Well I said I was going to type this out for 6 months now. It’s time I went ahead and did it before I forget all the details.
Teja’s due date was September 9, but we all know that’s an estimate, right? We didn’t baby was a she yet, but this made almost everyone sure she was a girl because she was late.
Since she wasn’t showing any signs of arriving, I had a two non stress tests and an ultrasound. She was as happy as a clam during the tests. The ultrasound looked good as well, though it did estimate her weight to be around 9 lbs and 6 oz, Ezra’s birth weight, ironically. My doctor was concerned about this, but I figured I delivered Ezra with no problem, so I wasn’t concerned. I did schedule an induction for a week out on September 19 (10 days overdue) because though I wasn’t concerned about a 9 pounder, I didn’t want baby to get much bigger.
I continued to do everything (EVERY.THING) imaginable to get labor started. I was having decent contractions and dilated to a 2, but nothing was ever consistent. I had told myself to expect the induction and tried to prepare mentally for that. I really wanted to go naturally so that I could mange the labor and pain on my own. I have heard not nice things about pitocin and didn’t want it if I didn’t need it.
The morning of Tuesday September 17, I woke up to get ready for work. Now this may sound familiar… it’s because this is exactly how my labor started with Ezra. Went to the bathroom and was pretty sure my water had broken. I called my doctor’s office and had to convince them it was amniotic fluid (again). I guess I am not the gushing water sort of girl. My doctor was at the hospital (Zeeland Community), so we headed that way for her to check me. I had fully prepared myself that I would be sent home. But after she verified that it was my water, she said I was dilated to 3. This time I was group Strep B positive, so she wanted to start the antibiotics. I was still having a hard time being OK with this. I didn’t have to get an IV of any sort with Ezra and enjoyed the complete freedom. It turned out to be not as bad as I thought it would be. I only had to be hooked up while getting the antibiotics and could walk around just fine.
So anyway we checked in around 10 and started the antibiotics and made all the necessary phone calls. My mom was going to be in the delivery room this time, so her and my dad started to head our way. I was having some contractions, but nothing I couldn’t breathe through. So, I just kept walking around and used the exercise ball a bit.
Once again, I had amazing nurses. One was pregnant with her fourth and had given birth, with no medication, to three overdue 9 pounders. She was my moral support. Gave me all my options, but knew I wanted to do it drug free and without intervention again and shared her tips with me. Loved her!
My parents arrived around noon. This labor was different from Ezra’s in that I didn’t have back labor. I could actually talk with my parents during the contractions. But, of course I knew I wasn’t in the final stages of labor yet either. I was checked around 2 and had gotten to 5. More walking and ball work.
My doctor was off, so the on call OB checked me at 5. I was at a 6. She checked me again at 6 and I was still at a 6. She did notice that I hadn’t lost much of my water. Thinking back, I do remember gushing once the contractions had started with Ezra. She figured out that my bag had ripped near the top, but wasn’t emptying, so things weren’t progressing that quickly. She went ahead and broke my water completely. And holy water. And then HOLY. CONTRACTIONS. I went from 6cm to pushing in an hour. Yeah. I am glad that it only took an hour, but that was the most intense hour of my life. I started pushing a little after 7PM and Teja was born at 7:50. Again very similar to Ezra. I started at 7 with him, but he came out at 8:30.
The pushing stage was excruciating, but also very sacred. After all we had gone through to meet Teja, it was so emotional to know that I was going to meet this baby soon. I put together a playlist on Spotify and played that while I pushed. The first song was one that was very popular in 2012 and I think I cried every time we sang it in church. I loved that I could hear it in this context now.
Having my mom there was great. She just sat and watched, but I looked over at her at one point and we both started to cry. I was a beautiful thing to share with her.
When Teja came out, I couldn’t believe she was actually a girl. I had secretly hoped this baby was a girl. She “only” weighed 8lbs 9oz, so I was glad we waited it out and didn’t do the induction. She had a good cry and ate almost immediately. She had a bright red birthmark between her eyes from where her head rested on my tailbone. It is already fading, but when she gets worked up, it pops right out. Adorable.
Teja swallowed some fluid while coming out, so we did have to stay on top of that. We sent her to the nursery each night and I am glad we did. The first night the nurse said Teja turned blue from choking on the junk she was spitting. Thankfully we didn’t have any more episodes like that. She lost her appetite because of the extra fluid on day 2. However, when we left the hospital, she had only lost a few ounces, so no harm done.
We woke up the next day to a thunderstorm, which was really cool to watch from our third floor room. We went home on September 19 – the day of my scheduled induction. It felt so good to be going home instead of checking in.
Teja was such an easy newborn and continues to be really happy. So thankful for our beautiful girl!