A Lady Knows When It Is Time

A lady knows when it is time............this is so true, especially Tuesday, September 23rd when my sweet little girl came into this world. Yes, this past Tuesday, I was blessed to have in my arms a beautiful baby girl, named Imari. Oh my gosh, (mommies are partial to their babes), this girl is a cutie. She has a light, caramel complexion, brown eyes, straight black hair, long fingers and toes. To me and her Daddy, she is absolutely perfect!

My due date was September 30th. I ran out of patience and was determined to have a September baby, (as a Doula I would encourage to just let nature take its course, without hurry or basically support whatever the mommy wished to do, I was not the Doula this time :0) ), and so I opted to 'nudge' mother nature and baby along.

I went into the Doc's office Thursday the 18th and discussed my options for induction. I researched my info on the subject and took his thoughts into consideration. My husband and I left the office that day with the idea of going home and trying all the 'natural' self-induction methods we could, if those things didn't work then we would go in to the Doc's office on the following Monday and have my membranes stripped in the hopes I would go into labor that night, and if that didn't work, then Tuesday morning we would go over to the hospital and begin an elective induction with Pitocin.

Well, it's obvious which one we chose, (birth date was at the beginning of post), but I really think my little lady knew what time it was and she had jumped on board overnight, really over the past 3wks. (Let me back up a bit), Over the past 3wks, like one or two nights out of the week, I would awake to nice contractions that could be timed. These were nothing like toning contractions. They were 15, then 10-7, then the last week before the birth they were 3-5 minutes apart, but all times they would fade after 2-4 hours.

(Moving Ahead), okay, so Tuesday morning we get to the hospital around 6am. I was a little crampy, having some contractions, and a lot of nerves. I went through admission and signed my life away, finally at 7'ish I went to the bathroom to change into my lovely hospital gown, and SURPRISE, my water broke, just after I discovered my mucus plug in my undies, (this was an exciting find, I can finally tell with experience what a 'mucus plug' may look like!). So I hop on the bed, get hooked up to the monitors and all, my nurse checks me and I am 3cm, so then I excitedly call my Doula to let her know what was happening at that point. She informed me to call her whenever I thought I would need her, she would be ready and waiting for my call. About a quater to 8, I got my i.v. hooked up and the PIT was started at a level 3. A very light start, but I could automatically feel a difference in the contractions, nothing hurt, nothing was uncomfortable, just different. I was excited and began settling with the thought that my baby was coming to see me today! Well, at 9a, my nurse came in and said "why don't you get up and move.......try the bathroom, you want to keep your bladder empty."So I took my new friend, the i.v. pole, with me to the bathroom and sat there...........I pee'd...........and sat there...........then I had a REALLY different contraction, it caught my smile. Then I had another contraction with a gentle rocking of the pelvis and sway, and then I knew, I needed my Doula. I hollered for Rylan, my husband, to call the Doula, tell her this was it, labor has started. He called her at 9:09a. I finally got back to the bed, I was so in shock of the last contraction that I had, that the offer to go walk from my nurse, just seemed impossible............I felt like laying down, and that's what I did. My nurse checked me and I was at a '6-7'. I hugged the left side of my bed, stroking the side rail from top to bottom during the contractions and as the contraction peaked and began to come down, I would open my eyes and blow out the flowers on the wallpaper that bordered the room. The flowers matched the 'coming down' of the contraction to the T. I knew when I blew on the last pink flower in view that the contraction was over. My husband and my mother gently stroked me or rubbed my hand and back. They were such good support at this birth. My Doula was on her way, she had an hour travel time to reach the hospital. I never thought to call her anytime sooner than I did, 'cause it was agreeded to call her when I thought I would need her. And I did that..........but who knew how short and fast this labor was really going to be? Needless to say, she was in route and the Doctor was on stand-by at his office, literally across the street from the hospital. I suddenly felt the baby move down into my pelvis, I told the nurse anxiuosly, "she just dropped to station 0, she is coming." The nurse checked me, and I was 8cm on one side of my cervix and almost complete on the other side, baby was at station 0 true enough. My nurse walked out the door and asked someone at the nurse's station to call my doc. She came back over to me and asked me to turn onto my right side and manage a few contractions on that side. So, eventually they got me to turn over. I had 2 contractions on my right side and I screamed, "she is coming, help me, I've got to push..........", and I pushed. My nurse kept a poker face the whole time, she was so wonderful. She asked me on the first contraction after me telling her I had to push, to breathe and not push, just breathe through the urge.........well the next contraction came and I began pushing instead of breathing and my sweet nurse did not say anything about stopping, she just told me to breathe slowly because the baby was crowning. Two pushes and my baby was here, 10:16a.m. My nurse caught my baby, and I couldn't have been anymore happier. Imari weighed 7lbs. 14oz. and measured 21 1/2" long.
The doc walked in a good 10minutes later, basically to pat me on the back and deliver the placenta. I had no tears, so he didn't get to practice his sewing 101 skills. My Doula got there at 10:40a.m., she was so worried about what I would say.......she didn't make it and she had so wanted to be there, not just as a Doula,but as my friend. My excitement and contentment with how my labor went, (fast and relatively un-painful even with the Pitocin), that it was okay for those who didn't make it. I achieved a goal of mine, an uncomplicated, med-free, (only med used was Pitocin), vaginal birth. It didn't really matter that the doc didn't make it, mainly b/c having worked in L & D and being a Doula, nurses are the 'eyes' and most of the time they are the 'hands' too. And as far as my Doula, we just couldn't help the timing. She had been there for me during prenatal q & a's. Her encouraging words and how I knew she would treat me during labor played in my mind. Just as was posted by someone on her blog, we got a lot of the labor out of the way before the actual day, so true!

Imari is truly my little princess! She lies here on my chest as I re-tell the amazing day she came into my life. I loved this lil' bean from the moment the pregnancy test was positive.........now look at her, OMG she is wonderful! We had a beautiful LABOR DAY, the blessings are amazing!