On Thursday, July 14th, I just got home from my parent's house about 7pm. I went on a walk and went swimming with my mom earlier that day, and ate dinner with her and my dad. Bill was meeting with clients out in the Pryor and Foil area, so I decided to watch Twlight when I got home. As soon as I got up to press play on the DVD player my water broke (which was at 8:30pm)!! I really thought I peed my pants, but it didn't stop flowing, so I knew it was my water breaking! I freaked out because I was home alone and had no idea what to do. I sat on the toilet and started making calls. I called Bill first but he didn't answer his phone, so I had to text him that my water broke, then I called my mom, no answer, then I called my best friend, Heather, that thankfully lives across the street from me, she answered and came right over! I called my doctor, but one of his partners, Dr. Coleman, was on call and told me to go to the hospital right away since I was early. Bill and I decided to use a Doula (labor coach), I had not met her yet because we set up a time to meet on Friday, but I still called her and she said she would meet me at the hospital.
We got to the hospital at about 9pm and I was admitted. My parents and my Doula, Marlita, were there before I was in my room, Bill showed up shortly after and was so excited!! We decided to do a natural birth and that is why we hired a Doula, to help coach us through our labor. When I was admitted I was 90% effaced and not even dilated to a 1! So I had a long way to go :-) I did not get much sleep through the night, all the excitement and anticipation kept me up. I was feeling good through all the contractions through the night and early morning on Friday. Dr. Nilson came to see me early on Friday morning, he let me know we were on a timeline (since my water broke), we had 24 hours to get her out, and he wanted to see me process quicker than what I was doing. He gave me an hour from when he saw me to get to a 4, and if I wasn't at a 4 we would start Potocin. I got nervous because I didn't want Potocin, I didn't want to go from nothing to something really quick. We did some techniques that my Doula recommended and we got to a 4 and 100% effaced within the hour! So Dr. Nilson allowed me to still go natural!
I still progressed slowly, I was at a 5 at around 11:30 am then a 6 shortly after, but I stayed at a 7 for several hours and I was worn out! A 7 was tough to deal with, the contractions were pretty intense and accompanied by fatigue and hunger it was not a good combination. We changed laboring positions often but nothing helped, I was losing my focus to work through each contractions very quickly. I wanted to get my epidural at around 2pm but I continued to work through it. Around 4pm, my contractions were getting further apart (7-10 mins) and I was still not progressing past a 7 and I was ready to be done with the fatigue and pain, I wanted rest.
I went through 20 hours of natural labor, looking back I still can't believe I did it. And I could not have done it without my amazing Doula and my incredible and supportive husband! At 4:30pm I received my epidural and was finally able to sleep and relax. I still felt each contraction but did not feel any pain, it was a nice relief. After 30 minutes of receiving the epidural I was still at a 7, so I started Potocin to get moving. I progressed from a 7-9 very quickly, then a little after 6pm I was finally at a 10!!! I only had to push for 20 minutes, 3 times, and I gave birth to a precious baby girl! She was 6 lbs 9 oz and 20 1/8 in long! Pretty impressive for being born at 35 weeks.
I was not able to hold her right after, since she was born before 36 weeks she had to be taken right away to the NICU for tests and observations. But after they cleaned her up, they brought her back to me for a quick 5 minute hold....my heart melted the first time I held her! She just kept looking at me, it was amazing!
Portia stayed in the NICU for 6 hours and she did great on all her tests. So she was able to stay in the room with us. We were discharged on Sunday afternoon, they noticed that her bilirubin count was high so we took her home with phototheraphy lights. She only had to stay under the lights for 2 days! Now we are adjusting to life as new parents.
We are so thankful for all the prayers and support that we received. Portia is truly a blessing and miracle from God!
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