Wow, I can hardly believe little Evelyn Marie has almost been with us for 4 weeks. In fact, my last update on here was 4 weeks ago. The last update was me complaining about still being pregnant and being tired of everything. Evelyn has been an amazing bundle of joy, but at the same time she has had many episodes that I would just describe her as being a pain in the ass. We’re adjusting to Evelyn and her sleeping schedule… well, sort of, we encourage her to stay awake longer during the day so that she’ll be more apt to sleep at night. Right now, we get about 5 to 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night, which is amazing! Well, at least it has been like that the last 4 nights. I’m feeling pretty good nowadays from the less uninterrupted sleep.
However, this post is about my birth story. How I felt and how everything went.
On April 30, 2010 I woke up at 4:30 a.m. with some pretty intense pain. I went to the toilet because I wasn’t sure what was going on. I was hoping that it was labor, but I have similar pain with some intestinal stuff. After sitting on the pot for a little while, I wiped and there was blood. The intense cramping pain was growing worse too. I decided to wake Harry up. It was about 4:45 a.m. or so at this point, I told him to come look (to make sure I wasn’t delusional from just a few hours of sleep). Indeed, there was blood. I asked him to call BirthCare, I was already having problems talking when a contraction hit me. The contractions came hard and quick, there really wasn’t much time in-between the contractions. At this point I didn’t want to be touched much and it was hard for me to explain this to Harry.
Midwife Lisa was on call that night and from the amount of pain I was in and the time of morning she said we should drive on in. I jumped in the shower while she and Harry hashed some things out. At this point I do not remember if we called our Birth Assistant and Bradley Instructor Heidi before or after I showered. Harry jumped in the shower after me. However, after him being in there for 5 minutes or so I told him we needed to go. I don’t think he understood my urgency, because I feel/remember him being in there at least another 10 minutes or so.
After Harry packed the car with the cold food items we got on the road. It was about 5:50 a.m. at this point. The pain from the contractions was nothing like I ever felt, but I was calm and collected. When a contraction was starting I tried to relax even more and take deep even breaths. I was feeling ecstatic almost! I finally managed to get a hold of my parents around 5:55 a.m. – 6 a.m. I told mom that they needed to leave for Birthcare, that I was definitely in labor this time. Mom later told me that I sounded very calm when I called them. I remember quickly speaking so I could let them know everything before another contraction came on.
Somewhere on the road (which luckily was only lightly congested) I started feeling an urge to push out a giant pee while we were driving down the road. I wanted to make it to birthcare, and the feeling wasn’t too intense so I decided I would press my luck and hope that it was just pee I needed out of my bladder. We arrived at Birthcare at 6:40 in the morning. This is the only time that Harry did anything that made me yell at him. I was hoping to get from the car to the inside of Birthcare before another contraction started, unfortunately this was not so, and by this point I was low tone moaning with the contractions. The moaning made me feel more in control and seemed to lessen the pain for me. So when the contraction hit and my moaning started Harry made the mistake of looking at me and saying “Shhh.” Ah man was I mad, I told him to “Shut the fuck up,” or something along those lines.
After we made it inside Birthcare and upstairs to the labor and delivery area, I went pee and didn’t bother to put my pj pants or underwear back on. The sensation of needing to push something out did not go away after I urinated, so I asked Lisa and Heidi if it was normal to feel an urge to take a big pee or push something out with each contraction. At this moment things flew in my mind. I felt like I was watching Speedy Gonzales as they got all their stuff ready. At one point, and I do not remember when in the labor that Heidi performed this act for me… during one contraction she applied counter-pressure on my back and it felt amazing! She started doing it for the next contraction and oh my god it made the pain worse. I know she would probably laugh at me but I feel so bad for what I said to get her to stop. It was hard to speak during contractions and all I managed to get out was a “Please Stop.” Its not the wording that makes me feel bad, but how I said it. So Heidi if you are reading this, I’m really SUPER sorry, I still feel bad about that… and I plan to apologize to you the next time I see you in person, even though I know you’ll probably just laugh at me.
After everything was readied for the birth, Lisa asked if I wanted to be checked and I said something along the lines of “Yes.” I don’t know if there actually was shock on her face, but I remember something like a “OMG” face or something like that when she preformed a vaginal exam and told me after about 2 more contractions I should start pushing. So at 7:10 a.m. I started pushing. I feared my parents would not make it to Evelyn’s Birth. At some point Harry called them and unless pushing was going to take a really long time they were not going to make it. However, with hindsight, I do not mind so much that it was just the four of us. This made Evelyn’s Birth really intimate for me. I had grown to love and respect the women we were working with and was, and still am, very proud that I was able to share this experience with them.
At 8:29 a.m. Evelyn was born into the outside world. She was 8 pounds, 8 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Her cord was more than long enough for her to curl up on my chest. I remember it being a beautiful moment, even though she was covered with my blood. I torn as her chin was coming out, I’m told about 1/2 inch. I did not feel the tear at all. I was so proud of what I had done. I was tired, happy, and scared out of my wits that Harry and I would now be responsible for a little girl. I knew I could do it as long as I had Harry, he is world and I love him dearly.
Sadly, because I was clutching onto him so much, Harry was unable to catch Evelyn. However, I encouraged him to cut her cord (something he hadn’t planned on) since I needed him during Evee’s birth. Evee initially scored an 8 on the APGAR rating, she lost 2 points for color and was even given a little bit of Oxygen to help her out a little. She wailed very shortly after she popped out of me. At the 5 minute APGAR check she had regained some color and her score was a 9 out of 10. I am very proud I birthed such a healthy and beautiful baby.
My parents and brother arrived at Birthcare about 10 or 15 minutes after Evelyn was born. It was perfect in the end. I wouldn’t change a thing about how my birth went. I held and cuddled with Evelyn for quite a while before I was encouraged to hand her off so that Heidi and I could take care of me. I urinated and showered and shortly after was back in bed. Walking was a challenge, it felt like I had run a marathon, I could hardly catch my breath. My mom made me some plain pancakes because I couldn’t stomach the pepper bacon that was made, but I did eat some of the scrambled eggs.
Evelyn is definitely our pride and joy, and even though we don’t like her endless fussing that she does at times I wouldn’t trade her for anything. Thank you so much Lisa, Heidi, and everyone at Birthcare who helped us through all the pregnancy! All of y’all made the pregnancy bearable and the birth amazing! Yes, there was pain and discomfort, but the brightest point of that day was Evelyn’s birth and being able to say “I showed all those people who said I couldn’t do it.” Evelyn was born without drugs or painkillers! She wasn’t doped up at Birth. We even had her home by 2 or 3 that afternoon (I don’t exactly remember what time we got home).
Evelyn will be 4 weeks old tomorrow, and 1 month old in 3 days. She has already grown and changed so much! I definitely need to take more pictures of her. However, for now I’ll let her sleep a little longer with her daddy.
<3,
Ashley
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