I felt fine all day, worked on getting things ready because I knew it would be any
day. I did my normal cleaning routine and was done before noon. Wanted to go to Hudson for Shelby's birthday party, but decided we probably shouldn't make such a long trip, my back hurt sitting in one spot for too long. Nothing exciting all day, a few extra bathroom trips. I remember after taking a shower looking in the mirror and thinking “wow, there is no more room in my belly, he HAS to come soon.” After putting Haley to bed I wasn't feeling like myself, but didn't really think much of it. I also noticed a tiny bit pink tinge when i went to the bathroom. I told Brian we would probably be having a baby tomorrow, but he didn't believe me. About 45 minutes later I was uncomfortable so I decided to lay on the bed and watch tv. Around 9:00pm I have what I think might be a contraction. The pink quickly continued to
increase, so did the contractions. I get up and tell Brian I think we should go
to the hospital. He is a little annoyed and pretty sure I'm not in labor. After
a couple minutes of me telling him I really think we should go he says he needs
to take a shower, so 10:00 he takes a quick shower and calls my uncle to come to
the house since Haley was sleeping. I finish packing my bag and get in the
truck. I still felt fine between contractions, which were coming very strongly,
anywhere from 2-10 minutes apart-I honestly never tried to count them. My uncle gets here at 10:30 and we leave right away. On the way to the hospital Brian asks if he should call his mom, I said yes but tell her she can wait to see if we get admitted first if she wants
(so we were both in denial). She said she was coming now either way. On the
drive there it started pouring rain, I love a good rainstorm. When we arrived at
the hospital and made it to the front door the rain had stopped. We checked in
with security at 10:54pm-I should have kept my sticker to prove it. I decided I could walk to the elevator to get upstairs, but had Brian grab a wheelchair just in case I wanted to sit down. We get upstairs and check in. The nurses behind the desk were talking about food. I realized I was hungry and it would likely be a long time before I'd be allowed to eat so I dig
in my purse and find some of Haley's fruit snacks. I proclaim my excitement then
clench on to the unopened bag as the start wheeling me to triage to be checked
out (I never saw the fruit snacks again). I get undressed and try to leave a urine sample in the bathroom (first time I've ever missed that darn cup!) I realize now that I actually am in labor! I
wanted them to check me first since I'd been 3cm/50% for almost a month. I was
6cm/80%. At 11:14pm I jokingly ask the nurse what the chances are that he would
be born before midnight. Our family is full of July birthdays-22nd, 23rd, 25th,
and 27th. At this point I fully expected Carter to share his birthday with his
Aunt Shelby. So after making sure baby was head down and my bag of waters hadn't
broken the Dr wanted to do an ultrasound to check his weight. I have never not
wanted an ultrasound so bad in my life. I couldn't sit still or lay down at this
point and made it impossible for the Dr to do the ultrasound. We were still in
triage and I was begging for my epidural, or at least the 2 bags of fluid I knew
I had to have before I could get an epidural. My awesome delivery nurse got the
equipment for the IV and got to work putting it in. It wasn't very easy because I
still couldn't sit still, but the pain from her digging around my veins helped
me forget the contractions for a second. I kept wanting Brian to play music on
my phone, because it gave me something to concentrate on. He kept turning it off
so I could hear the Drs and nurses talking to me, and I kept telling him to turn
it back on. I'm usually not a huge music person, but it was the only thing that
seemed to help. I also screamed every time he put his hand on me, I
did not want to be touched. After getting my IV in (barely, they were still
trying to tape it while wheeling me to a labor and delivery room) I was a little
calmer because I knew I would get some relief soon. On our way to the
delivery room I asked the nurse what station I was at when she checked me. I
could actually see my belly dropping on the way to the hospital, even Brian
noticed it. She said I was around -2...which is still high, babies are crowning
at +3, so I thought I was fine. We get to labor and delivery room at
11:44pm and the Dr with the ultrasound machine was still following us so I
screamed out at her that she'll find out the weight soon enough and to leave me
the hell alone! As soon as I stood up to get in the bed I said I needed to be
checked again. I was a full 10cm dilated/ 100% effaced with a bulging bag of
water. The nurse asked me if I wanted them to break my water and have a baby...I
say yes, they break my water and I say wait, I want my epidural, where's my
epidural?!?! Before I could finish my sentence they were breaking the bed down,
suiting up, and dropping scary looking lights down from the ceiling. I panicked
and didn't know what to do, I just knew I didn't want to be doing THIS. I felt
the pressure and knew I had to push. There was no counting to 10, no cooling off
with a wet rag, no chewing on ice chips...just everyone shouting....push.... I remember my once again awesome delivery nurse getting right in my face and saying something. I don't know what she said, but I know it's what got me through the whole thing. About 3 or 4 pushes into it something happened and I could feel the panic in the room, everyone was now really screaming for me to push. I heard the word vacuum and someone threw an oxygen mask on my face and more people screaming at me to breath. I had to pull the mask off and ask which
one they would prefer -breath or push- before I heard an answer I pushed one
more time and felt him come out. The cord was tightly wrapped around his neck,
but they got it off fast. I saw part of him as he came out but they didn't hand
him to me but took him right to the warmer. He was born at 11:57pm and got his
own birthday! All I could say was "DID THAT REALLY JUST HAPPEN?" I was in
shock. I just had a Natural Unmedicated ChildBirth...unplanned! I'd never even
considered the option of not having an epidural, it seemed unnatural to me! We
had been in the delivery room for less than 15 minutes! Brian's mom didn't even
make it to the hospital yet. I knew it would be fast (I was only at the hospital
5 hours before Haley was born-this time was less than an hour!) Carter was fine,
they had to do a deep suction because he wasn't in the birth canal long enough
so he was a little mucousy. His apgar scores were 8 & 9. After he was out I asked the Dr how the damage was down there, I felt great and was ready to stand
up and walk around...he said we'll check after we deliver the placenta...Opps, I had forgotten
about that part with Haley too lol. Turned out I had 3rd degree tear, but I
couldn't feel it until they started messing with it. Let me just say I was
REALLY missing the epidural now. Lidocaine or any other "numbing" agent is
completely inefficient for receiving stitches after delivering a baby! All in all
everyone is doing great. Carter Nollin weighed 7lbs5oz and 19.1" long.
here is the picture I took around 6pm the day he was born:
haley loves being a BIG SISTER!
