9 Weeks

I can't believe that it has been nine weeks since I gave birth to Matilda.  It seems like just yesterday and yet at the same time, I feel like she's been with me forever.  My life is so much better (and more difficult) with her in it. 

September 4th started out like every other day.  I really didn't think that it was going to be "The Day."  At 9:07 am, I felt a contraction.  I had been having contractions for weeks, so no big deal.  For some reason, I took note of that one though.  I started to keep track and they were coming about every 15 minutes.  They weren't painful or even uncomfortable.  After a couple of hours, I realized that the contractions were the real thing.  I called my sister, Amanda, to give her the heads up since she would be the one going to the hospital with me.  I wanted to labor at home for as long as possible before we left so I finished packing my hospital bag and spent some time playing with Julian.  Then I took a shower and even shaved my legs.  I decided to braid my hair in two braids to make sure it wasn't in my face during labor (I hate my hair getting in my face).  My contractions were getting closer together, about 8 minutes apart, and they were getting uncomfortable.  I was sitting on my bed talking to Amanda when a contraction hit.  I felt like getting on the floor and kneeling while leaning on the bed to try and get more comfortable. 

All of a sudden, I felt a pop and I realized that my water broke.  A few days before, I had told someone else that they shouldn't worry about their water breaking at home because it happens to less than 10% of women.  Well, it definitely happened to me.  At that point, the contractions came quicker and harder.  I told Amanda we needed to leave for the hospital.  It was right about 2 pm.  The ride to the hospital was painful.  I felt every bump in the road and my contractions were coming every 4 minutes.  When we got to the hospital, Amanda parked near the ER and ran in to have someone come get me with a wheelchair.  It took several minutes for me to manage to get out of the car and into the wheelchair.  The elevators are on the other side of the hospital so it was a long ride and very uncomfortable. 

When I got up to Labor and Delivery, they put me in a triage room where I stayed forever.  They had several people asking me the same dumb questions over and over again.  I was so frustrated and the triage nurse kept moving the monitors on my stomach and it was driving me crazy.  I was 5 cm dilated when I got there and by the time they moved me into a delivery room, I was 8 cm dilated.  The only reason that they finally moved me out of triage was because I said I felt like I had to push.  I would've said it earlier if I knew they would move me.  There was a shortage of L & D nurses so the Triage nurse stayed with me the entire time.  They let me have my way with most things (I wore my own clothes, had only a Hep-Lock, delayed cord cutting, and no Pitocin ever)  but they kept those flippin' monitors on me constantly and the nurse kept moving them trying to find the baby's heartbeat.  I know I yelled a few times in frustration but I really wanted to cuss her out and rip those monitors off. 

For most of the time I was in labor, I just kept my eyes closed and squeezed my stress balls and tried to manage the pain however I could.  I wanted to get through it without drugs and I knew it was almost over but it was so intense.  Finally the nurse thought I should get up to go to the bathroom.  I didn't think it was a good idea but she and the doctor said that I needed to get up.  After several minutes, I managed to sit up and get my legs to the edge of the bed.  At that time, another nurse walked in and asked what was going on.  They told her and she said I would have the baby in the toilet if they made me go to the bathroom.  That's when they all realized that I was already pushing so they swung my legs back up on the bed and about a minute later, Matilda was born at 5:20 pm.

I felt like I had just run a marathon and won a medal.  It was exhilarating.  Matilda was placed on my stomach and I just couldn't believe that I had given birth to her so quickly and without any pain medication.  I wanted them to wait to clamp the umbilical cord but the cord was kind of short so for the first minute or so, I just looked at her lying there and touched her head.  Once the cord was cut, she was put on my chest and I wanted to cry at how beautiful she was. 

The pediatric nurse was impressed at her size and asked me to guess how much she weighed.  I think I said 8 lbs 12 oz.  She said that was probably close.  It was actually 8 lbs 15 oz (1.5 lbs more than Julian when he was born).  I knew she was going to be big but it was still surprising.

In these last 9 weeks, she has grown so much (in fact, she has outgrown two sizes of clothing already).  She is amazing and when she smiles at me, it makes my whole day brighter.  I can't imagine my life without her.