Natalie's labor and delivery was so different from Grayson's. Since Grayson came ten days early, I was mentally preparing myself to be ready this time around at least two weeks early. I was already dilated to a two or three at 36 weeks and was on edge that whole next week while Tom was on a business trip in Houston. Luckily I didn't go into labor while he was gone. Phew.
The next couple weeks I had tons of Braxton Hicks and was feeling lots of pressure on my pelvis and back. Sometimes I tried timing the contractions when they were a little painful or I was feeling crampy, but there was never any pattern. I started losing my mucus plug (I know, it's as gross as it sounds) during the last week and on the 27th lost a lot of it. I felt a little different that day, but contractions still never had a pattern and weren't painful. I watched my neighbors’ kids that afternoon, went for a long walk, and took a bath to ease my oh so aching back. When we went to bed that night I remember asking Tom if he thought I should call my mom to come stay with us that night in case I went into labor. But I changed my mind and went to sleep. In hindsight - should've gone with my gut!
I got up a few times that night to go to the bathroom and there were no contractions and no pain. Which was weird because my contractions usually got worse in the middle of the night. From midnight to 5 though, nothing. I think it was Heavenly Father’s way of giving me a little break before the real work began!
I woke up at 5am with a pretty painful contraction. I stayed in bed and had another one about ten minutes later, then another about seven minutes later. I decided to call my mom so she could be heading over. Even though they weren't five minutes apart yet (that's when my doctor said to call) this seemed like the real deal. My mom rushed over and by the time she got there they were coming every minute or two!! I was bouncing on the exercise ball and trying to breathe through them best I could. I remember thinking the whole time I was waiting that I was so glad Grayson hadn't woken up yet. I even called my mom at one point to see where she was at. There had been traffic on the 95 and she was about 15 minutes away. Fifteen minutes never sounded so long! As soon as she got there we ran out the door.
I was so worried we were going to hit traffic on the way to the hospital, especially because we were going on the 66 which is the freeway headed straight into DC. But we hit literally NO traffic at all. It was a little miracle just for me! We arrived at the hospital a little after 6:30. I told Tom he couldn't drop me off because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to walk up there by myself. We left the car in emergency parking and Tom was planning to go move it after I was all checked in. When we got to labor and delivery they were like "Hi what brings you here this morning?" And I was like "Seriously!! Um I'm having a baby!” Haha jk I didn't say it like that, but that's what I was thinking. Then I remember having to sign a bazillion forms and thinking can you just give me one form that says 'I sign my life away to you?' Would have been way easier and more efficient.
Finally they took me into a triage room. Since I had preeclampsia last time the nurse asked me to pee in a cup just in case we needed it. Let me tell you, that was the hardest thing I've ever done! lol First of all, peeling in a cup is hard enough when you're pregnant and can't see anything down there. And then I was trying to aim between contractions and was shaking like crazy. I got pee all over but I didn't care! After I changed into my gown a nurse came and checked me but my water sac was bulging so much she couldn't tell how far I was. Then another nurse came and checked and was like you're at a 9! They said the only thing keeping me from having the baby was my water hadn't broken. So they hurried and wheeled me into a room and asked if I was planning to get an epidural. I knew at this point it was probably too late anyways so I didn't ask for one. After starting an IV and trying to get a little bit of antibiotics in me (for GBS) the doctor said as soon as I felt the urge to push to tell her and she'd break my water and it would be go time!
They were still having me sign forms between the contractions!! Really?! I'm pretty sure all I did was scratch a line on each one lol. My legs were shaking like crazy, too. It was so weird not being able to control them. After a few more contractions and squeezing Tom’s hand off the whole time, I felt like pushing. The doctor broke my water and she asked how long I pushed last time. When I said about an hour she said this time will be a lot faster. Tom and the nurse held my legs and I pushed and this was definitely the hardest part! I really didn't think I could do it. But I kinda had to. Five minutes and six pushes later Natalie came out and I felt the most relief I've ever felt in my life. I'll never forget the look Tom gave me after that. He couldn't believe how fast it happened and neither could I!
She was bigger than I thought and I got to hold her right after she came out. She swallowed a lot of fluid and her poor little face was bruised from coming so fast, but she was healthy and I was so happy. My little Natalie was perfect :) So, less than an hour after arriving at the hospital we were holding and adoring our little girl. I was bleeding a little more than they liked so we stayed in the room about an hour or two longer. Then we moved to our recovery room and had a relaxing couple days bonding with our girl.
Here are some pictures from the hospital. These first ones were taken right after having her.
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