Briella's EDD was March 31, 2013. We were told from our ultrasound at 30 weeks that she could be as early as March 16th and that she was a pretty good size baby. This got all of us excited and I thought for sure we would have our baby girl before her EDD. Our first cervical check on March 5 indicated I was 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced already so this definitely made me think I would give birth sooner than later. I kept making progress every week so when March 31st came and went I started to believe I was going to be pregnant FOREVER! I literally tried so many things to jump start my labor: walking, bouncing on a birth ball, sex, spicy food, accupressure/reflexology, yoga, black licorice, nipple stimulation, squats, castor oil, and I even had my membranes swept. There were four times in the month of March that I thought I was in labor, but my contractions weren't consistent and always disappeared after about six hours.
Just when I had given up hope, something amazing happened one Monday morning! I woke up at 9 with Troy and emptied my bladder as usual then headed back to bed and set my alarm for 11; I needed more sleep. I woke up again around 9:30 after Troy had left for work and I thought I peed the bed. I jumped up and held myself as I ran to the bathroom. I noticed some white stuff on my hand and moments later this trickling began again. My water had broke!!! I immediately called our midwives to let them know and then I called Troy home. I was so excited! I couldn't believe I would have a baby girl within 24 hours! My contractions started at 11 that morning and I tried my hardest to sleep and rest but it was so difficult. At first my contractions were 20 minutes apart. I took two baths at home to try to relax and I tried to go about my day as usual, laboring at home for as long as possible. It was around 4:30 that we decided to go to the hospital. I think it was around 5/5:30 that we finally got checked in and I was only 4 1/2 cm dilated. I was kind of bummed since I had been 3cm the week before and I didn't feel like I was making progress. I really didn't want to be induced and I was afraid I had come to the hospital too early. Diane was the midwife on call that day. She wanted me to wait to labor in the pool until I had progressed more so that we didn't slow down any progression. After a few hours, I believe it was around 7:30pm, I was dilated to 6 1/2 cm. I don't know how long I was laboring in the pool for but it didn't feel like more than a half hour. I felt like I had to push so bad when I was in the pool. A lot of the details were a blur to me and I had no idea what time anything really happened or how far I had progressed. I remember pushing for a while, it was probably close to two hours. I tried pushing on my hands and knees because that was most comfortable when I was laboring. Diane had me lay on my left side for a few contractions, which I absolutely hated at first but ended up giving birth in that position! I also tried squatting but it was way too difficult to hold myself up on the bar. I was able to watch myself giving birth to my daughter in a mirror we had set up and I was also able to touch her head! I thought my work was done after pushing her head out, but it took about 2 1/2 minutes to get her shoulders out because her little arm was stuck by her head. Unfortunately we had to clamp the cord right away and Troy was unable to cut it himself. Briella was in shock so they had to take her away to put her under the heat. She had a low apgar score at first but ended up being perfect :) I never needed any drugs during my labor or after my birth and I only had a small tear by my urethra.
Briella was born at 10:25pm weighing 8lbs and she was 20.5 inches
We are SO incredibly blessed to have such an amazing, beautiful baby girl and to have had such a great birthing experience!
Proud Mom: Jessica
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