ashford's birth story

i had been thinking i was in early labor various times that week. i would have regular (though painless) contractions for over an hour, get excited, call the nurse line, only to have them fade away each time. womp womp. this also happened the day ashford was born. i had regular contractions for part of the afternoon, but then nothing for hours after that, so i just told myself it wasn't gonna happen. at 8pm i had just eaten a freshly baked ginger molasses cookie made by thatcher and azalea. i went to use the bathroom and felt a gush just before sitting on the toilet. (my water didn't break on its own with azalea, so while I thought that was what was happening, I wasn't entirely sure). i stayed in the bathroom a little longer and the uncontrollable gushes (lovely, right?) continued. i yelled for thatcher and told him i was calling the nurse line again. they told me my water had most certainly broke and i should try to get there asap. we flew into go mode! we grabbed our bags and loaded azalea who was in her jammies into the car to take her to thatchers' parents, which is on the way to the hospital. i started having pretty strong contractions in the car, but was able to breath through them. we arrived at the hospital around 8:45pm. they checked me in triage and told me I was 6 cm dilated. i told the nurse my wishes to get an epidural and that i was afraid of things progressing too fast and it being too late. she told me that was a possibility and we needed to move fast.

i only look happy because im in between contractions ;) 

by the time we got into the delivery room, my contractions were so intense, they were almost unbearable. the nurse said the anesthesiologist should be there in 5 minutes, but it took more like 20. it was the longest 20 mins of my life! haha. i kept crying out "come onnnnn dude, where are you?!" haha. once the epidural was in place, i started to feel numb on my left side, but not my right. i was hoping the right side was just a little slow to catch up, but it never really numbed much at all. they said it was not uncommon. but such a weird feeling! with azalea, my epidural worked perfectly and i didn't feel a thing for the rest of labor and delivery. this was much much more painful. i felt every contraction on my right side, as well as ashford moving down the birth canal. with every contraction i would say "ok, ok, ok, ok, ok" over and over. for some reason it made it hurt less? haha. less than an hour after getting in the room, it was time to push. thankfully it only lasted 15 minutes and about 4 pushes before he was out. but it was so intense. once he was out, the pain completely stopped, which was amazing. total time from water breaking to ashford's birth? 2.5 hours. um, wow! it was the best moment seeing him for the first time. 

they put him on my chest briefly, then took him away to clean him up and make sure he didn't ingest any of his meconium (poop) in the womb. my kids are 2 for 2 for pooping in the womb. haha! i apparently lost a fair amount of blood during birth. not an alarming amount, but more than normal. i had worried for months that my circumvallate placenta would cause complications with the birth, but thankfully it didn't. i asked to see the placenta afterward and it just looked like a placenta with an extra white rim around it. bodies are so strange. we called our families about a half hour after he was born to share the good news. we thought maybe a couple of them would show up, but they all opted to wait until morning. so, we spent the night just the 3 of us (well, and the nurses who were in and out - haha). it was wonderful. i was so relieved to have another healthy birth and although this one was way more painful than the first, i made it through and it's all just a memory now :) 

click here to read azalea's birth story