Well, we did it! Our third and final baby is here! I spent the entire pregnancy saying this was our last baby, but I worried I didn’t really mean it. After going through my third unmedicated labor, I definitely still feel 100% DONE. 🤣
Palmer’s birth story begins at my 39 weeks appointment on Tuesday, July 21st. I was so disappointed to even be this far along because both Evelyn and Henry came at the end of 38 weeks and here we were near the end of 39 weeks with no end in sight. I was tired (of being pregnant and literally), large, and over it. Lissa checked me and I was dilated to a 2, -2 station, but 90% effaced so she stripped my membranes. I started having really mild contractions right away! I had a little bit of time before I was due to pick up Evelyn and Henry so I went and took Mike some lunch at work. It was crazy busy in his store so I just dropped off his food and went to sit in the car to eat my chipotle. While I was out there, Mike’s boss knocked on my window and asked if I was okay. I was like “yeah...just eating chipotle...” and he said he was gonna send mike home, which I of course approved of. I was having super light contractions every three minutes or so, but they weren’t lasting any time at all, but I was hopeful this was early labor!
I called mom and dad and they agreed to continue watching the kids in case this was the real deal, so we headed home. Mike took a nap while I bounced on the ball and watched Harry Potter and the half blood prince. After that Mike made a delicious dinner and I forced him to go on a very slow walk. Contractions were still pretty regular but not at all painful. I thought maybe this is what people who’s children weren’t sunny side up labors felt like and I was REAL jealous LOL. I took a bath and contractions slowed down a little, but we all kind of thought we’d be having a baby that night, so Mica, our doula came over and stayed. I was able to sleep from midnight to 4:30 ish am, when contractions woke me up again. I laid in bed for a little while, then went and bounced on the ball, watched grey’s anatomy, and drank my coffee. I texted Lissa around 6:30 and asked if she could check me. I didn’t think this was true labor because everything was so light and I felt like I was wasting Mica and Mike’s time.
We went to the birth center at 8:30 and sure enough, I was right. I had dilated some, to a “stretchy” 2.5. Lissa told me to stop paying attention to the contractions and go about life as normal. So mike and I grabbed breakfast, ate it together, and then he went off to work. I laid down to take a nap when mom called and told me she had SHINGLES. The worst timing because shingles is contagious to little babies so she wouldn’t be able to see the baby until her rash crusts over. I drove over to pick up the kids so mom could Rest In Peace.
The rest of the day wasn’t very exciting. I was still having some light contractions but I was ignoring them. I took a short nap with Henry. Then I decided to clean Henry’s room. It was a disaster and I made it sparkle. I was worried my dad or brother would need to come stay over so I wanted it to be fresh and clean! After cleaning Henry’s room, I took the kids to the pool. We were there about an hour and while we were in the pool I started to notice my contractions were changing! I texted Mica and let her know what was going on. I told her I was going to take a shower and then lay down to rest. I also texted mike and told him to come home because my contractions were getting stronger.
While I was in the shower my contractions started coming every three minutes! I had to stop what I was doing and breathe through them and I immediately knew that the baby was sunny side up because of all the pressure in my back. Of course. All my babies have been sunny side up in labor. When Mike got home somehow we figured out that Henry was running a fever. Of course he was. So mike put him in the bath tub to try and cool him down and we gave him some Tylenol. Meanwhile, I called dad and told him to come over and told Mica to come over too. I also texted Lissa at about 7:15 and she said to call her when we needed her. Well, by 7:45, mike told me we were going to the birth center LOL. He was very uncomfortable with how close together my contractions were and how strong they were getting and he was very worried about having a baby in the car. I wasn’t quite as worried as Mike. He was driving 85 to the birth center and I kept telling him to slow down, it wasn’t that serious haha.
We beat Lissa to the birth center so I had some contractions outside waiting for her to arrive. People were definitely looking at me funny. It was weird because I would have a really strong contraction then I would feel totally normal and was able to talk and laugh before another one took over. Lissa and the student midwife Tara arrived at the same time and got me inside to check on my progress. I was a 3.5. Ugh. I was really hoping to be further along. Lissa told us we could go back home or we could stay here and do some work to get labor going. We chose to stay and climb the stairs.
My contractions were still coming pretty fast. I was doing lunges up and down the stairs and doing hanging squats off the stair railing. I remember at one point thinking how impressively strong the railings were because I was hanging my entire body weight off of them LOL. It was so hot in the hallway, so we went back inside and I did squats off the kitchen island. I also did some side lying contractions using the peanut ball. If you know anything about Evelyn’s birth, you know the peanut ball KILLED me. I HATED it. But this time around I really loved it. Maybe because I got to just lay down and I was absolutely exhausted. It was a nice rest. We also tried rebozo sifting which was a weird sensation. Basically they put a scarf under your belly and you kneel on all fours while your doula or midwife shakes your belly with the scarf. It was wild!
Around this time (I wanna say it was 9 or 10 pm ish) I got checked again and I was a 6.5. I remember being kind of disappointed by that but thinking back, with E I was stuck at a four for 12 hours and this time I had progressed 3 cm in less than 4 hours! I also started doing contractions on all fours hanging off the edge of the bed onto the bench at the bottom. I was able to rest my head during contractions and it was comfortable on my knees. I was able to rest for a pretty decent amount of time, then I would have contractions back to back, then another period of rest. This was so unlike any of my other labors. It was intense like Evelyn’s but very different. The baby would rotate a little so I would get relief in my back but then rotate back to sunny side up. What I really liked during contractions was having mike hold my hands, one person applying counter pressure on my back or doing hip squeezes, and another person lifting my belly. I was very high maintenance LOL.
At one point Lissa told me I could get in the tub. For a while, the relief was great. I really enjoyed the water on my back and it relieved some of my pain. But then I started getting pushy. I could only handle hanging off the edge of the tub, not any other position. I was getting anxious by the contractions and having to really concentrate to relax. I was trying to move the baby down, relax, and keep my footing in the tub. I really wanted to have the baby in the tub because I haven’t been able to do it with either of the kids. I remember thinking at one point that if I could push the baby out, I could finally get a nap. LOL
Eventually it got close to time to push. I was so close but not all the way there. I had a lip of cervix that wouldn’t move out of the way, so Lissa was trying to push it out of the way. I was really struggling to relax and starting to feel like this baby was never going to be born. This went on for a while. I finally dilated to a 10 and I was pushing but I was getting more and more worked up. Lissa had me change positions out of my squat into leaning back in the tub. This helped a little, but again I knew I wasn’t pushing effectively and I was hiding from the contractions. My water hadn’t broken (which is crazy because my water had always broken to start labor previously!) so Lissa broke it, hoping that would help. I was thrashing around and even told Lissa that I was dying. (I was not) I kept trying but Lissa eventually told me I had to get out of the tub.
I tried another position, squatting with one knee up in a side lunge. This helped but still no baby so Lissa and Mica basically hauled me out of the tub. As soon as I was standing I screamed (or at least it felt like I did LOL) “THE BABY!” I felt like the baby was going to fall out of my body. Lissa teacher down and could feel the baby right there so they got me out of the tub and onto the birthing stool. I gave a push or two there and her whole body popped out! There was no easing her head out, then her shoulders...she came out all at once! (Fun note, Evelyn kept saying the baby was going to pop out and it was so fitting that the baby actually did LOL) The baby was completely face up which is why I had such a terrible time pushing and getting her head all the way in my pelvis.
It was just an instant relief when the baby was born. I leaned back on the birth stool and mike came over to pick the baby up and checked the gender. It was a girl!! We had been suspecting that for the last month or so but we were so excited to see we were right. We knew Evelyn would be SO excited to have a baby sister. Once her cord stopped pulsing, Mike cut the cord and put her on his chest while they helped me move to the bed. I had a small tear that had to be stitched up. I feel like this took 79383 hours. Finally mike brought her back to me and we got to cuddle. My whole body hurt from the contractions and exercise and having a baby. So he had to help me get situated to I could nurse Palmer.
After I was all stitched up and peed and rested, it was time to get in the herbal bath. It was sooooo obscenely hot. I made Melissa turn it down and put cold water in the tub several times before I was able to get in. After relaxing for a little bit, Mike brought me Palmer so she could soak with me. We enjoyed the really hot bath for a while but then it was just too hot so I asked to get out. After that we took a couple cute photos and we were ready to go home!
In all, I was in true labor for about 7 hours. It really wasn’t a bad length of time but the contractions were wild and intense and I know for a fact I don’t ever want to do that again LOL. Palmer has been the perfect little addition to our family. We are now a complete family of 5!
