We've been waiting with anticipation for our little girl to join our family for awhile now. My pregnancy was smooth for the most part, not a ton of nausea- mainly just tired. When I was around 34 weeks I had a feeling I needed to talk to the dr about a growth scan, I had been in some pain and hadn't seen our baby on a ultrasound for a long time. Dr. Bowman sent me down to get her checked out, during that scan she was head up and breech. We waited a few weeks to see if she could get turned around on her own, but she never did. They sent me to st. George at 37.5 weeks to do a ECV to try and get her flipped around, we were prepared for a C-secition if needed. Dr. Lunt was incredible and he got her flipped around and it almost put me into labor, I was dilated to a 2.5 with contractions 2-3 minutes apart. In the end she decided she needed to cook a little longer. I am so grateful that she decided to wait for a little while even though we were very much ready to meet her. The next couple weeks seemed long, I was having some pelvic pain, lots of stretching, super bad heart burn etc etc. All the typical end of pregnancy uncomfortableness. I was also having spouts of contractions ranging anywhere from 5 min apart to 3 minutes apart consistently. I met with Dr. Bowman at 39 weeks on 10/4 and I was dilated a 3+, he told me he thought I would be coming in anytime to have her but if I didn't I would get induced on 10/11. I had been saying from the very beginning I really didn't want an induction, I was really hoping to go into labor on my own. On Thursday night 10/7 I was having contractions 7 minutes apart, they weren't super hard and I wasn't super uncomfortable yet and we talked about going into the hospital but I really did not want to go in the middle of the night so we decided to wait. I woke up several times in the night, I just felt "different" I couldn't quite explain it, but I felt my contractions were different than the normal ones I had been experiencing. The next morning on 10/8 it was a beautiful fall rainy day, it had rained nonstop since early that morning. I was still having the contractions, I called Chris and told him they were about 5 minutes apart. I was a little tired and feeling frustrated because they weren't getting any closer, I wasn't sure what to do. Chris suggested I text our Dr and let him know what was going on and get some input from him on what to do. He responded and told me I could either head in or labor at home a little longer. I decided to wait a couple more hours, Owen and I cleaned up and I got my kids arranged to be taken care of. I had called my mom earlier and she decided to just start heading down and I'm so grateful she did. I sat down for a little bit and my contractions slowed down. I was feeling sad, but I got up to get the last of my cleaning done. My contractions started again, still several minutes apart. In fact, I stopped timing because I was feeling frustrated. I called Chris and we decided we would head into the hospital in an hour. I text the dr and he told me to meet him at the clinic and he would check to see how dilated I was at that point and go from there. We grabbed my bags and went to drop Owen off to Lauren and headed to the clinic. We got to the clinic and I was at a solid 4, he asked if we should strip my membranes and I said "sure, why not." At the end of our appointment, Dr. Bowman looked to me and asked what I would like to do & I looked at Chris... I really didn't want to be induced that bad but I was worried that I would be so tired from contracting all weekend that come monday (my induction date), I would be physically and emotionally exhausted. Chris smiled at me and I expressed my feelings to Dr. Bowman. He suggested we head down to the hospital and get checked in and we would go from there. We were excited to meet our baby girl! I ran to the bathroom at the clinic and while in there I had a hard contraction. While walking out of the clinic and into the hospital I called the school to let the girls know we were having our baby and the Watsons would be picking them up from school. I had another contraction while getting checked into the hospital... we got to our L&D room and another contraction. They got me all set up on the monitor and sure enough I was having contractions 2 minutes apart consistently. I believe the stripping of my membranes was enough to convince my body to get into active labor.
Dr. Bowman came in at 1 o clock to break my water, I still hadn't had any Pitocin. My body was contracting concsistely on its own. hallelujah. I couldn't believe it. A tender mercy and an answer to my prayers.
At about 1:45 my contractions were about 1 minute apart, I stood for awhile because the contractions were more comfortable that way. At about 3:17 I was at a 6 and still handling things well. I continued to stand and rock back and forth for awhile, I was hyperventilating a little bit even though I was trying my best to control my breathing and breath slow. The nurse gave me some oxygen and I had them get me just a little pain killer to calm me down, it helped me relax just enough between contractions that I could get a handle on things. They kept an eye on baby's heart rate because it was just slightly higher than they would have liked, but not too worrisome yet. I could start to feel some pressure, I decided to labor on my hands and knees for awhile and the nurses were so supportive of me. I kept feeling the need to push just a little bit. They called the dr in and he said her head was stuck on my cervix and I was only at a 9.5. On my next contraction he pulled my cervix up just a little bit and her head dropped down a little more. I couldn't believe how great I was feeling, definitely in a little pain. But I was actually able to catch my breath and try to tell myself "I can do this" in between my contractions. At one point I looked at Dr. Bowman and asked "are my contractions close enough together?" He just kind of shrugged and said "you tell me what you think." I've never experience contractions like that since I've always been on Pitocin and I can't believe what a difference it was. I could feel a bit more pressure and my body was ready to start pushing. I pushed once and then I pushed once more. I asked if I could get her out on the next one, I just really wanted her out at that point. The Dr just smiled at me and didn't say much. I pushed again and I heard him say the dreaded "the cord is around her neck." I had my eyes closed but according to Chris, the dr turned around to get some tools to help assist him and I just started pushing as hard as I could to get our baby out and she came right on out. Chris said it was impressive to watch the dr as he quickly dropped the tools and turned around to guide her head and untangle the cord at the same time. Chris said he wasn't sure who was more purple, me or the baby! I was so worried about her, I kept asking if she was okay and if she was breathing. Everyone kept assuring me she was doing just fine, she was very calm not making a ton of noise. We delayed cutting the cord for a little bit and they just let me hold her and do skin to skin for a little while. She was perfect, so much hair, a dimple and a very calm demeanor. I felt as if I've known her my whole life. She looked right up at me and made eye contact, here is my baby girl I had a dream about 5 years prior. I just felt so grateful to have her here safely. She would turn her head to look at me and then to Chris, we couldn't get over her sweet face. I needed 3 stitches and Chris went with her to get weighed and cleaned up while they took care of me.
Our sweet little Alyza Camille Heaton- October 8th, 4:52 pm, 7lbs 8oz &19.1in. We are so grateful for our sweet little caboose who completed our family.
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