Saturday, April 22

It was Adele’s Bachelorette Party on 4/22, and I was already only 1 day past my due date, but so ready to meet my girl.  I decided to distract myself and be with friends for a little while.  We started with a beautiful outdoor dinner at Amanda’s where the girls encouraged me to take some last pregnancy photos.  I am so glad I have the sweetest photos of you and me right before you entered the world.  We then moved on to Foxcroft winery for an end to the night.  As we are sitting around the table enjoying each other’s company, I start to think to myself, “This would be really embarrassing if my water broke here” and it led me to immediately get up, say goodbye’s and head home for the night.  Just 4hrs later my water broke slowly and started to leak.

Sunday, April 23

At 2AM, I was up and wearing adult diapers.  Every move and every few hours lead to a little more leaking.  I messaged Julie and she recommended I do the Miles Circuit.  I made it to step 2 and passed out in bed in the supine position for quite some time. 

At around 11:15AM, Julie came by with her special cocktail / potion / induction plan and dropped the supplies.  We talked about timing to take the first dose and I was ready for all it had to offer, or at least I thought I was.

At 12:30PM, there I was blending up castor oil, peanut butter, and other specialty ingredients on the “Eviction Notice” and drank the blend down on the porch with Will… not so bad.  Basically a little oily, peanutty, blend with a little champagne fizz to get it all down. 

By 2:30PM, I was in for it.  Literally glued to the toilet.  The potion worked, I thought.  A few more episodes of back and forth with the toilet and I hung on for the next part….until…nothing significant happened.  3:50PM…A little blood, a little cramp, and I waited.

Time passed and I wondered, is this ever going to happen.  I googled about water breaking and timing associated with that, I watched the clock, I worried a little and I waited…

At 6:30PM, I took the second cocktail.  Less fluff and no fizz – an oily shot to just get it down.  Fingers crossed; this one would do the trick. 

Again, watching the clock, waiting for another episode of diarrhea discomfort.  And the clock hit 9PM and…nothing happened.  I messaged Julie…”When do I go to the hospital?”  It had been 19hrs since my water started to break, and I was concerned about infection or anything else that would put our girl at risk.  Julie mentioned that Parkside would want me to go in, but that most women are in labor by 24hrs after their waters open.  It was my choice. I agreed to go to bed, and if I was pregnant in the morning, I would go into the hospital.

Just a few minutes later…9:40PM, cramps started back and were in my lower back and pelvis.  Ok, now things are happening!!  I let Julie know and she said, try to get some sleep until they get stronger.  I laid down…I stood up… I laid down…Will came over…I stood up…I pushed him out of the way… I made it to the bathroom…and I projectile vomited all over the walls, toilet, floor, everywhere.  10PM, I tried to clean it up.  At this point, there wasn’t a clean towel in the house.  I was a mess, but all good.  I had my pup, my man, and my baby was on the way!

At 10:32PM, I let Julie know, I was having contractions that felt very strong.  To what degree…I had no idea.  This was the dilemma I had anticipated the whole time.  What’s the scale here?  I had never been in labor before and had nothing to compare this to.  Were they far apart?   Were they lasting over 60 seconds? I couldn’t think straight enough to count, care, or record.  I just knew they were coming.  Julie listened to me on the phone and said they were about 20 seconds and I should go take a bath, shower, or use the heating pad.  Call back when they are a minute long or I need help coping. 

I opted for a bath.  I got it going, put in the Epsom salts, I sat in for 2 seconds, and I got out.  I couldn’t handle sitting.  I couldn’t handle anything but pacing around.  So, I abandoned the bath, and that is what I did.  I paced.  I paced the walkway to the house, I paced the hallway, I paced the living room.  Will watched in concern.  “Em, get off the steps, you’re going to fall”.  I had a drunken stupor sway, but he wasn’t going to keep me off the cold ground.  I needed to be outside, in adult diaper and all.  (Still longing for the ring doorbell footage of this episode, by the way). 

Each contraction was dramatic, very close together, all in the pelvis and back, and powerfully intense.  I told Will I wanted to go and I wanted the epidural. 

At 11:27PM, he called Julie, “We packing it up.” “To go to the hospital?” she asked.  She asked if I could wait and if I was feeling pressure like I needed to poop and I said no.  So, we agreed to wait while she headed over. 

My drama and continued stupor lead Will to call Julie again.   “Are you close?”.  She was 7 minutes from the house and confirmed “I’m driving”.  Will was worried I would fall and I was woozy.  Julie eased him down and we waited.  At this point, there I was having contractions and diarrhea, a great combo if you ask me, and finally the bloody show. 

Monday, April 24

Moon: Waxing Crescent in Gemini

12AM, Julie was here.  A breath of fresh air, a peaceful energy, a mothering force!  Thank God!  As she got out of the car, my sweet dog, Inca, had her Lassie moment.  She met Julie, pushed against her legs, and lead her straight to me.  Pause, for reflection on just how beautiful that is.  Animals and their instincts and love for us…I can’t get over it.

Julie entered the bedroom, I took a deep breath, she gave me a massage through the next contraction and on the next one put her hand on my belly and determined…”You’re pushing”.   “Ok, so that wasn’t just a contraction”, I realized.

At 12:30AM, she led us to the hospital and got Patewood ready and checked in with the doc, Dr. Andrew White.  Yay!  I had a few contractions in the car and had officially hit my limit of what I could take in a car ride.  But thankfully, a short 10minute drive, and no traffic at this hour, and we soon arrived.  No wheelchair for me, the opposition to sit continued.  By the 4^th floor though, there was a long empty hallway, 2 nurses, and an office chair.  It did look fun.  So I sat down and they rolled me along at what I think was 30mph 😉 to the room where our girl would soon arrive.

The nurse, Cameron, checked and confirmed I had no cervix left.  Is this good or bad?   Gah, after all those books and classes, it still just didn’t click with me.  I looked at Julie and she said “You’re fully dilated!”  Now, this, I understood.  We were giddy and jumped up and down like teenagers for a minute.  What a scene!

By 12:45AM, I let the team know, in my most educated, sophisticated, classy way…“I feel like I’m taking a big shit!!”  Mother would be proud.  I kept pushing, at this point, knowing I was close, doing squats, embracing the push, and curious…”How long would I have to do this?”  “Are we close?”

And then, 1am, Dr. White arrived (he’d been home asleep). I had moved to a new position on the hospital bed, hanging on to a scarf, moving through what was kind of like a child’s pose to a cow pose every now and then.  I made eye contact with Dr. White who asked, “Who wants a warm compress?” “Me!  I do!”  What was this 5 star treatment?  I liked it!

He started working on the compress, but no sooner than a minute later, Cameron said, “Doctor”.

And at 1:01AM, Isla Watford arrived.  I was sitting up on my knees when she was handed through to me.  I was in complete shock.  It didn’t feel real until that moment she was handed to me.  “We made a baby”, “She’s real”, “She’s here”, and she is absolutely perfect.  The slow blinks as she looked into my eyes will be engrained in my memory forever.  From this point on, I was so enamored with Isla, I felt no pain.  You’re dad had a little to say too in the meantime…

Will: “She has more hair than I’ve ever had!”

Dr. White: “You and me both!”

Then, at 1:11, your cord was clamped and cut by Cameron.  At 1:12, the placenta was pushed out, and by 1:26 I got a few stitches, and we were on our way to healing.  Isla latched at 1:43 and we were in the golden hour together nursing.  I could see that you knew exactly who I was and who your dad was too.  We would have many golden hours to come.  The moments that you fall asleep in my arms, the moments that your dad kisses you, the mornings where we all lay in bed together, the little peeps you make at night.  Isla Bird, you have changed our world for the best and our hearts are so full with you in our lives.  I’d live it all over again knowing the reward on the other side.

Doula sum-up: Total length of active labor was 2 hours.