One Day at a Time: July 2011

This is our little Twila Syphus.

She was born July 13, 2011 at 2:39am.

She weighed in at a whopping 8lbs, 3oz and 20.5 inches long.

So this is how it all went down...

July 12th I had a few pretty hard contractions during the day, but nothing that was sticking around. At around 7pm the contractions started coming more frequently. I was able to breathe through them with the help of my sister-in-law Laura's coaching that she gave me before she left earlier that day. (sorry you missed it Laura). My mother-in-law and Chris were right there timing and encouraging me the whole way. By 10pm the contractions seemed to die down. I was bummed. I layed down on my bed and 15 minutes later they came back...harder than before! This time they were coming every 2-3 minutes. By 12:30am they were right on top of each other, and I was struggling to breathe thru them. My mother-in-law thought it was a good time to get to the hospital. We packed up and hit the road by 1am. It took the longest 25 minutes of my life to get to the hospital, but we made it!

I was admitted to triage, and they told me I was at 5cm. I was pretty pleased with that, cause I was a little unsure if I was really in labor or not. I know that sounds weird, but the worst thing is to go to the hospital, only to be turned away cause you're contractions aren't really working. In triage they got my IV going and monitored me for a little, then wheeled me upstairs to Labor and Delivery. I was told that an empty bladder makes for easier contractions, so before I got into bed I headed to the bathroom. On my way back I had a pretty hard contraction. I was leaning over the side of the bed while Chris was rubbing my back, and POP! My water broke!

Chris and I both jumped. I laid down on the bed and the nurse told me I was at 6cm. Making progress! The contractions after my water broke were INTENSE! I was not prepared for the pain. I tried so hard to breathe through each contraction. Chris and the Nurses were so great, they cheered me on when I finished each one. It was 3 minutes after the nurse told me I was at 6cm, and approximately 3 contractions later when I told the nurse it felt better if I pushed against the contraction. She checked me and I was at 9cm! Really making progress here! The next contraction came and I screamed out to the nurse, "She's coming!" Sure enough, Twila's head popped out! Then I quickly pushed the rest of her little body onto the bed. Yup, no doctor there to catch, not even the nurses were ready! It was a magical experience that was painful, but very rewarding. I am so glad that I was able to go completely natural. I feel great, and Twila is doing great too.

Here is Twila getting her first feeding. She is such a great little eater!

My coaching partner. Chris says that during the last few contractions he saw more veins bulging on my neck and face then he's ever seen...yeah...it was intense!