I had my membranes stretched for the second time on August 31. I was exhausted and desperate for anything to work. Nothing exciting except for lots of Braxton Hicks. On September 1 the Braxton Hicks continued. Tim asked me a few times that evening if I thought I was in labour but I had given up hope of this baby coming on her own. Jack and I went on an evening walk to enjoy the last moments of summer sunshine. We came home and got ready for bed. Tim and I enjoyed our current obsession of the TV show Downton Abbey. At this point it was about 10:30 PM and I was starting to be quite uncomfortable. Tim kept asking if I was in labour but it was so hard to say as nothing was very regular. I relaxed for a bit in a bath but nothing seemed to change. Tim went to bed around 11 but I couldn't relax enough to go to sleep. I cleaned the kitchen and listened to an audio book. Over the next hour and a half my contractions became more painful and 5 minutes apart. I downloaded a contraction timer that told me multiple times to, "Pack your bags and head to the hospital!" I didn't believe it because I was handling the contractions really well by walking through them and my water still hadn't broke. I sat down on the couch and was able to have periods of sleep. My contractions went 12-15 minutes apart. I thought for sure things were slowing down and this was the end. Tim woke back up around 12:30 to check on me and help where he could. We turned on a movie and tried to just relax and see where things went. Between 1:00 -1:30 my contractions suddenly ramped back up and I believe I started to transition to the end stages of labour. I started to feel like I couldn't do it and threw up into the toilet. Tim called his mom and she came as fast as she could. She got there just after 2:00. The last thing I did was go upstairs and give my sweet Jack a kiss and told him how much I love him. It was hard to believe that when I came back home things would be different in a good way but Jack would no longer be my only baby.
We loaded into the car and as we drove I was starting to feel a bit of pressure low in my body. My water still had not broken and I thought there was no way this is what they talk about when women say they need to push. Tim drove as fast as he safely could to the hospital. The Foothills hospital is under so much construction and it took us forever to park. We parked pretty much as far away as possible and then the doors were locked to the building. Tim had to buzz a few times but security finally answered and let us through. As we reached the main floor elevators I felt something slip and my water broke everywhere. I did a quick check to make sure my baby wasn't between my legs and hopped on the elevator. When we reached triage at 3:05 I was in between contractions and started to answer there questions of name, how many weeks etc. As another contraction started to build I felt immense pressure to push and realized we were at the end. I let the nurse know and they rushed me back into triage, did a quick check and confirmed that my baby was right there and ready to come out. I died a little on the inside as I was really wanting an epidural. I did ask for one but was promptly declined. They wheeled me back into a delivery suite and told me not to push. This was basically impossible but the doctor and nurse were ready pretty quick. Tim was in the corner not sure what he was supposed to do. The nurse asked him if he had a camera. Tim said that he did. The nurse replied that he had better get it out and come to my head because we were having a baby now. Tim was shocked. He thought he still had a few hours.
The pain and pressure was so intense and hard to push through. I was mentally not ready for a natural birth and kept repeating to the nurse that I did not want to do this, I really did not want to do this! I really wanted an epidural. My nurse was amazing and told me that my baby was doing fine and I could take a second to breathe and when I was ready I would push a baby out. 25 minutes after checking into triage Phoebe entered the world. It was pretty crazy and very overwhelming. I had an insane amount of adrenaline pumping through my body and couldn't stop shaking. Phoebe screamed for the first while, had a good eat and then slept for the next few hours.
We enjoyed lots of visitors and quiet hospital snuggles.
Because I had a natural delivery we didn't have to stay in the hospital very long. Once Phoebe had a pee and poop diaper we were free to go. We left that night around 9:00. It was fabulous to go home and sleep in my own bed.
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