On Monday June 16th, 2014 I was one week over due. The fear of induction was very real. I had a fantastic team of midwives who were doing everything in their power to prevent any type of medical intervention. They gave 2 weeks after my due date and if Ava wasn't born they had "no choice" but to induce me. But on that fateful morning I woke up to searing hip pain. I just knew that this was my day, and that my body was going to have a baby. I had an appointment scheduled that morning for a routine stress test and ultrasound to make sure everything looked and sounded okay with the baby. My appointment was at 11:00 am but my contractions started at 6am and were 10-15 minutes apart. They hurt. With every one I braced myself for the next. I called the Dr.'s office to inform them that I believed that I was in labor and I didn't want to come in for the appointment, but they insisted. I met with my midwife and she told me that I wasn't progressed very far physically. This was shattering because I knew that my body was trying to do something. They hooked me up to the monitor for the stress test and my contractions were confirmed. Patty (midwife) said as I was leaving the office that she would see me tonight. She also told me to go home and sleep. This was the best advice ever!
My contractions picked up and went down to roughly 5 minutes apart in the afternoon. My patience was wearing thin. I called my mom earlier in the day and told her to start her drive out to south bend, and I felt like this was in vein because me contractions weren't getting very close very fast. So, we slept and waited for them to get closer. At 8 pm I started bouncing on a yoga ball and it happened, my contractions picked up, and they were intense. I decided to go to bed and see if they would slow down or continue on the fast pace. Around 9:00pm I called Ryan upstairs and told him that I thought I needed to go to the hospital. (Sidenote: make sure you pack your hospital bag BEFORE you go into labor). I started to scramble for clothes and things for the baby and stuff them into a bag. With every step my body screamed at me. I knew I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Sidenote: I had to go to the hospital at 2 minutes apart because I had GBS ( you have to have an antibiotic).
So, we called the sitter for Jack and we jumped in the car. We got about 3 minutes away from the house and I realized that I forgot the camera. Ryan has never drove so fast to get to our house in his life. That camera was a necessity even if I had Ava in the car it was coming with us. So, we got on our way back to the hospital. My contractions were still very time able at 2 minutes apart. When we got to the hospital it took FOREVER to get up to the labor unit, and once there I was quizzed on why I thought I was in labor. My midwife then stepped into triage and stopped the 100 questions and told them to get me a room because I was clearly in labor. I got into the room and my midwife checked me immediately. By this point I thought for sure Ava was on her way out turns out I was only 5cm but 90% effaced. Really I thought, I am only half way there! Boy was I devastated!
The nurse started the IV of antibiotics and this meant I had to sit there for 1 hr. During this time I had progressed to 7cm. I was in pain but I had a goal, I wanted to have my baby with no medical intervention what so ever (other than the required antibiotics for Ava). My mind raced and I knew that the window had officially closed to any type of medication once I got to 8cm about 1.5 hrs later. I had progressed so fast once I got to the hospital. I was so excited that my body could do it! This experience was amazing compared to Jack's birth. The midwife came in and asked if I wanted my water broke, as I began to ask what the benefit was it broke on its own. At that point Ms. Ava was ready to join us. Sidenote: our midwife was AMAZING she virtually never left my side!
