Teagan Ella has arrived!

Our baby girl is here! Here is her birth story...pictures to follow once we get more settled!

From the time I went to bed Saturday night (March 26) I was having some painful contractions that were waking me up. I was so tired, that I just kept noticing them as more of an irritant and inconvenience and then falling right back to sleep. Around 2am, they started to get more painful and more frequent. At first I thought "What is going on?? Why won't this stop??" and then I finally woke up enough to realize I was probably in the beginnings of labor. I got out of bed so I wouldn't disturb Hazen (I was too wound to sleep once I realized what was going on anyway), and just relaxed on the computer and watching TV. In that time, I had a couple of loose BMs and realized we would probably be meeting our baby girl that day.

At that point, I decided I should try to get some sleep. Since I was hoping to go without an epidural, I knew there would be no chance to rest once labor really hit. I took a nice hot shower, and then I laid back down around 5am and managed to doze between contractions, which were about every 8 minutes at that point. Finally around 8, I decided it was time to get everyone out of bed, call our friend who was watching Ian, and start getting ready to head to the hospital. We got everyone fed (I just had some fruit, water, whole wheat toast, and a yogurt so as not to upset my stomach), loaded up the car, and headed out to drop Ian off. The contractions were about every 3-4 minutes in the car, and it was SO HARD to get comfortable during them while sitting upright.

We got to the hospital around 9:30, I was hooked up to the monitors, and right away the contractions started to slow down. They were registering as pretty powerful, but they were few and far between. The midwife came to check me then, and I was 4cm and 100% effaced. Baby was at 0 station. On Wednesday (I had an episode of "false" labor) I was checked and told I was 2cm, 50%, and at +2, so this was a definite improvement. I told her my wishes to NOT have the epidural, so she sent me on a walk for a few hours. If I'd wanted drugs, she would have admitted me then, but she wanted me to be able to get my body working the way it needed to before admitting me as an epidural-refusing patient.

Around 1pm we returned to the hospital. At that point I was 5cm, 100% effaced and was admitted. I walked the halls, found comfortable positions on the bed, and just got myself as relaxed as I could. Around 4, the contractions started to become extremely painful and more regular. The pressure when I was standing was intense, and it felt like she was about to come out. I was checked and was 7cm and -1 station. The midwife and my nurse suggested some positions to help me get the baby to come lower and put pressure on my cervix, and OH MAN did those positions put pressure on me! It was so unbearable that I couldn't do it for very long and had to half lie/half sit on the bed to get through the contractions. It slowed the contractions down, but when they came they hit HARD.

At 6 I started swearing and telling Hazen to call the nurse, I wanted the epidural. He asked me repeatedly if I was sure, then called the nurse for me. The nurse came in and also asked me several times if I was sure. I remember her saying "I don't want you to be upset about it tomorrow. You've made it so far." I told her I was sure, I just wanted it...and then I said "Well, can you check me first?", knowing I would have been very angry at myself if I got to the end and then wanted one. She agreed, but before she could the anesthesiologist came to the door. She and the midwife told him I wouldn't be needing him (they could tell by the sounds I was making that I was close). They checked me and I was still only at an 8, but I was completely losing my resolve at that point. They broke my water for me at that point, thinking that it would likely cause the baby to come very quickly. I wanted everything to stop, I didn't want to do it anymore, I was DONE. I think my midwife knew that I was doubting myself, so she had me try a few different positions, like all-fours and squatting. I felt so badly like I needed to push, but I knew it was too early. My midwife told me to push enough to get the edge off, so I did. Before long, I was screaming, and pushing, and really not myself at all. She told me I could push through the contractions, that it being my second baby my cervix didn't have to be completely dilated. When I was contracting and pushing, there was only a tiny lip of cervix left around baby's head that she could push away.

Once the pushing started, I knew I had to just do it. It hurt so much, and the infamous "ring of fire" is no joke! I was so afraid that if I stopped, that would be it. I wouldn't be able to finish. The motivation to push when there are no pain meds is amazing. It hurts so unbelievably to do it, but you logically know that the only way to get through the pain is to push through it. So even though it hurt more than anything I have ever done in my life, I pushed and I pushed until I could feel her come out. It was amazing looking down and seeing her tiny little body right there. I gave one final small push and out she came! I only pushed for 13 minutes, and Teagan Ella was born at 7:03pm (less than an hour after I started begging for my epidural) weighing 7lbs, 9oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

It turns out that the little miss was a "Full OP" meaning completely posterior aka "sunny side up". I didn't fully understand what that meant, but all of the nurses and the midwife were talking very excitedly about it and talking about how amazing it was that I did it drug free, without tearing (I had two "skid marks" but they don't even burn when I pee), and with only 13 minutes of pushing. After doing research, posterior babies tend to cause longer labors (17 hours for me), more often require Pitocin to stimulate contractions (my contractions were sometimes pretty spaced out), take longer to push out, and have more risk of tearing/episiotomy. Back labor is also suspected to be more common, which I did have. The back pain was completely cancelled out by the extreme pressure at the end, though! It made me feel better finding out that I had a difficult positioned baby. For one, I didn't think I'd ever try a natural birth again. Now, knowing that it was harder than the next probably will be (if there is a next), I may just give it another go. Also, I watched natural births online. I read stories of people's natural births. I read books. I had an image in my head of how mine would be (and how I would behave during it!) and let's just say that my birth is not probably one that should be viewed by anyone considering going without the epidural! I'm pretty sure I would have swayed several to go the other way.

She has been a fantastic nurser from only a few minutes old. Her latch is flawfless, and she is pretty easy to convince to eat. As of yet (two days) I don't have to use the mean tricks I used with Ian (cold washcloths, for one) to convince her to wake enough to eat. Sometimes she falls asleep during a feed, but she usually goes long enough that I don't worry about it and I just know that she will be ready to eat a little sooner than usual next time. It hasn't been a big deal, and the more often we nurse, the quicker my milk will come in. Going to bed last night, 24 hours after her birth, my breasts were already becoming engorged. I don't have my fully mature milk yet, but it's definitely not just colostrum anymore.

Overall, it was a great experience. It was fantastic going into labor on my own--so exciting! And it does feel really good to look back and know that my body was fully capable of delivering her without intervention or pain-relief and that, for the most part, I was mentally able to do it, too. And recovery was so easy--no waiting to walk or use the bathroom, no catheters, no bedpans, I was able to eat immediately afterwards which was great.

She looks exactly like her big brother did at birth (though a bit smaller!). It's unreal!