I had my 39 week appt on Tuesday afternoon where Jeanean, my midwife, told us I was dilated to 2cm. I told her we would see her in the next day or so at the hospital, I didn't dilate early with either boy so we figured that meant I was going to have her pretty soon. We got home from the appt and I had a lot of bleeding so we decided we needed to make sure we were completely ready to go. After an early dinner, Josh headed to the grocery store to make sure we had some food in the house if she came that night and I got the boys ready for bed. Jacob was positive she was coming and was worried we wouldn't make it to the hospital and was all ready to call 911 if we needed him to (even though we assured him that likely wouldn't be necessary). I was timing contractions that evening, as I had been doing every evening for the past week or so. They weren't any different than what I had been having though so we went about our evening and got ready for bed. We went to bed around 10:30 but around 11:30 I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. So I timed contractions again. My mom had wanted to come over earlier in the evening but since we weren't 100% positive she was coming we waited, but around 12:30 we figured since the contractions hadn't stopped she was likely coming sometime that night or the next day so we had her come over then so there was no rush. We had gotten permission from Jeanean to wait until my water broke to come to the hospital since that is usually when my contractions picked up. So I timed contractions off and on and slept a few times, but had a hard time staying asleep. I would fall asleep then wake up with a ton of energy. The contractions weren't really getting closer together or stronger so we just continued to wait. Around 4:30 I finally had a contraction that was actually painful. Then another one. After a very brief discussion we decided we needed to call Jeanean and head to the hospital. So we called at 4:40 then got everyone up and ready to go. The contractions were much closer together and stronger at that point. They were averaging about 1:30 apart and a minute long. Thankfully, the drive to the hospital was only about 10-15 min. We got there a little after 5 and got inside and headed up to labor and delivery. They made me go up to l&d in a wheel chair but we had to stop a few times for me to stand up during a contraction.
Jeanean had called the hospital and told them I was coming, which room to put me in, and that I have fast labors. When we got there they were still cleaning that room so they sent me to triage to get everything started. Contractions were still pretty consistent at that point so I was having to stop them and stand up when I was having one. They checked me and said I was 4-5cm. I think it was a little after 5:30 when we finally headed to a room. They had everything set up in there, but needed to have a good solid strip of Madeline on the monitor and they were having a hard time keeping her on there so a nurse was trying to hold the probe on me but with contractions and me moving to deal with them it was pretty unsuccessful. Eventually she just took the probes off and said she would ask Jeanean if I could just stay off of them. At 5:45 my water finally broke. After a few contractions I wanted to get in the shower but as soon as I took a step toward the bathroom I had a contraction that caused me to push. Then another one, and I could feel her head moving down. I told Josh to go get someone and tell them she was coming. I don't think they really believed him at first because it took them a while to get in the room. When they got there one of the nurses had her hand underneath me to put something between Madeline and the floor while I attempted to get in bed. The nurses had apparently told Jeanean she had time to stop downstairs and grab a drink, so we waited for her for a bit (it felt long but it couldn't have been very long). Once she got in she got gowned up and threw a gown and gloves at Josh to put on. She got on one side of me and positioned Josh on the other and the next contraction Madeline was pushed out in 3 pushes. Josh did most of the delivering and held her up before handing her to me. She was out less than 15 min after my water broke and less than an hour and a half after we called Jeanean.
While she was still attached the the umbilical cord the boys got a chance to touch it to feel it pulsing. Once it was done Jacob put the clamp on one side and Owen clamped the other then they both helped cut the cord. They got to see the placenta and touch it. And once Madeline was all wrapped up they both got to hold her.
I am so glad we were able to have the delivery experience we did with our whole family there. And I am really glad we decided to leave the house when we did, if we had waited until my water broke we wouldn't have made it to the hospital before she was born.
While she was still attached the the umbilical cord the boys got a chance to touch it to feel it pulsing. Once it was done Jacob put the clamp on one side and Owen clamped the other then they both helped cut the cord. They got to see the placenta and touch it. And once Madeline was all wrapped up they both got to hold her.
I am so glad we were able to have the delivery experience we did with our whole family there. And I am really glad we decided to leave the house when we did, if we had waited until my water broke we wouldn't have made it to the hospital before she was born.
