We got to the triage room and I was a little snappy at the nurse, whoops! They made me lay on my back with the monitor for 20 minutes and I thought it was going to kill me. This was the first time I felt some liquid coming out of me and Vic and Christi exchanged looks but told me I was ok. I had a funny feeling it wasn’t my water, but I didn’t want to know any different so I didn’t look. The nurse checked me and told me I was at a four, which broke my heart. There was no way I was only four centimeters. I felt like I was in transition! Christi whispered to me that she was watching someone laboring at a 7, not a 4 and to not let it discourage me. They got me to my delivery room and things moved even faster. They wouldn’t let me get in the shower to labor because of how fast my contractions were coming. I noticed at this point that there was blood all over my legs and I wanted to shower for the comfort and to get clean, but no go. I had them put up the side of the bed, which I clutched onto for dear life. They spent 20 minutes trying to get an IV in just in case I needed it for after the birth, since I didn’t want an IV during labor. With Ryker, I was able to stand and labor, with Cora, I couldn’t move from a version of the fetal position on the bed, any slight movement and I thought the contractions would kill me. I kept saying “I can’t do this”, and Vic and Christi kept telling me how I could, and I was.
Eventually, my body just started pushing. I was doing everything I could to not push and to remain calm during contractions with deep breathing, but this nurse kept yelling at me to stop pushing and I kept trying to explain to her that I wasn’t doing it, it was like dry heaving…your body just takes over. The doctor on call finally showed up and checked me, saying I was almost there and offered to break my water. Once she did that, I rocketed to 10 cm and was finally not getting yelled at for pushing. I laid on my side, with Vic holding my leg for me. I was so exhausted from gripping the bed that I couldn’t hold my leg myself. It took just a handful of pushes to get our baby girl out, she came so fast that when my body finally pushed her out on its own nobody was looking! There was a break in contractions, or we thought, and I had this overwhelming feeling of calm, like “this is it” and she just shot out. If it wasn’t for being wrapped in the cord three times she probably would have fallen off the table. Her legs, arms and neck had the cord around them. She was very tiny, just 5 pounds and seemed smaller than Ryker had been even though he came three weeks earlier in his pregnancy.
The doctor was immediately talking to me about intrauterine growth restriction. Then, they hooked me up to a Pitocin drip because I began to hemorrhage. My body was shaking uncontrollably and I felt bad because I couldn’t concentrate on the sweet girl in my arms, I couldn’t stop shaking and I could feel myself bleeding. To be totally honest, I laid there thinking “you’ve got to be shitting me, I come to the hospital instead of getting my home birth and now I’m going to bleed to death?” I didn’t need a transfusion or anything because the Pitocin did it’s job, but we were nervous there for a minute with all the bleeding.
Next thing you know, Cora latched on like a champ, we delayed her bath until she got sleepy hours later and everything has been great ever since! Her delivery took under two hours once we showed up to the hospital and was way more painful and trying than my previous delivery, but I’m very glad and very proud that I made it through as naturally as possible again. It was definitely scary, but I appreciate the experience more than anything else that has seemed difficult in my life.
I can’t imagine getting through either of my deliveries without my husband and Christi. Christi was such a God send for us, she knows just how to support Vic and I and she helped us have some great moments. She encouraged us to look into each other’s eyes at one point, and while I was staring lasers through Vic’s head, it really did help to just focus on his sweet and supportive eyes as I went through contractions. I’m so very lucky to have a husband who backs my choices and gives me everything I need to get through any obstacle.
There’s her story! It took me three weeks to sit down and type it and two days to finish that in between feedings, so I apologize for any errors! I hope you enjoyed reading that, looking back now I’m amazed at how intense everything was in such a short period of time. I hope the rest of her life isn’t as trying for us as parents as her entrance was!
Welcome Miss Cora Rose!
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