This pregnancy and labor was different than the last. The few weeks leading up to Stockton's birth, I experienced labor-like contractions often, particularly at night. I would wake up in the middle of the night in pain, and think, "this is it."
Every time I was wrong. It wasn't "it." I would wake up for the day very discouraged and very sleep deprived. What I thought was labor disappeared and here I was, still pregnant.
Addie Grace was born at 36weeks 5days, so you can imagine how long this wait to 40 weeks felt. I thought I would have him even earlier, and we sat in anticipation for a month. This was exhausting and draining. If I would have gone to 40 weeks with AG, then of course I would have carried on with life until then.
But I didn't carry on.
We waited. And waited. And I drove myself insane waiting.
The doctors told me that I would probably not make it to my due date.
So I anticipated for 4 long, very long weeks.
Within those four weeks, there were many instances when I thought I was going into labor, only to be wrong.
I even refused to get "checked" at my 36 week appointment, just to be on the safe side that it could potentially put me into labor. I at least wanted to make it to week 37 this time around.
When I made it to 37 weeks, I was surprised. I went in for my check up, and I had the doctor check me, mainly out of curiosity on my end. He told me I was 2 cm and 50% effaced. He then asked me if I wanted him to "help things along."
As tempting as this offer was, I turned him down and decided to wait for when the baby was ready. I did not realize that meant three more weeks!
When I was pregnant with AG, I never felt miserable. This pregnancy was a different story. I think the combination of constant anticipation, not sleeping, and lots of false labor contributed to feeling awful. I was so ready to have this baby, and it felt like he just was never going to come.
Through the wait, my prayer was not that I would have this baby "today," but I asked God that he would sanctify me through the waiting. And I had to pray and trust A LOT.
When the doctor asked if I wanted him to "help things along," the impatient part of me screamed, "Yes! Yes please!" But how could I pray for sanctification and then try to take things into my own hands? No. I knew I must wait.
Four days before my due date I had another appointment. I was 4 cm and 80% effaced. There was no way I was going to make it to my due date. The doctor told me that since I was 4 cm, they would not send me home from the hospital when the time came for us to go.
After that appointment, I begin to have labor-like contractions. I knew this was it. My mom even drove up for the weekend just in case. Yet another false alarm. I was so frustrated and in tears, everything I thought I knew about my body seemed untrue. I didn't know anything anymore.
Well, my due date slowly approached, and to everyone's shock, I was still pregnant. I constantly got the comments, "still pregnant?!" and "when is that baby coming?!".
Last "bump" pic on my due date
That morning before my "Due Date" doctor appointment, I took Addie to the Science Museum to kill time. Might as well not just sit around waiting for labor to come! So we carried on like normal. We got home around 11:30, and I started to have labor-like contractions. Again. I told myself they would probably go away. BUT just in case, we asked Eric's mom if she would take Addie, in hopes that this was real. Eric went to the doctor appointment with me, and we were both anticipating that maybe they would send us to the hospital. At my appointment they hooked me up to the contraction monitor and watched me for 30 minutes. My contractions were consistent, around 6 to 7 minutes apart.
When the doctor saw me, she said I was still 4 cm and 80% effaced. No progress. By this point, we set an induction date.
We went home, and I was in tears. I was exhausted, uncomfortable, and just plain frustrated.
My contractions, however, never went away. They got stronger. By 7:00 pm, I was certain that this was labor but not sure if we should go to the hospital yet. I labored at home with Addie until I was in raging, transitional labor and my water broke. I expected to labor the same way with Stockton, yet I knew if I waited until that point then it was likely that I would labor all night long, and to be honest, I was so exhausted from not sleeping the past few weeks, I just wasn't sure I could endure.
So around 7:30, I told Eric that we should just go to the hospital. We knew they wouldn't send us home since I was already 4cm. My contractions were consistent and strong but not unbearable.
We checked in, waited for 30-45 min, and they put us in triage. The nurse came to check me, and I was STILL 4cm! What!!!!
They let me stay though and took me to a delivery room. By the time I got set up in our room, my contractions increased in strength like crazy. I told them immediately I wanted an epidural, so I could get that ball rolling. It took about 45-60 min for the epidural to arrive, and during that time, I was in raging labor. My contractions were much stronger than I remember with AG. I tried so hard to allow my body to relax so I could breathe and labor through them, but my body would not cooperate. I was sitting on the bed and shaking so badly from the pain of the contractions, Eric had to put pressure on my legs using his body weight to help stabilize me so I could try and relax to breathe through the contractions.
Finally, the epidural arrived. After I got it and was comfortable, they checked me and I was 5.5 cm. I decided that I wanted to rest for awhile since I hadn't slept much the past month. Eric decided he was hungry and I suggested that he go to Wendy's and get food. It was midnight by the point, I was only 5.5 cm, and I wanted to take a nap. I figured it would be awhile before any pushing happens, so he better eat now while he can!
He was gone for 20 minutes, came back, started eating, then all of the sudden my nurse calls for help. They couldn't find Stockton's heartbeat and I started bleeding profusely.
The head nurse asked my nurse if I had been checked lately...they checked me and I was now 9cm. I went from 5.5 to 9 cm about 30 minutes which is why I started bleeding.
They found Stockton's heartbeat, called Dr. McComb in the room, and he had to break my water. After that, I alternated relaxing/pushing for the next hour. After about an hour, we decided Stockton was ready, called the doctor in, I pushed 2 times, and he was born at 2:10am!
6lbs 11oz and 20.5inches
Coming home from the hospital, big sister was so excited!
