Well, we had our baby girl!!
I feel so blessed to be able to say that we had another intimate, complication-free, natural birth experience exactly in accordance with my plans and wishes. I have no idea how much of that is due to the sheer grace of God, happenstance, or my own mindset going into the day. I do believe each of those things is a key factor though. I've talked (to the point of annoying some people) about how important I think the mind/body connection is when a mom is preparing for and going through labor. Fear, anxiety, and tension absolutely affect the progression and success of her birth experience. But at the same time, I also know that sometimes there are just variables that change things up... even when mom's mindset is spot-on. The circumstances of every birth are unique. And then, of course, I also fully believe that God is active in this world of his... That his plans and purposes are being carried out both in the big picture, and in the tiniest details of our day-to-day lives. I do not understand why he would grace us with safe passage of our little one into this outside world, and yet allow another friend to experience loss or complication. Just like I do not understand why it was time for my Dad's life to end this past January. I have no answers to these questions... just humble gratitude for the grace God showed us yesterday in gifting us with another healthy little girl and making her birthday so sweet and stress-free.
So here's the scoop:
Ava was due October 7th (on a Tuesday), but seeing as Elsa came a week early, it was quite a toss-up whether Ava would be a September or October baby. Chris and I were hoping for October... so for the last few days of September I kept my activity level extremely low. Not much walking, lifting, or hanky-panky (haha!) Once we got into October, we relaxed a little... but were still hoping Ava would hold off until after Thursday the 2nd, because we had a fun date night planned as a final Hurrah! ;)
Well, wouldn't ya know it... that date night just wasn't meant to be. Wednesday night Oct 1st, I went to bed just feeling a bit different. For one thing, my bladder was extremely overactive... I was settling into bed with a book, but I kept having to get up and pee (like every 15 minutes.) I thought that was strange. I also felt like Ava's movements were strange. They felt much lower and more insistent. I had not had a single painful contraction yet (in all 39 weeks)... but something about the pressure in my pelvis that night and in her movements felt different to me.
I got a full night's sleep (yay!) but I vaguely remember being awakened here and there by contractions. They were not painful enough to rouse me fully from slumber, just painful enough that I remember thinking, "Hmmm... I'm actually feeling these. Wonder if today's the day?" They finally got intense enough to fully wake me up around 5am or so. I paid attention to them for the next hour and decided at that point to get up and shower... reasoning that if they subsided, I'd just go about my day as planned, and if they kept going, then at least I'd be clean and fresh before heading to the hospital.
After my shower, I put on a bit of makeup (since I felt up to it!) but tried to keep it light since I figured I could end up sweating/smearing it all into a mess later and that would be worse than having none in the first place! When the contractions were still happening after my shower (6:45 or so), I decided to text my mother-in-law and asked her to come a little sooner than she had planned, since I was having semi-regular, and fairly painful contractions. (She was going to arrive at my house by 9:30 to watch Elsa during my 39 week prenatal appointment.) She texted back that she'd be here by 9:00. Perfect! Again, I thought, if this turns out to be nothing, we'll just continue the plans of the day... but if it's labor then I know she's on the way.
I also texted Harrison and Kelly (my brother and sister-in-law) and told them to be watching their phones in case today was the day.
The next dilemma was what Chris should do. It was a surgery day and the hospital he operates at is only 10 minutes from our house. He had all the pre-operative paperwork for the day in his car... so at the very least, he needed to go drop it off. But I was still not sure this was officially labor. So I told him to head on to work and make sure a nurse could answer his phone if I called him.
7:00-9:00am was a really nice time. I reminded myself that there was no rush to get to the hospital... the plan there would be the same as the plan here... relax and work through the contractions and help bring this baby into the world! From about 7:00-8:00 I stayed in our room, breathing through my contractions and recording how often they came (about 5 minutes apart.) I found that it relieved a TON of pressure to sit on our exercise ball and sway/bounce a bit as I breathed through each contraction, so that's what I did. I also ate a bit of breakfast (alriiight!) and read my bible during that time. I thought, "I'll read a bible story about childbirth..." but the only one I could think of was the birth of Jesus, so that's what I read. I found myself really wishing the scripture had included more detail about Mary's labor and delivery!! (Haha!)
Close to 8am, I texted Chris to say that my contractions were consistently 5 minutes apart and staying pretty intense. I told him he should plan to come on home because I didn't think I could drive myself to my doctor appointment. He called me back and told me to call the clinic and get their opinion... Did they want me to come in for my appointment and get checked, or head straight to the hospital and skip my appointment? So I called them. The nurse I spoke with (judging by how my contractions sounded during our phone conversation) said that I could do either... come to the clinic first, or go straight to the hospital. I told her I'd let her know within the hour which it would be.
Around that time, Elsa woke up. She's very good about staying in her bed until I come to get her in the mornings, so I watched her on the monitor singing and playing for 15 minutes or so. I really wanted to go in and spend some time just the two of us before the day got too crazy, but before doing that I texted Suzanne to make sure she was close. (I knew I didn't want to freak Elsa out if my contractions continued to intensify and it took much longer for Suzanne and Chris to get there.) But luckily, Suzanne guessed she'd arrive at my house within half an hour. So I rolled my little workout ball into Elsa's room. :) We hugged and snuggled and she played around with her toys in her room. Each time a contraction would come, I'd make sure to keep my face relaxed and non-scary and just focus and breathe, and Elsa would stay really still and wait for me to finish. She told me, "Mommy's doing a 'breathe'" after I'd had a few contractions, so I went with that term and would tell her each time I was about to have a contraction, that Mommy needed to do a "breathe." I was sooooo glad we got to spend that time together, just the two of us. I made sure to tell her, "Today I'm going to go to the hospital and push Baby Ava out of my tummy!" She was totally on board with that, since we've discussed this so many times leading up to that day. She was excited that soon she'd get to hold her baby sister and tell her, "It's okaaaay..." if she started crying. :) Also a funny memory, she really wanted to "color" like I was "coloring"... (I was writing down the timing of my contractions on a notepad.)
Close to 9am, I felt I could safely say there was no need to go to the 39 week appointment at the clinic... this was labor. I called the doctor's office to tell them, and the nurse agreed with me. Then I called the Labor & Delivery unit to tell them we were headed their way and to request a nurse who was comfortable and experienced attending a natural childbirth. I also texted my siblings that today was the day. :) Around that time, Suzanne and Chris both arrived and proceeded to load up the car with our bags, the baby carseat, etc. Elsa was excited to see Mama Casey, and excited about breakfast! We kissed and hugged her goodbye and told her we were so excited that Baby Ava would be born today! I'm just SO thankful that the morning was fun and anticipatory for her... not stressful or scary. I tried to time my own final preparations between contractions, because it was much less bearable to deal with them when I was off the exercise ball. In fact, I was nervous about how I'd get through that car ride to the hospital with no ball to sit on. I ended up climbing into the back seat and facing backward (on my knees) for the car ride. It wasn't fun, but it was doable.
Once we parked and started the trek into the labor and delivery unit, my contractions sped up a bit (probably from the walking)... so it was kinda funny, me walking through the parking garage with a duffle bag and exercise ball, and Chris loaded down with all our other stuff. I could walk normally between contractions, but during them I slowed down to a snail's pace and would just breathe through them. At one point I seriously contemplated leaning against another car to get through a contraction, but that thought grossed me out so I just walked really slowly instead. Once we got inside, a nurse noticed us and brought me a wheelchair. It was gray and drizzly outside, and I remember just taking note of that in the moment....
Click here for Part 2.
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