FINALLY AFTER 4 MONTHS...here it is...
The Birth Story of Ruby Dawn
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| Ruby Dawn Giedd Tuesday, October 21, 2014 11:32am 7lbs 5oz / 20 inches |
I had my 39 week appointment with Annie on Monday, October 20. Everything looked good, baby's heart rate was in the 140s, and so I had her check my cervix and strip my membranes! (I was very ready for this baby to arrive...it is amazing how sore my body was and it was only a week longer than how long I carried Noell). I was dilated 2 cm and baby was about -1. After I was checked and all that good stuff, Annie told me that my water could break tonight, contractions may start, or nothing might happen, so just be prepared for anything!
On the drive home I stopped in Osseo to fuel up the car and I texted my friends about the doctor's appointment (since one friend just had her baby a few weeks prior and one was due a few days after me, we kept each other updated). As I was texting them, I had my first contraction. I then had a few more contractions on the way home from Osseo. When I got home, Mike had supper ready and Noell was already eating. I ate with them and told Mike about the contractions. I started to time them...they were anywhere from 9 to 17 minutes apart...very inconsistent. Bad news...they were all in my back again :( I used the exercise/birthing ball to take some of the pressure off of my back while I continued to time contractions for the next hour or so. They started to get closer together...anywhere from 6 to 9 minutes apart. During this time, Mike was adding the final things to our hospital bags. I then decided that I HAD to go in to school. If this was the real thing, I needed to make sure everything was ready to go for Toni and the kids for the week, and if it wasn't the real thing, I needed to make sure I had everything ready to go for myself!!! Before I headed into school I called my doula, Rhonda, to let her know the updates. We agreed that we would see how things were going and I would call her before I went to bed. After I talked with her I headed into school which was around 7pm and Mike got Noell ready for bed.
While at school I didn't keep track of how close together contractions were...I was busy...moving quick to get things done...pausing every once and a while on a more painful contraction. I texted Toni while at school to let her know that I was having contractions and would most likely not be in school the next day....she was like....yeah, you probably should NOT be at school right now....lol. After THREE hours at school, I made my way back home. While I was at school, Mike put Noell to bed, got somethings picked up, and baked the midwife and nurses brownies...just like last time! Once I got home, I went back to the exercise ball (knees on the floor and leaning on the ball to let my belly hang to take pressure off the back) and started timing contractions again. 2 minutes apart for about 30minutes so I got into the shower. They continued to be about 2 minutes apart and were getting more painful (still all in the back). I was thinking to myself, "Wow, maybe this will go a lot quicker than Noell's...I can hope anyway!" After my shower I called the midwife on call, Emily. We decided that I would get ready to come in. After getting off the phone with Emily, I called my doula to update her. We decided that I would text her while going through Osseo and she would meet us at the hospital. The next phone call was to my mom to have her come over to stay with Noell so we wouldn't have to wake Noell up to bring her to their house. My mom got to our house around 11 and then we were on our way!
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| Picture of us before heading out the door to hospital. |
After being hooked up for the 30minutes I roamed the hallways for a while. Then we decided to do something different. I went and sat on the birthing ball while listening to my music...very relaxed between contractions. Then we tried the shower around 3:00am. I would rock side to side in the shower, then squat once in a while, go back to rocking, etc. I was in the shower for about 1 1/2 hours. All I kept thinking to myself was "down and out." Now it was around 4:30am and I was tired and wanted to lay down for a little bit. Mike would sit up by my head and hold my hands while Rhonda would put pressure on my lower back during contractions. In-between contractions I actually fell asleep or was able to relax (unlike my labor with Noell). After a couple hours I needed to do something different so we got up and walked around the hallways some more. I drank a little apple juice and a lap later it came right back up. After a few laps we decided I would get checked and then hop in the tub. When I got checked at 6:45am, I was only dilated to 5cm, 100% effaced, and baby was still at a 0. Disheartening. So I got in the tub and after a few more contractions I was just done, exhausted, and ready for relief. All I know is back labor and all I know is that it sucks and for me with back labor....it is sssslllloooowww moving. I was offered fentanyl (spelling?) as an option but turned it down because it didn't work last time and I read somewhere that it didn't help as much with back labor...so why take it if it isn't going to help anyway. So at 7:10 was when I officially asked for an epidural. While waiting for the epidural, I went back to the bed. Getting the IV in my arm was worse than getting the epidural. They couldn't get the iv into my little veins after like three tries and using both arms, so they had to bring in a ultrasound machine to find a vein, so it was a longer wait...irritating! I finally got the epidural at 8:30am and it went perfectly. Right before I got the epidural I had to say goodbye to Emily and welcomed the new midwife, Tonya, as the shift changed.
Rhonda, Mike, and I all got some sleep after the epidural was fully kicked in. I woke up around 10ish to what I thought was my water breaking. I tried to check myself...haha...but couldn't tell. So once a nurse came in she checked and confirmed that it had broke. Tonya, the midwife, came in and asked if she thought she should check me. I said no because I wasn't feeling as much pressure yet as I did when I was ready to push with Noell. So we all waited, and I never really felt more pressure, but at 11:15 I was checked...and what do you know...IT WAS BABY TIME! I was 10cm, 100% effaced, and +2. I had my first push at 11:25...little progress. I pushed again a couple minutes later and the head was coming out. My midwife told me to stop pushing so she could finish getting her gloves on, etc. She was holding the baby's head IN with one hand while Rhonda helped put her gloves on. Baby G was FALLING out with each breath I took. I gave one more little push and there the baby was...born at 11:32 (total of 7 min). All I saw at first was tons of blonde hair and so I asked if it was a boy since I always pictured a blonde little boy...just like daddy. Mike told me "It's a GIRL!" We were both VERY happy! She was healthy with apgar scores of 8 and 9. She nursed not even 15minutes after being born and enjoyed eating/sucking/snuggling for two hours after birth. She was so alert right away, it was just crazy! I had a pretty easy birth and recovery with no stitches (Thank you Ruby). The epidural must have been stronger this time since I didn't feel as much pressure...and it definitely went more into my right side. I could move my left leg around quickly after birth, but it took hours before I had full control over my right leg. This was very different than Noell's, as I was up walking pretty quickly after birth with her!
We did have one boy name and one girl name picked out a few weeks prior to birth. Although at that time our girl's name was Annabelle. I could not stay with that name because a demon doll movie came out a couple weeks before her birth and the name was Annabelle. Mike thought I was being silly and that it was just a movie, but I just couldn't do it so back to the drawing board we went (although I honestly didn't think I would have to worry b/c I was for sure we were having a boy). So Monday we finally decided on Ruby if it was a girl. It was always on our list back and forth between number one and number two...sometimes our number three name....but it is funny, God always has a plan and his plan was for our baby girl to be Ruby. Her middle name, Dawn, is after Grandma Rachel, whose middle name is Dawn!
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| Our sweet angel finally arrived! |
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| Our first family of four picture! It was about as close as Noell would get to Ruby! |
