Natalie Jean

Natalie Jean arrived on Sunday at 4:12 PM, weighing 7 lbs 9 oz and was 19.5 inches long.

 

Birth Story

In the days leading up to labor, I hadn't had very many braxton hicks contractions. I was definitely discouraged that I hadn't had the baby yet. We spent all day Saturday clenaing the carpets in our house which was a lot of work. On Sunday (at 38 weeks 3 days), we went to church and I was having contractions throughout sacrament meeting that were about only about 10 minutes apart. As soon as I got up to go to primary, they stopped. We had eight sunbeams in our class that day and they were being particularly naughty so I was stressing more than usual. With 15 minutes before the end of church, I was standing and teaching when I felt my water broke at 11:45. (It broke enough to be very noticeable for me, but not enough to make a mess if you were worried about that.) I am three for three labors that started with my water breaking.

I went to get someone from the presidency to come finish teaching my class (it did cause quite a bit of excitement). Colin got Annie and Jackson from their classes and we headed home. I called my sister Mandy who was also at church but was prepared to get the call to come. She headed down from Salt Lake to come watch the kids.

We finished packing bags and cleaning up the house while we waited for her to get here. At first I was having no contractions at that point, but quite a bit of amniotic fluid was still coming. Later, the contractions would come every 5 minutes. After Mandy got here, we went and picked up some movies at redbox--I was worried that I was very far along with labor and that it might be a long day. We stopped by a grocery store and got drinks and snacks. By the time we got to the hospital, it was 1:00. I was having contractions irregularly, usually pairs of contractions that came 5 minutes apart.

In the triage room at Labor and Delivery, I was pleasantly surprised to hear I was already dilated to 6 cm, especially becuase I'd had no real hard or consistent contractions. I was so excited that I would be having the baby quickly and easily.

Being the weekend, another Doctor was on call. This time it was Tennille Cloward. (My doctor has yet to delivery one of my babies.) I was glad that if I had to have a Doctor I had never met, that she was a female doctor. They got us to our room which had a beautiful view of the mountains to the north.

The nurse got us set up in the room. The Doctor was okay with me having intermittent fetal monitoring (important if you want to move around as you labor) and just having an IV port in. I asked to have a bag of saline given just because I felt dehydrated and I didn't feel like drinking. They did an initial check on my contractions and baby's heart beat but then took the monitors off.

During this time, Colin gave me a Priesthood blessing that I would be strong enough to endure the pain that would be coming. He felt inspired to tell me that Baby Natalie was very excited to meet me. The blessing made us both emotional and the nurse walked back in and wondered why I was crying. I assured her it wasn't from pain.

I don't remember what made the nurse check me again, but she did and declared I was at an 8.5 cm dilated. I was shocked and confused. I hadn't had any hard contractions and the ones I was having were inconsistent. I did not feel like I was going through transition (I was right). She called Dr. Cloward in who got ready to deliver. Dr. Cloward checked me and gave the nurse a look that said I was not as far as she said. She told the nurse there was a bit of cervix she wasn't feeling.

This happened twice over I don't know how long (a couple of hours). The nurses checked me and said "you're there!" and then called Dr. Cloward in who then checked me and said "no, still at 7 cm".

It became apparent that I wasn't going to blaze through to delivery as fast as I or the nurses thought. I began to be scared that the same thing that happened at Annie's delivery would happen--I stayed at 7 cm dilated for 5 hours until they gave me some pitocin. I didn't want to be labor (as easy and irregular as my contractions were) for that long. So I asked for some pitocin. It appears that the irregular and not very hard contractions my body does is enough to get me through active labor, but not enough to get me all the way to 10 cm to deliver. (Who knows how long it would take naturally…)

The nurse gave me just a tiny amount of pitocin (half of what they give when they induce). I knew what was coming and I new it would come fast. I was much better prepared mentally than the last time. I stood at the edge of the bed and 8 killer contractions later I was ready to deliver.

As I began to push, I was expecting to have to push two or three times like I did for Annie. I found myself panicked as it was taking a lot more pushes than that. I couldn't catch my breath and was hyperventilating. It was a bad combination of fear of the baby being stuck, pain, and not being able to breath. The nurse was really good to try to calm me down and slow my breathing. Dr. Cloward told me I was starting to tear and asked if she could give me an episiotomy. Eager for anything to help the process along, I said "yes!!"; a push or two later Natalie was finally here at 4:12 PM. Oh, the elation, relief, and sense of accomplishment that comes when that baby is finally out!

It turns out pushing was harder because Natalie was almost a full pound heavier than Annie was. I ended up with a 2nd degree tear and the episotomy--both feel fine now so Dr. Cloward must be a good stitcher. Of the 4.5 hours of labor starting when my water broke, I was in any real pain for the last 15 minutes of it. I am so grateful for how well everything went. The nurses and Dr. Cloward were just wonderful in supporting me in having a unmedicated delivery. It was perfect.