Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Jilly Bean's Birth Story


Note: This post contains pictures of a home birth including a baby immediately after birth, if blood freaks you out this is your warning!

So pardon me if this is a loooooong story but I think it is kinda funny so here goes it!

I was due May 11th and convinced my boyfriend (Kodiak) that since I hadn't given birth by the 13th (Mother's Day) that he should go visit his mom and dad. They only live 2 hours away and I mean what was the likelihood I was going to go into labor on that day, right? He really didn't want to go but between me pushing and the fact that he is a good guy and wanted to go see his mom... he went.

So I go down to my parents to spend Mother's Day with them (about 30 to 45 minutes away) and I am just hanging out and having a good time and around 3 o'clock in the afternoon I started getting contractions. They weren't really a big deal... coming every 10 to 15 minutes or so and lasting 30-45 seconds. I was actually talking to a close friend on FaceBook and whining about how they were "annoying"! I had been having prodromal labor for about a week or two prior so I didn't think it was a big deal. Well they didn't stop, but I was really anxious about raising a false alarm and crying "wolf". So I didn't tell anyone.

My cousin and her boyfriend were over hanging out with my family and around 5:30 they left and she says to me "So are we going to have a baby some time soon?" My mom replied "Oh probably within the next week." And I have no clue what got into me, random new mother instinct or what, but I said, "No probably more like tomorrow." Of course that freaked everyone out. My mom yelled and was like "Tomorrow???? What do you mean TOMORROW? Are you in LABOR!!!!!" I laughed and nodded.

At this point I texted Kodiak and asked what time he was planning on leaving. He said around 9 or 10 and I said "how about 7 or 8?" He says now that that wasn't enough indication that I was in labor lol. I standby the fact that I told him after that I was "kinda in labor". (Because you can be "kinda" in labor right? ;))  I remember this because he told me his sister said I should take a shower to relax!



So instead of going out to dinner for Mother's Day, my dad went and picked up some Outback and brought it back for us to have. While he was gone I went to the bathroom to take a shower to see if that would make the contractions stop. Before I got in I called the midwife and told her what was going on. The shower was nice and relaxing but the contractions didn't let up. They still weren't doing anything but slightly irritating me so I figured it was early on.

We sat down to eat probably around 7:45pm and every time I would get a contraction I would just stop eating for a minute and just sit there.... then start eating once it stopped. I was timing them on my phone and they were coming every 7 minutes or so and lasting about a minute. After dinner I had my dad run out and get some stuff I hadn't had a chance to pick up but that I needed for after labor and post partum. 

While he was out getting that stuff my godmother and her girls (18 year old twins) stopped by and chatted for a bit. Finally we decided it was probably time to get me home so my mom and brother loaded me and the laundry I had brought into the car and drove me home around 9:45pm. In the car everything changed. All of a sudden the contractions started making me paying attention and were down to 5 minutes apart and a minute long. 

So we pull into my apartment driveway and guess what? I can't find my keys. I call Kodiak and he is still about an hour away. He says to call the landlord but I don't have his number so he calls for me. My landlord comes over about 20 minutes later (very nice old man) and lets me in.... then proceeds to come in and talk to me about my plumbing problems in the kitchen and bathroom! Now its probably about 10:40 and Kodiak ends up showing up around 11. 

While I am waiting for Kodiak, my mom and brother refused to leave so I kept giving them directions like which bowls to get and where extra sheets were. I was just bouncing on my birth ball and making post partum pads thinking it was early and it was going to be awhile still, no biggie. So Kodiak gets home and he is looking at me and later tells me that he was thinking that this better not be the early stages because it looks like what they say transition looks like! My mom asked "Do you want me to leave?" I told her I was sure it was going to be awhile... ha!

Well Kodiak sat with me through a couple contractions and then asked if I wanted to call the midwife but I made him time a few more contractions first. I was down to 4 minutes apart, 1 minute long. He called and my midwife heard me in the background and asked if I wanted to be checked. I said yes, though I was thinking "do I need to be? This can't be very far along... I don't want to have her over to check me and me only be 3cm or so..." She arrived around midnight and checked me through a contraction and guess what? 8 centimeters with a bulging bag. What they say about personality in labor is right... your personality doesn't change, it just gets more intense!

I looked at Kodiak all shocked and made a signal to call.. EVERYONE. His mom was supposed to come but couldn't get there in time. I went into the bathroom to pee and call my mom... Woke her up and asked her to bring fruit and veggie trays and chicken broth... because I was in labor and insane apparently. So she got back to my house around 1am. I labored in bed for a little while and then the midwife made me go take some contractions on the toilet since my water still hadn't broken.

First contraction on the toilet my legs got very tight and stiff then SPLASH. A huge BURST of water shot out of me and completely hit the wall! Kodiak and I looked at each other with "oh.. my... god" expressions. Looking back, it was pretty funny. After that I went back to bed and pretty quickly was in pushing stages. I was dozing off between contractions and just asking for water since my birth instructor had drilled it into my head that I needed to drink water in between contractions so I didn't get dehydrated. 

Well it only took about 5 contractions of pushing and BAM little girl :)
Jillian Rose was born at 2:43am and it was honestly the best experience of my life. My mom says I said "ow" once when she was crowning followed by "it burns!" and that was it lol. Very glad I have a high pain tolerance!

Directly after when we are holding Jilly and cuddling he turns to me and says "Well if it was that easy we can have five more!"


Anyways... sorry for the essay but yeah :) there you have it!

♥ Rissa

1 comment:

  1. I'm so jealous of your home birth! And how fast it was for a FTM. My labor was 43 hours and I labored at home for almost a whole day, I should've just stayed :) my personality stayed the same too, I was apologizing for things and saying please. I was waiting to turn into a monster and never did!

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