Micah's Birth Story

On Wednesday (Dec 29th), Micah started becoming really active and for some reason, I just had this feeling that I was going to have him soon. 

I had my 39 week appointment with the midwife on Thursday (Dec 30th) and when we were there she told me that the midwife on call said that she was not allowed to touch anyone because there were already 4 people delivering at the hospital!  I hadn't been feeling any contractions, but I did notice some low pressure that morning (which I thought was just Micah's head moving down).  I casually mentioned that to Kevin, but I didn't think anything of it.

Later that day, I put Kaden down for a nap and told Kevin that I was really tired too, but that I needed to go to the grocery store.  He suggested I just take a nap and go to the store later.  I am REALLY glad he suggested I take a nap.  So, I lay down for a while and after I got up, I started noticing the same pressure I felt earlier that day.  After a few times of feeling it, I thought, maybe this is more than pressure.  So, I started looking at the clock, and sure enough I noticed I was feeling it every 7 minutes or so.  Then it started feeling a little uncomfortable.  I didn't say anything to Kevin yet.  This was around 7pm.

We went shopping, and on the way to the store, I mentioned that maybe I was feeling contractions and that something might be happening.  This was around 7:45pm.

  

The contractions started getting more painful, but still very manageable.  I started feeling pain in my back.  When we got home, I made dinner, gave Kaden a bath and put him to bed.  By this point, I was pretty sure we were going to be having baby soon, so I started getting everything together that I hadn't done yet.  This was around 10pm.  

Around 11pm, Kevin called his parents to let them know we may be going to the hospital that night and we would keep them posted.

Kevin kept asking me if I was going to call the midwife and I kept saying, pretty soon.  I wanted to stay home as long as possible because of what happened with my first birth.  At midnight, I decided to get in the shower and told Kevin that when I was done I would call the midwife.  Once in the shower, the contractions started coming one right after another.  It was painful, but the water REALLY helped.  When I got out of the shower, the contractions were almost unbearable.  It took me about 10 minutes just to brush my hair because I had to keep stopping.  After I had been upstairs an hour and a half, Kevin came up to see how I was doing.  He told me that I needed to call my midwife, so after a contraction, I called.  This was just before 2am.  After hearing me through a contraction, she suggested I come in to the hospital.  We had someone to watch Kaden, so we let her know we were on our way to the hospital.  We left the house a little after 2 and got to the hospital around 2:30am.  

On the way to the hospital and on the way up to L&D, I felt extreme pressure with every contraction.  When we got up to the floor, our midwife was there waiting for us.  Once I got changed and into the bed, the midwife checked me.  I was completely dilated and my water was bulging!  I was SO relieved.  With the next contraction, my water broke.  Unfortunately, there was meconium in my water.  I got nervous because I really wanted baby to stay with me until my cord stopped pulsating, but I knew that wasn't going to happen.  They called the pediatrician up to the room.  I started pushing, and after only 15-20 minutes, Micah was born at 3:13am on December 31st!!  They still put him on me for a few seconds while the midwife cut the cord quickly.  He was checked by the pediatrician and everything was fine (his apgar was a 9 both times).  Not long after, they gave him back to me and I was able to hold him while the midwife was stitching up my tear.  Within 45 minutes, I was able to start breastfeeding him and he latched on right away!