It was three months after my husband, Alex and I were married that I started thinking I was in labor. I was due October 13th, but we were in the hospital 4 times before I ACTUALLY went into labor. It had been 6 years since I had Justyce and quite honestly, I forgot what labor felt like.
When I was FIVE days overdue and had tried everything to get things going, I was getting a little discouraged to say the least! We were living in Sierra Vista at the time, which was an hour and a half away from the hospital I was delivering at. We thought it best for me to hang out in Tucson until I went into labor to avoid a birth in the car. So, I was at my mother in laws house awaiting the arrival of our son. (My husband stayed at our house as he had to work.)
It was a Friday night and my niece and nephew had a movie night at their school. My mother in law, sister in law, niece, nephew, and myself packed up lots of yummy snacks and headed to the school. I remember eating tons of Starburst, Skittles, and Laffy Taffy that night. I always joke that was what put me into labor lol. After we got back, around 11:30pm, I started feeling some contractions. But that wasn’t anything new as I had been having them consistently for a couple weeks. Ugh, SO ANNOYING! Let me know in the comments if you had early labor symptoms forever before actually going into real labor.
As soon as I told my sister in law, Tenicia that I was feeling contractions, she was like “Let’s go walking!” Tenicia passed away a few years ago and I miss her so much! She was my rock through this labor. I considered her my best friend, even though we had our issues. When I needed her, she knew exactly what to say and do to help, that’s who she was. So, we start walking around the neighborhood and it’s late at night! We were walking for over an hour and the contractions were getting INTENSE! I begged her to let me go back to the apartment to use the bathroom, and she allowed it lol. She wanted me to start walking again immediately after the bathroom break, (she drove a hard bargain), but right when I reached the bottom of the stairs, I literally couldn’t move.
I told her we needed to get to the hospital RIGHT NOW. She woke up my mother in law to borrow her car keys and we headed off. I was legit scared I was gonna have a baby in the car! But, we did make it and the staff knew me by now as the ‘one who always though she was in labor but never was’, so they took their sweet time checking me in. And unfortunately, my husband came to know me that way as well. So when Tenicia called him to tell him to start driving towards the hospital so he can be there for the birth, he figured he had time. Boy was he wrong!
They finally get me back in a triage room and I go into the bathroom to put my gown on before I get checked for dilation. As I am undressing, I notice there is blood EVERYWHERE! I start yelling to Tenicia and she yells into the hall to alert the staff. They come in pretty quickly and lay me down on the bed to check me. I was at 9 and a half centimeters! The nurse said, “Oh, you really are in labor!” Yeah, I kinda figured that, thank you:/ The nurse said that we had to get to the delivery unit ASAP and started wheeling the bed through the halls. It was like a scene from a movie, for reals y’all! I’m crying, not knowing if everything is ok while Tenicia’s calling Alex again to say “Get here now foo!”
Because of the post partum hemmoraging I had with Justyce, my doctor ordered Pitocin to be administered through the IV immediately. Only problem was, my veins DID NOT want to be poked! They could not get the IV in! At this point, my body is pushing involuntarily. I chose with this baby, to go as natural as possible. I didn’t even want an IV, but my doctor would not take no for an answer on that one. So, Elijah was coming, and the doctor is telling me not to push. Um, excuse me lady, I couldn’t help that if I tried! And I was trying! I was on my side, holding my legs together but I could feel him sliding lower and lower, and his head was knocking on the door, ya know what I’m saying?!
Finally, they got the IV secured, and I flipped on my back. I was having a hard time with the last two pushes because, with Justyce I was numb, so I wouldn’t have know how anyway. My doctor started getting snippy with me, (it was almost 2 in the morning so I get it), but Tenicia wasn’t having it lol. She said “Don’t yell at her, she’s trying!” Man, I miss her!!!
The doctor backed off, and I was able to get the hang of it and he was born! Everything was fine, he was healthy, and my bleeding was normal. It was amazing! There was such a difference between this birth and Justyce’s! It’s hard to explain, but it felt MAGICAL! I know, that sounds weird, but I bet moms know what I’m talking about. It was also very intimate with just me and Tenicia compared to the army I had at my last birth, and that was so nice. I was really upset at the time that Alex didn’t make it for the birth. But, looking back now, it was perfect! It was actually my favorite of all my births!
Elijah Alexander was born at 2:52am on Saturday, October 18th, 2008! Alex made it only 30 minutes after his birth to snuggle his first born son! We were released Sunday morning, just in time to show Elijah off as everyone was walking out of church. So, that’s it! Next up, we have Caleb tomorrow. Until next time…..
BE BLESSED!
