On Monday February 17th at 2:50am, I woke up suddenly thinking that I needed to go to the bathroom. When I stood up, I felt liquid run down my legs. It didn't feel like enough or dramatic enough to be my water breaking. I got up and went to the bathroom and laid back down. A few minutes later, laying in bed, I started feeling a tightening sensation in my uterus. Six or seven minutes later I felt the same sensation again. I realized that the sensation was gradual to start, somewhat painful, and then a slow end. Then it hit me, this wasn't a random sensation - I was having contractions!
I laid in bed for an hour and a half, just letting the contractions do their thing. I didn't have a clock to look at, but could tell that they were still spaced far apart. At 4:30am I moved to the living room to let papa sleep. I walked around a bit and hung out on the couch. I even started messaging Auntie Destiny because I knew she would be up. By 5:30am the contractions were six minutes apart and lasting between 45-60 seconds and were getting more intense, I needed to stop and breathe through them. Your papa was awake and I encouraged him to go to the gym to get a run in before we headed to the hospital. I knew we still needed to have contractions 4 minutes apart for an hour before calling the hospital.
Papa went to the gym and in between contractions I jumped into the shower and started to get ready. This activity made the contractions come more frequently, sometimes only 3 minutes apart.
By 6:30am, I was having contractions anywhere between 3 and 6 minutes apart. I called the hospital because I was on the schedule for an induction and let them know that I did leak some fluids and was having consistent contractions. They told me that a third birth can be a wild card and that I should head in. Thankfully papa was just getting home from the gym.
At 7:30am we were admitted to the hospital and at 8am the doctor confirmed that my bag of waters had broken and I was 5cm dilated. By this point, my contractions were coming less frequently so the doctor recommended augmenting them with pitocin, which I started at 8:26am. Papa and I walked around for about 15 minutes to help increase the frequency and duration of contractions.
At 9:10am the nurses switched to a Bluetooth monitor to keep track on your heart rate and contractions because the wired one was intermittently losing your heartbeat. In order to set this up I had to stay still for 15 minutes. I took this as an opportunity to take a quick nap. At 10:30am the contractions started getting more intense and were coming 3.5 minutes apart. I labored for a while on a birth ball. Around 10:45 I said I wanted an epidural, papa encouraged me to wait a few more contractions and to see if I still wanted it. I made it through one or two more contractions and then was adamant I wanted it.
At 11:09am I received the first dose of the epidural, but did not get the immediate relief I was hoping for. At 11:15am in the midst of the epidural not fully working, I was panicking and started to realize I needed to push. I was checked by the nurse and told that I was fully dilated but the doctor was delivering another baby. I was asked if I could wait. Oh goodness, that felt like forever and papa pressed the button to give me a second dose of the epidural. I managed to make it through a few more contractions and then told everyone I needed to push. The nurses, sensing my urgency, asked the midwife to assist in the birth to let me start pushing.
At 11:45am I started pushing and shortly after the doctor arrived and relieved the midwife. At 12pm, the Doctor asked papa if he wanted to deliver you. Papa was very excited at the opportunity and asked if I was okay with it, which I was. I heard the doctor coaching papa on what to do depending on how you turned coming out. As a contraction would come on I was being coached to push you. Papa asked the nurse to bring in a mirror so I could see you crowning and that was encouraging as I could see your head. While I labored and papa helped deliver, the doctor would rub your head to keep your heartbeat up as your heartbeat was dropping a bit in between contractions. During my few final pushes the doctor noticed that your umbilical cord was wrapped around your neck and papa pulled the cord around your body so you could safely come out. At 12:08pm I gave my final push, papa pulled you out and placed you into my chest. Micah you looked up at me, so alert and interested in everything around you. You quickly started rooting out my breast for comfort and latched on for your first feeding. At birth you were 9lbs, 5.6oz and 20 inches long.
Micah, it is incredible that as our third child, you gave us so many firsts. My first time going into labor on my own and papa's first experience delivering one of his boys. We are so grateful that you are here and our family of five is complete!
