How Eleanor Came to Meet Us.

Monday night, the 31st, the hubby and I went to bed early since he had to be up at 5:00am for work. Also because we are like old people and like sleep so we go to bed early if we can (well, not so much anymore!). So, around 9:00pm we headed to bed, as usual the hubbers fell to sleep right away. I, however, usually need some time before I fall asleep. Little Miss Eleanor would usually wiggle around a tiny bit then settle in and be calm and I would be able to fall asleep soon after. However, this night things were different (I realize now that this should have been a sign that things were different this night). As I settled into bed, Little Miss Eleanor would not stop wiggling and moving around. At first I thought that she was just having a hard time getting comfortable, so I kept changing my position to see if that would help her settle down in there. After a few hours of this, I decided I should Google what was going on... I searched for "Week 39 lots of fetal movement" - or something similar. I should know by now to never Google things that are happening with my body! I started reading about how extra fetal movement could be a sign of fetal distress... like the cord might be wrapped around the baby and she's moving around so much because she's trying to get untangled. Oh geeze. That did not help. I also read that it could be that labor is coming soon and the baby is getting ready. Oh geeze!
Eventually, I got out of bed and started walking around the living room trying to calm her down and help her find a comfortable position. I tried all sorts of positions, but nothing seemed to help. She kept wiggling around, and when she wasn't wiggling I got nervous that she stopped wiggling!! By this time it was in the wee hours of April 1st, probably close to 12:30am, for about the next hour (warning... a little tmi coming!), I kept having the need to, let's say... empty my bowels. I went to the bathroom a few times during the following hour. By this point it's probably close to 1:30 (I have to say, I'm a little fuzzy on the exact times things were happening from this point on), and I started to have some cramping in my lower abdomen. These cramps weren't bad, but they definitely felt different than any other feelings I'd had during pregnancy. The closest I can come to describing them is to say that they felt like period cramps, I also kept having the need to go to the bathroom. These cramp-like feelings kept coming and going. I finally realized that I should time these "cramps" in case they were contractions. I was timing them at about 5 minutes apart and they were lasting around 45 seconds long. After about 20 minutes of this, I decided I should go wake up Ben. I had been debating on waking him up because I knew he had to get up early and I didn't want to wake him up for nothing! Ha, little did I know!
I went into our bedroom and woke him up, his question to me is, "Are you ok" I responded by saying, "I don't know... I think I may be having contractions. I went on to explain what had been happening since we went to bed, and how I was feeling and the cramps (which, of course, were contractions - I just didn't know at first!) that I had been having. We continued to time them and around 3:00 decided to call my doula and ask her what she thought. I explained what was happening and she recommended a warm bath or shower, and explained that if they were false contractions that would help them go away, to rest if I could because if I were to go into labor a little rest before hand would be nice. She told me to call her if they get stronger, longer and closer together. I hung up and at this point started getting cold and shaky, so I decided to crawl under the covers, and Ben snuggled up next to me to help me warm up. It was less than 5 minutes later that my water broke! So, hubby jumps out of bed to get some towels, and I'm yelling about the mattress being ruined and unsure of if I should move or stay there (this was a rather funny moment as I remember it - the only part of the birthing/labor process that was sort of TV like!), hubby is running all over the place and tearing off the sheets and mattress cover, I'm trying to get to the toilet while holding a towel down there to keep from getting my water everywhere! Meanwhile my contractions are getting worse and more painful, I couldn't talk through them anymore.
At this point, we know that we need to make our way to the hospital, so hubby calls our doula and tells her my waters broke and we are gonna pack up the car and head to the hospital. By now, I'm crawling on the floor, as that's the only comfortable position to be in and hubbers is running all over the place packing up the car, giving encouraging words to me (and warnings as to not try to get up to do anything). We end up heading to the hospital, which is about 30 minutes away, around 3:45. I have to say, that having contractions in the car every few minutes is not fun! However, Ben was amazing and helped me through each one of them.
What seemed like an eternity later, we reached the hospital. Knowing how close my contractions were, we parked right in front of the doors and headed in. I was wheeled up to triage, they measured me at 8cm dilated and got us right into labor and delivery room. By then our doula was there, and I was getting all set up in the room. The nurses couldn't get a hold of my doctor so the on-call doctor was called. When they told me that, I believe my response was something like "That's just fine! I'm ready to go!!" By the time the doctor got there I was really ready to push, I remember I kept saying that I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. Apparently, that's a normal feeling (side note - we are almost done, I can't believe you stayed with me for so long, who knew this would be so long!). From here on, things are a little fuzzy in my memory.
I remember the doctor being there and allowing me to push when I was ready, he was getting himself ready to go in between my pushes.
I remember him talking about the third push being the hardest one of each set.
At one point, I remember him saying I had made a lot of progress for 15 minutes, to which my response was "It's only been 15 minutes!!"
I remember thinking, one kid is good enough, we don't need two. I can never do this again!
I remember the doctor having me feel her head as she was crowning.
I remember Ben and my doula giving me encouraging words.
I remember drinking a lot of water.
I remember pushing. A lot.
I remember a lot of pain.
More pushing.
And then... when I thought I had no more to give, at 6:46 a final push, and then there she was. On my chest. My baby girl. My Eleanor. My love. And it was all worth it.

Much love,
Allison