Our birth stories: leading up to labor

I'm blogging about the births of our three children, so it can be saved forever more on the internet! I wrote about some of our birthing decisions/dreams here.

Leading up to labor...

Wyatt

I finished working the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at 37.5 weeks. I was teaching 1st grade and had conferences, report cards and goodbyes taken care of. After that, I had a week of finishing up loose ends and relaxing in preparation for our first kiddo. I sent this email to my mom who was worried I’d be twiddling my thumbs waiting for our baby: 

"This week I have…had a dentist appointment, picked up my free breast pump, picked up my contacts, had a prenatal appointment, had a massage, done laundry, cleaned the fridge, made a double recipe of stuffed shells, made TWO gingerbread houses in one day, had coffee with 3 YL girls, walked with Gretchen, chatted with Amie, met friends for lunch, got my hair done, taken 3 naps, and slept in past 9, written a birth plan, started a new book and began to catch up on a TV show. Maybe I filled my week up a little too much but they all seemed like good ideas at the time!”

 

Why not make gingerbread houses with these
fabulous sophomore girls just when you're 
about to pop?!

On December 5th my whole belly/uterus felt so heavy and my lower back ached. I had been having braxton hicks since 20 weeks so they came and went without much note. Other than that, there were no signs of labor. That night we watched the tree lighting at the market square then felt inspired to finish up some errands and buy final things from our baby registry that we hadn’t gotten at showers. We finished the evening with some spicy Thai food (because it sounded so good, and, ok, maybe I was fine with seeing if the old wives' tale would make a difference...)

I think I puffed up the most with
 my first pregnancy. It must have been
 because it was all so new to my body.
 Later on, it knew what to expect.
I also gained the most weight with Wyatt.
My body just hung on to some of that
weight to use for subsequent pregnancies, ha!

My first real contraction was when I went to bed late Friday night around 11:00.  It squeezed in my back, which my Braxton Hicks had never done and I told Nate “I think that’s what a real contraction feels like.”  I figured I’d be having some of these for a few days. I wasn’t due for another 10 days.  Everyone had told me that first babies are more often late than early. I was woken around 1 am, Saturday, the 6th by another contraction and started to record them when I realized they were coming regularly.  I texted my midwife and doula a heads up around 4am when they were anywhere from 9-20 min apart.  I was told to let my midwife know when they’d been 5 min apart for an hour.

They slowed down to 45 min- 1hr apart again, I was able to sleep a bit, and around 10 in the morning Nate went to work (he used to GO to work!) for “a couple hours” to catch up on a couple things in case our kiddo came early the next week.  I canceled afternoon movie and coffee plans with two of my friends "just in case I was too uncomfortable to enjoy it." I called my parents to let them know I was having contractions but probably wasn't in labor, because I also had heard I would just KNOW if I was in labor. Still, I had this inkling feeling.   

A tree that's round like us! 

A little round belly that shook when
she laughed like a bowl full of jelly.

Ladies night gingerbread houses at LSCH!

Ava

On September 24th, Sunday night, I was one week past the official due date. With Wyatt coming 10 days early, I had been pregnant for two weeks longer than before. The summer pregnancy was nice because the clothes and the flip flops were easy to put on, but we had some hot weather that year. I wasn't exactly comfortable. 

That night I had contractions regular and strong enough that I called Rachel (our friend and doula) in the middle of the night and our midwife first thing in the morning. The contractions stopped eventually and we did our regularly planned activities, including a Monday morning group playdate. I was doing all the things that are recommended to get labor kickstarted. Looooots of walking, pineapple core until my mouth itched, membranes stripped, ball bouncing, etc. 

Monday night the contractions began again. This time more intense. They faded a bit earlier and life went on as normal on Tuesday. I had barely slept for two nights due to the contractions plus all the extra peeing. I went on a walk at Hovander with Rachel and stopped by Beth’s to have my membranes stripped again. More ball bouncing and stair walking. I even pumped a little to see if the stimulation did anything. It definitely made me uncomfortable but it was hard to tell what was helping. That night though, we took a selfie of the 3 of us because I had a feeling that it was our last day as a family of 3. 

Liam

I had already had a kiddo 10 days early and a kiddo one week late. I decided there is no way of knowing what the timing would be and I better just relax and enjoy myself. Except relaxing with two small kids is kind of tough. We had been in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine for a month. Playgrounds were closed, swimming lessons canceled, and so were soccer clinics, playdates, and Pre-K. We DID have lots of backyard play time, a daily neighborhood walk and an at-home school routine to keep us all sane. 

On Tuesday, April 14th Nate just so happened to finally do a trip to Costco to gather the last bit of freezer and snack food we wanted for when baby came. He also finally got TOILET PAPER which we hadn't been certain would happen on time.  Liam was not due for another 11 days but he had made it past my birthday so I told my friend, “no signs of him coming but he’s welcome any time!” We also had to change our sheets so I put a leak proof pad underneath for “when the time came.” 

Keeping my body moving during my 
pregnancies kept me sane. I jogged until 
35 weeks with Wyatt, which I felt pretty proud 
about but for Ava and Liam, walks were
the best thing for me by 12-15 weeks along.