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Sunday, January 11, 2015

Here we go again, baby!

I was lucky to be able to start my maternity leave at 39 weeks this time around. I was still feeling really good, but work was slow & things at home were hectic (Christmas, baby, regular life!) so I took advantage of the time. It was also really nice to have the extra one on one time with Aleesia, not something her and I were ever really able to enjoy.

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I had prodromal labor, again, for a week! This time though I was much less concerned with it and almost embraced it! I knew that I had been there, done this and that when it was ACTUALLY time I would know – that took the uneasiness I had last time away. I had an appointment on a Friday, 39w5d, and knew that I would have her strip my  membranes that day (I was at 4cm at my appt, I knew things were moving in the right direction!) which I did. Gianna spent the night with my parents and Aleesia and I had a date night at Target followed by dinner from Wendy’s, complete with a frosty!

I woke up on Saturday around 6am with contractions and I knew this was the real deal. I took the time to drink some coffee, bounce on my ball, and enjoy the quiet before Aleesia and Mike woke up. I knew this wasn’t going to happen too fast so I took my time! I ate breakfast, eventually packed my bag, called my midwife, had my sister come and get Aleesia, and we decided around 9:30 to head to the hospital because my mom was getting anxious!

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The hospital was busy busy busy that day, of course, so it took awhile for us to get through triage and into a labor room – but there were no questions on whether they would keep me or not this time. I was having good contractions, bloody show, all the right signs!

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I was getting questions from pretty much everyone about actually being in labor, just like last time, since I was talking, laughing, being totally normal during and between contractions. At this point I was 5/6cm. We got into a labor room around 12:30/1pm.

{{We were lucky to have Christine (Bella Rose Photography) with us to photograph the birth again. There are going to be some images that tell this story that are quite dynamic – you have been warned.}}

This is when things got a little strange – no one ever really checked me into the room, I had one rude nurse come in and say “I’m not taking her as my patient”, eventually someone came in and put my hep-lock in and got me some water. Our midwife came in (we went over my birth plan quickly), and then we were pretty much left to do what we wanted. I didn’t even change out of my clothes at this point!

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We walked around for a little while.

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Hung out in the room and goofed around between contractions and ice-chomping.

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I got a labor ball and bounced. And had a popsicle snack.

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Before I knew it was around 3 – my contractions were picking up in intensity but I was still relatively comfortable. I decided to go ahead and change into a gown and I had Theresa recheck me at this point and was disappointed when she said there wasn’t much change. I stalled at this exact same spot with Aleesia, so I asked her to break my water then in hopes it would help the baby move into a better position. I hung out in the room – walked around, bounced, etc. DIxonBirth2 081(2)DIxonBirth2 083(2)DIxonBirth2 091

Mike and my mom traded places hanging out next to me!

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After a big gush of fluid she noticed a slight bit of meconium – all that meant was if she came out crying there would be no change in plans, if she didn’t, they would have to take her before I got to hold her. I didn’t let it freak me out or mess with my head though. I ended up having to stay on the monitors longer than I wanted because as my contractions picked up, she had a few decels that our midwife wanted to keep an eye on. This was slightly frustrating, but I made the best of it. I wanted to stand up almost the whole time – it was more comfortable, actually.

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The hard work started around this time, but I made the best of the time between contractions. I could even still laugh!

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More ball bouncing thanks to my close monitoring.

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I don’t really remember taking my glasses off, but obviously thinks were serious at that point. I asked Theresa to check me again around this time to be incredibly disappointed with little progress. 

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I got pretty flustered but Theresa and Mike were great at reassuring me that things change quickly and to stay focused. So I cried a little. And then I did just what they said, got my focus back.

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I was working hard at this point – my contractions were intense about 90% of the time and I was breathing through them with the occasional need to make whatever noise emerged from my mouth. Mike was fabulous, as usual. He made sure I was drinking water when I couldn’t remember to do anything but breathe.

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I was pretty much done talking now and focused totally on the peek of each contraction.

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