"Kingston (first son) had been sick with a fever so Zach (husband) slept with Kingston in his room so we could try and prevent Teddy (second son) from getting sick. Our plans were for the boys to be in the room during Emiliana’s birth. Unfortunately Teddy started coughing early Tuesday morning. It was a rough night for him. He did throw up twice on me that night from coughing. I think I maybe got about 3 hours of sleep.
"I felt a couple contractions that were very mild and had gone to bathroom. Zach was about to leave for work when I told him I may be in labor. Since I had tested GBS +, we needed to let Alex, our midwife, know right away. We decided to get IV antibiotics, but for them to be most effective they needed to in my system for 4 hours. We were a little worried I wouldn't hit the 4 hour mark since I'd had faster labors before. I texted Alex around 8:30 AM that contractions were about 8 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. She told me to drink some more water and lay on the sofa so we could determine if was actually labor. Contractions did space out to 15-20 minutes apart.
"She arrived at our house and checked me and I was 5 cm, 70% effaced, and 0 station. Zach called our family friend Stacy that it was time to head over to help with the boys. Got the IV at 10:08 AM. I had to hold my arm still for the antibiotics which was about 15 minutes. I didn't want the fixed IV, since I couldn't get it wet and wanted to be able to get in the birth tub. After the antibiotics, I wanted to get labor going so Zach and I went for a walk. Got back and took some tincture from Alex to get contractions to be more consistent. At 11:43 AM they were still mild, 10 mins apart and about 50 seconds long. We kept on walking. I think we walked around the block about 6 or 7 times total. It was nice getting to spend time just two of us! Zach ordered everyone pizza, so we stopped walking to eat. I ate little bit of the pasta and a breadstick.
"Unfortunately at 1:30 PM contractions slowed down to 12 minutes apart and still mild. Got my second IV at 2:28 PM. At 2:56 PM contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and moderate. I walked around our room and did some squats to try and get into active labor. At 3:10 PM, Alex checked me again, I was 6.5 cm, bulgy bag of waters, 0 station, 80% effaced. I decided to let Alex break my water because I was so ready to meet Emiliana! Water was broken at 3:24 PM. I was 7.5 cm, and +1 station. I got in the tub at 3:30 PM with strong contractions 3-4 minutes apart.
"The water did give a little relief. At 3:56 PM I was on hands and knees with contractions every 3 minutes. I was facing Zach and holding onto his hands. He was so great at encouraging to keep going and rubbing my back.
"At 4 PM I had the urge to push. At 4:03 PM I started to breathe her down with contractions every 1-2 minutes. At 4:08 PM I had a fat anterior lip of cervix, 7 cm, 90%effaced, and +1 station. I had to get on my bottom so Alex could check me. I kept holding onto zachs arms. 4:11 PM I was 8 cm, Alex gave me arnica to help with the swelling of my cervix and Alex was holding the cervix up because instead of Emiliana's head going through the cervix like a turtleneck, her head was pushing my cervix into my pubic bone. At 4:23 I was having spontaneous pushing. Holding onto Zach really helped me. It was so difficult not to scream and just focus on breathing and pushing her towards my bottom. At some point I did tell them to “get her out of me!”. At 4:30 PM I was given some more arnica, Alex was still holding the lip of cervix since I had just the anterior lip of cervix still. At 4:37 PM I was finally 10 cm and the lip of cervix was out of the way. At 4:40 PM could see her head while I pushed. At 4:43 PM Emiliana’s head crowned, 10 seconds later her head was out. Emiliana's left arm was under her chin with her hand touching her right cheek. So the biggest part of her head and hand to come out since she couldn't flex her chin to chin on her chest. She was left occiput anterior. At 4:44 PM Emiliana Rey Madrid was born on February 7th, 2017! I reached down and grabbed her and brought her to my chest! Crowning to birth was only 40 seconds! All of our labor was a little over 8 hrs but active labor a little over an hour and pushing about 7 minutes!
"When they were helping us get out of the tub, right as I stood up outside the tub my placenta and all the blood came gushing out of me. I still don't know how Alex caught the placenta. I said “OMG that's a lot of blood, is everything ok?” Alex told me to look up and don't look down and they continued to get me to our bed which was just a few steps away. Allison got a towel and cleaned up my legs. Zach cut the cord at 4:55 PM!
"I was having a little more blood clots so Alex decided it was best to give me a shot of pitocin in the thigh and it burned so bad while she injected it. Alex did the newborn exam at 5:51 PM, Emiliana was 7 lbs 9 oz, 20 in long, head 13.5 in, and chest was 13 in!
"I can't even tell you how much Zach helped me get through labor. Alex was such a great midwife, staying calm and encouraging me! Another midwife, Salem came all the way from Amarillo to assist Alex and she was also great and got the birth on video! Alex also had her assistant in training Allison come to take pics for us which turned out great! Stacy was so awesome to take care our boys while they were sick and just hang out and wait!"
~Tricia M.
