Jude's estimated due date was July 4, 2014. My pregnancy was going well and much like it did when I was pregnant with William. Due to my water breaking 4 weeks early with William my midwife had me take extra Vitamin C and Fish Oil with Jude to hopefully keep that from happening again. I made it past the 35 week mark with much relief. I then made it past the 37 week mark and by that time I was so ready and excited for him to make his arrival knowing he would no longer be considered pre-mature.
On Monday, June 23rd (38 weeks and 1 day), I started feeling Braxton Hicks contractions. My stomach would tighten and loosen on and off throughout the day. That evening, they were happening about 3-5 minutes apart but they weren't painful, just strong enough for me to notice them. I called my midwife and she asked me a few questions and then told me to take a Benadryl and try to get some sleep. If I was having false labor, the Benadryl would stop it and allow me to get some rest. If it was real labor, I would continue to feel contractions. I remember we had asked my brother in law to stay the night anyway just in case. That way he would be at the house with William if we needed to head for the hospital in the middle of the night. I took the Benadryl and went to bed and was able to get a full nights rest.
On Tuesday, June 24th I was having the same kind of contractions but still not painful. I went to bed that evening (didn't take Benadryl) and I woke up around 3am with a contraction. I got up to get a drink of water and walk a little bit and it was able to subside and I was able to go back to sleep.
On Wednesday, June 25th I didn't have as many contractions and it was a pretty uneventful day.
Thursday, June 26th was also a fairly uneventful day. I went to bed that evening and around 3am I woke up to a pretty strong contraction. I got up and started walking around, got a drink of water and continued to feel the contractions every 3 minutes and they were more painful. Walking around is suppose to lessen the pain and the contractions were staying consistent. I woke Ben up and said, "I think I might need to call Amy." I told him what was happening and at the time I felt really silly and hesitant to call her in the middle of the night if this wasn't the real thing. I called her anyway and she told me to go ahead and go to the hospital. We called Ben's brother to make his way to our house. As soon as he arrived we left for the hospital. When we arrived to the hospital it was about 5:45, they took me straight to triage. I had a few contractions on my way up but nothing unbearable. When they checked my cervix, I was already at a 6! They were surprised that I was already at a 6... apparently I wasn't acting that far along. They got me to a room immediately and Ben's mom met us there. (We had asked her to be in the room with us. She was in the room with William and was a huge help through the labor process).
The nurse that was on duty when I first got to the room didn't make me too happy. She hooked me up to an IV right away (even though I tested N for group B strep) and had the contraction monitor on me and everything. I was not looking forward to laboring with her as my nurse. Then, shift change happened at 7:00am and I got a lovely nurse who had tons of experience with non-medicated labors and had even gave birth to her children at the Allen Birthing Center (my midwife's practice) and was good friend's with Amy. It was perfect!! As soon as she came in she took me off the fluids and took the monitors off of me so I could move around however I wanted to. Thank goodness! I walked around a bit and sat on the birthing ball until the contractions got to be too much. I layed on the bed for a while and I remember being so impatient. I was working my way through the contractions but I was sooo ready for Jude to be in my arms. I kept saying, "When is he going to be here?", "How much longer?", "I just want to be done!" I had to keep reminding myself that I got through it with William and I can get through it again. I also had to remind myself that contractions are so much worse once your water breaks. My water broke first with William and I was able to get through that labor, so I should definitely be able to handle laboring with Jude. I kept getting hot and cold just like I did with William and Ben and his mom were so patient with me, getting me cold wash rags and doing anything they could to make me somewhat comfortable.
Around 8:00am I was getting so tired and I was starting to feel a little pushy but wasn't sure if I was quite ready yet. Amy said they could check me if I wanted or we could just keep moving forward and let my body start pushing on its own. I really wanted to know how close I was getting so I went ahead and asked her to check me. When she did, I was at a 10!! I was so relieved. I started pushing shortly after. The bed wasn't working so well so I got up and they had me sit on the toilet to push. (I know, I know... sounds weird and NO the baby wouldn't have fallen into the toilet!) Sitting on the toilet allows your body to be in a natural pushing position and when you are birthing a baby, gravity is your best friend!! I had some awesome pushes while sitting on the toilet and Jude was able to move down further. Because I made so much progress we went ahead and moved back to the bed to finish pushing. My water broke once we got back to the bed and we welcomed Jude into the world shortly after at 9:04am on Friday, June 27, 2014.
Jude was 7lbs. 6oz. - 20inches long. Full head of dark brown hair. No complications and was able to stay in the room with us for the entire hospital stay.
We are so blessed to have our sweet Jude join our family! We love him so!
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