Hey beautiful mamas! This is the last story of the birth story series and today we welcome Andrea. She has a beautiful daughter and a wonderful story to share. Her labor went so fast and great. Yay for a beautiful and complicated-free birth. Hop on over to her blog to show her some love and read her story below!
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The first time I heard the term “birth story” I was a little surprised. A friend of mine had asked me about my birth story after my daughter was born and it was a term I had never heard, I didn’t even know sharing these stories was a thing. Since then I have loved sharing the birth story of my oldest daughter. More often than not we’re bombarded with tales of what could go wrong, but our story is one that is positive and hopefully settling to first time moms anxiously awaiting labour. Obviously, it’s important to understand all the things that could happen, both good and bad, but I found that focusing myself with positive energy really helped me through the difficulty of labour.
My oldest daughter was born in November. By 38 weeks I was tired of being pregnant and ready to have her come (although we didn’t know the sex of the baby at the time). I was also hoping she would arrive on the 11th, as her birthday would have been 11/11/11, but no such luck. However, I woke up the morning of the 12th with a backache and some pinkish discharge so I knew things were about to get rolling. For the rest of the day I took it easy. I figured I was in early labour, but as we were told in our pre-natal class, this phase could last for a day or two. My aunt and uncle were in town and we met up for lunch with them, unbeknownst to them that I was in labour. My mom and dad were on standby ready to hop in the car at a moment’s notice.
It was a Saturday, so at 11:30pm I got into bed and turned on Saturday Night Live and the first major wave of contraction hit. It was exactly how our pre-natal nurse described it, a wave that starts small, builds to a peak and then subsides. The second one came 5 minutes later, then another 5 minutes after that. At that point my husband came upstairs and I told him we should start getting ready to head to the hospital. So off he went to walk the dog while I made sure our bags were ready. As I’d have several contractions 5 minutes apart I stopped timing and we got to the hospital around 12:30 am. The contractions were getting stronger and closer together. The nurse came and told us I’d be checked out but if I wasn’t far enough along I’d be sent home. I was 8 cm dilated when she checked, I wasn’t going home!
Once in the birthing room the baby’s vitals were checked but since I wasn’t having an epidural I was allowed to hop (well really it was more of a slow roll) back out of bed and walk through the pain. My husband was really great with making sure our nurse knew all the things we wanted to help us through labour like an exercise ball and squatting bar. The nurse suggested nitrous oxide to take the edge off but it didn’t help my pain and the smell of the gas made me nauseated, so I only tried it once. By 3 am I was almost fully dilated but my water hadn’t broken so the doctor came in and broke it for me and we were off. At this point I should tell you that the doctor was barely in the delivery room, our amazingly wonderful nurse did all the work and Chris was right in there helping out (i.e. the nurse said grab a leg and he grabbed a leg). My contractions were short, intense and very close together. The squat bar was a fantastic tool to help through contractions and pushing, but my legs tired out after a while and I had to go back to a lying position. I pushed for an hour and a half and it was the most exhausting thing I have ever done in my life. As we were getting close we swore we were having a boy, but when she came she was a loud and vibrant little girl. Once the baby was out the doctor gave me a shot of Pitocin and the placenta was delivered moments later. I was fortunate to only have grade 2 tears which required a few stitches but nothing major and, had I been allowed, I would have gotten up from that bed and walked to my hospital room (but they wouldn’t let me). From start to finish of active labour was about 5 hours and I couldn’t have asked for an easier delivery, even though it was undoubtedly the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.
About Andrea:
Andrea Accardo is a Canadian-born working mom with two energetic little girls. She en
joys cooking, baking, running and reading and is not afraid to admit she’s had more than one Pinterest fail. Andrea is the blogger behind Flowers and Faux Pas, a lifestyle site dedicated everyday life.
Hang out with Andrea:
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This has been a great series and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read all these sweet, beautiful, and exciting birth stories. Each mother has a beautiful story to share. Motherhood is crazy and amazing all at the same time. Keep mothering on, gorgeous ladies! 🙂
