I'm not one for an emotional birth story, so here goes. My due date was on the 29th and I wasn't expecting anything to happen until at least the 26th because that was when my next appointment was and I was planning on having my membranes swiped (which helped me go into labor with Charlie). We went to bed around 10:30 on Christmas Eve after celebrating and had no idea that I would have a baby within a few hours. I woke up around midnight with my first contraction and slept on and off for the next 30-45 minutes, until I couldn't sleep through them anymore. I got up and took a bath to see if the contractions would stop but they only continued to get stronger and stronger. I had started timing my contractions around 1 and they were pretty steady around 2 1/2 minutes apart. I ended up waking Andy around 1:20 and had him call my parents to have them come stay at our place to watch Charlie. They weren't far away and got to our place within 10 minutes. We ended up leaving for the hospital around 1:30.
The hospital is only about five minutes away and on the drive my contractions started getting worse. Once we got to the hospital we had to check-in at the emergency room and halfway through the check-in I started to feel pressure to push. Thankfully two nurses had just come down and were there to wheel me up to the delivery floor. There were two very odd gentlemen in the ER who gave us their congratulations across the room, which was weird, but kind of funny. Anyways, as they were wheeling me through the hospital my contractions were getting worse and I really was starting to feel the need to push, which the nurse was telling me not to and I did not appreciate (I do understand the reasoning and I didn't push). As soon as we got to the labor floor they took me to the triage room and found that I was dilated to 8 or 9 centimeters. They then wheeled me to my delivery room and the nurses started setting up for delivery right away. All this time I was screaming and moaning throughout the halls and everything. Thinking back to it makes me feel silly but it really seemed to help in the moment. I'm sure the other patients did not appreciate it, but thankfully there wasn't many people having babies that night.
Andy was a great help by letting me do my own thing. He had my water ready when I requested it and that was the best thing because my mouth got super dry.
We had gotten into our room around 2 in the morning and a few minutes later I began to start pushing. I definitely was bummed that I couldn't have an epidural but at least it went fast because she was born at 2:27. I apparently push harder than my body can handle because I ended up having a nose bleed during the process and popped blood vessels all over my face and in both my eyes. It really looks like I got beat up a bit, but at least I get that baby out, right?
With Charlie I had an epidural and I had just upped my dose right before I started pushing so I really couldn't feel much of what happened. With her I did feel it all, but It wasn't as bad as I thought (maybe I built it up so much in my mind? or maybe it was just less painful than back labor?). She ended up coming out sunny side up staring at the nurses. I was able to hold her on my chest as soon as she came out. Andy cut the cord and after about 20 minutes they took her to be weighed and checked. She weighed 7lbs 13 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long and a head circumference of 14 inches. Everything happened so fast that we didn't get a chance to tell anyone that we had left for the hospital (except my parents) and so they were quite surprised to receive the news that she had been born! After she had been checked over they moved us to our recovery room and I nursed her for the first time and she latched like a pro. She has been an awesome sleeper and a champ of an eater since. We are so happy to be home with our little Pip and enjoying this first few days as a family of four.
Also it turned out that Philippa was the first baby in the city of Spokane to be born on Christmas so we got a special little santa outfit and lots of diapers and wipes as presents! Also the local news station came and interviewed us! Here is the link for the clip.
When Charlie first met Pip he held her for a minute and kissed her on the head and then promptly showed us where her nose was. He then wasn't really interested at all.
She looks just like baby Charlie with that little grumpy face
Grammy Julie
Grandbaby numer thirteen
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