Natalie Mei

Oh how I love this tiny little person. In case you missed it on facebook, our baby girl is here! I wanted to post her birth story before I forget stuff... this may be epic-ly long, and a little TMI so sorry about that, but I always like lots of details in other people's birth stories, so feel free to skip this post if you're just not that interested!


I was due on the 7th (a Monday), the same day as my normal doctors appointment. When the doctor checked me I was still the same as I had been for the past three weeks, so he scheduled me for a non stress test on Thursday. He also told us that in his opinion, nothing good happened after 41 weeks... so he wanted to induce me the next Monday if she didn't come on her own. I really didn't want to be induced! Sooo, fast forward to Thursday, (with lots of hoping that she would just come already!) I had the tests and everything still looked good. They told me my doctor had me scheduled for 11 am on Monday if she didn't come over the weekend. 


Later that night, Matt and I were watching X-Files in our room, and at about 6:30 I started to feel something weird... I was pretty sure they were contractions when they started coming really regularly. We were stoked! I wanted to stay at home for as long as possible, so Matt got a bath ready for me and set up the computer in the bathroom so I could relax and watch some Gilmore Girls. It was great until the water got cold and I got sick of being all scrunched in the tub (normal bathtubs are not designed for six feet tall people, much less six feet tall people with a basketball for a tummy). So, it was about 9:00 when Matt and I got situated in the living room on our love sac. Then, a little while later I feel this big 'movement' in my tummy, I thought it felt weird... I thought it was maybe a gas bubble (TMI? Sorry, I left all sense of modesty and dignity in the delivery room) but then a few seconds later I feel like I'm starting to pee my pants, but my 'stop peeing muscles' aren't really doing anything to stop it. I said to Matt 'Ummm, either I just peed my pants a little, or my water broke!'. So he helped me up and I was halfway across the living room floor and I got all stuck, on account of it felt weird to be walking normal while wetting my pants. We were both nervous laughing a lot and I told Matt to help me, and he just looked at me like I was crazy and said 'uhhh, not really sure what to do', so I did an awkward walk/run/keep my legs together into the bathroom. And you want to know what they don't tell you about your water breaking? It's not like one gush and you're done... oh no, you're in it for the long haul sister! Get ready for a whole night of peeing your pants goodness.


So... of course I called my mom and told her that I was pretty sure my water broke and she said I should probably get to the hospital (my contractions were still really mellow, so I wasn't ready to go in for those yet). And I knew that when your water broke you were supposed to go in, so Matt and I real quick gathered up our stuff (which I luckily finished packing that morning) and drove to the hospital... nervous/excited laughing the whole way. When we got to the parking lot and I got out of the car, another wonderful gush came, successfully drenching my jeans. I was still stupidly trying to stop it (you can't really, by the way) by crossing my legs and doing a little dance. Luckily Matt was there, or I probably wouldn't have gone into the ER, for fear someone would see me in my soaked pants. I tied my sweater around my waist and held my purse in front of me (this is how not intense my contractions were, I was still worried about how I looked). Anyhow, made it up to labor and delivery (the wonderful thing about your water breaking, no one asked me any questions, they just got me gowned up and in bed pronto). 


I had wanted to walk around and stuff during my labor, but since my water had broken, they were worried about the cord getting pinched, so they put the monitors on me and told me to stay put. I was dilated to a four, almost a five, so I was pretty happy! It was getting late, and Matt and I had already been up since 6, so I told him to take a nap since my contractions weren't bad. Sadly, I stopped progressing at a 6, so they wanted to start me on pitocin (enter me being not super excited about that). They did that, and whammy, my contractions started to be not so fun. I was having a lot of back pain and the only thing that helped was sitting indian style on my bed with Matt putting counter pressure on my lower back. Not a super fun. Luckily, Matt was a serious rock star, and pushed on my back through every contraction and reminded me to breathe. Man, I love my husband. 


I stalled again at a 7 and they upped my pitocin... and I was getting really tired and not super with it so I asked the nurse for something to just take the edge off (I had heard there was a drug for that, and I didn't want an epidural) so she told me she could give it to me, but probably only for an hour, they didn't want me taking it within an hour of when the baby was born. So I did that, and it helped some, but contractions are contractions and they don't call it labor for nothing! Again, soooo thankful for Matt, I totally thought I would be a 'get away from me, don't touch me' kind of person when I was in labor, but I wasn't, and during the breaks I just leaned on him and held his hand. I was really glad when they started prepping the room for delivery... because I figured that must mean it was almost over. 


When I was at a nine, they said to tell them if I felt the urge to push and they would check me again to see if I was ready. I didn't really want to tell them, because being checked meant laying down and that wasn't really that comfortable... but then I thought maybe I had to push, and I heard that pushing wasn't as bad as being in transition (and my thoughts are all a jumbled mess right now, you know, being in pain and heading on 24 hours of being awake). They brought the doctor in, got me all ready to push, and then, get this, they make me push, but tell me I can't make any sounds... cause that lessens my pushing power apparently. I was holding Matt's hand, and the nurses hand, and feeling like I was going to have an aneurysm I was pushing so hard. Then, they tell me I'm not pushing hard enough, and I'm pretty sure I was telling Matt and I didn't want to, or couldn't, or something to that effect. But alas, after three contractions worth of pushing, at 5:35 on 11/11/11, out came my 9 lb 12 oz, 21.5 in long baby girl! The doctor was surprised she was so big and asked me where I had been keeping her. There was meconium in her fluid so they had to get her all cleaned out and stuff (I had wanted them to put her right on me, but I was so past thinking at this point, I didn't even care).
After she got all cleaned up and stuff, Matt brought her over to me and she was looking all over, and as soon as I started to talk to her she totally turned her head towards me, like she knew my voice! It was awesome. I held her for a few minutes, then Matt went with her to do whatever they do to newborns and I slept. I don't think I've ever been so tired, and the whole night had just felt so surreal. 


That's about it as far as my birth story (I know, super long huh? I don't even care if you didn't read it, this is probably the only place I'll write the whole thing out). But let me tell you, being a mom is amazing. After my nap and the return of my lucidity, I really got to hold her and talk to her and it was awesome. Words just really can't explain what it is to meet your baby for the first time. I love every little thing about her and I'm so happy that she's finally here!