Thursday, June 14- My mom got to Boise this night. I wasn't due until June 19, so we planned a lot of projects to keep us busy until baby came. Those days are a blur now, but I do remember putting up curtains and waxing mom's car.
Monday, June 18- We had a nice dinner and after sitting on the couch for a minute, my mind started reeling. "How bad can castor oil be? I've had diarrhea before, it's not that bad. And it's odorless and tasteless. Plus if you mix it with orange juice you probably can't even tell you're drinking it. And how bad can contractions be? Not that bad, cause women have babies all the time. Having a baby can't be as bad as people make it out to be." Needless to say I was feeling pretty invincible. I just don't really know what happened! Out of nowhere my mind said IT'S TIME. TAKE THE CASTOR OIL.
I voiced my thoughts to mom and Blake, and decided I would go take a long, hot shower (my last as a first-time pregnant woman) When I got out, my mom had prepared some orange juice and a nice little cup of 4 tablespoons castor oil. We mixed it up, I plugged my nose, and I drank it at 11 pm.
It didn't taste gross, so don't believe anyone that tells you that it tastes gross. It definitely has a weird texture, like drinking oil (hence the name.) I always pictured motor oil whenever I thought about drinking castor oil. Nope, just oily orange juice. The only gross part was when I would stop drinking and I could feel the oil all over my lips. No way was I going to lick my lips.
So that was that. I drank castor oil. Big whoop! I crawled into bed with Blake at about midnight, feeling like I would probably just wake up pregnant and labor-free like I had so many mornings before...
Tuesday, June 19 1:30 am- woke up and felt the urge to use the bathroom. spent about 10 minutes on the toilet, went back to bed.
4:30 am- felt another urge to use the toilet. spent another 15 minutes emptying my stomach and intestines and bowels of its contents, went back to bed.
5:00 am- couldn't fall asleep. I was having what I thought at the time to be cramps, but looking back I realized they were contractions. very mild and irregular, but they were making sleep difficult. I put on my headphones and listened to my HypnoBirthing soundtrack to try and soothe myself to sleep (no I did not actually use this method during labor or delivery).
7:00 am- woke up after a restless sleep to some more mild cramps and back pain. I started texting my mom, who was in bed downstairs.
Mom: Did you get any contractions last night?
Me: I'm assuming that's what they were! Just had one at 7:22 and again at 7:30 I think...
Mom: Oh goody. How long do they last?
Me: Haven't gotten that far yet
Mom: Haha ok
Me: The bebe has definitely dropped I know that!
Mom: Well we could go for a walk
Me: I'm going to have a shower cause my back is killing! Do any of your ice packs double as heat pads?
Mom: Ya I think so. I'll go warm one up
I got out of the shower at about 8:30 and got dressed. At 9:19 we decided it might be a good idea to start timing contractions, since they were coming what felt like fairly close together. Lo and behold, they were coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting about 45 seconds. After determining that they were consistent, we decided it was time! Blake and I packed up the remainder of our hospital bag, and at 9:41 we got in the car.
We got to the hospital at about 10:30 and got settled into a room. My nurse came in and checked me, said I was dilated to a 4 and that they would be checking me in. After that, everything is kind of a blur. She hooked me up to monitor my contractions and baby's heartbeat. People kept coming in, asking all sorts of questions that I did NOT want to answer. Why does anyone try to talk to a woman in labor?!
At about 11:15 I decided I had had enough of this. I had never planned on getting an epidural, but I was pretty open to narcotics. My mom asked the nurse if I could have some, (I was so beyond speaking for myself at this point) and we decided that I would get in the Jacuzzi for a while until someone could come administer those to me.
In the jacuzzi, another nurse came in and started talking... most of what she said I have no idea. She had me sign some papers (I seriously have no idea what I signed) and all I remember thinking was STOP TALKING!!! It was so painful and annoying. I think she told me that I could stay in the tub for another 30 minutes, and she would come back and give me the narcotics after I got out. I had Blake apply some counter-pressure to my back in an attempt to relieve some pain, but that only worked for about 5 or 10 minutes before I decided to get out.
As soon as I was back in the delivery room, I felt intense pressure and a very, VERY strong desire to push. The nurse came in and checked me, and with a slight look of panic in her eyes said "Okay, we are having this baby really soon." She called the midwife, told her "there is barely a rim there!" and told me NOT to push.
After what felt like FOREVER I heard the midwife come charging into the room. (My eyes were closed.) She was panting, like she had run as fast as she could to get here. She checked me, confirmed that it was indeed go-time, and rushed out of the room to get dressed.
At 12:15 or so I started pushing. Each push felt so fulfilling, like I could FINALLY put all my energy into something, instead of just holding it all in and trying to make it through each contraction in one piece. I pushed for about 35 minutes, and then Ruby was here!
The midwife asked "well, what is it?" (we didn't find out what the sex was, and I had asked that Blake tell me.) He looked at our new baby, confused for a minute, and responded, "It's a girl!" Ruby was then placed on my chest and all three of us hugged and cried for the first time, together as a family.
For this one he put a couch cushion on top of his stomach so he could put the blanket over it and have some peace and dark..
Who sleeps like this?! This was after I woke him up to come play with me. It didn't work. On he slept. But isn't he so handsome? I love the phone on the chest too.
