still being the baby!

8:41 a.m. - At this point, we decided to start loading up to head to the other side of town (where the hospital was) but not actually go to the hospital yet. I wasn't quite sure where we would go (Target? Walmart? Grocery store? Somewhere..) but again - because my last birth was so quick, we didn't want to risk things going from 0 to 60 (again) and be caught too far away from the hospital.  My grandma had been in the hospital over there so my mom was in town from California and staying at a family friends house (Shout out JUDY!!) Judy was out of town at the time so it was just my mom there. The house was maybe 5 minutes max from the hospital, so my mom suggested we come there for a bit. I felt like everyone else was feeling a little more rushed than I was, but I was comfortable with the decision to head that way as long as we didn't go straight to the hospital (unless my water broke in the car and things picked up).

Last family of 4 pic!

9:00 a.m. - Left the house and headed to Kingwood! The car ride wasn't anything overly exciting, we were listening to some All Sons & Daughters. I don't recall being overly vocal at this point, other than singing loudly... if I was moaning during contractions it was only a little bit.


Took this as we were backing out of the driveway!
(P.S. If you follow my IG stories you knew it was baby day!)

It felt very weird to have my water still intact! It made me feel like we still had PLENTY of time but I had a hard time feeling like I could allow my body open up fully during contractions. (Usually, my water breaks and then I just kind of let everything open up and whatever comes out comes out - amniotic fluid, pee, whatever. But this made it a little bit harder to relax and open up.) If my water had broken during the car ride, we probably would have just gone straight to the hospital because of the expectation that baby girl would be coming out really quickly after that, but it didn't.

9:45ish - Arrived at Judy's house. Once I got out of the car and inside the house, contractions were about 2.5 minutes apart. The house was super quiet, and it was just Ryan and my mom there. I still had headphones in and was listening to worship music, so whenever I felt a contraction coming I would just turn the volume all the way up, close my eyes and moan or make whatever sound I felt like making. It was really helpful to turn the music up loud and close my eyes during contractions because it allowed me to shut out the rest of the world. I didn't really feel like I was "in the zone" or anything so I'm not sure I would have been able to focus quite as much if I had just been walking around a quiet house randomly moaning loudly.




10:10ish - At this point, Ryan told me my contractions were about 2.5 minutes apart and suggested that we leave for the hospital soon. I didn't REALLY want to go yet, so he suggested we go through 2 more contractions and then go to the hospital and I agreed. 2 contractions later we got in the car and left for the hospital!

Get to the good part in Part 2 HERE!