(First of all, yes I know, this post is nearly 4 months overdue!)
Jennings Colleen Bailey is here!!! She was born 3/13/13 after 34 LONG, strenuous, tiring, hours of labor. Here is our story of my labor, the birth of our first baby, & some of the challenges that life can throw your way unexpectedly.
On Sunday, 3/10/13, my Mom and Wayne had a cookout at their house to celebrate our friends Korin & Rich coming in for the weekend. All of our friends came! Mom had a cake made that same "anytime now baby Bailey". It was our "last hoorah" so to speak before I was to have the baby. I have always felt that I was going to go past my due date because I have always heard that first babies can sometimes be "overdue". I had all intentions of this child NOT arriving until atleast March 16. Toward the end of the evening, I noticed that my lower back was really sore. When we got home, David gave me an awesome back rub. Not long after, I went to the restroom and noticed I wiped pink with some mucus on the toilet paper. I told David I thought I had lost my mucus plug, but to not freak out, that it didn't necessarily mean anything was going to happen anytime soon. We slept pretty well that night, although I woke up with a serious kink in my neck. Korin came to work with me on Monday 3/11. We took Mrs. T downtown for lunch and walked around. We even had some delicious ice cream from Kilwins. Afterwards, we picked up Ella to spend some time with her. Korin, Ella, David, and myself all went to my midwife appointment that afternoon at 5pm. I mentioned to Olivia and Candace that I thought I had lost my mucus plug. Candace said she had a feeling I was going to come in with some kind of news. They had been up all night with a laboring mama who was in my birth class. She had a home birth and welcomed a beautiful little girl in the wee hours of 3/11. Needless to say, they had not been to sleep yet. I assured them that nothing was going to happen, that I needed at least one more nights rest, and that they needed to rest up. Korin and Rich were getting ready to leave town and they wanted to go to Chipoltle for dinner (it had just recently opened). I agreed, I love some Mexican. When we got there, the line was at the door. The approximate wait time was about 20 minutes. As we were standing in line, about half way to the counter, I felt like I was peeing on myself. I told Korin & David that I thought I was leaking or either I was slightly pissing myself. Korin & I went to the restroom and when I sat on the toilet, I felt like I couldn't stop peeing. I looked in the commode and it looked cloudy and had a funny smell. I knew instantly that my water had broken. How convenient I thought, my water broke mostly on the toilet! Korin's mouth was wide open. I had to reassure her that I was ok and there was no need to freak out.
We were still going to eat and enjoy our meal together. I came back to the line and told David that my water had broken. He was cool with it, like myself. When we got 2 people before the ordering counter, a contraction came on. I grabbed the wall to brace myself and then BOOOOSH!!!! My water broke big time all over the floor! The pressure from the water breaking made the fluid spray out from the knees of my corduroy pants! It was insane! Needless to say, at that point we left. As we were walking out, David non chalantly mentioned to the cashier, "uh, my wife's water just broke, you may want to get somebody to clean that up". Rich pulled up the van and I instantly stripped down. I still kept leaking fluid all the way home. I called Olivia to let her know what was going on, it was a little after 7pm. She suggested I go home and try and get as much rest as possible. Bridget came over and helped with some last minute things, Joey & Lisa came over to get Layla. I ate part of a Chic Fil A sandwich and we got in the bed around 10pm to sleep. Around 12:15 a.m., my contractions started coming on pretty intense. I didn't want to wake David up, so I timed my contractions and let him sleep as long as I could. For about an hour I labored by myself with the contractions between 3-6 minutes apart. I finally woke up Dave around 1. He hung with me for a little bit and then gave Olivia a call. From here on out, everything gets really blurry. Had I had been smart, and recorded my birth story sooner, it may have been a little more clear. I remember laboring in the living room on the ball while David was rubbing my back. Olivia and Candace came in and started filling up the birthing pool. I labored all night, mostly on the toilets, until the sun came up. Olivia made me eggs and suggested I eat some to keep my energy up. I didn't want to eat anything. I kept drinking tons of water. In my mind I thought, "the more water I drink, the more I'll have to pee, and the pressure will just bring that baby on down". Olivia checked me for the first time on Tues. a.m. and I was only 3 CM dilated. I couldn't believe I was only 3 CM. I labored on. Hands and knees, toilet, birthing ball. I could not lay down, it hurt something fierce. I remember saying constantly, "my back....my back". My back was killing me. I was laboring on the bed on my hands and knees and a huge wave of nausea hit. I threw up all over the bed. I thought to myself, "this could be good, this could be transition!" Olivia checked me and I was only 5 CM. She suggested I shouldn't getting into the birthing pool until I was closer to 6 CM. Eventually, I got in the pool. I could only labor on my hands and knees, sitting in front of David hurt my back terribly. I was in there for a few hours and my contractions started to slow down. By 4 pm or so, I was becoming extremely exhausted. My contractions were slowing down, but still intense. Olivia requested that I lay down and take a nap. I thought, "she must be crazy, I CAN'T lay down!" Laying down through a contraction was pure torture. My back and hips felt like they were being ripped apart. After laying down through a few contractions, I finally dozed off to sleep for an hour or so. When I woke up, Olivia gave me some natural remedies to help "jump start" my contractions again. At that point, I felt like a I had a new energy, I was feeling refreshed. I sat on the birthing ball saying to myself, "come on down baby". Still, my contractions were slow, only coming every 7-10 minutes. I was thankful that I wasn't hurting every 3 minutes, but I knew in order for this baby to be born I would have to endure more pain. Around 10pm, Olivia suggested David and I take a walk to discuss options. I had been in labor with my water broken for 27 hours. Olivia said that she would be more than happy to stay at the house with us as long as we wanted, but if there were complications, she didn't want to get thrown under the bus since technically you are supposed to deliver (in a hospital setting) within 24 hours of your water breaking. I knew where she was coming from. David and I walked around the neighborhood and I felt just pregnant, not even like I was in labor (until a contraction would hit every 7-10 minutes or so). Where I had felt previously like the baby had dropped some, while walking I felt like the baby was more "up" there. I decided that I was going to try and rest/nap again and then I would make a decision based on whether my contractions picked up or not. I drifted off to sleep quickly, but woke up about an hour later with a terrible contraction. They were not coming on any closer and none of Olivia's remedies where helping. I felt helpless and hopeless. I never once felt scared for myself or the baby. I knew that my dream of having a home birth was coming to an end. I asked Olivia if I went to the hospital could I just insist on a C-Section. I did not want Pitocin and I did not want to labor anymore. I was done. Candace wrote up a quick birth plan for us and we packed up the birthing tub and our stuff. At this point, David and I called our Moms. We hadn't spoken to anyone pretty much since we notified everyone of my water breaking. David's Mom was already checked into a hotel room in Wilmington and said she would meet us at the hospital. My Mom was so relieved I was going to the hospital, her and my sister met us there also.
We got checked in immediately at the hospital and got set up in a room. I had to answer questions, get hooked up to an I.V. of fluids, and have the belly band put on to monitor baby's heart rate and contractions. My nurse Robin was incredible. I will NEVER forget her. She was calm, explained everything, and had an awesome personality. She had seen me at the gym prior to labor and had commented that I was "the cutest thing she had ever seen!" I remembered that, and felt like we had already some sort of bond. The residents on call were who was going to deliver me, since I wasn't attending an OB/GYN practice during my pregnancy. I told them that I would just like to have a voluntary C-Section. They said they would check me, and we would wait 1 hour and they would check me again for dialation. Needless to say, I remained at 5 CM. My sister Bridget was so exhausted and worried about me, she could not control her emotions. I was shaking and continuing to throw up (because I was still in labor) and she hated seeing me in all of that pain and she was an emotional wreck. Finally the time had come and I was cleared to walk down to the operating room. I waved goodbye to Mom and the family and walked right on in, knowing I would be coming out a Mommy.
I was surprised to see what an actual O.R. looked like. The table I was to be on was extremely narrow and everything was white and clean. I shook hands and met my whole "team". The anesthesiologist was an older gentleman that had that grandpa comforting look to him. He explained everything to me before he did anything. Cold iodine on my back 3 times, a little prick, and that was it. Piece of cake in comparison to the 34 hours I had been in labor thus far. David came in all prepped up in his hospital attire. I smelt burning flesh and then they told David to look over the draping. His reaction went a little something like this, "it it it has lots of hair!!" "It it it's a GIRL, oh my God, it's our Jennings!" "She's so beautiful!" "She's so pretty" "Oh my God!" They took her over to a warmer and I heard that sweet baby cry. I never once was scared, I knew that everything was going to be ok. Proud Daddy carried her over for me to see. I was more interested in taking her cap off to see all of her so called hair, than about seeing her. I couldn't believe MY baby had hair! David and I were both bald. David went with the baby to the PACU and I stayed in the operating room another 30 or so minutes getting put back together. That part sucked. I was all alone (except I had my awesome nurse Robin to chat with). I just wanted to be with my hubs and new baby. Finally, they wheeled me in to the PACU. I found out we had a 7 pounder 20 inch long beauty. She was so alert! It blew my mind. We locked eyes immediately and she wanted to nurse. I could not believe (and I still have a hard time believing) that I had a baby. The grandparents came in to meet our little sweetie. Still, no one knew whether or not we had a son or daughter. My sister comes in, I have Jennings on my chest, and takes one look at her face and says, "it's a girl isn't it", I said "YES!" My Mom instantly grabbed David and started crying! It was amazing.
We got discharged 2 1/2 days later and our journey of parenthood continued at the Bailey residence. Our perfect, healthy, wonderful, baby is here. We are forever grateful for our Jennings Colleen Bailey.
