Scarlett Rose

Born May 4, 2015 at 10:25am

7 lbs. 7 oz.

20 inches

I woke around 3:30am on the morning of May 4th (two days past my “guess date”) with period-like cramping. My first thought was that this might be the day we meet our baby girl. There had been a few days here and there leading up to my due date where I felt really “off” and thought that maybe it meant that baby girl was going to make her arrival. However, on those occasions I didn’t feel ready, and instead felt anxious and even a little scared. Throughout my pregnancy, I always thought that when it was truly her time to come I would know because I would feel very calm and happy—and that is exactly how I felt that morning.

I got up to use the bathroom to see if maybe it was just an upset stomach, but when I got back in bed the cramps remained, though still pretty mild at this point. Justin got up to use the bathroom and when he came out I said, “I’m having some cramping…I think this could be it.” “I was just dreaming that we were at the hospital getting ready to meet her,” Justin said, and he seemed just as calm and happy as I felt. “Just go back to sleep for now,” I said. A little after 4:00am I started timing the cramps which were getting a little stronger. To my surprise, they were coming every 1-2 minutes and lasting about a minute. I stayed in bed until about 4:30 and then decided to get up because it was becoming more uncomfortable to lay in bed. I decided to take a hot shower, figuring I would have plenty of time to get ready before leaving for the hospital (I wanted to stay home as long as possible to avoid laboring for hours at the hospital). Little did I know how fast everything would happen. I texted my mom and Jessica, saying “Scarlett says: Well fiddle-dee-dee, I think I’ll come today!” (a tribute to Scarlett O’Hara:) I turned on my Hypnobabies Birthing Day Affirmations CD while getting ready, which turned out to be interesting. I had to keep switching positions while trying to put on my makeup—kitchen table, exercise ball, and finally the chair in the living room where Buddy kept jumping up to try to console me—he knew something was up! I had to keep stopping while putting on my mascara to “turn my lightswitch off” (a Hypnobabies technique) to get through the contractions, which were still coming about every 2 minutes it seemed. Trying to curl my hair was even more fun—I had to stop every 1-2 minutes to drape myself over the bed and try to breathe through the pain, and at one point I even threw up. I realized that things seemed to be progressing a lot faster than I had anticipated and knew we needed to leave soon. I struggled through the last few curls, got dressed, grabbed my iPad to listen to Hypnobabies in the car, and we were out the door a little after 7:00am. Poor Buddy tried to follow us out—he was very distraught and worried about his mom.

The drive to the hospital was miserable—the Poplar Street Bridge was down to two lanes due to construction, and on top of that it started to rain, so it took us about an hour to get to the hospital. I listened to my Birthing Guide CD all the way to the hospital while I writhed in pain, still about every 1-2 minutes. The starting and stopping of the car moving through the traffic did not help matters. When we finally arrived at the hospital a little after 8:00, Justin parked in the parking garage and I told him I was unable to walk in, that he would have to go get a wheelchair. I immediately turned around on my knees with my head cradles in my arms on the seat, trying to find any position that made the pressure waves more bearable. Justin came back shortly after that and pulled around to the entrance where to my surprise Max was waiting with a wheelchair (he had been on his way back to Mizzou when mom called him to tell him I was in labor—he turned around and arrived at the hospital 40 minutes before us). Since I was concentrating so hard on my CDs the checking in process was pretty much a blur—I sat there and listened to my iPad while Justin answered all the questions.

Around 8:30, we were then taken to a triage room because supposedly none of the L&D rooms were available at the moment. Right when we got in the room, I proceeded to throw up the two bites of pear I had eaten in the car. A couple nurses came in and had me change into the lovely hospital gown and then checked my cervix for dilation. They asked if I wanted to know and I was hesitant but she said it was good so I let her tell me, only to find out I was only around a 4-5—I was certain I was farther along than that. After that I spent most of my time in that room (which was for over an hour) dropping to my hands and knees on the floor trying to get through each wave. They tried to give me a saline lock and I asked if I really had to, as there was no way I could be still long enough for them to put a needle in me. They said I could wait until I got upstairs if I wanted (which me dropping to the floor in pain again I think was answer enough). I tried out the birthing ball for awhile, as the nurse said it can help with back labor—which I was having to the extreme. Ultimately, the ball wasn’t doing it and I commenced to my all-fours position with Justin massaging my back through each wave. They hooked me up to the monitor which made things very difficult as I could not stand to lay still on my back and had to keep moving around even with all these straps attached to me. At one point the nurses left for longer than 20 minutes, leaving me on the stupid monitor at which point Justin and I both started questioning whether I was going to have this baby in this room. I remember saying multiple times that I don’t know how much more I could take. It seemed as though I had completely skipped over early first stage and had been in active labor from the beginning. The contractions kept coming every 1-2 minutes making it extremely hard to use the techniques I had learned through the Hypnobabies program.

Finally around 9:45 a nurse came in to take us to our room. As Justin wheeled me through the halls, we passed by my parents and Max waiting and all I could say was “This sucks”. When we got in the room, Justin started filling up the tub but I had a feeling I wouldn’t be needing it. When the nurse checked me she said I was about 6-7 cm dilated, which was discouraging—I didn’t know how much more I could take. I got on all fours on the couch, yelling “Ahhh” through each contraction and sobbing in between while Justin continued to do all he could to console me, rubbing my shoulders and back and saying “relax” over and over. It wasn’t long before I started to have pushy sensations with each contraction. I told the nurse that I felt like pushing and she didn’t seemed too concerned or like there was any sense of urgency—“We can check you and see if you’re ready,” she said. It got so unbearable that I felt like giving up and I told Justin to tell the nurse that I wanted an epidural—another huge sign that I was in the transition stage. The nurse said “Let’s go ahead and check you again before you say that, I think you are probably close.” I slowly struggled over to the bed but didn’t quite make it as I was overtaken yet again by another debilitating contraction, and once again, dropped to all fours on the floor by the bed. I had about 2 more powerful contractions, pushing with each one because that is what my body was telling me to do, whether the nurse said I was ready or not. On the second contraction/push on the floor my water broke all over the floor—that’s when I knew I should move up to the bed. The nurse checked me and said I was ready (no kidding) and then she left my side to I assume alert the doctor that I was getting close. I tried lying on my side and lifting my leg—a position I had read was good for pushing—but my leg started cramping up so I returned to my tried and true position of the day, hands and knees. Justin continued to rub my shoulders and then I felt the strongest contraction yet, using the force of it to push, and suddenly it felt like her head was crowning “I think she’s coming!” I said. Then came the most powerful wave of all, and using the strength behind it I gave one more strong push and Miss Scarlett made her grand entrance to the world right onto the bed! (there was no doctor (or nurse for that matter) present to catch her). It was incredibly surreal hearing her sweet little cry and seeing her little legs and umbilical cord from between my legs as the hospital staff came running. I was trying to get a look at her face when the nurse told me to carefully turn around onto my back and they brought her to me:

And that face. The moment that I saw her face was the very best moment of my life and I know that with her here now there are many more moments like that to come.

I’ve just seen a face
I can’t forget the time or place
Where we just met

She’s just the girl for me
And I want all the world
To see we’ve met
Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm mmm mmm

Falling, yes I am falling
And she keeps calling
Me back again

Oh, falling, yes I am falling
And she keeps calling
Me back again

-The Beatles