Chloe's was a long and eventful pregnancy. I was in the hospital like every other week from about 29 weeks on thinking I was in labor. I had contractions prettyZ much constantly all through my last trimester, but not strong enough to cause me to dilate quickly, although I was dilating. The time I went in at 29 weeks I was already 1cm so from then on I was worried about going in to pre-term labor, so like I said, I went to Labor and Delivery like every other week. By 34 weeks I was already 3 cm and was going to L&D like every week feeling like I was going to deliver. By 36 weeks (one week shy of "full term") I went into L&D with contractions and went from 3 to 4 cm while they monitored me, but they said I was dilating fast enough for them to keep me. I was 36 weeks 5 days I believe and they said had it been just 2 days later they would've just started me on Pitocin to kick start the contractions and let me deliver, but 'no' I wasn't full term so they sent me home.
At this point I thought I would NEVER have her. The day I went into labor I was particularly bummed, feeling completely warn out and fed up with pregnancy. I was only 36 weeks 6 days, so as much as I was done with it, I didn't necessarily "want" to go into labor. They longer they can cook the better, but it's hard to think that way when you're huge and exhausted. I had been watching this show on Discovery Health called Amazing Births. It was all about women who gave birth in "amazing" places like in a car, on the side of the road, in a boat etc. Well knowing I was already 4cm I thought, "Hey. What if that's me?!" I kind of freaked out a little, but then just shrugged it off.
That night my mom and I made spicy chicken burritos for dinner and everyone joked that spicy food would send me into labor. I even have a pic of me sitting on the couch being completely stuffed from dinner and looking ridiculously uncomfortable. After dinner Josh and I went to bed to watch our shows at about 10:45pm. It was January 27th and I was due February 18th. I remember thinking, "Hey. I'm actually going to make it out of January." Well the moment I laid down I got my first contraction. It was just before 11pm. I thought, "Hm. I know THAT was a real one", so I turned to Josh and said, "I think we might be going to the hospital at some point tonight." Of course he just brushed it off because we went to the hospital once a week so whatever right? I laid there for a minute or two and then BAM...another contraction. Worse. Way worse. This freaked me out, so I told Josh I wanted to leave now. It hurt for Pete's sake LOL So he's like, "Ok well let me take a quick shower." By the time he gets into the shower yet another contraction hits. This time the pain takes me to my knees and I'm hunched over the sink with tears running down my face, so I say, "Babe. Hurry up" and go to tell my parents we're leaving. By the time I walk across the house to my parents' room another contraction hits and I'm bent over the edge of their bed with yet more tears, so I wait for it to be over, tell my parents we're leaving and go back to the bathroom. Again in the time it takes me to walk accross the house yet another contraction, so this time I scream at Josh to get out of the shower so we can leave. Now mind you this all happens in less than 10 minutes. It's only been 10 minutes since my first contraction of the night.
We rush to the car and I use the car clock to time them. They're two minutes apart when we get in and by the time we reach CR 185 (only about a mile from our house) they're down to one minute apart and remember they're lasting like 40 seconds so I only have like 20 seconds between contractions and I am now in horrific pain. By the time we're 2 miles from our house they contractions are more painful then when I asked for an epidural with Cooper, and by the time we got on the highway I had begun to feel this immense pressure between my legs with every contraction. At this point I have my phone open in my hand ready to dial 911 if my water breaks because I know if my water breaks I'm screwed, so with every contraction I'm just hoping with all hope that my water doesn't break in the car.
For some reason I had in my mind that if we could just make it to the hospital everything would be fine and the pain would stop. I pretty sure I just wasn't thinking clearly and I though getting to the hospital would make it all go away. About the time we reached the hospital doors was when I realized I still had to get checked in, get triaged, and get sent upstairs to wait for an epidural before the pain would stop. My heart just sank. It hurt SO bad. We got to the hospital at 12:12am, so only a little over an hour from my first contraction. When I got to triage they hooked me up to monitors, I was contracting and they went to check me. It was the same nurse and midwife who had seen me a few days before at 4cm and sent me home. So the nurse checked me and the midwife was watching and they nurse says to her, "Well she's 4cm..." but before the nurse could finish I could see they midwife roll her eyes and begin to walk away, obviously thinking this was another false alarm for me, but the nurse stopped her and said, "BUT her bag is bulging, like literally about to pop any second" (this explains they immense pressure between my legs LOL), so they wheel me upstairs, hook me up, and I'm just begging for an epidural. They inform me that they only have one anesthesiologist on staff tonight and he's in the middle of one epi with another before me and each epidural takes about 45 minutes. At this point I fear the worst... I won't get an epidural.
At this point I'm just in the worst pain I've even felt in my entire life. I can't sit still, I feel like I have to pee and can't, I'm pacing the room, then I just lay on the bed tossing and turning with each contractions. They can't even keep the monitor working because I won't still LOL Since they can't monitor my contractions they decide to check me although it's only been about 20 minutes since I got there. In the 20 or so minutes since I came from downstairs I dilated 5cm. I was already 9cm and almost ready to push. Josh was on the phone with my mom telling her they admitted me and to bring Cooper up, and they nurse interupted him and said, "Tell grandma they're not going to make it. She's 9cm now." I'm still begging for the epidural because I just couldn't phathom natural childbirth, not realizing that I was practically there already, so the midwife says, "You know, we could just break your water and you'd have the baby..." At first I shout, "NO!" thinking there is no way I can do this without meds, but then it dawns on me, a light bulb moment...If I just have her the pain will stop! Ding ding ding! "Yes! Let's do that!" (It's kind of sad that I was in so much pain that I wasn't even thinking about having my little one. I was only thinking about making the pain go away. That's one downside to natural childbirth if you're not prepared for it)
They doc came in and went for a feel of my bag, wasn't even trying to break my water, but I had a contraction right at that moment and my waters broke all over the doc. Oops. LOL After that I felt all the pressure shift and I'm assuming she just decending right down the birth canal because I HAD to push. Absolutely had to. They weren't ready and told me not to push, but I was in so much pain and in so much shock I just started crying and shouting, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" They doctor looked at me and said very firmly, almost angry like, 'Take all that energy and focus!" I'm sure I was driving them all crazy, but I honestly wasn't prepared for a drug free birth. They were finally ready for me so I pushed as hard as I could and her head came out. They wanted me to pause for a minute before I pushed for the shoulders, but I just couldn't. I screamed at the her, "I JUST HAVE TO PUSH!" So I kept on pushing and our little diva princess was born at 12:51a.m. Janurary 28th, 2009, kicking and screaming and being a diva right from the start.
And she's still that way today. She wanted out and she wanted out in her own time and there was nothing me, or Josh, or the doctors or nurses could've done about it. She was coming when SHE wanted, and that's how she does things to this very day. Everything is on HER time, princess time LOL And that's the story of the day our diva was born. :)
Thanks for reading everyone, and be sure to check in for Brodie's story as well. I know some of you already know their stories and for some it may seem a little graphic, but for me they are memories Josh and I will forever cherish and hopefully our kids will someday enjoy reading.
Chloe Renee Poston
January 28th 2009
7lbs 11oz, 17.5 in
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