Ellie's Birth Story

On Monday (12-17-12) morning I woke up at the usual time, 7:30am.  I felt a contraction but didn't think anything of it since I'd been having contractions regularly pretty much everyday.  After getting Gavin ready to go downstairs I noticed I'd had about 3-4 contractions back to back.  I made the kids their oatmeal and sat down to eat with Gavin while Nick and Liam were still sleeping.  As I ate and continued to have contractions, I was starting to think this could be it.  Around 8:15am or so, I started using my contraction tracker app and texted Kaleen just to give her a heads up.  An hour later, Kaleen and I talked and she was on her way.  At this point, the contractions were regular but completely manageable.  I could talk through them if I wanted to.  When Kaleen and Audrey arrived I was about 5cm dilated and 90% effaced.

We learned a lot from Liam's birth and after the birth I was disappointed at the lack of pictures we had from the experience.  This time I had asked my mom to designate someone to take [discrete] pictures of the process.  I labored longer this time so we actually had time to take the process in and capture images.
As I'm laboring...

And everyone else....

nick grades final exams outside the bedroom

Grandma Mary entertains Gavin

Chris chills out

Abuela Marta praying the rosary (over and over!)

 This labor was very different from the others in that the contractions were not getting closer together.  I was at 5-6 minutes apart for a while.  Kaleen suggested I walk around or go up and down the stairs to see if it would change things.  I put my ipod on and walked up and down stairs, two steps at a time and that certainly made me contract more often and more intense.  Around 1:30pm or so, Kaleen checked and I was no more than 6cm so we talked and decided breaking my water would be good.  I was afraid breaking my water would make my contractions more intense but it wouldn't make me dilate anymore so it would just cost me pain without a reward.  Kaleen assured me that things would get more intense but that progress would be made and I would have a quick labor after that.  Thank God she was right!
After my water released, the contractions didn't come closer together at first--I was sitting on the ball most of the time and for some reason being on the ball stalled out my contractions.  If I was standing up, they would come closer so I ditched the ball.  After that I sort of lost track of time, the contractions did start coming closer.  We debated about getting into the tub or not.  Kaleen knew the baby was close, I wasn't so sure.  I opted to do the hot shower instead.  My parents remodeled their bathroom and they now have an amazing multiple sprayer shower that felt amazing on my lower back.  When I was standing in the shower, I had a contraction where I felt like something happened.  I thought I was going to fall.  I called over for help and that's when Kaleen said to lay down sideways on the bed.  I was afraid of laboring in bed--kinda reminded me of Gavin's hospital birth and not being able to reposition myself.  Again, I thought it would make the pain worse longer.
At that point, Kaleen and Audrey both kept telling me to listen to my body and if I felt like pushing to do so. I honestly could have started pushing sooner than I did but I chose not to.  Ellie did not stop moving throughout labor.  I could feel her every move and when she moved it would hurt as much as a contraction.  Kaleen tried to lift my right leg and it hurt so bad she decided to leave me in the same position.  My right leg was the one bothered with my hip "dislocation" so the pain was not related to contractions but to my pelvis being a little off place.  So, I continued to labor on my side until I knew I was just stalling and at the end was just sabotaging myself.  I stalled because I knew what was coming.  I knew as soon as I flipped on my back I would have to push the baby out.  I had been pretty calm and quiet the whole time but right at the end I felt myself losing it.  I remember telling Nick, "I don't want to lose it but I just want to cry" because the pain was intensifying.  I don't know if it was him or Audrey that said just cry but I didn't.  I knew once I lost it I wouldn't be able to compose myself again.  So, I had a little talk with myself in my head, asked Audrey if the baby was coming out...because I just felt it was.  Baby was not but was close enough so they flipped me and I pushed two or three times and the head was out.  I was tired, I stopped. I kept hearing "when you're ready, give another push" and I said "I can't."  I heard everyone almost in unison said "yes, you can, yes, you can".  Nick remembered to get a mirror so I could see the birth.  I did not want to miss another birth--I still had not seen a live birth before.  Once I opened my eyes and realized how close I was to being done I just kept pushing until she was out.  My sister caught the whole thing on video which is good because it all becomes a blur afterwards.  For example, I was pretty sure I was quiet enough during the last stage where people downstairs wouldn't hear me.  Apparently, not so much.  Chris said he could hear me downstairs and could hear the OMG's getting louder and louder and then heard a baby crying.  What can I say, I did feel like I was going to need divine intervention to get that baby out.  

It's amazing how you go from this:

at 3:05pm...i didn't know it would be over in 12 minutes

at 3:32pm

to this in minutes...

At 3:17pm on 12-17-12, Ellison Jovie was born.  

hairy little girl :) 

 Everyone putting in their guesses on the weight.  They ranged from 7.4 to 8lbs.  I guessed 7.6....but Ellie was 8 pounds 2 ounces shocking everyone in the room.

Everyone has asked if it was harder this time than with Liam.  Well, Liam's birth was an anomaly.  From beginning to end it was like 4 hours and I barely pushed and he was out.  There was no time to THINK about what was happening.  So, of course this could be described as a harder birth but still I think it was pretty fast and easy--absolutely no complications, no back labor, no position issues, etc.  The only thing is that I labored longer and I had done this before and knew what was coming.  With all three labors I felt the rush of hormones that made me feel weak but were in fact relaxing the muscles/joints for labor.  This time I knew exactly what it was when I felt it.  Ellie worked her little butt off during this labor too.  She turned and turned to get herself in place.  When Kaleen first got home, Ellie's back had turned a little but wasn't quite all the way anterior where it should be for easier labor but baby Ellie kept pushing around until she got herself to that perfect position and was born with no molding on her head so she did not stay in the birth canal for very long at all which Kaleen calls a testament of a great pelvis.  Never thought I'd hear a complement on my pelvis.
The feeling that comes over once it's over it's amazing.  I could not believe I got through it.  I was ecstatic and felt like Ellie and I were a great team.  The worse feeling came hours after giving birth when the post-labor uterine contractions started and they were awful.  The 800mg of ibuprofen were not enough and those did bring tears to my eyes.  The only thing that made me reason with these was that I knew they were necessary to get my uterus back to its normal size and hence my belly smaller.  I love Gavin for continuously telling me that my belly is so small now that Ellie is out. :)

I am so lucky and blessed to have healthy and beautiful kids, a loving husband who is an amazing dad.  I am complete.  I have everything I ever wanted and more.