Addie's Birth Story

I meant to type this up and share it after Addison was born, but I got so wrapped up in life with my new baby that I never got around to it! Better late than never, right? So in honor of Addie's birthday eve, here is her birth story!

I had been having consistent but painless contractions every day since Addie's due date, May 6th. They would start around 10 or 11 in the morning and continue until I went to bed at night, but never got any closer than 8 minutes apart. Talk about frustrating! I tried to stay as active as I could, walking the dog every day, climbing up and down the stairs as often as I could, and bouncing on an exercise ball throughout the day, but things never really progressed. Then on Thursday, May 12th, after a day of annoying contractions, I went upstairs to get ready for bed but I could NOT get comfortable so I brought the exercise ball upstairs to bounce and watch tv for a while. Around 10:30 is when I had my first really uncomfortable contraction and I decided to start timing them again. Mike was asleep and so I just bounced on my ball, watched HGTV and tried to remember all the breathing techniques I had learned as my contractions got closer together and more painful. By 2 a.m. I was starting to feel really anxious since the contractions were 3-4 minutes apart with no signs of slowing down. I woke Mike up around 2:30, we finished packing up our bags, and we drove across the street to the hospital.

We made our way up to Labor & Delivery and they checked me into triage. My vitals were normal, Addie was looking good on the monitors, and (much to my dismay) I was dilated to about 3 cm. We decided to head back to the house so I could try and relax and labor at home for a while. We got home around 4 a.m. and I crawled into bed and managed to sleep on and off until about 7:30 when contractions woke me up again. I took a shower, put on the comfiest clothes I could stretch over my huge belly, and we went out for our first walk of the day. All day Friday I climbed up and down the stairs (with help from Mike) about a million times, bounced on the ball, and paced the floor. I spent a lot of time in the big, comfy recliner in the nursery, snuggled up under a quilt, just breathing and trying to relax. We went for a second walk in the evening and we hadn't even made it a block before I was doubled over in pain. These contractions were like nothing I had felt up until that point and WOW they sucked! Mike helped me waddle along, stopping every few minutes to hunch over and try to breathe, and I decided that once we made it back to the house that I wanted to go back to the hospital. So we eventually finished our walk and checked back in to L&D around 7 p.m. I was super disappointed to find out I was still only at 3 cm, and my blood pressure was rising so the triage nurse suggested that we stay and we agreed.

They admitted me and brought us to the birthing suite (which was SO nice), administered my IV and set up fetal monitors to keep an eye on Addie. I was completely worn out and really struggling to get comfortable so even though I originally wanted to go without pain meds, we started talking to my nurses about different options for pain management. At first I opted for a megadose of tylenol + benadryl to help take the edge off my pain and hopefully knock me out for a few hours. I took those meds around 9:30 and tried to eat some chicken nuggets but I could hardly stomach any food, and definitely couldn't fall asleep. Around midnight I decided to give IV pain meds a shot and all that did was make me feel drunk. I was dizzy, loopy, and felt like I couldn't speak very well. I was able to doze off a little here and there, but couldn't stay asleep for very long. Around 5 a.m. (on Saturday, May 14th) I was deliriously tired and asked my nurse to check my progress. I was at 4 cm. FOUR. So after laboring all night in the hospital (and not to mention the whole day before that) I had barely progressed! My blood pressure was elevated, I wasn't dilating on my own, and my water still hadn't broken, so I ultimately decided to get an epidural. Up until that point I was so determined to go all natural, but I knew I needed to sleep if I was going to have the energy to push out a baby! Plus we really didn't want to take any chance of putting Addie in distress after so much labor, so I finally received my epidural around 6 a.m.

Feeling wayyyy better after a hefty dose of meds ;)

The amazing anesthesiologist arrived and I felt instant relief! In addition to an epidural, they started me on a pitocin drip to help move things along. I could still feel my belly tightening during contractions, but they were completely painless. I was finally able to relax and I slept on and off for the next several hours. When I woke up, Mike was downstairs getting some food so I chatted with my nurse Bri for a few minutes. I was still feeling great so she left the room and I grabbed my phone to stalk social media until Mike got back when I suddenly heard a popping sound and felt a warm rush in my lap. I immediately hit my call button and told the nurse "umm, I think my water just broke?" and sure enough, it finally had! I don't remember exactly what time that was, but I definitely still had a ways to go before meeting my baby girl. I took another nap, and just soaked in as much relaxation as I could for the next few hours.

Some time around 5 p.m. I started getting the unmistakeable urge to push so they turned down my epidural. Once I started regaining feeling in my legs, Mike, the nurses, and the midwife on call helped me move into different positions to push. After almost 2 hours, some dry-heaving (isn't childbirth so lovely?), and a lot of help and motivation from my sweet hubby, Addie was finally crowning. After just a few more pushes, Addison Grace was here at 6:57 p.m.! They plopped her right on my chest and in that moment I think my heart actually exploded! The exhaustion, the pain, the TWO DAY labor, was all completely worth it :)

It's so hard for me to believe that a year ago I was checking into the hospital room where I would eventually meet our sweet girl. She has changed our lives in amazing ways we couldn't even have imagined and I know without a doubt that being her mommy was exactly what I was meant to do all along! Happy Birthday Eve little pudge, we love you more than you'll ever know!