Thursday Aug 31^st I had my appt and was discouraged at the lack of progress. I went ahead and had the doctor strip my membranes. By 1:30pm I was having regular contractions, 5 minutes apart and that lasted for over an hour so I called and they told me to go straight to L&D.

At L&D they checked me and I still had not made any progress from 2cm and baby was still high up, so they monitored me in triage to see what would happen. My contractions were still regular and causing lots of pressure. They checked me again a few hours later and although still having real contractions, I only made it to 3cm. Finally after being in triage for about 5 or 6 hours, the doctor came to check on me and was going to send me home. However, I had a contraction while she was there and she realized I really was in labor. She decided to admit me since I went so fast with Patrick. She said they would give me an Ambian (sleeping pill) to help me rest.

I fell asleep about midnight and at 1:30 or 2am I thought I was dreaming that my water had broke. In reality, I had wandered into the hospital bathroom where my water broke all over the floor. I suddenly realized that I wasn’t dreaming. The nurses came in to check on me and I told them what happened. They checked me and I still was only at 3cm. At this point the contractions were quite intense. They gave me some Stadol to help take the edge off but it really didn’t help with the pain, just made me really loopy. I could hardly keep my eyes open! I rested here and there but finally around 7am could not rest at all. I had slowly progressed to 6cm and baby was finally getting low. I called Erin and told him to come to the hospital.

Since it had been so long since my water broke, they hooked me up to an IV to prevent infection. I kept feeling like I had to go to the bathroom, but the nurse would not let me because of the drugs and the IV. I really wanted to get up and move around, I was in agony. I was finally allowed to briefly go to the bathroom and at least stand up to labor for a bit. It didn’t help a whole lot. I was practically crying at this point and pretty out of it.

When they checked me around noon, I was at 8-9cm. I was ready to push and they got everything ready to go. I pushed for about 2 hours. I had a hard time because he was slipping under my pelvic bone. Finally I got him past slipping back in and in 3 pushes his head came out. Once he crowned they asked me to stop pushing and called the doctor to come. I couldn’t hold back, the baby was coming whether they wanted him to or not! Luckily, he waited for the doctor and with a few more pushes, he came the rest of the way out. We were shocked at the amount of hair he had!!!

On September 1^st, at 1:47pm, Nolan Michael was born. He weighed 7pds, 11oz and was 20 inches long. He was exactly 1 pd, 1oz and 1 inch bigger than Patrick and born at 37.5 weeks gestation. Apgars were 7 and 9. He’s been a pretty good nurser from the beginning, so now just waiting for my milk to come in. For the most part he’s a content baby and likes to observe. He especially likes to hear his big brother’s voice.

All in all, I felt so much better than I did after the c-section with Patrick. I just had a lot of small tears and the stitching was the worst part of all of it. I am so proud of myself for sticking with it and I still can’t believe I had a “natural” VBAC!!! We are truly blessed!

Had my doctor’s appointment today. Got the GBS done. That wasn’t too bad.

We went over my birthing plan and for the most part everything on it was ok. The only things she wanted to change were 1) if I am in the bed, then she’d like me on the monitor. 2) If I tear, she recommends stitching (unless it’s a 1st degree or small tear). 3) She wants me to have an IV started, although it doesn’t have to be hooked up to anything. All of that is fine with me. Mostly I just didn’t want to be strapped down in bed the entire time and I also DO NOT want an epidural. I don’t like the idea of a needle in my back.

She did my first internal and that was not comfortable at all. I also did not expect all the bleeding and clots. But I am 2 cm dilated and soft. WooHoo! His head is still high up, though (even though it doesn’t feel like it to me). And she’s guestimating him to be about 6.5 pds already. She won’t speculate on if he will be early or not.

Found out today at my DA that baby is head down!!! WooHoo!!! She also thinks he will be/is bigger than Patrick was. She ended up not doing the cervical exam because I’ve been feeling nausous and crampy… She said she didn’t want to disturb anything, but I go back next week and she will check me then.

Other than that, not too bad of a birthday. I got a sushi roll for lunch (yeah, I know I am not supposed to eat that) and then Starbuck’s. Then I treated myself to a massage (our insurance pays for half of it). Probably won’t really celebrate until tomorrow or Saturday because Erin is going back to work at midnight and will get home around 8am.

We had a pretty good weekend! Saturday we went to a church consignment sale and it was half off day. I was going to go by myself but I am really glad Erin decided to come, too. Patrick actually did pretty good considering how long we were there. The line was rediculously long so Erin stood in line while I picked stuff out and handed it to him. And Patrick kind of bounced back and forth between us. I only spent $30 and got a ton of stuff, including a nightgown and pjs for me and a couple of pants for Patrick.

After that, we picked up some lunch and then went to the hospital for a tour. I thought I was pre-registering as well because I gave them the form I got at the doctor’s office, but it turns out I have to go back 30 days from my DD and pre-admit. The hospital is really nice and pretty much the same as where I had Patrick in San Diego. All private rooms with jacuzzi tubs, special menu for new moms, baby stays in the room with you unless you ask them to take baby. They have 20 rooms, 5 of them are post c-section. The only difference is the c-section ones don’t have all the monitoring equipment. And they have a little snack room in case you want juice or popsicles and the dad can go and grab one for you. I asked about a birthing plan and I am supposed to give that to my doctor who will then send it over to the hospital.

Yesterday we went to church and then I vacuumed, dusted and did laundry. Oh, and I figured out that Cheetos although they taste great, were not such a good idea. I swelled up really bad, to where my feet hurt. But it’s all gone now.

Everything looks normal. She said my discharge is normal and cramping is normal, said it’s good progression. She gave me my note for the Air Force. She definitely does not want me traveling greater than 1 hour (the drive to the base is 2.5-3 hours and that’s without any problems).

Unfortunately, baby is still head up. My chiropractor is going to try and do some adjustments to help him move and I also have some things I can try and do.

It doesn’t look like I have a UTI even though I feel like I do. So she’s sending my sample to the lab just to make sure.

My next appt is in 2 weeks (on my birthday) and she is going to do an ultrasound to check his position. If he’s still not head down we will be discussing doing a version (turning the baby). It seems really scary but I do not want a c-section again if at all possible. She’ll also do an internal exam at my next appt. I never got them last time so I am a bit nervous about it.