Our little lady has made her arrival. Baby McCann came into this world on February 18th at 6:49pm. My labor and delivery were uneventful and remarkably easy. This is our first child so I was as surprised as you (and my midwife) that all was so fast and easy.
I woke up around 2:00am on Monday morning with painful contractions. Now, I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks so what got my attention with these was the pain level. Around 7:00am I got out of bed and decided to ignore the contractions because surely baby was not going to make her way into the world today. I mean, I had just had a doctor appointment on Thursday and there was no action happening. My midwife had even given me permission to go up north for the weekend. And by "up north" i mean about two hours away from home. Not a big deal but when you're less than a week from your due date its risky.
By 9:00am I was in full tears/panic mode. I had gone to the bathroom and was greeted with the unexpected surprise of my bloody show. Its a bit alarming to be greeted with blood after 9 months of not having a period. I made hubs call the birthing center and they wanted us to come in within the hour. 9:45am saw us showered and at the hospital, bags in tow (just in case). My midwife checked me out and I was 1cm dilated. I was hooked up to a monitor to track contractions and baby's heartbeat. I was advised to walk the halls for 2 hours and come back so they could check the progress.
After two hours they hooked me up again and were a little concerned about baby's heartbeat so, even though we had just talked about sending me home, they decided to keep me for about 30 minutes more. After 30 minutes my midwife came to check on me again....3cm dilated! What?? I think everyone was shocked by that.
So needless to day I was not going home at this point. Hubs and I ordered lunch and just tried to get through the next few hours of painful contractions. He was so good to me; distracting me, playing the Lumineers when I randomly requested them. Dancing around the birthing room with me during some of the more painful contractions.
Throughout the day I dilated quite fast and around 5:00pm we had the conversation to break my waters. I had wanted to wait til the last possible moment because after your waters break the contractions become more intense. They were intense enough as I did not have any pain medication. I had planned for a water birth, all natural. Thus far I was able to manage the painful contractions through breathing techniques and distractions from my hubby.
Ok, back to waters breaking...my midwife broke my waters at 9cm and it felt like I had peed the bad and couldn't stop. It didn't hurt or feel uncomfortable, just weird. After my waters broke I quickly (within minutes) dilated to 10cm. The magic pushing number had finally arrived and into the tub I went.
The tub was about 100 degrees, had lights, and handles for me to use when pushing. The handles were the greatest. Really helped me get leverage when pushing. I pushed for about an hour (remarkable for a first child I was told). Baby Rory came into the world at 6:49pm weighing in at 6lbs 3oz and 18 and 3/4 inches long. She was alert and eyes open from the minute she was pulled out of the water and placed on my chest. We were shocked to see her. Little peanut has a full head of hair and was very very pink.
Perfect birth and perfect baby. We are home now and just trying to manage the lack of sleep, hives from breastfeeding, and wearing an adult diaper for the next few weeks while I have mega period. We can do this...
