Here's Stella's birth story:
Around 6:30am on August 20th I started to have contractions. Nothing big but enough to semi-wake me up. These lasted on and off and pretty irregular all morning. Around 10:30 I knew shit was real when I lost what remained of my mucus plug. I know, just what you wanted to hear, but hey, this is a mommy blog and a birth post.
Moving on... I had an appointment at 3:15 to see my midwife, so I just kept that and went about my day. Got a manicure. Had a great lunch. Rested on the couch. And a few hours later I pushed out a baby. It was everything I ever imagined labor to be. I wish...
So, the lunch and manicure part I totally did. The nail tech asked me when I was due and I just said, "Oh, soon," and smiled. Meanwhile, I'm slightly timing my contractions.
Fast forward to 3:15. At this point my contractions are every 7 minutes. My midwife says to go walk the mall. What a novel idea. My mother is than concerned my water will break while we're walking (which it never does. Midwife breaks it for me around 8cm), and I'm all, "we're at the mall, I'll buy a pair of pants." So we get in the car and head 10 minutes west to the mall. Except it's 4pm on the first afternoon of school and we get stuck in NYC worthy traffic. Now I'm breathing through contractions every 5 or so minutes and we decide to pull a let's not and say we did on the mall and head straight to the hospital.
Not a lot of excitement at the hospital, to be honest. A lot of walking. At one point I'm squatting in a pretty awkward position "oummmmmming" through gut ripping contractions. I had hired a doula who was worth every cent to remind me that I had a goal. She also snuck me candy and water. I liked her.
Here's the thing, though. That OMG urge to push. I didn't have it. Doula lady said I was bearing down through a few but I don't remember. Pushing was a struggle again this time. I'm just not a big fan of feeling like my bowels are going to ripped out. I had to find strength somewhere to get this kid out, so I made another noise I've never heard before and growled with every push. I'll tell ya, three pushes after that and Stella was welcomes into the big bad world.
She was born at 8:57pm - about 4.5 hours after being admitted. All natural. No tears. I'm one proud mom.. Of myself for what I did and who I created.
I should add that the recovery time on a natural birth is about a trillion times better than a medicated one. I'm dead serious.
Last belly pic!
Proof that I was in labor. Sent to the famous Aussie Cass.
Her pedi called her a Backyardigan when she had this hat on.
This face <3
7lbs 10oz 21in of yum
First real look of her.
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