Claire Julia has arrived!

Claire Julia was born March 13, 2009. She weighed 7lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long.

Super long post here. This is the story of Claire's birth. Some of it may be a little too much info. Read at your own risk, lol. Feel free to ask me any questions about the experience.


Chris and I have joined the parents club. Labor started with my losing my mucus plug on Wednesday night around 9pm while attending a high school play. I was feeling uncomfortable for the full three hours while watching the play but I just attributed it to the bad seats with no leg room. I wasn’t feeling any distinct contractions, just more like the Braxton Hicks not distinctly ending or starting. Chris was working Wednesday night and he was supposed to get off at 10:30pm. I decided to watch a movie and doze while waiting for him to arrive. At 11:30 Chris still wasn’t home but being new at his job I knew that sometimes the paperwork takes a bit longer than anticipated.

I felt a gush and went to the bathroom to see what the heck that was. I assumed it was my water breaking. At this point I started having contractions. They lasted between 45-60 seconds. There were almost 8 minutes between the first two contractions and then almost 7 minutes until the next one but ever contraction after that was spaced between 4 and 5 minutes. It got to the point that I was looking at the clock to prepare myself for a contraction because they were that regular. I got a bagel to eat knowing that if I was going into labor I would need as much energy as possible. I kept watching the movie and just closed my eyes and breathed through each contraction, no special rhythm, just breathing. Chris called at 12:30 and said that he was still at work and said that he would be about another hour. I let him know that I had been having contractions for about an hour and that they were very consistent. He said he would be home within the next hour as we thought labor would take some time.

Contraction pain moved into my back around 1am. I went into the bathroom and leaned on the edge of the bathtub and rocked my hips like a dog wagging its tail during contractions. I started making noises that were pretty melodic. No words but different pitches and tones. Chris got home at 1:30am and watched me labor through about 5 contractions where I was trying to walk around the living room. Contractions got really intense and I felt like I was going to throw up so I went back into the bathroom and did throw up in the bathtub. Chris got worried at this point because he remembered Stacey saying that puking was normal when switching stages of labor. He asked for the phone number of my midwife so he could ask her what to do. I was laying full out on the floor of the bathroom at this point. My mom came out of her bedroom to see if I was okay since she had heard me puking and my vocal tomes were becoming very loud . I didn’t want anyone talking to me because they were distracting. I let them know when contractions were starting so they would be quiet and let me do it. While Chris was talking to our midwife she asked if I was still able to talk. He told her that I was in very good spirits between and during the contractions. She said that we could make our way to the hospital to get checked out as we were having a hospital birth.

I could barely make it to the car and had to rest many times between our home and the emergency waiting room. They wheeled me back to labor and delivery where I changed into a gown and knelt on the floor to deal with the contractions. It almost looked like I was in prayer with my hands clasped on the bed or a chair. I was very vocal during all of my contractions, just making those melodic tones, so much that the nurse asked Chris if I was a singer. Our nurse was so nice. She checked and told me that I was about 5 cm and 80% effaced so I would soon be transferred to an actual delivery room instead of the exam room. I was able to walk to the new room.

When we got there I knelt on the floor on a mat in that praying and rocking position again. The lights were low and I was able to work through the contractions as they came, answering any questions the nurse had. I was group B Strep positive so I knew that I would be getting an IV to receive penicillin. The nurse was going to put the IV line in but I told her that I had really small difficult veins and that it might just be easier for her to call the IV therapist from the start. She did and I just continued to deal with the contractions while laying in the bed so she could look at the baby’s heart rate. It seemed like forever before the IV therapist arrived. I asked for a cold cloth to hold on my forehead while she poked me. I have had past problems with blood being drawn on an empty stomach during my 3 hour glucose test. I held the cloth over my face while she put in the line. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to draw the blood they needed from that site and for some reason we had to wait for another IV therapist to come and draw then blood from my other arm. Later they told me that I was having really high blood pressure and they needed the blood to do some tests. Not sure how long that took either. I was refusing to look at the clock because I am an obsessive clock watcher and knew that it would only seem longer if I was counting the minutes. I had kept my options open for an epidural because I wasn’t sure that I would be able to handle the pain. Around 6am I asked for the epidural because the contractions were super intense and I knew they would be getting even stronger. They checked me at this point and I was at 7cm.

The anesthesiologist arrived around 7:30am and put the epidural in. The catheter they put in hurt much more than the epidural itself. I rested as much as I could but I could still feel the pressure, the slight urge to push. This went on for a while. I was laying on my side and I felt something dripping down my leg. I asked Chris to look and he said it was blood. Thank freaked me out so they called in the midwife. She checked me and I was at 9cm. They were pretty surprised because I was in such good spirits. Somewhere around 8:45am I started feeling the urge to push even stronger. I felt that if I were to move or open my legs that she would fall out. Now I know that is crazy but in the moment that is what I was thinking. My friend had told me that I should wait until my body was ready and I would know what that feels like, not to rush the pushing. I had watched a birth where the woman hadn’t pushed at all and her body delivered the baby by itself. We are amazing creatures and I knew to listen to my body. I was clenching my butt really hard at this point because the urge to push feels like the urge to poo. I had also been shaking off and on for a little while and that was starting to get annoying too.

The urge to push was becoming almost as painful as the contractions. Chris had called the nurse a few times at this point and she finally came in and said that they would really like to get a second dose of antibiotics on board before I delivered. The earliest they could start the drip was 9:30am. I passed the time again without looking at the clock. Chris was stroking my arm and my sister was rubbing my head. Finally they started the antibiotic and I thought we were ready to go. Nope. I now needed to wait until drip had actually travelled into my body. My body was telling me that it was going to start pushing without me. Chris called the nurse back in and she came back at 9:45 and told me to pant like a puppy. What? She was the most unhelpful person that I met in the hospital. Finally as Chris was about to run into the hallway to grab anyone he could find to come in and let me push this girl out, our other nurse came in and said that I could try pushing if I felt like it. Hah.

So I pushed. I’m pretty sure she was surprised that my pushing was actually doing something. She went to get the midwife and the other two nurses. When they came back in I readjusted on the bed to a comfortable position. They told me to push when I felt the urge. This was about 10am. When the pressure started next I went with it and pushed. My sister in law had told me that she pushed for 2 hours so I expected to do the same.

After that push they put up some stirrups to help stabilize my legs. The annoying nurse started petting my leg and telling me to breath like she had said before, like a puppy. Now if I had been in a different place I would have yelled at her to get the heck out of the room but the urge to push came again so I pushed my heart out. They were all telling me that I was doing great but I didn’t believe anyone. I had my eyes closed so I couldn’t watch the clock. I imagined the midwife and the nurses standing there with their arms crossed and lying to me. I felt a warm towel placed on my chest and thought,’Why the heck would they put that on me? I am so hot. ‘ I pushed again and heard, “Mama, take a look.” I thought, no freaking way, but reminded myself that this was only going to happen once in a lifetime with this child. I looked and saw the whole top of her head above the forehead. To my surprise I said, “Ewww, gross.” Whoops.

It was beautiful. There was so much hair and it looked curly. Crazy. I pushed again and felt a flurry of activity. They encouraged me to continue and then Claire shot into the world. I felt a bunch of tugging around and then she was laying on my chest. My daughter. Chris, Melanie, and Emily were all crying. I was just in shock and shaking. I looked at the clock and it was 10:18. Only 18 minutes of pushing. I looked at Chris and said, "Well, I could do that again." He had been asking all throughout the pregnancy how many children I though we would have. I told him that I would let him know after this one came out. I don't think we expected me to say something like that in that moment. We waited until the cord stopped pulsing before cutting it. My sister was taking some pictures at this point. Chris cut the cord and went with the baby over to the bassinet where they were going to weigh and measure her.

The midwife was starting to mess around down below. I asked if I needed to push out the placenta. She said no and it slid out. They started pushing on my stomach and I could feel everything gushing out with every push. I was talking to my sister and sister in law at this time and tried to ignore what was happening. It hurt. The midwife said that I had a tear and that she would need to put in some stitches. I flinched as she put the first one in and she was surprised that it hurt me. So she gave me a shot of lidocaine and continued to stitch. And stitch and stitch. I was so worried that everything was ruined down there. The midwife finished up and the nurse cleaned up the area and gave me an ice pack.

The baby was brought back over to me by Chris and we just cuddled. In our birth plan I had asked that all non essential treatments be delayed. She stayed with me for quite some time before the nurse came back and asked if she could who Chris how to bathe her. My parents came into the room after the bath as I was still laying on the delivery table with a catheter in. I had to sit like that for a really long time because there was another birth happening that my nurses were occupied with. Finally they came and cleaned me up and took me to another room where we could have the rest of our visitors join us. We went home around 3 the next afternoon . All in all it was a super positive experience (except for that waiting to push thing). I do have a 1st degree tear but it was inside so I have a few layers of stitches which are still pretty painful. When I feel the pain I can't help but remind myself that it was all worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.