Introducing Della Rue

 Video done by http://www.kateolsonphoto.com and I won't ever be able to repay her for the way she captured this special day. 

Monday January 29th:

9:40 am: I went to my 38 week appointment and we decided to strip my membranes. I really didn’t think it would do anything on the first time, but because I was really hoping to avoid induction this time, we decided that anything that could be done that could possibly be a baby step to get my body to go into labor on its own, we would try! I thought of this as a baby step! 

I had heard that it could be extremely painful, but it was worth it to me to avoid induction, and actually it didn’t hurt me in the slightest! I was actually thinking, “man, did he even do anything? He should have done it harder to help as much as he could!”

Right after my appointment my mom flew into town so we went to the airport to grab her! We spent the day doing some grocery shoppingAround 3pm I started to feel contractions and I decided to try pumping! My midwife and doula recommended it to bring on contractions. I pumped 15 min on, 10 min off for an hour. While I was pumping my contractions were really strong, and coming about every 4 minutes, but were only about 30-40 seconds long. I stopped pumping because it was making my nipples pretty sore and as soon as I stopped pumping the contractions slowed to every 8-9 minutes but still short in length. They remained that way until I got ready for bed and laid down and then they pretty much completely stopped. A lot of me was disappointed, but a lot of me was relieved. I had gotten a pretty crappy nights sleep the night before and I was just exhausted from a day of errands with my mom. I crashed at 9pm! I hadn’t fallen asleep before midnight my entire pregnancy! My body NEEDED it. And in a way, I believe it knew what was to come the next night so it allowed me to get the best night sleep possible at 9 months pregnant! 

Tuesday January 30th:

10:30:

I had a business meeting to go to that morning and then I headed home after that meeting to take Milan to preschool. I was feeling overall great. Zero contractions or signs of the membrane stripping doing anything. After Milan was done with preschool my mom and I ran to Costco to grab a few things that we weren’t able to get at Wal-mart the day before! While walking around Costco I noticed some cramping. Nothing at all close together or timetable, just noticeable and I figured it was just because we were walking around Costco and we were slightly trying to hurry so we were kinda speed walking. I texted Michael that I was kinda crampy so hopefully at my next membrane stripping appointment (39 weeks) I would be closer to labor so it may work! I was welcoming anything and everything that showed my body was getting closer to labor! I still 100% thought it would be after 39 weeks at least, but again, baby steps!! 

6:00: 

We got home and got dinner started. We fed the girls and I ate dinner sitting on my yoga ball. I was still feeling the crampy feelings every now and then, but they were still pretty spaced apart. Maybe every 30 minutes at most! We finished up dinner, got the girls in the bath and all ready for bed, and down for the night! I finished cleaning the kitchen and decided to secretly time these crampy feelings. I was trying not to psych myself out or get too excited. I had never felt true contractions before being induced with my other girls. I had back contractions for weeks ahead of time, but never the ones that started in my back and then would wrap around and turn into a cramp contraction. So I was getting excited that I was feeling these this time!! Such a good sign! At this point they were about every 10 minutes and I was still able to hide the fact that I was having one from Michael and my mom. 

7:50

I went to change into my pajamas and walking into the bathroom and lost my mucous plug. Sooo TMI but I had thought I had lost it before with my other girls but now that I actually lost this one, I don’t think I ever actually saw it with my older girls! It was such a weird thing! You would have thought my water broke! I was so excited!!! I yelled to Michael to come and look!! Haha so weird how excited we both got! I was trying to remind myself that people lose it weeks before going into labor, but it was hard not to let the excitement get to me, especially because I was having contractions. 

8:15pm:

I texted my doula a screenshot of my contraction timer. They were coming anywhere from 5 minutes apart to 10 minutes apart and anywhere from 45 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds long. She assured me that was an awesome sign and that there was a good chance things were starting to kick in. 

9:15pm:

I texted my doctor a screenshot of my contractions and asked what he thought. I seriously felt like a first time mom all over again with the guessing game. The screenshot was from 8:00pm-9:00pm and the contractions were every 4-6 minutes apart and just over a minute long! I basically asked him if he thinks I should go and get checked or if I should time them for a bit longer. He said because we were about 40 minutes from the hospital and they were following the 5-1-1 rule that we should head in! No joke, the second I read that text, they slowed down. I was thinking about them too much, I think I got overly anxious and nervous that this could possibly be “it” that it halted my contractions. They were still coming, but they spaced out to every 7-10 minutes apart. I thought maybe it was a false alarm and the same thing would happen tonight that happened the night before and they stopped as soon as I was ready for bed. We decided to turn on some TV and wait until they got closer together again. I was just hanging out on my yoga ball. I was still so unsure at this point but we eventually decided to just go in just in case and get checked out before I got all ready for bed. The later it was getting the harder it would be to schedule things with the girls. The plan was for Michael and I to go to the hospital and get checked and if we stayed my mom would wake up the girls, drive them up to the hospital and my sister in law would meet my mom there, take the girls back to her house to sleep so my mom could stay with me in labor. So the later it got the more I felt bad about keeping my mom and sister in law up waiting for my answer. Plus I knew that it would be easier to get ahold of everyone I needed to the earlier it was.

11:30pm: 

We got to the hospital. I walked in and told the triage nurse I THINK I may be in labor? I kept saying, “I don’t know, I’m not sure!” they hooked me up and checked me. I was 4cm and 70% effaced, so 1 more cm from my check the morning before and the same effacement. Contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes. They looked at my chart and because it was noted everywhere that I would be going natural they unhooked me and told me to walk the halls for 30 minutes and come back at 12:15 to get rechecked. I kept telling michael, “Maybe this isn’t it. I think we may go home.” Then as I continued to walk the halls contractions really picked up and I had to stop and lean over as I was getting a contraction. 

12:15am: 

I went and laid back down to get rechecked and the triage nurse came in and let me know I was 6cm dilated and fully effaced! Woah!! What was happening!? I was staying! They walked me to my room and started filling up the tub! The entire reason we had switched from a home birth to a hospital was because they wanted me on continuous monitoring because of the cyst on my placenta. Something I was really adamant about was I still wanted to be able to freely move around and get in the tub. So they had a little monitor system that was basically a sticker that stayed on my belly! I laughed that it was like ironman. 

1:00am: 

As soon as they got me all situated with that, I changed out of the hospital gown into my bralette and climbed into the tub. One big negative is that even though I could get in the tub with the monitoring system, it could not wet. This meant I was only allowed to fill the tub like 5 inches! It was enough to cover my lower back, but that’s about it. I was in the tub for maybe 15 minutes before I got out. Because I was only allowed a little water, it really just made me cold and tense and didn’t help the contractions at all. 

1:30am:

When I got out I texted my doula and my mom and photographer got there about this time. My doula was so funny and I had texted her when we first got to the hospital and told her I would update her and when I texted her again to tell her to head this way she said she was already in the parking lot cause her doula senses just told her to come haha! She was so right! I was still just on a high that I was in labor! We were all so excited and just smiling, talking, telling stories etc! I was leaning over my yoga ball on top of the bed at this point. My tailbone bothered me my entire pregnancy and I saw a chiropractor twice a week for it, so no surprise that my lower back was where a lot of my pain was centered. The counter pressure my doula provided was amazing! Normally my other labors it was Michael provided my back counter pressure, but I loved having my doula able to do that part and I was able to have Michael up by my face talking with me and rubbing my back. The teamwork was exactly what I needed and I just felt so surrounded by support and love every second of my labor. I continued to mostly labor standing up, leaned over on my yoga ball that was on the bed. The monitor system was acting up and not really picking anything up, they switched it to a new wireless one once, and same thing. They finally decided they needed to put me on a wire one, but one that was still portable, I just had to carry the unit on me if I was walking around. 

3:00am:

My sweet nurse came in to see how I was doing, she told me my doctor called and said he couldn’t sleep he was thinking about me so he was headed in to check in on me! She asked me if I wanted to be checked yet and I told her to come back in like 30 minutes. I was feeling really good at this point I was thinking we at least had 3-4 more hours. Milan’s labor was about 6 hours and Phoebe’s was about 3.5 hours total, but they both had Pitocin and my waters were broken from the beginning of my labors so I knew that this labor was really up in the air time wise because I had no Pitocin. I was still feeling really good at this point and able to talk through contractions so I figured I wasn’t much past a 6 like when I was last checked. The new monitoring system was now not picking anything up. Our 3rd monitor system in a couple of hours and none of them wanted to work. They ended up just turning it completely off around this time. Just a little bit ironic that that is the whole reason we were in the hospital, yet none of them wanted to work! It was almost like a little sign to me that even if we had gone through and had a home birth, everything would have been just fine!

3:20am: 

My doctor got there and checked me and I was at an 8cm. I told him I wanted him to break my water in like 30 minutes if it still hadn’t broken on it’s own. My legs were getting tired from standing at this point so I moved and had the bed in an L shape and I was leaning over the head of it while on my knees. When a contraction came I rocked through it to help bring the baby down. I was still doing so good staying completely relaxed and focused during each contraction. A big difference with this labor was that I was almost excited for the next contraction because all I pictured during one is the baby moving a little bit further down, so I welcomed them and worked with them rather than fought or feared them. I knew the pain was a good thing, it meant progress, and I knew how temporary it is. 

3:45am:

I called my doctor back in to break my water. I thought that would help get things moving quicker (not like things were moving slowly by any means, I just felt like I was ready to take it up a notch). I was diagnosed with Polyhydramnios at my 34 week ultrasound which is an excess of amniotic fluid. So when he broke my water, it was like a damn had been released. I was so so grateful to be in the hospital for that because it was SO MUCH FLUID!

4:00am:

I knew breaking my water would cause my contractions to be harder, but I had no idea just how much harder they would become and how fast! Up until then, they had been really gradual and manageable, however once my water broke it hit FULL FORCE and fast. I was begging my doula to press harder on my lower back for relief! My doctor was in there from the time he broke my water and was there right next to my doula and Michael cheering me on and encouraging me, telling me how awesome I was doing. That was really huge for me. My other doctors came in as I was pushing and barley said hello, they were hardly a part of my labor experience. But this time, he was right there in the action. That really meant a lot to me especially because I had only been his patient for 4 weeks but he immediately took me in and eased all of my fears and anxieties about a hospital birth.

4:05am:

I asked to be checked again because it was getting really hard, I needed to hear that I was past an 8, I was desperately wanting to hear that she was almost crowning. I was feeling my control slipping away from me. I was asking “why is it harder this time?” Looking back, it wasn’t at all, it’s just crazy how much we forget the second that baby is placed on our chest. But I was trying my best to breathe deep breaths, and moan through the pain. I was checked and heard “yeah there’s still some cervix in the way.” and I wanted to give up. I’m glad he didn’t tell me a number because I don’t know if that would have made it worse, but I just immediately started to say “I can’t do this” over and over. I was dreading having to push though this pain for the next 30-40 minutes or however long it took for that cervix to completely get out of the way. In between one contraction I immediately went from saying”I can’t do this” to rezoning myself in and repeating, “I can do this. I got this” All while Michael is reminding me “She’s almost here. You’re doing amazing.” My doula was pressing as hard as she possibly could on my back, and my doctor was telling me just how great I was doing. The support that literally surrounded me on that bed is what got me through. They helped me refocus and zone in and relax. I couldn’t have done it without them. 

4:10am:

I literally felt her drop right after the check. I felt my body starting to push, I tried not to because I literally just got checked and was told there was cervix in the way and didn’t want to cause damage to my pelvic floor, but when the body needs to push, it pushes. I was still on my knees leaned over the back of the bed. Also a big difference with this labor was I WANTED to turn on my back to push. I don’t know if it was a familiarity thing or I wanted to be able to use the mirror to watch her come out but I asked for help being moved to my back and they set up the mirror. I was mid contraction so I pushed twice and her head was out, one more tiny push and the rest of her body came out and she was immediately placed on my chest! She was born at 4:15am!

The flood of emotions that hit me after she was placed on my chest is something that will never cease to amaze me. Every ounce of pain, gone, every ounce of pain was worth it. I DID IT. She was here and perfect and I freaking did it. 

We waited for the cord to stop pulsating and waited for the placenta to come out. It was about 10 minutes and then I could feel a ton of pressure again. I never felt the delivery of the placenta with my other girls, but this one I could definitely feel. And it hurt. My cyst that was attached to the placenta was last measured at 11cm in circumference, about half the size of the average newborn head. It felt like I was pushing out another baby. It was so weird to already be holding my baby, trying to relax with her, but also needing to push out the placenta. It finally come out!! That little cyst that caused me so much worry and stress was out! They wanted to send it to pathology to get tested and make sure it was not cancerous. They weren’t really sure what it was but it was a fluid filled sac with a small solid portion inside of it. My doctors own personal theory was that it was a twin that stopped developing early on. Pathology came back totally normal so no cancerous cells were found! It is just one of those things we will never know! 

Overall, my birth experience was completely different than what I thought it would be, but amazing! 

I felt so surrounded by love and support every second of it by every person involved. My nurse was a sweetheart, my doc was understanding and accommodating of all my wishes and fears. My doula provided physical relief and comfort, and Michael was my rock through it all. We are filled to the brim with gratitude. Our Della Rue Fox was here safe and sound and that was the ultimate goal.