I've been itching to write down Silas's birth story.
Natural birth.
I went into this with the mindset of knowing its better for mom and baby. Healthier and leads to a better, easier birth. OK great. So I'll do it.
My biggest reason for choosing natural birth is because this is what God created women to do. He designed my body to do this. But what I got out the whole experience was much more than I ever could have dreamed to ask for. The Lord reveled himself to me over and over again. I've had many women tell me natural birth is empowering, and yes, it is. But more than that, it grew and stretched me mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and forever changed my marriage and the way I view marriage. More on that later... :)
I'm feeling much more sore today than I had been and was told to take it easy (as if I haven't been taking it easy?! Maybe I did do a little too much this weekend... It's hard to sit around for days!)
Sophia is with a friend, Silas is sleeping peacefully beside me, and oddly enough, I'm not tired enough for a nap.. yet. ;) So write, I will!
Thursday the 15th I had a regular prenatal appointment at 11:00 AM. I was 39 weeks and 4 days along. I woke up feeling a little more achy than usual but didn't think too much about it. My doctor felt me having a ""long, hard" contraction and offered to do a cervical check to see how dilated I was. I really wanted Silas's birth to be as natural as possible, but I went ahead and said yes to the cervical check. I was 6cm dilated. Whoa! She asked me if I thought I was in labor since I had been having so many contractions, but I couldn't tell. When I went into labor with Sophia I knew right away that my contractions were different that they had been since they were hurting in my back. (With her they started on a Sunday evening, I woke up all throughout the night, and they were 3-8 minutes apart by Monday morning. When I went in to Labor & Delivery I was 4.5cm dilated.) Although uncomfortable, the contractions I was having with Silas weren't regular, and weren't keeping me awake. My doctor said to come back that afternoon at 4:30 to see if I had dilated any more and if I had, we knew it was labor.
So 4:30 rolls around. Went back and I hadn't made any change. Boo.
I woke up Friday morning feeling like I had done a million sit ups. Still not having painful contractions, just feeling really sore over my whole abdomen. I called my doctor and she said I could come in to get checked again to see if I had progressed any. I was a little worried and bummed than I had dilated so far without knowing it. In my mind, I had it all worked out that Aaron and I would labor at home for as long as possible, then go it when we thought I was close to having him. Goodbye to laboring at home! I started to get worried I'd wake up to a crowning baby (ha! I'm kidding. OK, half kidding.)!
I went in around 2:00 and I was 7cm dilated. Yay! But contractions still weren't regular and I still wasn't pain and able to chase around Sophia. Ah. So frustrating.
My doctor was on call that weekend and had two other patients already in labor. She offered to break my water that afternoon if I wanted her to. I asked how long she thought it'd take once she broke it and she said "maybe a few hours." If you've ever been pregnant, you know that last week before your baby is born is probably the hardest week of the whole pregnancy. Even harder than the sickness in the first trimester! As much as I believe in natural birth, and letting baby come when they're ready, I was mostly on board with her breaking my water. I was SO tempted to do it knowing I could be holding my baby boy that evening.
I drove over to the YMCA, and talked to Aaron about it. He just smiled and said "he'll come when he's ready. We prayed for 40 weeks and it's not 40 weeks yet." Then with a smirk said, "he'll come Saturday at midnight." He had been saying that for weeks. I wanted to shout "you don't know how uncomfortable I am!!!" and at the same time hug him saying "thank you, thank you" because this is what I really want. To wait.
Aaron was my rock throughout this whole pregnancy.
.....
Yeah.
Aaron was my rock.
.....
Ahem. Trying to type through tears.
He knew I'd be disappointed if I had my water broken and he knew I (and he) believed in letting things happen naturally. We had prayed from the beginning that this baby would be 40 weeks+ and Aaron was always there helping me believe it. Praise God for a husband that has faith!
My doctor told me she would call over to Labor & Delivery and let them know I might be coming in to be monitored or have my water broken but if I decided not to that was perfectly OK.
Had to snap a picture while walking the bridge at Shannon. We chose to walk around through my contractions between being monitored instead of me sitting in the Labor & Delivery bed.
We ended up going in around 6:30 that evening and it was too late to have my water broken. So glad I didn't have to make that decision again if they asked. We were monitored for an hour and I had another cervical check to see if I had progressed any more. I hadn't. Again, boo.
I don't think they could have sent me home since I was already 7cm, and they had offered to give me something to help get labor going, but they said if I wanted to leave we were free to go. So off we went.
Sophia had been with Aaron's sister Nikki that evening, and we decided to let her stay the night so we could have a night to ourselves.
Before we headed home, I asked Aaron if we could go to Baskin Robbins because I just needed to eat my feelings! World Class Chocolate always cheers me up. ;)
We went to bed pretty early that night and I woke up Saturday morning saying "wow! Now I really feel like I've done a million sit ups!"
Saturday was turning out to be another normal day except that my contractions seemed a little bit stronger. Who knew we'd be having a baby that night.... ;)
