Teagan’s Birth Story
(Forgive
past/present tense--- this is written all at different times.)
April 12, 2010- Due date
Couldn’t believe you hadn’t arrived yet! Contractions all the night before, but
mild. You stopped moving in the
middle of the night, and in the morning wouldn’t react when I kept poking you,
so I got upset, called Daddy on his way to work and he turned around to come
listen for your heartbeat. He
found it—but you still weren’t moving, so I called the midwife and they sent me
for fetal monitoring at St. XXXX’s Hospital. You were totally fine at 135 beats per minute. At 2:30pm, I had my 40 week checkup and
Hope (the midwife) did the first cervix check. I was 2 cm and 80% effaced and your head was VERY low. By 6pm, I was exhausted and very
nauseated. Had to lay down.
April 13, 2010- One day late
Woke up feeling fine.
Kind of upset----- was hoping to be in labor! Lost my temper a lot throughout the day. Took Zoe to her JW Tumbles class. Symptoms (diarrhea, contrax, nausea,
etc.) all pretty much gone. 6:30pm
drank iced coffee. 8:30pm,
diarrhea. Contrax from 9pm-6am
about 8 minutes apart—rough estimate, not too painful. Stopped about 7am April 14--- so
frustrating.
April 14, 2010- Two days late
Every day feels sooooo long waiting for you to come
already. Truthfully, I feel a bit
angry with you. I can feel how big
you are in there! Why won’t you come?
April 15, 2010- Three days late
Trying to hold you in because it’s Grammy’s birthday and I
want you to have your own day.
Grammy came up this evening, mainly because she was antsy waiting and
figured she’d come before having to head to West Palm.
April 16, 2010- Four days late
Threw up at 2am, bad cramps—thought it could be it, but was
all gone by 5am. Upset and
uncomfortable, called midwife to have cervix checked. Waited two hours in waiting room because a woman was in
labor. Zoe had two pee accidents
and Grammy took a nap. I was a
mess and overwhelmed. By the time
Sharon checked my cervix, she just told me I was the same—1-2cm and 80%
effaced. I cried. She told me God has a birthday picked
out for my baby and that day will come.
She also told me this was the “transition” of the pregnancy—when I say
“I can’t do this anymore” and I am close.
She said she thinks I’ll have the baby in the next week. WEEK!!?!
April 17, 2010- Five days late
Grammy left to go to Aunt Jen’s 30th birthday and
Ama’s ARC Memorial and tree planting in West Palm. Had a glass of red wine.
April 18, 2010- Six days late
Everyone’s patience is thin in this house. I am snapping at Daddy and Zoe, they
are snapping at each other… we cannot take much more of this. I am incredibly uncomfortable and feel
like my belly skin is about to split open. Just in case you are posterior or head is crooked, I am constantly
trying to be on my hands and knees and rock you into position to allow labor to
start.
Your mom is so awesome…Daddy
April 19, 2010- Seven days late
Went to the midwife with Zoe at 11am. She checked your position and it looks
like the hands/knees/chest position worked—you are in a GREAT position and all
the way down! Sharon said she
didn’t think it would be too much longer now. Still—made an appt to strip my membranes and check amniotic
fluid on April 21 at 9am.
April 20, 2010- Eight days late
Water broke at 10:45pm while Daddy was giving me a massage
on the bed. Whooohoooo! So relieved! Called Sharon just to give her a heads up. She told me to get some sleep and not
wait up for the contractions to come.
Called Vanessa to give her a heads up she may be watching Zoe soon! Emailed Aunt Nancy who was planning to
come from Ocala the next day to help out with Zoe after my membranes were
stripped. Emailed Grammy. Called Auntie Shelley---yay! Went to bed after midnight and woke up
to cramps at 2:30am--- dozed off and on--- couch and bed—while timing contrax
till 7am. Totally
irregular—anywhere from 2-23 minutes apart. (From 2:30-4:30am they were 6-8 mins apart, as we approached
Zoe’s wake time, they spaced out and when she woke up they essentially
disappeared.)
April 21, 2010- BIRTH DAY!!!
Called Sharon at 8am to fill her in—she said to come in,
she’d check my cervix. If it was
different, we’d stay, otherwise, she’d send us home with stuff to try. She said I had till 5pm to be in active
labor. (If I didn’t get there, I’d
have to go get induced in the hospital.)
Vanessa came to watch Zoe at 9:15, we go to the birth center before
10am, Sharon checked—still 2cm.
She stripped my membranes and sent Seth & me to walk around St Johns
Town Center till contrax were closer.
She said if I wasn’t closer by 1pm, we’d do castor oil. Got to St Johns Town Center, first few
steps and bad contrax! Hard to
walk! Kept stopping and holding
onto Seth. I was hungry, so we
went to Chipotle at 11am and ate burrtios and lemonade. Bad contrax leaving—but not close
enough, so went to Target to get Seth deodorant. Walked in and couldn’t make it—so I sent him to get it and
waited at the front. A Stroller
Strides mom saw me and said, “Still pregnant, oh no!” and I told her I was in
labor. This was about
11:35am. Left Target and headed
back to birth center, got there at noon and Sharon set us up in the labor
room. Contrax about 5 min apart
now. Sharon saw patients and Seth
and I hung out timing contrax. Quickly
they became 4 min apart. I danced
around during them, it was the only thing that helped. Sharon came in and laughed. I got into a sports bra and t-shirt and
bounced on the ball. Sometime
after 1:30pm, contrax were two min apart, then somehow by 2 or 2:30pm, they
were 1 min apart and so unbearable.
It was much harder than what I had visualized--- I just thought the
marathon of pain would be hard, but the actual level of pain was awful. It was so hard. I complained a lot (something I had
been coaching myself not to do) and said things like, “I hate it!” and “I need
a break, I just need a break so bad.”
About 1:30pm, I think, is when I got into the tub—it was awful—I pooped
in there 3 times! I got out of the
tub about 2:30 or 3pm and Sharon checked me—she didn’t tell me, but I was only
5cm! I asked if I could use a
birthing stool because I really needed to sit somehow. I got on and wanted to get off, but
Sharon told me to stick with it, this was the best place for me. Seth got behind me and I pushed against
him during contractions. This part
felt like forever to me, but apparently, this next part was inside 30 minutes
or so, only 7 of them pushing. I
got on there and the contrax ripped through me—I really didn’t think she would
come out, it seemed like too much.
I kept wanting to know how much longer, but of course, no one could
say. I screamed awfully a couple
times and Sharon said not to. I
started to push when Sharon told me and I thought I would rip in half. I kept thinking, “Next baby, I am back
to an epidural!” Sharon said she
could help me, but it would hurt.
She said she could massage my cervix open while I push during a
contraction. I agreed, but was
scared. We did it and it was
awful! I quickly told Seth to kiss
me because I had read that can ease contrax pain like nothing else, so he did
and it helped a bit. I think I
only pushed 3-5 pushes but each was so torturous and I never had the urge to---
it went against my instinct. The
second push, I reached down and felt her head up in me, and I was
encouraged. Around it, I felt all
this swollen tissue and it scared the crap out of me. For what felt like the third time, I pushed and I just
committed to doing it really hard to be done, and Sharon said to stop. I did it one more time---had to wait a
LONG time for next contraction to do this, but then I, again, pushed really
hard so I could be done. My legs
were shaking, I was so tired, I wanted to nap more than anything, I just wanted
to lay down. It hurt like crazy,
but on that push, to my surprise, Sharon grabbed my arms and said, “Emily,
catch your baby!” and I caught my little Teagan at 3:29pm and brought her right
up on my chest while I sat on the birth stool. I kissed and kissed her cheeks and just loved her so much
right away. I had to stay on the
stool another minute, which felt like an eternity, I was so exhausted. Seth cut the cord from behind me. I was guided to the bed (can’t believe
I could walk there!) and laid back while Sharon massaged my uterus and
delivered my placenta and sewed up my 2nd degree tear (I tore along
my episiotomy scar). Seth laid
next to me in the bed. Teagan was
toweled off and given back to me and we tried a first feeding. That’s when I noticed the dimple in her
chin—sweet girl! After 30 minutes
of bonding, they led me to take a shower and Seth held Teagan. After the shower, the 3 of us went back
to the bed and bonded and rested.
At 4:20pm, we just told Grammy and texted a couple people that Teagan
was “Born at 3:29pm, more later.”
Maybe at 5:30pm they came in and did Teagan’s exam--- gave her a shot of
vitamin K and eye drops, weighed her, measured her, checked her, etc--- mostly
all on the bed. They did her
footprints in our baby book, we dressed her. They had washed my clothes in with the laundry and packed
them back for me in my bag, and about 6:15pm, Sharon said, “How do you feel
about going home?” and I was so surprised that I was really, really itching to
go! I thought I’d want to hang
there and bond, but I really did just have the desire to get home, see Zoe, and
be at home all four of us. We were
home a few minutes before 7pm, and Grammy and Zoe got home 10 minutes later
from dinner. Zoe was happy to see
Teagan, but not surprised! I was
so, so happy to be home with my little Teagan. I am so happy I had a natural birth. It was so much harder than I thought,
but the reward was amazing. The
moment of birth was wonderful and everything after just seemed so blissful. I felt so completely bonded with Teagan
the moment I pulled her up to my face.
Completely in love.
Teagan3:29pm-8lbs 10 oz- 21 inches
*My milk came in April 23
about 11pm, fully engorged—2 cup sizes bigger than April 21
*My first poop April 25,
phew!
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