RCR
I woke up on a Tuesday morning, around 7AM, with a sharp pain. I figured, eh, my pregnant self has allegedly surpassed 40 weeks now, so just pee because your bladder is hollerin'. But the sharp pains continued well into the afternoon. & the love of my life needed to run some errands so just in case today is the day, I should tag along. I started reading about contractions & the frequency in which so many women have had them. I kept reading that unless they are 2-5 minutes apart, don't go yet. Mine were 5-10 minutes apart all day. Some were pretty strong though, so around 6pm, I decided to go to the hospital to get checked out (read: in). Nurse 1 said, I was still dilated at only 1 cm so she directed me to walk for an hour & if there is a significant change thereafter, I would be admitted.
Meantime, my love was in the parking lot waiting for me to text him, BRiNG YOSELF. This Covid-19 got us all shook.
So I walked for an hour experiencing contractions every 7 minutes. I had text my mother to see if she was okay because today marked 11yrs since her grandmother had passed away. My great-grandmother was a pretty fun, great, & strong woman. Because my mother was mourning her & feeling sad, I dared not tell her where I was. I didn't need her worrying about me. I knew that I would be fine & I couldn't wait to contact her once we were all home, with our fresh human at our sides.
7pm, same nurse checked me out to see if any "progress" had been made. I was still at 1cm. So she contacted my doctor to let him know & he was probably going to send me home upon hearing the news. She stepped out & I had the sharpest contraction yet while she was gone. Baby's heartbeat was being monitored & I remember not hearing it during or moments after & it alarmed me some. However, in order to not create stress, I reassured myself that the device attached to me wasn't aligned with him, also remembered how active he had been throughout my pregnancy. It took several attempts for the doctors & nurses to locate his heartbeat during checkups. They would even say, "He is very active! Moves around a lot." Yeah, who you tellin'.
So she comes back & tells me that I would be discharged but looked over at the readings & noticed an irregularity. She said that baby did not like that contraction. That strong one I just told you about. So she stepped out again to let my doctor know her findings. While she was gone, I went to the restroom & felt great relief: peeing. I got up to wash my hands & oh here comes another one. Breathe, Jenn. Breathe. Now THiS one had been the strongest one yet. I remember envisioning a balloon being popped with a needle. I proceeded to wash my hands & then splash, my water breaks. He's coming soon. The nurse walks in as I finish drying my hands from washing them. Letting her know, my water broke! So I lay down so she can check me again. I was at 5 cm. I had 2 more strong contractions before I was at 10 cm. "Complete," was her answer when I asked her if I was at 10 yet. It was now 8:45 pm. I was ready to have this baby. I needed to go into another room so they began to get me ready to be transferred. I closed my eyes because I felt like that was less painful & I needed to focus on my breathing during these strong ass contractions. I experienced these waves of pain for an hour before I asked the room full of two nurses, "I'm not trying to push, I promise, but my body is doing so. I don't think I can keep it from not pushing. But it's not me!" They holler, "Hold on, the doctor is not in yet." "I am trying but the baby is coming."
The doctor came in at 9:47 & they put the gloves on him. I heard, "The doctor is here!" during the contraction/push that would bring baby's head out of my vagina. I was so relieved that I could push now. "Okay, push one more time!"
"Push?!?" Yes, push!
I pushed a second time & Rylo was born at 9:48pm. Incredible.
All natural, no medicine, no pain relief, just trusting my body, my breath & being immensely grateful/thankful that I did it.
I had the universe in mind as I repeated outloud my gratitude & thanks.
Meantime, my love was in the parking lot waiting for me to text him, BRiNG YOSELF. This Covid-19 got us all shook.
So I walked for an hour experiencing contractions every 7 minutes. I had text my mother to see if she was okay because today marked 11yrs since her grandmother had passed away. My great-grandmother was a pretty fun, great, & strong woman. Because my mother was mourning her & feeling sad, I dared not tell her where I was. I didn't need her worrying about me. I knew that I would be fine & I couldn't wait to contact her once we were all home, with our fresh human at our sides.
7pm, same nurse checked me out to see if any "progress" had been made. I was still at 1cm. So she contacted my doctor to let him know & he was probably going to send me home upon hearing the news. She stepped out & I had the sharpest contraction yet while she was gone. Baby's heartbeat was being monitored & I remember not hearing it during or moments after & it alarmed me some. However, in order to not create stress, I reassured myself that the device attached to me wasn't aligned with him, also remembered how active he had been throughout my pregnancy. It took several attempts for the doctors & nurses to locate his heartbeat during checkups. They would even say, "He is very active! Moves around a lot." Yeah, who you tellin'.
So she comes back & tells me that I would be discharged but looked over at the readings & noticed an irregularity. She said that baby did not like that contraction. That strong one I just told you about. So she stepped out again to let my doctor know her findings. While she was gone, I went to the restroom & felt great relief: peeing. I got up to wash my hands & oh here comes another one. Breathe, Jenn. Breathe. Now THiS one had been the strongest one yet. I remember envisioning a balloon being popped with a needle. I proceeded to wash my hands & then splash, my water breaks. He's coming soon. The nurse walks in as I finish drying my hands from washing them. Letting her know, my water broke! So I lay down so she can check me again. I was at 5 cm. I had 2 more strong contractions before I was at 10 cm. "Complete," was her answer when I asked her if I was at 10 yet. It was now 8:45 pm. I was ready to have this baby. I needed to go into another room so they began to get me ready to be transferred. I closed my eyes because I felt like that was less painful & I needed to focus on my breathing during these strong ass contractions. I experienced these waves of pain for an hour before I asked the room full of two nurses, "I'm not trying to push, I promise, but my body is doing so. I don't think I can keep it from not pushing. But it's not me!" They holler, "Hold on, the doctor is not in yet." "I am trying but the baby is coming."
The doctor came in at 9:47 & they put the gloves on him. I heard, "The doctor is here!" during the contraction/push that would bring baby's head out of my vagina. I was so relieved that I could push now. "Okay, push one more time!"
"Push?!?" Yes, push!
I pushed a second time & Rylo was born at 9:48pm. Incredible.
All natural, no medicine, no pain relief, just trusting my body, my breath & being immensely grateful/thankful that I did it.
I had the universe in mind as I repeated outloud my gratitude & thanks.
