The Blackburn Family

On Friday June 4th I woke up around 3:30 to pee. This was pretty typical of my last trimester as I would get up about every two hours to go to the bathroom. When I got back to bed I noticed I felt a bit crampy. I had been having Braxton Hicks for several weeks, but they never hurt before. This felt like a contraction to me and was definitely different. I laid in bed for a bit and then I felt another one. They were pretty far apart so I decided to just ignore it and try to get some more sleep. That didn’t really work though and I was up until about 6am sleeping for a few minutes at a time at most. I really didn’t think I was in labor and just assumed the Braxton Hicks had kicked up a notch since I was getting closer to my due date. I laid there for awhile trying to decide if going to work was a good idea. I hated to take a day off it is was nothing, but I work 30 miles away and something in me told me it was not a good idea to leave the house. I got up and emailed my boss to let her know I would not be in for the day. I took a Tylenol PM so I could try to get a bit more sleep before getting up for the day. It only worked for a few hours and by 9:30 I was up and moving around. I knew that I should try walking some to see if that made the contractions go away. At that point they seemed erratic and our doula said not to time early contractions so I decided to run up to Wal-Mart to get a few supplies for the big day thinking that would be in another week or two. As I walked around the contractions continued, but I was able to get around without much problem. Standing in the check out line was a bit tough and in typical Wal-Mart fashion the line was long, slow and they only had 2 lines open. The lady behind me started talking to me and asked when I was due. I told her 10 days and didn’t mention that I was currently having contractions, or maybe having them since I wasn’t sure at that point. I checked out at 11:12 with my cat food, cooler and a few feminine items. When I got home I had a feeling this was labor since walking didn’t make the contractions go away and they seemed to be getting more regular. I decided we better get some more maternity shots before it was too late so I went to work setting up the nursery for my photo shoot and called Casey in to take the pictures of his hands on my belly. I then cleaedn up the room and took some pictures of the nursery to post on the website. During this time I was having contractions, but was able to keep doing things and talking through them. I figured this was early labor, but still I wasn’t sure it was really happening so I didn’t get scared or nervous. I just kept about my day doing things around the house. Casey gave me his iphone so I could time the contractions and sure enough they were about 6-8 minutes apart. They were about 30 seconds long so I knew it was early labor and continued to ignore it the best that I could, but they were getting a bit stronger and I would have to stop to breath through them. I figured it would be a good time to call the birth center and doula.

I called the birth center at 3:23 and waited for Maureen to give me a call back. When I talked with her she thought it was probably false labor since I was 2 week early, my water hadn’t broken and my mucus plug was intact. This was a bit discouraging to me since I really felt it was more than false labor! The contractions were about 6 minutes apart and getting stronger. Maureen said I should try taking a bath and lying down with a rice sock to see if that made them go away. I called our doula, Michelle, at 4:11 to let her know I thought I was in early labor. She was a bit surprised since it was 10 days early and her only other client for the month was due on the 4th! I told her the birth center felt it was probably false labor and that I should take a bath and rest. She agreed that was a good idea and told me to give her a call back when I needed her. I got in the tub, but it didn’t help. The contractions continued on a regular basis and were getting much stronger. I tried to sit in there as long as possible, but I couldn’t take it so I got out and had Casey heat up the rice socks. I had him push one into my lower back as I put the other in front where I was feeling a lot of pain. We did this for a few contractions, but it was getting really bad. I tried a few more contractions on my own with Casey’s help, but it was just too much. I really felt I was in active labor and the contractions were about 4 minutes apart, strong and lasting much longer. I started to panic and cry. I asked Casey to please have Michelle come help because I didn’t know what to do to ease the pain. He called her at 5:15 and she left her home to come help us. She was about 45 minutes away so I went into the bonus room and had Casey push on my back and hips during the contractions. I called the birth center again and Maureen still thought it was too early to come in, but said I could come out if I felt like I needed to be checked. Since my mucus plug hadn’t come out and water hadn’t broken I figure she was probably right and it was too early in labor to leave. I was still timing them on his iphone and they were getting really close together. About 2-3 minutes and lasting at least a minute or more. The peaks were incredibly painful and I was crying through most of them. At one point Casey had the bright idea to turn on an episode of Parks and Recreation to try and distract me. As a contraction approached I got down on my hands and knees and started breathing through it. I asked him to please use the rice sock on my back and nothing so I look up and he is staring at the TV completely ignoring me! I slammed my hand on the ground and said “Hey” very loudly. He felt bad, but the ADD had kicked in and he was distracted by the TV…. That plan didn’t really work out. Luckily Michelle showed up right after that contraction. When she got upstairs I was on the couch, on my hands and knees crying! She calmed me down immediately and took away the iphone so I wouldn’t be anticipating the approach of the next contraction. I think watching the clock made it so much worse because I knew one was coming and that it would hurt so bad so I would start to tense up waiting for it. Michelle told me I had to change my mindset and welcome the contractions. I tried my best!! She told me to get low with my grunting. I would lean on Casey’s back and she would push on my hips and back. The contractions seemed to be right on top of each other and I really didn’t think I was going to make it. I had the urge to go to the bathroom so Michelle told me to go sit in there for awhile. I got a bit out and then bam, mucus plug. Pretty much all of it so I yelled down the hall that it had come out and she came to check. The contractions continued and I really felt like it was time to go. Still everyone thought it was too early which really scared me. I was certain I was in active labor and probably very close to or starting the transition period. I had such an urge to go to the bathroom and the contractions were horrible. I felt like there was no break between them. About that time the birth center called back to check on us and was wondering where we were. I had told them I was coming out there for a check, but then Michelle showed up so I labored a bit longer wit her. We told Maureen we were on our way and would be there in about 45 minutes. Earlier in the week Casey had ordered a camcorder and it was to be delivered that day. UPS comes really late to our house, usually around 7:00 or 7:30. I was trying to wait until UPS came so we would have our camcorder at the birth center. I told Casey and Michelle that I really thought we should leave and right about then the door bell rang. UPS had arrived, it was 7:10. We grabbed the box off the porch and started packing up the car. Casey had packed up the car earlier and all we needed to do was get the cooler together. I had bought popsicles to take and thought we would take a couple of each flavor. Casey took all 20 something. Obviously we lost most of them. I did ask if I could have one for the car ride to distract me and Michelle had recommend we bring some kind of little cup so I could sit it down during contractions. I sat in the back seat so I could move a bit and yes, I had my seat belt on for the whole ride. I couldn’t really sit on the seat so I had one leg pulled in and was in a semi squat for the whole ride. I was really nervous about the car ride, but it wasn’t too bad. I guess the contractions every few minutes distracted me some. Casey was trying to distract me to slow labor a bit. The last thing Michelle had told him was “make sure she doesn’t push”. At this point my water had not broken, but neither of us really thought to get out the towels for me to sit on! Thankfully I didn’t mess up the car. I had a few really nasty contractions on the way and grabbed onto anything I could find and squeezed. I know I said a few times that I couldn’t do it, give me an epidural, I was never having another one. It was certainly intense. We made it to the birth center and had to stop for a contraction on the way in. When we got there we were taken into the green room which was my favorite so I was pretty excited. It was about quarter after 8. Maureen said she would go ahead and check me, but still didn’t think I would be too far a long. She said to Casey something like “Well, how far to do you think she is?” (with a bit of surprise in her voice). Casey said “she can’t be 10 cm”. Maureen then said there was no cervix! She had me reach in and I could feel the water sack with my fingers. Pretty cool. I was so relieved at that point to know I was close and that it would be over soon. I was so worried that they would say I was only 4 or 5 and I didn’t think there would be any way I could continue to have so many contractions. Thank God that was as bad as it got! Maureen asked if I wanted to get in the tub and I said yes so they started running the water. Maureen told me that the IV antibiotics would only be effective if I got 2 doses within 4 hours of each other and that this baby would be here in 2. She asked if I wanted them anyway, but since I wasn’t hot on the idea to begin with and there was really no point I said I didn’t want them. I got in the tub and Michelle told me that I could push during contractions if I felt the urge. I immediately began pushing and grunting even louder. It felt so good to push and made the contractions much easier to manage. At one point I felt a huge release of pressure and a gush of water (yes even in the tub I could feel it rush out). Casey said my eyes opened big and I said “I think my water just broke”. They all came over to make sure it was clear and it was. Since I was GBS positive it was great that my water broke so late since it protected Graham from the bacteria. I continued to push moving around the tub and making tons of noise. I think I scared the people in the waiting area and it is a good thing my parents weren’t there. You would think I was dying in there! Everyone kept telling me the sounds were good and to keep moving the baby down. The only people in the room were Michelle, Casey, Maureen and two nurses. It was odd to me because they all just sat there watching me and occasionally checking me and the baby. Michelle continued to push on my back and hips. She also asked if she could take some pictures and I said yes. I was really excited to have some pictures of the birth. Call me crazy. I don’t think I will ever forget the burning that all the sudden hit when his little or rather big head hit the vaginal area. Casey said you could see it on my face and I told them he is coming! I was able to feel his head and all his hair starting to come out. They brought in a mirror so I could look and it was a bit scary actually. This huge thing was coming out such a small little area and the burning was really bad. I would push him a bit and them would get sucked back in which is normal. He was stretching out a path for himself. I actually got some relief during this time since the contractions were slowing down and I had some time to relax between them. Although I didn’t really enjoy the ring of fire going on down below. Apparently I was talking, tell jokes and having a good old time between contractions which I guess is a bit unusual. I wasn’t panicked at all and was pretty relaxed. Finally his head got really close and boy did it hurt. Maureen said my next contraction to push really hard and get his head out and then we would get the shoulders on the next one. So when the contraction started I pushed with everything I had and heard her tell me to just keep pushing because he was coming out. Then he was there on my chest and the burning was gone. Michelle said she doesn’t see them come out so fast very often. My uterus was ready to get him out of there! Graham came out screaming and Casey and I both remember him look bright red, but in the pictures he is pretty purple…. Not sure what that is about. Maybe his face was red from the screaming. He pretty much screamed the whole time he was on my chest. I held him on my chest while I delivered the placenta and they waited for the cord to stop pulsing. Casey was able to cut the cord and then they took me out of the tub. I got the shivers so bad after coming out of the tub. I guess it was cold, but mostly I think it was my body reacting to what had just happened. Michelle said it is pretty common to shiver like that after a fast labor. They had me move down the bed some to examine the damage…. 2nd degree tear so I had to be stitched up. I have to say that part was not exactly fun. There were a few needles that went into tissue outside of the numbed area and it hurt pretty bad, but I had my baby on me which was a pretty nice distraction. It did seem like the stitching took forever. When it was done they moved me back up the bed and we tried to breastfeed. Graham would not latch on and Maureen felt it was probably due to his quick exit. He had a lot of amniotic fluid still in his lungs and he coughed it up most of the night. We called my parents to let them know Graham had arrived and they drove out for a quick visit. I was feeling better, but still sore. I did eat a lot of the casserole we had brought with us. Finally around 2am they told us to just go ahead and try to get some sleep and we would work on breastfeeding in the morning. Graham slept in the double bed between us and was a good little boy other than some coughing to get up the fluid. I had to get up a couple times in the night to pee which was an adventure. I had so much stuff in my underwear! At one point I tried to stand up and put it all back on when it all tumbled into the toilet! I didn’t want to wake Casey so I hit the emergency button in the bathroom and scared the midwife and nurse! I guess people don’t use the button very often. It was hard for me to sleep that night. I kept looking at Graham and waking up anytime he moved or made a noise.

In the morning the nurses and Maureen came in to do his newborn check. We also tried to get him to nurse again, but he wasn’t really interested so we used some donor milk and a nipple shield to help him out some. He still had a little fluid in his lungs so he wasn’t too interested in eating. Casey ran out to get us some breakfast at Sunrise biscuits and we had a little bite to eat before the nurses went over all our paperwork. Around noon we were free to leave so we packed up the car and put Graham in the car seat. He looked so tiny in the car seat. I sat in the back so I could watch him the whole way home.