Party of Five

To say that this labor was the longest would be an understatement. Beginning on Tuesday with my membrane sweep I started having some lovely contractions. They were steady, intense, and gradually increasing. And then all of a sudden they stop....

This happened every day.... for a week.

And every day my spirits fell a little more, until I no longer believed this baby was going to come out on his own.

On Monday March 19th, I was scheduled to go in for fetal testing since I was over the 41 week mark. I woke at around 2 am with more contractions which I didn't pay much mind to since they were just the same as the rest of the week. By 7 am the contractions weren't slowing, and they were much more intense so we decided to just go in. At this point I figured if nothing happened they would just rip the baby out and I was at my wits end.

When they did the initial check I was at 4 cm so they admitted me right away. I cannot tell you how happy I was at this point. Not only was I 4 cm, but my amazing midwife was also in which meant that she would be there with me.

Now, let's remember that I got to the hospital at about 9 am and was at 4 cm. After hours of laboring when I was checked again, I was still at 4cm. I started having flash backs of my labor with Harper where I labored for hours and hours and never made it past 4 cm. 20 hours later he's born. So, naturally I became super frustrated and wanted to give up right then and there. Luckily I have a great support team, and they rooted me on.

But then, hours later, around 4 pm, I'm checked again.... still 4cm. So, at this point my midwife says, how are you feeling? Do you want to talk options? Yes. Yes I do. We decide to go with the epidural.

Now, initially I wanted to do a completely natural birth again, like I had with Gideon. But, for whatever reason, my labors haven't gotten easier, they've become more difficult. So, I came to terms with it pretty quick and accepted the drugs.

I am actually so glad I did. I was able to sleep for an hour, and within that time went from 4 cm, to ready to push out a baby! And you know what, I was actually able to enjoy it. I wasn't too tired, I was happy, and relaxed. It turned out to be a wonderful birth experience.

I pushed out that beautiful baby, sunny-side up, they say, and it was finally over. My last baby. No tearing, no c-section. Just a healthy baby boy.

The End

Tried to keep it short and sweet.... We'll talk more about the dirty details later... 😉