The Birth Story: A Day Late, A 7lb-9oz, 20.5in Cutie

My daughter, Luna Raylee, was born on January 31, 2013 at 11:30am and this is our story.

I had an amazing pregnancy. The first three months I did have morning sickness and horrible nausea if I didn’t eat a small snack every couple of hours. I’d never been so tired in all my life. The second trimester brought typical hunger and energy spurts. By the third trimester I was tired again and my only real complaint was excessive swollen ankles and feet because I worked a desk job.

I worked the entire nine months of my pregnancy and only called in once, well I guess by the end of it, twice. I was pretty regular although I did gain a lot of weight, but not a dangerous amount. Creepily enough somehow I gained almost the exact amount my mother gained when she carried me.

Luna was due on January 30^th, 2013 and I only became truly uncomfortable during my 40^th week carrying her. We’d had a doctor’s appointment that week and they said if she didn’t come out by the time Groundhog’s day rolled around, they’d induce.

Tuesday January 29^th I had an induction massage to help start things complete with Reikki. My husband and I had planned to start the at home induction methods after my last day of work if she didn’t appear on her own.

After 7 months of constant heartburn and staying away from anything with too much spice or flavor, I finally caved on Wednesday, my due date and demanded Thai food. Shrimp spicy curry was my delicious dinner and I think between that and the massage we definitely encouraged her to come out.

I was technically scheduled to work on January 31^st, 2013, but Luna Raylee had other plans for mommy. I remember being uncomfortable that night; waking up every hour to change positions and get comfortable again.  I woke up around 7 the next morning and left a message at work saying I wasn’t in labor but wasn’t feeling up to coming in. I took a long hot shower because my lower back was sore from the massage and then got dressed.

I was trying to let my husband sleep in because he’d worked a lot previously but by 8am I was uncomfortable. My dad had been staying with us to help us get ready for her arrival, and I remember he asked if I wanted coffee, made me a cup and then when he gave it to me, I was too uncomfortable to grab it and finally woke my husband. We realized I was in labor and everything had begun.

I’d made plans with a bunch of friends to hit a local restaurant as a kind of last pregnant night out and started texting everyone that I wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t want to create a stir so I just told them I’d keep them posted.

We sent my dad to the store to stock up on reserves for the hospital: granola bars, hard candies, and snacks. I’d asked my husband for pancakes and within 5 minutes the thought of eating was too horrible to bear. My phone was blowing up with texts and I remember throwing it across the floor telling my husband to make it stop. It was a distraction I apparently didn’t need.

The contractions were nothing that I could have imagined. I was moving all over the living room, crawling around desperate to find comfort. At one point I was on the couch with the heating pad on my lower back. Our poor two-year-old pug was so concerned about me. He wanted to lie at my feet but that was adding to my discomfort. My husband was holding my hand and helping me breathe while staring at my focal point of a sonogram picture of our daughter.

At one point I was mostly comfortable but the pain was increasing, our pug crawled up on my back on top of the heating pad and applied just the perfect amount of pressure to alleviate some of the pain. It was an amazing moment between mommy and pup!

After that I was so uncomfortable and sick. Here’s something I never knew happened: I was vomiting during contractions. It was horrible. After a few trips to the bathroom my husband urged me to get into bed. I said no. I’d been standing and he’d been applying pressure to my hips with his hands to help ease the discomfort, a trick that made no sense to me in childbirth class but was a life-saver during my labor. I refused to get into bed.

I ended up on the living room floor with a mixing bowl for me to be sick in and he turned on my favorite show. I remember yelling, “Turn it off! TURN IT OFF!” The noise was too much for me to handle for some reason. My dad returned from the store and sat quietly reading while I was all over the place desperate for rest from the pain. For me, the contractions were the worse menstrual cramps and back pains I had ever experienced. I must have cried, “I can’t do it, I can’t do this,” a thousand times, and every time my husband responded, “Yes you can, because you’re doing it already!”

We’d chosen the natural birth route, no pain assistance whatsoever. Around 10am, about 3 hours into the growing discomfort my husband finally got me to retreat to our bed. I remember screaming so bad and literally passing out in between the contractions. Around 10:15, after some painful cries, my dad popped his head in the room and said, “Those last two were kind of close together, we may want to head towards the hospital.”

The hospital was a good 30 minute drive. We all scrambled to get ready and I was in and out of the bathroom with the sensation I needed to pee. I was concerned about not leaving the dog in a strange frenzy. Poor pug had no idea what was going on. My dad and husband got the bags, got me safely down the stairs and loaded us in the car. I wanted to stretch out in the car, a physical impossibility. Luckily for Florida, it was exceptionally cool. I remember when I first got in the car I got stuck because I rolled in a painful outcry. It was both funny, and horrible all in the same moment. We had a Tupperware for me to be sick in, just in case.

We got on the highway and I sat up, screaming. My husband was on the phone to my mom as I was yelling. I gave up breathing and just started wailing in pain. It was the only thing making me feel better. It was about 10 minutes from the hospital, at a stop light that I screamed profanity and apologized to my dad who just said, “Oh, that’s okay honey, you’re entitled to swear as much as you want.”

It was then I started screaming, “It hurts so bad, there’s sooooo much pressure.” My husband in a calm yet vaguely panicked voice asked, “Like what kind of pressure?” I responded, “I don’t know but I feel like she’s so low; like she’s close to being here.” My husband just reminded me we were almost there.

We left the house at about 10:30am and made it to the hospital by 10:55am, a record considering it was downtown. When we pulled into the hospital area, a mere moment away from being there, we stopped at the pedestrian crosswalk between buildings and an old, hunched over gentleman was literally walking at a snail’s pace across the road in front of us. My husband yelled, “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!”

He pulled into a drop off area and I cried, “THIS IS THE WRONG ONE! YOU HAVE TO GO UP THE RAMP!” Even during labor I was bossy and right! The valet and people in the emergency area were barely helpful and we had to ask for a wheelchair. When we arrived in the women’s center, I was still screaming a bit. Everyone kept calmly saying, “And this is your first baby?” To which we replied, “YES!” No one seemed to be in any hurry for me to do anywhere. I screamed again and a nurse said, “Oh honey, don’t scream, just breathe.” I shot her the dirtiest look, as if to say, “Are you fucking kidding me right now!?”

They took me into a room and asked me to undress. My husband had to help me. They said, “Ok we’ll do a quick check to see how far you are.” They laid me down, did a “quick check,” and then said, “Ok, we need to go STRAIGHT INTO DELIVERY!”

They wheeled me down the hall and then had me bed hop into one of the delivery beds. I remember telling one of the midwives that I was very dehydrated so I may need an IV. The midwives came in and introduced themselves and said we were all going to be delivering my daughter. I was still yelling and I had a nurse tugging at my arm for IV purposes. The midwife said, “Alison, don’t yell because that pushes out and it’s time for you to push down.” That, I could wrap my head around!

There were no stirrups and they wanted to me to hold both my own legs, which was so tough for me. It seemed like a million things were going on at once and everyone was telling me to do this that and the next thing but she was on her way out, and it was all happening quickly. One nurse was trying to get my IV ready and my midwife scolded, “Forget the IV, she needs to start pushing, NOW!” My husband was right next to me, my dad was sitting on the comfy couch area out of the way with our bags, and there was a male and female resident in the room to see it all happen. The male resident almost dropped during the event!

My husband grabbed my one leg, the midwives helped me with the other one, I pushed one, rest, pushed, two, rest, pushed three, rest, pushed four and there she was. “She has red hair,” my husband exclaimed. They immediately put her on my chest and I just held her tight and said, “wow.”

The midwives cleaned me up and my adrenaline was running so high. I’d done exactly what I wanted to. I delivered completely naturally, and from the time we arrived at the hospital, she was born about 35 minutes later! She was perfect.

My legs were shaking and suddenly I became cold. My midwives massaged my deflated stomach which felt so strange and slightly uncomfortable. Since I hadn’t technically been admitted yet, all the medical questions were asked afterwards. I was completely disoriented and exhausted. The only thing I could focus on was her. They took her over to a small area to clean her, measure her and weigh her after about a half hour. Then they gave her to daddy. My husband and dad had started calling everyone. Luna Raylee had taken the world by storm.

It was an incredibly fast moving, life-changing, truly epic event. We were so proud of me for doing everything naturally. It wasn’t until later that we’d realized my labor started at about 11pm on Wednesday evening. I’d had contractions every hour but I slept in between them. My water must have broken in the shower because when they asked when, we had no explanation because we hadn’t seen it. The funny thing is, if I hadn’t been screaming and pushing out instead of down, she may have been born in the car!

When she came out she had the cord around her neck once, but because the birth was so swift and my husband cut it so quickly, it didn’t constrict her airflow, but she does have a little birth mark on her neck from it. From other posts you know that after her birth we faced many challenges but her birth and her time growing in my womb were little perfect.

I look at her and I don’t understand those mothers who harm their children. She changes so much every day and we’re so lucky we get to watch it all happen. And all of those women that told me I couldn’t handle it without the epidural seriously underestimated me. And almost allowed me to underestimate myself!

The last day in January, a mere day after her due date, our wonderful daughter was born. And we love her like we never thought possible. Her birth story will be our family tale to tell for the rest of our lives!