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My pregnancy with Avery went very well, no issues what-so-ever aside from going 10 days overdue. She was quite happy in there and did not want to come out. The two women in my mom's group that were due the same month as me carried their babies about a month less than me! I was only 10 weeks shy of 1 year, I tried to make it but I can't do everything!
Anyway, on to the birth story for those that want to read it.
The morning of September 10th, I woke up with cramping around 5 a.m. coming at about 5-7 minute intervals. I called my mom at 6:30 to ask her what she thought of it. She was at work and told me to call her back once I heard back from the midwife. At my 41 week appointment, I was already 4cm dilated so I had a feeling it wasn't going to take much to throw me into labor. I spoke with the midwife and she told me to go ahead and come on in and if I didn't progress they would break my water. I called my mom and she had already decided she was coming to get the kids. I proceeded to get a shower and then I made breakfast. The cramping wasn't bad and I could work through it all. Every now and then I would have to stop and let the contraction run its course, but they weren't bad at all. I could walk and talk through them and I was even laughing through some of them.
Mom left with the kids around 9 and we started getting ready to go to the hospital. I decided I wanted to take a walk (at this point the contractions were a little stronger and coming 3-5 minutes apart). We made it about 1/4 mile from the house and I told Chad we needed to go to the hospital.
We got to the hospital around 10:30 and went to triage. When they checked me I was only at a 5. The midwife came in about an hour later and said that we could stay if wanted or we could walk around and see if it picked up. I decided I wasn't leaving, after all, we had been waiting quite a while for this little lady.
We got admitted and up to labor room around noon.
They set up a birthing tub b/c I wanted to try and labor in the water and possibly deliver. I told them not to fill it yet b/c I wanted to try to cope with the contractions with other methods until nothing else worked since the midwife told me that the water acts like an epidural and could relax me so much that it would slow down the labor. I sat on the birthing ball for a while and then once they got a strip on me and the baby we started walking and walking and walking. I was put on a mobile monitor since I had to be monitored the entire time b/c of it being a VBAC. We continued to walk until about 3 when the midwife came in to see how we were doing. The contractions hadn't changed in intensity at all so I had her check me to see if anything was happening. She checked me and I was a 6. I thought we were in it for the long haul-only 1 cm change in 4-5 hours. At this point it was 3:30. I decided to go for a walk again. As soon as I got up, I had a contraction that was quite different and more painful. We went out in the hallway and I had 2 really bad contractions. I told Chad that we needed to go back to the room. We got back to the room and I was standing at the head of the bed when I started to have another really bad one. I looked down and saw blood dripping. At this point, I thought I had better change out of my street clothes (a skirt and t-shirt) into the gown. I started walking to the bathroom and another horrible contraction hit. I called chad over and immediately my water busted and my body started pushing. Chad started yelling for the nurse. I told him not to leave me there and he took my hands and place them on the wall and ran over to the bed to call the nurse in. I had lost complete control of my body and couldn't move.
3 or so nurses came running in and they all (including Chad) started dragging me over to the bed. They got me in bed and after getting me in basically in the right position had me start pushing with my body. I pushed through 2 contractions and through one of the breaks and Miss Avery Lynn Clark was born at 3:56 p.m. (i think). I joked after she was born that I guess I couldn't get the water birth I wanted...they didn't even get it filled! There was no time for any pain meds either. I sustained a 2nd degree tear, but I will take that over a c-section any day! For the first time, I got to hold one of my babies immediately after birth and for a few hours after.
Avery weighed 7lbs 11 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. The smallest of my 3, yet I carried her the longest!(Weston born at 41 weeks 8 lbs. 3 oz., Audrey born at 39 weeks 7 lbs. 15.2 oz.) She was very wrinkly from soaking too long ;) None-the-less she was beautiful!
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