My Birth Story

It was 2 days until my due date. I woke up, looked at my phone and saw that my mom had tried calling me three times. That wasn't normal for her. Usually she calls once and waits for me to call her back. Immediately I knew that something was wrong. I called her back, bracing myself for bad news. As soon as I heard her voice I knew. My grandma had passed away in the early morning hours. We were half expecting it, but it was still devastating. I thanked my mom for telling me, told her that I loved her and hung up the phone. Still laying down in bed, with my kids waking up beside me I burst into tears. Memories of my grandma from my childhood ran through my head and I sobbed almost uncontrollably for a few minutes. My son asked me what was wrong and I explained to him that his great grandma was now in heaven and that mommy was a little sad. He ran to the bathroom and grabbed me some toilet paper to dry my tears. Both of my kids came in for a cuddle.
Throughout the day I had my moments where I broke down in tears. My grandma lived a happy, full life but it was still hard knowing that she was gone. I had talked to her on the phone a few weeks before and she had sounded so worn out, so tired. I had told her that I was praying for her and that I loved her. After we hung up I wrote her a letter, again telling her that I loved her and adding a picture of my oldest in his t-ball uniform.
My husband came home later that day and after we put the kids to bed I went into the shower, turned in on and sank to the floor crying again. When I came out my husband was there and we talked and cuddled until midnight. As we were talking I was having mini painless contractions. I kept telling him that I didn't want to go to sleep because I had a feeling that it was going to happen, that I was going to have the baby. He was exhausted so he went to bed. I tried to sleep but I kept tossing and turning because the baby was pushing down hard on my cervix and it hurt. It felt like she was trying to claw her way out.
Then at 1:51 am (sept 19 2014) I both heard and felt a pop in my lower abdomen. I immediately jumped up and rushed the the bathroom. I took off my shorts/underwear and began leaking all over the floor. I quickly texted my neighbor friend that I thought that my water had broken. Luckily she woke up when I texted. Then I attempted to wake up my husband, I don't think that he truly believed me. Finally, he woke up and got the kids in the car to take down the street to the neighbors. It was 2:25am when we dropped the kids off. I had my first painful contraction in the neighbors driveway. I yelled for my husband to hurry up. The hospital was a 10 minute drive away. I had 3 more contractions on the way to the hospital. In between contractions I called to let them know we were coming. I ended up having to hand the phone to my husband so he could tell them. I was in too much pain to talk.
My husband dropped me off at the door and quickly parked the car. I hobbled inside. When someone noticed me I mustered out, "I need help, I'm having a baby." A nurse rushed over with a wheelchair and just as I was about to sit down another contraction came on. I couldn't sit and had to wait until it passed. My husband ran in at that moment. I was able to sit in the wheelchair and my husband started pushing it towards the elevator to the labor and delivery floor. I had another contraction in the elevator.
Once we got to the labor and delivery floor we had to press a button to be buzzed inside. The doors opened and the nurse calmly asked my husband to wheel me to the front desk. As she started asking me a series of questions I had yet another contraction. I yelled out, "I'm sorry but this baby is coming, I can't concentrate on your questions. I think I have to poop!" After that contraction ended I was wheeled into a room, handed a gown and directed to the bathroom to put it on. I had another contraction while in the bathroom and I didn't want to come out. As I was walking to the bed another contraction came on. I told the nurse that I couldn't lay down, that I needed to be up. She explained that she needed to check to see how dilated I was. I somehow managed to lay down so that she could check me. I was dilated to a 7. I begged for pain medicine.
The nurse left the room to get another nurse and some pain medicine. When she came back I was having another contraction. The other nurse was in the corner of the room doing something, I don't know what. The first nurse struggled to put an IV in me because I was wriggling around the bed trying to work through a contraction. She got the IV in, pushed the pain med in and walked over to the other nurse. That's when I yelled out. "THE BABY IS COMING, I NEED TO PUSH, I NEED TO PUSH!" The nurses yelled back not to push, that I wasn't ready. I reached down and felt the head and tried to gently push the baby back in. I was scared. My husband yelled, "I SEE THE HEAD!!"
Both nurses, shocked, rushed over just in time to catch the baby. My beautiful baby girl was born at 2:58am on September 19th. The doctor arrived about 20 minutes later, just in time to deliver the placenta.
My labor/delivery from start to finish was roughly one hour. I am beyond blessed because God knows  I don't tolerate pain very well. My baby girl weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. I had no tearing/ripping.
We are so blessed to have a healthy little girl to add to our family.