On the way home from church I started having some contractions which wasn't unusual since the truck normally did this to me. They didn't stop, were almost 10 min apart, but not painful just uncomfortable. I had been having braxton hicks off and on for several days so I wasn't convinced this was labor. By that evening, they were about the same but getting more intense. At around 11pm I knew I was in labor but I had planned to stay homwe as long as possible. By 2am I had been up walking, laying down, sitting on the yoga ball and couldn't take not knowing if I was progressing. I called my doula and told her we were headed to the hospital.
When we got checked at the hospital, I was 3cm, which was only 1cm more than I had been. Been in labor all day and only profressed 1cm!! They had me walk around the hospital for 30min, which is kinda creepy so early in the morning by the way. My doula had me do some contractions while squatting and the one nurse that happened to walk by gave us a weird look and asked if I was ok. No, not ok until this baby is out!! We just smiled and said yes. When we got back to the room, I was now 5cm. Now thats more like it! They said I could stay and checked on me an hour later. I was now 7cm! woo hoo! This is going a lot better than Addison's birth. The contractions were getting pretty rough so I got in the bath and labored there for over an hour. They checked me again and I had made no progress. I got a little distraught at this point. Being out of the water was horrible and when I got back in it wasn't helping as much as before. I was so tired and just wanted to sleep. It was now 7am. I asked Brian if I could have an epidural and he said it wasn't his decision, if I wanted one then get one. I had to wait for the anesthesiologist to get out of surgery and there was a first time mama in front of me but because this was my 2nd baby they were going to let me go first. Thank you Jesus! I got my epidural at 8am and it started working right away. Brian got a little sleep in a recliner but moved to the floor to finish his nap. I couldn't really sleep all that much but was able to relax.
I was lying on my side and feeling a lot of pressure so they checked me and I was ready to go. It was 1pm. At this point the numbing feeling was leaving my legs. They put me on my back and told me to push with the contractions. I didn't really have to urge to push yet but figured maybe I just didn't know because of the epidural. I pushed for an hour. He was crowning but just not coming out. I asked to squat but they said with the epidural I didn't have the legs for it even though I thought I did. I asked to lay on my side and things felt like they were going better. I kept being told during every contraction that I was almost there and to push just a little harder. When the contraction was over, I would feel his head and it was still in the same spot. I just knew I was being lied to. I broke down and gave up for a couple contractions, I was hyperventilating and trying not to cry. I gave it one more measly push and I'm pretty sure God had pitty on me and slipped my babies head out. After the head, the body just comes on out. It was such an odd feeling. They had asked Brian if he wanted to catch but I was scared to let him leave my side so I yelled no and grabbed his shirt so he couldn't leave. I feel kinda bad for stealing that moment from him. Then the placenta, which aparently was huge, came out and I was holding my perfect baby boy. It was 2:31pm. I just kept saying "I'm done" and "I'm not pregnant anymore"
Then came the stitches cause I tore A LOT! But after 2 hours they had me using the bathroom and going to my hospital room. We were allowed to go home the next afternoon after Malachi had been there for 24hrs. This was way different than the 4 days I stayed with Addison. After having both a c section and a natural delivery I definitely think the csection was easier. Pushing a baby out of your downstairs sucks! Yes, I had an incision to deal with after the csection but I wasn't sitting on it all the time. I felt fine by my 6week check up and with the ways I tore this time, women keep telling me it will hurt for months. But thats just my opinion. Everyone is different and I would definitely take a vaginal birth over a c section any day.
In reguards to post pardum depression: Some know that I delt with that after Addison was born. It is very common for those that have csections because by not delivering a baby the brain doesn't release the happy cocktail of hormones designed to make a mother bond with her baby. I cannot express how much different this post pardum experience has been. It may be because its my 2nd child or the fact that I don't feel like a failure but everything is so much better and I'm just so happy evertime I look at my beautiful boy.
God is so much greater than we can even fathom!