Elsie May Calder:: A Birth Story

This was by far my hardest pregnancy.

I'm not sure exactly why it was so much harder but it was.

I was in a lot more pain.

Not just with sciatica but I had a lot of pressure in my pelvis.

The summer heat definitely didn't help either!

Plus I actually had a lot of false labors.

I never had any contractions until labor was starting with the boys.

This time around I had two hours of time-able contractions once a week starting at 36 weeks.

So after getting my hopes up week after week I had finally talked myself into the fact that I was going to go past my due date.

So the day before my due date I tried to make the most of the day.

I did our laundry, took the boys to the library and two parks.

So when I laid down for a nap around 1 pm and started having some contractions I didn't think much of it.

They were more painful than the past few weeks but I was still able to nap a little bit.

After 45 minutes I let Ryan know they had been 6 minutes apart but I still didn't stress.

I got up to move around because in the past that stopped the contractions.

However this time around they immediately dropped to 3 minutes apart.

Now I started panicking a little!

I let Ryan know this was the real deal then I hurried and did some dishes, switched laundry, and put the last minute items into my hospital bag.

I had set Jake up with a show because when I did have a contraction all his 4 year old questions weren't helping!

When Ryan was about 10 minutes away I called and told him we were going to need to go straight to the hospital when he got home.

He frantically called a neighbor (thanks Raquel!) so that we could drop the boys off until his parents got there 10 minutes later. 

In between contractions I got Logan up from his nap and rushed him to the bathroom.

Then Ryan took them to Raquel's without shoes and came back for me.

We rushed to the hospital (well I kept trying to get him to slow down because for some reason going faster seemed to hurt more or maybe it just stressed me out more..).

I had to go up to the maternity ward in a wheelchair :( because I felt like I need to push.

They rushed us right to a delivery room, I threw on a hospital gown and laid in bed.

They were trying to check me in and we were arguing about an IV when my water broke, then her head just popped out.

Ryan asks one of the nurses to catch her.

I pushed one time and out she came.

We were at the hospital for a total of 3 minutes!

Needless to say my doctor didn't make it.

He got there about 10 minutes later.

Elsie arrived with a bang after only 2 hours of labor at 3:14 pm weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz and measuring 20 inches long.