I was doing Nia's hair in the bathroom (it was 5:50 p.m.) and my water broke although I didn't think it was my water, I thought maybe it was just urine as my midwife said that could happen. I changed clothes and got ready to head to my shower. Romeo showed up just in time for Nia to tell him, "Momma's water broke she thinks and she is getting her bags packed up". I didn't want to be in OKC and be in real labor without all my bags and stuff so I took everything with me just in case. On the way I called the midwife on call which just so happened to be Ann Stewart, my midwife. I was thrilled she was on-call that night. I described what happened and she told me to go to urgent care at the L&D to check. WHAT? But what about my shower? Not today, of all days, I needed that shower for those women to lift me up from such a bad day. So I called to inform the hostess in charge that I would not be there. Funny, right, the guest of honor misses her own baby shower. And I heard the turn out was great - about 40 ladies.
At this point I wasn't having any contractions so I just knew it couldn't have been my water. 6:27 p.m. my first contraction hit but was not bad at all and the rest that came after it were pretty inconsistant and getting a little bit worse but not bad at all. We got to the urgent care for them to check and by the time I got into a room for them to check I was having more and more contractions. I was beginning to think maybe I was in labor. I was still in denial though. Romeo kept telling me to call Judy, a friend who was going to keep the kids for us until mom could get here. I was just still hoping to get to my baby shower.
You know how long it takes in hospitals. We showed up at 6:35 or so and I was still waiting to be checked by 8:00. By this time, I knew I was in labor because my contractions were getting stronger and closer together. I called everyone and mentally started preparing myself for delivery while listening to another women in a different room holler and scream for 20 minutes or so (not the best thing to listen to while waiting to have a baby).
I finally got into the birthing room at 8:45 or so and was feeling wonderful. There is a big difference between laying in a bed while having contractions and being about to get up and walk around. All the pressure is on your hiney so sitting actually is very uncomfortable and makes things worse. I tried the birthing ball - didn't like it very much. I tried swaying back and forth and that did work for 20 minutes or so. Then they started getting REALLY intense so I was just going to try the bath because sitting in the tub I thought would be uncomfortable as well. I got in and it helped take the edge off but the pain was getting worse.
With midwives, they don't check you every now and then to see how far along you are, they just depend on your body to tell you when it's time. I didn't understand this because the first two were with Dr.'s and I was checked frequently. I told Romeo to go call the nurse to check me anyway. He did but my midwife came in and asked me a lot of questions about the pressure and how I was feeling. She wouldn't check me. She kept telling me, your body will tell you when to push, don't fight the contractions (because when one would come, I would tighten every muscle in my body thinking that would help ease the pain), don't scream Amy if you need to yell keep it deep and low, focus all your energy on pushing the baby out. At this point I begged her to check me. Okay, Okay she said and she felt the babies head. She and my nurse started getting things together because it was happening!!
Romeo was there right beside the tub holding my hand and encouraging me. He was great. I turned on my side because my midwife suggested it and as soon as I did, I pushed a couple times and there you have it. Much easier said than done. He made his appearance around 10:03 on July 7th 2009, which was 16 days before my due date. They laid him on my chest, Romeo cut the cord, and they focused on getting him to take his first breath, which didn't take long.
I was up walking around in no time, feeling absolutely wonderful. No IV, no blood drawn, no catheter, no monitors, no hospital bed, I could eat & drink if I felt like it, by the way - I HATE NEEDLES! So this is the way to go for me. My midwife was telling me that she delivered twins the week before all natural.
I delivered at 10:03 but it was 3:00a.m. before we got to our room. It was well worth it for me - the pre and post were fantastic! Now the 45 minutes of torture was not fun but if I ever have another one I will do it the same way.
First family of 5 photo
Ian was trying to figure out how the baby came out.
they are so in love with Kodah
We didn't have a name for him until 11:00 p.m. the night before we were to leave the hospital. We had talked about several but finally agreed on Kodah Romeo Tagle. What a blessing to our family.By the way, this post took me 7 hours to write. I will try to keep you guys updated!
