Noah's Birth Story - Part 1

Oh where do I begin...

Let's start at the actual beginning shall we?  In hindsight I knew labor was impending several days before it actually happened.  But since I didn't go into labor with Jett, I was feeling very much like a first timer once we hit 38 weeks and had no idea what I was expecting.  Also, I was only 39 weeks, even though I was WANTING baby to come early I didn't actually believe I wouldn't see my due date.

On Wednesday morning, 38w6d, I woke up feeling very anxious.  The fair was in town and we had made plans to go that Friday but suddenly I felt like we needed to do it that day or it wasn't gonna happen.  No rational reason for feeling like that but it needed to be done and out of the way that day.  I also suddenly needed to do all the laundry and just sort of tidy the house up.  Not full blown cleaning but I picked everything up, sorted out anything that was left in piles etc.  And that was that for Wednesday.  We went to the fair, walked around for a few hours with nothing to indicate labor was on it's way and my anxiety went away.

Thursday, 39w, I had a midwife appt.  I got my membranes swept.  This is not necessarily the standard for a homebirth midwife, they usually have a wait and see approach and try not to mess with the natural flow of labor but we'd discussed it the previous week and she said she was comfortable doing it at 39 weeks and I said GREAT because the prospect of flying with only a few weeks recovery time was starting to weigh heavily on my mind. I wanted this kid out sooner rather than later so I had time to heal before heading back to CA.  Last time I was 100% opposed to getting any sort of cervical check whatsoever unless I hit 41 weeks but this time...bring it on at 39 weeks!  After the birth my midwife actually told me when she saw me that day she had a feeling baby was on his way in the next few days anyway so she had no qualms about the sweep.  I was dilated to a whopping 1cm which she could stretch to a 2cm, but very soft and "ready".  I left feeling very much like labor was not coming anytime soon.  We also decided that night to leave Jett with my mom so we could go to dinner.  We were thinking he shouldn't feel like when he goes to spend the night at Grandmas it means a new baby is coming, so he should spend a few nights there before baby came.  So we went to dinner, not necessarily "for the last time" as we thought we had another week but again, odd timing and perhaps I knew it was the last time.  We had SPICY curry and I ate way too much.

39 weeks

That night I woke up at 3am with the most awful heartburn I have ever had in my life.  I tried everything to get rid of it.  Even drank baking soda in water, DISGUSTING.  But I was basically awake from 3-6am then up for the day at 7am because I just couldn't lay down with the heartburn anymore.  So, SHITTY NIGHT SLEEP ONE, clearly I'm destined to begin labor after very little sleep.

Friday, 39w1d, we had plans to go to the coast, which we've never done with Jett, and again so glad we got this out of the way!  The coast is only an hour drive so we knew if I went into labor it wouldn't be a big deal to get back home quickly.  I spent the day feeling like absolute poop.  Crazy heartburn which left me really unable to eat much, a bit nauseous and a bit crampy.  Basically I was a big ball of ICK.  But we had fun, Jett especially!

I'm really glad we did this as it turned out to be our last trip as a family of 3!

On the way home from the coast I started having contractions.  Timeable, every 8 minutes, lasting for a minute.  We got home, I told Dom I needed to use the loo and take a bath, I say need because really it was like a NEED, I NEEDED a bath, so weird but when I got out I would tell him what needed to happen.  But basically as soon as I hopped in the bath, everything stopped.  Contractions went away and just generally I started feeling better.   BUT it felt like the time was near, we went to bed that night knowing we were getting close to the end.

Saturday, 39w2d I woke up again at 3am...this time not from heartburn but with timeable painful contractions.  Again, every 8-9 minutes lasting for a minute.  They continued until I finally got up at 6am, took a shower and when I got out I told Dom, today is the day, we're having a baby!

To be continued...