We welcomed another baby to our family last week and it has been magical ever since. Seriously, I've been told the third baby is a wild card from birth and after, but everything has been great ever since she's joined us. Obviously there have been challenges, but nothing that can take away from the magic of adding a baby to the crew or a newborn into the home.
Eden's birth story is really not what I expected it to be. In my head, I guess I was imagining a repeat of Wesley's birth because I truly enjoyed his from start to finish and wanted that experience again.
My due date was 6/6 and Jake was finishing his first year of medical school on 6/4. So that last week, my mom was in town and I was really trying to relax and pray the baby didn't come. Friday, 6/4, she hadn't come and Jake was finished with school so we spent a night downtown to celebrate which was so nice and much needed for the both of us.
Saturday we came home fully expecting to have the baby that night . . . Nope.
Sunday (my due date) . . . Nope.
Monday . . . Nope.
We finally decided to start enjoying the last days we had together as a family of 4 and where I was feeling good. We did ice cream dates with the kids, park dates, shopping around, we even took them to a restaurant which we haven't done in forever. I was really trying to be patient and content with the time that we had left, even though we were definitely anxious for her to join us.
Thursday the 10th we took the kids to the park in the morning so I could go on a walk and they could scooter around. We did an ice cream date at UDF after that which the kids loved. We spent a lot of time at the farm the rest of the day, swimming and playing at the sport court. When we got home around 3:30, Wesley was tired and we were jus relaxing in my room. Around 3:45/4 I had my first noticeable / uncomfortable contraction.
The rest of the evening went on - I made dinner, I curled my hair, I cleaned some things up, I put June to bed. The whole time I was timing the contractions and they were coming about 5 1/2 - 6 minutes apart but they weren't super painful and they were only lasting 30-40 seconds. I figured they'd get more intense as we got into the night.
I went to the bathroom at 9:13 pm (I texted Jake so I have good time stamps on these haha) and had a bunch of mucous, which made me realize that the contractions were actually doing something!
After that, I started to put Wesley down for bed so that I could lay down and rest before the contractions got too difficult. . . Right when I laid down at 9:37 pm, I heard and felt a pop and I knew my water had broken. I immediately called Jake and asked him to come in our room. I wasn't moving because I didn't want it to leak out on our bed. Jake came in and I asked him to bring a couple towels because I was pretty sure my water had broken. His face went from nonchalant to shocked soooo fast.
He brought me a couple towels and helped me put them under my body. As I *very* slowly moved, the water just kept on coming. My water has never broken at home, only while we were at the hospital, so this kind of freaked me out. I was especially freaked out because when my water broke with Wesley, he was born 40 minutes later! So when I got up and knew that my water had officially broken, I told Jake we needed to leave now. Of course we hadn't finished packing the bag, so my mom grabbed some last minute things and threw them in. I put on an adult diaper, wrapped a towel around myself, and we went!
We called my doctor's office on the way to let them know we were on the way. Funny moment from this is Jake was talking to the nurse and when she asked my birthday, he said "3.... 28......1995." Hahhaha, completely wrong. He was nervous - it felt like we went from 0-100 so fast. I guess that's how everyone feels when their water breaks!
We got to the hospital around 10:45 pm and had to enter through the E.R. which was annoying. We had to wait there for 15 or so minutes for an L+D nurse to come grab us. I was managing the contractions really well, just staying focused and in my head and not worrying about anything else that was going on. They took us straight to my room because the contractions were pretty consistent. I heard the nurse who was wheeling me in talking on the phone saying. "She thinks her water broke and believes the baby will be here fast." I was just rolling my eyes on the inside because I knew 100% for a FACT that my water had broken!
The midwife came to check me and she was soooo kind and gentle. I was only a 4, 90% effaced, and 0 station. I was surprised but just was glad we made it to the hospital since we were pretty close to not making it with Wesley.
I laid down in the bed on my left side with the peanut ball and Jake's airpods in and just breathed through the contractions while they got my IV in and did all the paperwork. It's been interesting for my past 2 births, I've been the most comfortable laying on my back or side resting rather than walking around or in the shower. The next hour was pretty chill - the contractions upped in intensity and around midnight, they started to feel like I couldn't manage them. I got shaky and was telling Jake, "I'm not doing this! I can't do this. I'm getting the epidural."
Jake (calmly) said, "Do you want to try to use the nitrous first?" I said yes, even though in the moment I really just wanted immediate relief. They quickly set that up and I started breathing it in around 12:30 am.
The nurse asked to check me and I said sure, but don't tell me what I'm at. She told Jake and when she left the room I went ahead and asked Jake what I was at and he said I was a 5. Only a 5 in an hour! So I immediately stood up over the side of the bed because I was feeling done and when I stood up, it was as if the baby dropped into the correct position and my body started to push. I mean REALLY push. I was bearing down and grunting and Jake immediately stood up to be with me and make sure the nurse was coming in!
My nurse came in within 2 minutes of me standing up because she noticed the contraction pattern changed on the monitor and she asked if she could check me again. I was at a 9! This was probably 12:45 am. She asked me to move to the bed in a few minutes if I could, I said that I would. I actually just gave a thumbs up haha. Best way to communicate in labor.
After a couple more contractions and my body starting to push, I laid down and she checked me again and I was a 10 and she was having them call Dr. Pierson. At this point, I felt pretty out of control to be honest. It felt like the baby was coming, ready or not! I just kept my eyes closed and tried to breathe and focus through each contraction. They were coming one on top of another and I could feel the baby moving down the canal - literally. I could feel the head making its way down and I was trying to reason with myself (in my head) that I could do this. When I try to describe what this part of labor felt like, the only thing I can think of is imagining a large rock coming down and out of you. Without the water sack to cushion everything, her body was just very hard like a rock making its way down.
I remember thinking around this time that I would definitely be getting the epidural next time, and that the pain was almost unbearable and I just needed it to be over ASAP!
I laid down on the bed at 12:54 AM and was breathing and breathing and breathing, long drawn out breaths. Then around 12:57 I started to push and she was coming! Her head was right there. I pushed for 6 minutes, the longest and fastest 6 minutes of my life. Pushing as hard as I could with each contraction, trying to work with the contraction and not against it.
At 1:03 AM her head came out, then 2 more big pushes and her body came out. The doctor and Jake said in unison, "You did it! You did it!" They brought her up to my chest, and I laid my head back and cried. It was over. It was beautiful and it was over, now I could enjoy my baby! She cried and she cried and I just laid my head back on the bed, grateful that the pain was over and that she was here with us. The nurse commented that she was another good size baby.
My placenta came quickly, within a few minutes, and I barely noticed. My doctor checked me for tears which burned and I cringed through the checking. I felt so fortunate to not have any tears!
For the first time in all of my baby's births, we got the golden hour together. She nursed, Jake cuddled her, she nursed again. They weighed her after a little bit of time and she was 8 lbs 12 oz and 20 3/4 inches. I hardly remember the first night with her. She's 3.5 months and her birth already feels like a lifetime ago. I guess that's what having 3 babies in 3 years does to you!
Eden is beautiful and amazing and sweet and sour. She hates her car seat, but loves everything else. She's a great cuddler and sleeper. She rocks at nursing. Her siblings are obsessed with her. She smiles and when she's super happy, she sticks her tongue out (all the way down to her chin). She fits right into our family and we love and adore her so much.
