I was 38 weeks and 5 days and late Sunday night I started having this painful lower back ache, pregnancy comes with aches and pains so I didnt think much of it. It was keeping me from sleep so I went upstairs to bounce on the exercise ball to hopefully get her to move out of whatever position she was in that was killing my back. I let Tony sleep as I moved around and tried to sleep on the couch but my back was getting worse so I decided to get in the shower to see if that would help. It didnt.
Around 3:00am I was having trouble dealing with the pain by myself and I realized maybe this was labor and I was experiencing back labor. I never felt a contraction in my uterus but as I timed my "back aches" they were already about 3 minutes apart. Tony got up and helped me deal with the pain and time the contractions, now they were 2-3 minutes apart and he thought we should call the doctor to confirm this was labor and see what we should do. As soon as he explained to him what was going on he said "yes that is labor and yes go to the hospital - now"
I had mine and Charlotte's bag packed for weeks so Tony just had to throw in last minute items and we were off. It was the longest 10 minute car ride of my life, sitting put even more pain and pressure on my lower back and made the contractions 20 times worse. We got to the hospital and got checked in, when the nurse checked me I was only at 4 cm, it was 4:00am. I was so upset because I wanted to labor at home as long as possible and I was worried about being in the hospital for so long and possibly dealing with decisions for interventions like epidural, internal monitoring etc. But since it was clear I was in active labor and the contractions were so close together, they admitted me and I agreed.
We got settled in our room and I labored for 2 hours, the pain was BAD. Still all in my back, the only position I could handle was squatting down and using Tony or the bed to hang off of and moaning through them, they were consistently 1 minute apart which was tough because it didn't really give me time to recoup and catch my breath.
They checked me again at 6:00am and I was 6cm, I was so happy I had made such quick progress and it made me know we made the right decision to stay at the hospital. My doctor arrived around 7:30am and wanted to check me himself, I was at 8 cm. My water still hadn't broken so he broke it and within minutes I went to 10 cm. Next thing I know they are getting me ready to push - 20 minutes of PAINFUL pushing later ( I thought I was breaking my back with every push) out she came with a full head of hair and weighing 6lbs 12oz, 19 inches long.
I have never felt so emotions all at once - shock, love, joy, exhaustion, scared, proud. It was overwhelming. I had an amazing birth experience and cant believe I was lucky enough to get to do this. I am so blessed to have had so much support during all of it - the nurses, my doctor, my friends and family and most of all Tony. Not a single person doubted that I could have her and do it the way I wanted with out medication.
We are home now and after a week of Mama, Daddy and April being here to love on her and help me out we are on our own for a couple days then Tony's mom will be here for a week. I plan on posting a picture a day for everyone to keep up with her :)
Here is todays.....
One Week Old
xoxo
Ashlea
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