Megan's birth story

 At 1:30am on Friday the 7th of December, I found myself wide awake...again. This had been the 3rd night in a row that I woke at this time only to lay there till after 4am waiting for my 38 week pregnant body to put itself back to sleep. I was exhausted, frustrated and just plain ready for my baby girl to be here. By about 3am my tummy had started feeling pretty sick so I rushed to the bathroom to vomit. My first thought was "oh no, not the flu again!!!!" my second thought "oh no, if labor is beginning I am starting out exhausted and sick, this isn't what I had in mind". I tried to lay down and go back to sleep, but within the hour I was back in the bathroom vomiting and now diarrhea had joined the scene..YUK! Now I was really discouraged, then around 5am I puked for the 3rd and last time and was finally able to get back to sleep.

 I was convinced this vomiting should have aggravated my uterus enough to put me into labor, but when I woke around 7am to Olivia wanting to start the day, there was nothing, only the usual Braxton Hicks that were uncomfortable but not painful or time able. Scott was such a sweetie, after finding out about my yucky night he took Liv out of the room and let me sleep until 9am. I was still feeling pretty rotten so I decided to hop in the bath to relax and feel better. After an hour in there I actually felt considerably better! But there was still a little nausea lingering, so I decided to call my midwife to see if I could have some Zofran (anti nauseas meds) prescribed to get me through this "flu" that I thought I had gotten again.

 My midwife actually wanted me to come into the office so she could check me to see if I was dilating and actually in early labor, not just sick. So off I went around 11am. To my surprise, I was 3.5cm dilated but stretchable to 5cm (I had been 3cm, 4 days before at my appt) 70% effaced and my bag of water was "bulging", which was a huge change from Monday. But I wasn't having any time able contractions yet, so my midwife concluded that I was in the early stages of labor and would probably be back at the hospital within 72 hours in true labor, so I got my prescription and headed home with the instructions to come back when I couldn't walk or talk through contractions or if my water broke. My midwife didn't want me laboring at home for too long, because she was sure when active labor began it wouldn't take to long to have my baby. I was pretty excited!!! I didn't have the flu and we would most likely be meeting our baby girl sooner than 40 weeks! I was 38 weeks and 4 days at this point.

 An hour and a half later, around 12:30pm while on the phone to a friend I realized that my contractions seemed to be coming a lot closer together and were actually very crampy and getting uncomfortable to just sit through unfocused. So I decided to start timing them and they were anywhere between 4-8 minutes apart. Now I was getting VERY excited!!! It was looking more and more like the real deal with every passing contraction!

 (side note: if you know me, you know that I LOVE labor and delivery. I always want to hear stories and I am always super excited to go through the experience of it. Scott says I'm sick..ha!)

 Around 1:30pm I started texting with Rachelle, letting her know how I was feeling. Rachelle is a labor and delivery nurse at the hospital where I was to deliver, and also a Mary Kay sister but mostly a close friend. We had planned to have her at our house and the hospital (if she was't working) as a labor support/Douala. 

My plan was to stay at the house for as long as possible. Rachelle is trained to check dilation, so I was hoping to stay at home till 7-8cm and get to the hospital ready to push. But with my new instructions from my midwife, we would play it by ear. By about 2:30pm I wasn't interested in walking or talking through the contractions any more and had decided to hop back in the tub for some water therapy. They were about 2-5mins apart at this point, they were uncomfortable and some took my breath away, but they were still very manageable to do at home.

 Rachelle arrived just before 3:30pm and when she checked me I was 5cm! Woohoo!! I was STOKED!!!!! (When labor began with Olivia I was already 3cm, but it took 27 hours to get to 5cm!! With Megan it only took 3hrs!!! Thank you Jesus!!!) So I continued laboring in the bath tub, the hot water calmed me so much! Contractions continuing to be 2-5 mins apart.

 At 4:30pm I was 5.5cm. I changed scenery and labored on an exercise ball, which I didn't enjoy as much, but it helped to keep me moving and relax my hips. Scott and Rachelle were amazing supports!!! They kept me breathing steadily and reminded me to relax my whole body through the contractions.

 Around 5:15pm I decided that between the next contractions I wanted to jump in the shower, wash my hair, shave my legs and then get ready to go to the hospital. So I did just that :P I also put on make up and did my hair, if I was about to have a baby, I wanted to do it looking good! haha oh the vanity!

 By 5:30pm I was now 6cm! Rachelle called my midwife to fill her in, and Jana (my MW) calmly responded "you need to come in right now". So we packed the remaining things, took some final family photos with Liv and headed to the hospital!

 We arrived just after 6pm, got settled into our L&D room, then Jana arrived. I love Jana, she is so relaxed all of the time! She told me that she didn't want to check me until 7:30pm and that I could go and labor in their huge tub. So that's exactly what I did. If you can't tell, the water helped so much!! Another thing that helped was listening to the Carinthia, All My Fountains Are In You, album on repeat. It is all instrumental music, written and performed by a good family friend of the Custer's, Daniel Jorgensen. If you are looking for a good CD for labor, I HIGHLY reccomend this album!

 At 7:30pm I was still 6cm, we all thought the best idea would be to break my water, it seemed to be the thing stalling my labor. Before she broke it, I looked around the room and tried to take in the moment. Were my contractions painful? yes, but they were frightfully still manageable. I could talk, joke, laugh and walk between them, but I KNEW that once she broke my water, there was no going back and things were about to get serious. So I took a deep breath, and she broke my water. Boy was I right about things changing. The very next contraction was 100x worse, I wanted to get out of the bed right away, but Jana needed to monitor Megan's heartbeat through two contractions to make sure her body dealt well with the change in pressure.

 Once she was done monitoring, I knew I wasn't allowed back in the tub (hospital regulations once your water has broken) so I wanted to hop in the shower. But as soon as I stood up from the bed I had a HUGE contraction, I felt Megan completely engage and threw up, thankfully Rachelle got me a bag in time! I got through that contraction then headed to the shower. By this time it was around 7:45pm. And there was NO talking, or joking or laughing between contractions. I was either sitting on a stool with my eyes closed, resting waiting for the next wave to hit, or I was leaning up against the wall, holding onto a metal bar trying hard to breathe and focus on Christ and just run...run...run...towards him with the little strength I felt I had as the contractions overtook my entire being. I was reciting Philippians 3:13-14 in my head "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Quickly my hips felt like they were on fire and I was beginning to feel pressure in my lower half, something they tell you will start happening when pushing time is close!

 I had never been in so much pain in my life and I had never felt so close to Christ in my whole life. He was the only thing I could think about. I could hear Scott and Rachelle encouraging me and reminding me to give oxygen to my baby through deep breaths but I couldn't communicate well with them, my brain couldn't form sentences. My body had taken me "to the zone" in which I needed to be in to survive the pain.

 At 8:45pm Jana checked me and I was 9.5cm!!! I had gone from 6cm-9.5cm in an hour and 15 minutes. Once again all I could think was Thank you Jesus!!!!! It was almost over!! I was definitely feeling the urge to push at this point, so at 8:54pm I climbed into the bed and started to push.

 And then 8 minutes later at 9:02pm Jana calmly said to me "Fiona, open your eyes, reach down and deliver your baby!!" and with that our sweet little Megan Amelia entered the world and took her first breath! She was 6lbs 3oz, smaller than everyone was thinking, 19 inches long and had more dark hair than I could have ever imagined our newborn would have! She was perfect.

 But at first I was in shock! The first thing I said was "oh my gosh!!!! I just gave birth" then soon followed "what the hell just happened?!?",haha excuse the language. I couldn't believe that I had survived a drug free birth or that it went so fast! I was only in death like pain for an hour and a half, for that I am thankful, because I wasn't sure how much more I could have handled. After I got a grip of myself and the moment, all I could do was stare at Megan and give her 100 kisses and tell her I was her momma and that I loved her so much!

 Megan's birth was everything and more that I could have hoped for. I couldn't have done it without Scott and Rachelle's steadfast support though, they were amazing!!

 The body is one insane thing. Child birth is miraculous. God's plan is perfect.

 Thank you for reading!!! For those of you who had looooong first labors, be encouraged by my story that second deliveries seem to go A LOT faster!!