I woke up very uncomfortable around 2:50am on Saturday, March 16th. I laid and looked at the clock and debated if I should get in the tub to ease the pain or try to go back to sleep since I would need to wake up in a few hours to go to the hospital. At 2:56, I felt a really weird pulling sensation toward the top of my stomach followed by an internal “pop” feeling. I was a little confused but figured that she was moving around and it was from that. I thought it may be significant and jotted the time down on my phone (and continued a running list throughout labor). At 3:05, I decided to get up and go to the bathroom and once I walked past where the tub is, I felt the gush water. I quickly yelled out the door to Papa that my water broke and he hopped up to start getting the kids ready while I went to the bathroom. I called the doctor’s office at 3:16 to let them know that I was going to be coming in to the hospital and when they returned the call at 3:20, we were already loading the half asleep kids into the van.
We arrived at the ER and I was feeling fine so I told Papa to just wait in the van with the kids (who were a mix of sleeping and watching VeggieTales) instead of walking me in. I checked in and got my arrival time of 3:56. Since I was scheduled for an induction later that day, they already had my information ready and waiting so I was quickly able to get settled into a room. I changed into a robe and they put me on the monitor for a while. I wasn’t having contractions yet but they needed to keep me on a little longer than the initial time to watch her heart rate.
At 4:40, they did their initial cervix check and found that I was 5cm dialated and she was not in the pelvis. I was bummed to hear this and texted Papa that it may be a long labor. After the check, they put me back on the monitor and gave me a freeze pop and apple juice to get her moving.
The contractions started soon after the check but were manageable. I spent my time walking around in the room, bouncing on a yoga ball, texting with Papa, sending Marco Polo videos to relatives, and watching Everybody Loves Raymond (deja vu to when I was in labor with our oldest 12 years ago!). At my next check at 7cm.
After they left the room, I got back on the yoga ball and bounced and sang “Even Then” by Micha Tyler over and over until I started to feel really uncomfortable. I decided to get back into bed and as I did, I started feeling an undeniable pressure. I pushed the call button and (apparently calmly) said “ um.. I’m feeling a lot of pressure now”. The nurses and Dr. came in to check me again and were surprised to see that I was in fact ready to push. They commented that I was so calm that they were surprised that I was at 10 already. The Dr. gave me the okay to push on the next contraction and the adjected the foot part of the bed so I could have my feet slightly lower while pushing.
I did my best to focus on breathing and not on the pain. This worked through most of the pushes but I started to get an intense pain in my upper pelvis with each push. It turned out that she was ”sunny side up” which commonly causes the front pelvic pain that I was feeling and the prodromal labor that I had earlier.
As soon as she was born, they laid her on my stomach. Due to my history of hemorrhaging, they had the pitocin iv ready and needed to start it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to cut the cord when they offered because I was shaking and felt freezing. They covered us in warm blankets while she was on my chest but eventually took her to the opposite side of the room to check her until I was okay to hold her again. I sent Papa a message a few minutes after she was born with a picture. She latched right away.
Papa and the boys had gone to a nearby diner for breakfast and a bathroom so they finished up and came to the hospital excited to meet her.
Isabela Dulcey was born at 7:52am weighing 7lbs 9oz and was 19.5 inches.
We stayed at the hospital until the next day and were ready to start our adventure as a family of 7!
