The Labor Story, Finally!

This is a little anti-climatic a week later, but if you like labor stories, here you go:

On Monday Trevor and I had a great "last day" together. There was nothing planned so we got to take our time at the park and feed the ducks. Somehow I was motivated to finish up a lot of little projects that I've been avoiding around the house too: more painting, organizing, etc.

My mom called that morning needing help finding a suit for my dad. The one she wanted wasn't in stock in Flagstaff but they had it in Tucson and it needed to be bought ASAP for my grandpa's funeral that weekend. I told her we had been walking around all morning so if going to the mall put me into labor, she would get a big prize.

Then after dinner Trevor and I walked down the street to get the mail so I definitely got some good mileage in! I started having some cramping but it was mild, like PMS. Later that night the cramps combined with contractions and I decided to start timing them around 8:30. They were 5 minutes apart but became irregular if I got up to do anything. Still I took a shower just in case.

Finally I told Birch we should go to the hospital to get things checked out. The contractions weren't always consistent but they hurt enough that I wanted to be sure. We loaded Trevor in the car with a mattress and dropped him off with my friend Brittany around 10:15. (Thanks again!) Our hospital was 15-20 minutes away and I was surprised at how quickly the contractions came closer together. Finally as we were pulling up to the curb my body was ready to push. My water broke in the car and it took a while to walk in because I kept stopping with contractions.

In triage the nurses tried to get me to follow their usual procedures: go to the bathroom, hook up to the monitors, etc. But when they saw I was trying to push they got me on a bed to check my cervix and saw the baby's head. That was the biggest surprise to me because I had an epidural at the end of Trevor's labor so I never felt the pushing. I didn't realize I was fully dilated until I heard the head was right there and I was immediately sent to a delivery room.

At first the nurses tried to get me to not push because the doctor would be there "any minute." But finally they saw that this baby was on her way and they delivered her at 10:54pm, about 10 minutes after walking into triage. I'm a big wimp about pain and I still wish I could have had an epidural but it was amazing to feel the baby come out.

The doctor arrived a few minutes after Haley was born. The clean-up actually took longer than expected because the abruption of the placenta had left a big mess inside. It didn't hurt but it was really uncomfortable as she poked my stomach and cleaned everything out.

A week later, things have kind of settled down. Haley has been an easy baby to nurse but won't sleep unless she's held. Even that first night she wouldn't sleep in the plastic bassinet--I eventually let her fall asleep on my lap. Trevor loves Haley like crazy and at first didn't want anything to do with me, he only wanted to play with her. Finally after a few days I got the first "No, that's Trevor's momma!" Yay, he still loves me!

My favorite part about a new baby is how peaceful I feel. I don't feel overwhelmed with love like I did when Trevor was born but I feel calm and happy. There is a feeling of love in our home right now that only comes with a new little baby.