The 29th of August had arrived at last. Little did I know I'd be giving birth in a few short hours.
Lawrence Edward at 1 week old
To be honest I don't remember a super lot about the morning hours. I know we got to "sleep in" till 7am... and Jeff, naturally, slept in a bit later due to staying up till the wee hours of the morning. I think I let the kids wake him up around 8:30.... feeling little pity for him and still fuming about his lack of sensitivity. He was in a good mood and explained that he'd gotten sucked in by the YouTube suggested videos. He watched some little clip about a guy out who died in a cave.... which lead to him researching it online... which lead to the discovery of a movie about the guy.... and of course he watched it! How could I even be mad? It was all too amusing.
Enjoying the last few hours as a family of four
We passed the morning nicely although I was having some decent contractions that were a little less comfortable than braxton-hicks contractions. I mentioned it to Jeff and he was excited right away. I was in denial of course. I always figure if my water hasn't broken and I haven't seen any other signs like bloody show, etc. then I'm not in labor or it's false labor. Plus I'd had other times in the past number of weeks where I had some stronger-than-braxton-hicks contractions just because I needed to have a BM, or while I was sitting around reading a book. So I kept telling myself it was probably just due to a BM or just my body prepping for the real thing. DENIAL.
Around 10am I went to the bathroom and there was a little mucus plug. A very little bit. I reminded myself that during my first pregnancy I'd lost mucus plug over the course of a week before I went into labor. This didn't necessarily mean I was in the process of having a baby. DENIAL.
Nevertheless, at the sign of a little mucus, I decided it would be worth having my husband check my butt crack. For those of you who've never heard of "the butt crack line", there's a line or seam where your two butt checks meet and it turns purple as you dilate. The more dilated your cervix becomes the higher the purple line ...starting in the South and heading North, if you will ;). My husband obliged and reported that it looked to be an inch already... or about 1/4 of the way. This could be promising. But I reminded myself that in many cases you can be fairly dilated for days or weeks before going into labor. DENIAL.
It's funny because my Grandpa called around the time we were eating lunch (chips and cheese! I figured I'd better get a meal in so I'd have energy for the labor). She'd been wanting me to have the baby while relatives were visiting. She asked how I was doing and I told her all was well! I had a decent contraction while talking to her but didn't think a thing of it. She was so surprised to hear I'd had the baby only a few hours later (as was I!).
I did decide that since I'd lost some mucus plug and there were other things going on I should inform my midwife. My husband had been urging me to do so but I didn't want to bother her, especially on a Sunday morning, as she would likely be in church. Instead of calling I sent her some text messages.
Me: "It appears I lost a little mucs plug. Not a lot but it was yellow, and snot-like. Not something I normally have when I wipe. Just thought I'd let you know." 10:36am
Me: "Some decent contractions as well though I haven't timed them or anything yet. Could just be that I need to have a BM." 10:39am
Midwife: "Souds good keep me updated" 11:02am
Midwife: "Sounds not souds" 11:02am
Me: "Will do!" 11:08am
Midwife: "How are you feeling with your cold?" 11:14am
Me: "Better today than yesterday, but still no 100%" 11:15am
Midwife: "Ok" 11:18am
Me: (screenshot of my contractions) "Here's the last number of contractions" 12:30pm
Me: "I'm gonna try to lay down and take the usual midday nap. I had Jeff check my butt crack line and it was purple halfway up." 12:32pm
Me: "It was only a 1/4 of the way two hours ago." 12:33pm
Midwife: "Ok that would be good to nap. I can come whenever you ready as well." 12:35pm
Me: " Sounds good. I'll be in touch" 12:38pm
Me: "I usually don't nap for longer than an hour (if I can nap at all). If you want to head over whenever you're ready that would be fine, as you'd mentioned getting the IV done before labor gets too far along." 12:44pm
Midwife: "I will get ready and head out then." 12:45pm
Midwife: "I am heading from our church so it will be approx 1 1/2 hours." 12:57pm
Me: "Sounds good" 1:02pm
Rachel with Laurie a few days after his birthday
Around the same time I contacted my midwife I'd also messaged my birth photographer. My beloved sister-in-law, Rachel. I sent her the screenshot of my contractions and said, "How does today work for you to come take pictures? Kind of handy that Chan isn't working, eh? ; ) Might not need to come for a few hours but thought I'd give you a heads up." 1:05pm
She had to wait for her husband to get home so he could watch their two boys and then she came over.
On a side note: Rachel had asked me to capture her labor and delivery on camera/video just over a year earlier on July 24th, when my nephew was born. It was fun to reciprocate the request and it was an honor to have her at my birth. It was also the first birth she'd been to so that was really cool (not including her own).
Working through a contraction right after Rachel had first arrived
One of the first things she did upon arrival was get one last maternity photo of me. She later sent me the picture and we were both surprised it had been taken at 2:15pm. I remember being a little annoyed at the time for two reasons. Firstly, because why hadn't I thought of that (getting on last maternity picture)?! Secondly, as she was instructing me to let my hair down as it would make for a better photo and find a decent place to take the picure I was thinking, "Doesn't she know I'm in labor?" It's all pretty funny to think about now because normally I'd really care about all those photo details like background, lighting, angle etc. I suppose my attitude isn't too suprising considering where I was at in labor.
My last maternity photo
It was about 15 minutes after Rachel snapped that picture that my midwife, Emily, arrived with her assistant, her daughter, Ivy. Jeff had finally decided to pack up the kids and I was saying goodbye to them outside by our vehicle. Emily remarked later that based on my greeting to them (I smiled, waved and said a few words to them) that it could easily be a few hours before baby came. I had a big contraction as I was saying farewell to the kids... you know the kind where you rest on something and try not to talk. Then Jeff was off and I waddled back inside. Emily, Ivy were getting a few things set up and chatting with Rachel.
Emily, getting things ready
The plan was to give me an IV to help control blood loss but Emily wanted to check and make sure I wasn't too far along. She said it's best to not give the IV if you're over 4cm dilated (if I remember correctly). So she checked me and we were both shocked to discover that I was at 7cm... maybe 8, and she could feel my bag of waters bulging! I guess with the kids out of the house and knowing I was already so far along I just let my body go and do it's thing. One final trip to the bathroom for a poop (I was so proud of myself as I thought I didn't poop during labor... only to watch the birth video later to realize I did! lol).
I wasn't sure entirely where I'd get the job done (my room or the kids room) up until that point, but I decided to have the baby in my children's room. They have just a queen mattress on a frame and I figured if I got it all messy I'd still have my bedroom and bed to go rest in after it was all through. It was probably only another 15 minutes before the baby came.
Getting down to business.
I felt like I was going to throw up.
In the bedroom alone, I remember groaning and thinking, "Weird.... these are the sounds I made when pushing out babies the last two times. I can't really be to that stage so quickly, can I?" My midwife was by my side right away, helped me get my skirt off. She hadn't even had time to get set up and get more than a few basic supplies out. Rachel was in the kitchen cutting up more of my peaches for the freezer when she heard me making some noise. At first she thought she'd let me be and labor some before she came to take pictures, and then thought I sounded pretty serious so she hurried in with the camera.
The afterbirth process took the longest. I hemorrhaged (not as badly as I did with my first two births but it was still quite a bit). We should have used Cytotec right away as we'd planned but at the last minute I decided it should be used as a last resort. My midwife gave me two rounds of Pitocin which barely helped and after that was failing she gave me two rounds of Cytotec.
It felt like quite a while after the birth (30 minutes?) that Rachel asked if we should call Jeff to let him know Laurie was born. I told her to go ahead and text him but not to tell him the gender... let that be a surprise. As Murphy would have it, Jeff got Rachel's text as he was pulling in the driveway. We got his reaction to the baby's gender on video. Jeff was so excited to have another son ....and to have missed the birth! Rachel asked him if he wanted to watch a video of the birth and he declined. I don't get why some guys are so queasy about birth but it's not my husband's favorite thing to take part in. LOL
My midwife gave me a saline IV next. It was probably a combination of blood loss, the cold IV fluids and the hormones surging through my body that made me shiver like crazy. I was SO cold. They warmed blankets in the dryer and covered me with heaps of them. They put socks on my feet and Rachel even made me bone broth hot chocolate!! That really hit the spot. Jeff called my parents and requested that they bring a hot water balloon to help warm me up. My parents and two brothers arrived with the balloon and also an electric blanket and got to meet Laurie while I was in bed dealing with the afterbirth process. I eventually started feeling really warm was taking all the blanket layers off which was a good sign. My midwife ended up staying till around 7pm to make sure I was doing okay.
Jeff made us a late dinner. I wasn't too hungry but decided a plate chips and cheese with yummy toppings like avocado, homemade salsa and chicken would be delicious again! lol My mom stayed until 11pm. She made sure we had baby clothes, diapers, wipes, alcohol & q-tips... all the essential baby care supplies in a handy spot for us. It was a long day but I was amazed at how quickly and smoothly everything had gone compared to my previous births. It was especially nice having a baby in the middle of the day so that all the clean up and afterbirth stuff could be wrapped up in time for bed!
And so Lawrence Edward was born only 5 days after his due date on a beautiful Summer afternoon. I couldn't have asked for better timing or a cuter baby boy! God is so good.
Towards the end of the day, tired & sore
and happy to finally be chilling with my little man.
