Labor started at 1:30 am the morning of October 16th. My scheduled induction was at 6 am. I prayed for weeks that I wouldn't have to be induced, and I guess I just needed to wait. I woke up to use the bathroom and had a contraction that was hard enough that I didn't make it to the bathroom. I don't know if I slept through the easy part or what. The first one I felt was painful. I went to bed and told Caleb that I was starting labor and he said, "Oh that's nice", and rolled over and went back to sleep. I timed the contractions at 7 minutes apart and continued to wake up Caleb with updates. He slept between every contraction and I kept asking him to keep the time, and well, he didn't. All those birth classes I drug him to with me.... and he sleeps.
I called my sister and told her what was going on and she drove up to our house in Tigard with Kenady, her youngest daughter who is 10 months old. She helped me get comfortable and started timing my labor. Rhoda always had short labors, so I thought I was going to be like her. Well, I am not. We walked, bounced on my large exercise ball, ate, drank, and labor just kept on slowly progressing. I wanted to labor at home as long as possible and it was making Caleb a little nervous. We live an hour from the hospital and I waited until my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart before we left. We have a loop in our townhouse that goes to the mailboxes. We walked around that loop over and over again. I started having just one contraction during the loop, then two, and then I was having three contractions before I could finish. We went back inside and Caleb said it was time to hit the road and drive to the hospital. It was a long car drive and we left at 5 pm, which means we hit lots of traffic.
The nice part of laboring at home is that you don't have any doctors, tests, or nurses to deal with. The downside was that my labor was far enough along that I was in a great deal of pain and I had to sit in a car for an hour. I couldn't sit down because I had a lot of back labor and had to lean forward. My sister was driving her huge Yukon XL and I would turn around on my hands and knees for every contraction. Caleb was driving our car in front of us and we tried to get there fast. I knew I wasn't going to have the baby that fast, I just wanted out of the car!
After we got to the hospital they checked me in and got me a room right away. I think they knew I was in pain because they took one look at me as I was having a contraction and they put me into triage immediately. The nurse checked me and I was at 5 cm. She let me in the room very quickly and let me grab a birthing ball on my way. I got to avoid the dreaded monitors most of the time. They had wireless ones so I could still walk around and move even when they did put them on me.
Finally, Rhoda convinced me to sit in the tub; which was amazing. I really didn't want to get in the tub because I felt like it was too much effort. I was just trying to relax and breathe through my contractions. I couldn't get comfortable and really felt like I might not be able to make it. The contractions were really not stopping and all I could do was lean forward and Caleb would press on my low back. Once I got into the tub, it really felt like we turned back the clock. I had to roll over to my stomach for every contraction because something about being on my back made the pain much worse.
I didn't talk or scream during labor like I thought I would. But I did moan a lot. Enough that Rhoda's daughter Kenady moaned with me. When I would make a noise, she would make a noise. It was so sweet that I could focus on that and not the pain I was in. My water broke in the tub and I decided it was time to start pushing. They rushed me out of the tub and into my room again. I didn't even want them to put clothes back on me when they wheeled me in the chair back to my room. I told them just to let me go naked. I heard that you lose your modesty during labor, but that was a little extreme. Rhoda told me that I would regret that decision and they draped a gown over the front of me and we took off.
Once I was back in the room they checked me and I was at a 10. My cervix was not completely thinned out so I couldn't push yet. I felt like I wanted to, but I didn't really need to yet. The urge was there but not super intense. I had been in labor for around 21 hours by now, so I was exhausted. I couldn't get comfortable and they broke the bed apart for me and let me use this squatting bar. I put it under my arms and rested my chin on it, squatted, and that's kind of how I stayed. The nurse had this water press she kept on me. Pretty soon I felt the urge to push like nothing I have ever felt in my life.
I felt the burning ring of fire that my sister told me about and I really did think that death may come before my child. I told Caleb that I couldn't do it anymore. I don't know what option I really had at that point, I just remember thinking that if I had to endure one more minute, I would explode. I pushed for 45 minutes before Shelby was finally born. Because of the position I was in, once her head was out, her body came out too. I guess that's a benefit to standing up when you deliver. Gravity is your friend and helps.
I had Shelby after 22 hours of painful labor, without any drugs at all. I never would have thought that I could endure that much pain for that long. I am stronger than I ever knew that I was. I really do think that our bodies are amazing and that if we can focus on our goals, anything is possible.
After Shelby was born they set me back on the bed right away and put her on my chest. I just kept looking at her amazed at how perfect she was. The unbearable pain was gone and I had the sweetest little child in the entire world. She was crying non-stop when she was born. She was mad at the world and I have a feeling that this may be her personality in life. She has something to say and wants to be seen. Caleb and I just stared at each other and at her and just kept looking at her. These moments are so precious that I can't even describe them. We changed our whole lives and now have our own little family.
Shelby Lu was born on October 16th at 11:08 pm. She was 9 pounds and 20 inches long. I had to have surgery after she was born, so I missed the first 3 hours of her life. That was hard for me and I wasn't very happy about it. They explained to Caleb what had happened and that I had to go in for surgery immediately. I got to stay with Shelby for about 5 minutes before they took me. My blood pressure dropped to 64/34. I started going into shock and that's about all I can remember. I missed her first bath, being weighed, and all of those first moments. Caleb took excellent care of her and just sit and rocked her waiting for me. He definitely bonded with our daughter and she will probably prefer him the rest of her life. That's alright, I think daddy's girls are pretty cute. When I was in the recovery room from surgery they told me when I wiggled my toes, that I could leave. I remember staring at my toes over and over, telling them to move. But they just wouldn't. I had a spinal block so they could repair me in the operating room. No visitors were allowed and I was sitting there by myself thinking about my new child and how badly I wanted to see her.
After I was finally released the nurse practically ran when she was pushing my bed down the hall. I got to the room and as soon as Shelby heard me she started screaming again. She screamed the whole first 24 hours of her life. We were worried that she was going to have colic right away and were beginning to wonder if we were going to make it. After about one day she threw up a bunch of blood that she had swallowed when I was delivering her. I bled so much that she was covered in it, so it makes sense she probably got sick. Once she got rid of that and the doctors looked her over, she was very happy. We didn't hear her little voice at all the entire rest of the time.
She had to sleep with the light for jaundice and I had lost enough blood that they either had to do a blood transfusion or put me on some serious medications and IV. I was not about to have a blood transfusion, so we stayed in the hospital longer.
We stayed in the hospital almost four days and were very happy to return to our own beds and some home cooking. Thankfully we had many friends and family members bring us dinner so that Caleb didn't make me Top Roman for a week straight. She is a very happy baby and hardly ever cries. She enjoys sleeping most of the day and staying up late at night. We are working on getting her to fall asleep earlier and try to keep her awake during the day, but so far she seems to be winning that battle.
I called my sister and told her what was going on and she drove up to our house in Tigard with Kenady, her youngest daughter who is 10 months old. She helped me get comfortable and started timing my labor. Rhoda always had short labors, so I thought I was going to be like her. Well, I am not. We walked, bounced on my large exercise ball, ate, drank, and labor just kept on slowly progressing. I wanted to labor at home as long as possible and it was making Caleb a little nervous. We live an hour from the hospital and I waited until my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart before we left. We have a loop in our townhouse that goes to the mailboxes. We walked around that loop over and over again. I started having just one contraction during the loop, then two, and then I was having three contractions before I could finish. We went back inside and Caleb said it was time to hit the road and drive to the hospital. It was a long car drive and we left at 5 pm, which means we hit lots of traffic.
The nice part of laboring at home is that you don't have any doctors, tests, or nurses to deal with. The downside was that my labor was far enough along that I was in a great deal of pain and I had to sit in a car for an hour. I couldn't sit down because I had a lot of back labor and had to lean forward. My sister was driving her huge Yukon XL and I would turn around on my hands and knees for every contraction. Caleb was driving our car in front of us and we tried to get there fast. I knew I wasn't going to have the baby that fast, I just wanted out of the car!
After we got to the hospital they checked me in and got me a room right away. I think they knew I was in pain because they took one look at me as I was having a contraction and they put me into triage immediately. The nurse checked me and I was at 5 cm. She let me in the room very quickly and let me grab a birthing ball on my way. I got to avoid the dreaded monitors most of the time. They had wireless ones so I could still walk around and move even when they did put them on me.
Finally, Rhoda convinced me to sit in the tub; which was amazing. I really didn't want to get in the tub because I felt like it was too much effort. I was just trying to relax and breathe through my contractions. I couldn't get comfortable and really felt like I might not be able to make it. The contractions were really not stopping and all I could do was lean forward and Caleb would press on my low back. Once I got into the tub, it really felt like we turned back the clock. I had to roll over to my stomach for every contraction because something about being on my back made the pain much worse.
I didn't talk or scream during labor like I thought I would. But I did moan a lot. Enough that Rhoda's daughter Kenady moaned with me. When I would make a noise, she would make a noise. It was so sweet that I could focus on that and not the pain I was in. My water broke in the tub and I decided it was time to start pushing. They rushed me out of the tub and into my room again. I didn't even want them to put clothes back on me when they wheeled me in the chair back to my room. I told them just to let me go naked. I heard that you lose your modesty during labor, but that was a little extreme. Rhoda told me that I would regret that decision and they draped a gown over the front of me and we took off.
Once I was back in the room they checked me and I was at a 10. My cervix was not completely thinned out so I couldn't push yet. I felt like I wanted to, but I didn't really need to yet. The urge was there but not super intense. I had been in labor for around 21 hours by now, so I was exhausted. I couldn't get comfortable and they broke the bed apart for me and let me use this squatting bar. I put it under my arms and rested my chin on it, squatted, and that's kind of how I stayed. The nurse had this water press she kept on me. Pretty soon I felt the urge to push like nothing I have ever felt in my life.
I felt the burning ring of fire that my sister told me about and I really did think that death may come before my child. I told Caleb that I couldn't do it anymore. I don't know what option I really had at that point, I just remember thinking that if I had to endure one more minute, I would explode. I pushed for 45 minutes before Shelby was finally born. Because of the position I was in, once her head was out, her body came out too. I guess that's a benefit to standing up when you deliver. Gravity is your friend and helps.
I had Shelby after 22 hours of painful labor, without any drugs at all. I never would have thought that I could endure that much pain for that long. I am stronger than I ever knew that I was. I really do think that our bodies are amazing and that if we can focus on our goals, anything is possible.
After Shelby was born they set me back on the bed right away and put her on my chest. I just kept looking at her amazed at how perfect she was. The unbearable pain was gone and I had the sweetest little child in the entire world. She was crying non-stop when she was born. She was mad at the world and I have a feeling that this may be her personality in life. She has something to say and wants to be seen. Caleb and I just stared at each other and at her and just kept looking at her. These moments are so precious that I can't even describe them. We changed our whole lives and now have our own little family.
Shelby Lu was born on October 16th at 11:08 pm. She was 9 pounds and 20 inches long. I had to have surgery after she was born, so I missed the first 3 hours of her life. That was hard for me and I wasn't very happy about it. They explained to Caleb what had happened and that I had to go in for surgery immediately. I got to stay with Shelby for about 5 minutes before they took me. My blood pressure dropped to 64/34. I started going into shock and that's about all I can remember. I missed her first bath, being weighed, and all of those first moments. Caleb took excellent care of her and just sit and rocked her waiting for me. He definitely bonded with our daughter and she will probably prefer him the rest of her life. That's alright, I think daddy's girls are pretty cute. When I was in the recovery room from surgery they told me when I wiggled my toes, that I could leave. I remember staring at my toes over and over, telling them to move. But they just wouldn't. I had a spinal block so they could repair me in the operating room. No visitors were allowed and I was sitting there by myself thinking about my new child and how badly I wanted to see her.
After I was finally released the nurse practically ran when she was pushing my bed down the hall. I got to the room and as soon as Shelby heard me she started screaming again. She screamed the whole first 24 hours of her life. We were worried that she was going to have colic right away and were beginning to wonder if we were going to make it. After about one day she threw up a bunch of blood that she had swallowed when I was delivering her. I bled so much that she was covered in it, so it makes sense she probably got sick. Once she got rid of that and the doctors looked her over, she was very happy. We didn't hear her little voice at all the entire rest of the time.
She had to sleep with the light for jaundice and I had lost enough blood that they either had to do a blood transfusion or put me on some serious medications and IV. I was not about to have a blood transfusion, so we stayed in the hospital longer.
We stayed in the hospital almost four days and were very happy to return to our own beds and some home cooking. Thankfully we had many friends and family members bring us dinner so that Caleb didn't make me Top Roman for a week straight. She is a very happy baby and hardly ever cries. She enjoys sleeping most of the day and staying up late at night. We are working on getting her to fall asleep earlier and try to keep her awake during the day, but so far she seems to be winning that battle.
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