Emilia's birth story

It was the evening of 10/20 (Tuesday). I was feeling pretty frustrated and annoyed with all the false labor I had been having for weeks. I decided to take a bath and relax, hoping that I might be able to sleep a little better than I had with all the cramping and contractions I had been having in the middle of the night. I crawled into bed about 9.45. I started to notice a little bit of cramping and remember thinking "ugh, nothing all day and now I have to try and fall asleep with these annoying cramps." I was on the verge of sleep when all of the sudden I felt a click sensation and actually heard a click noise, as weird as that sounds. I thought to myself "did my water just break?" But then nothing happened. About 30 seconds later the tidal wave came out. I literally could not believe it. Thank goodness Chris had planned ahead and had lined our mattress (my side) with garbage bags underneath the mattress pad so nothing got on the mattress. He was on the couch downstairs when I called and told him to get his butt upstairs and that my water had broken. My water broke at 9.55pm on the dot. I remember looking at the clock right when it happened.

Chris called MIL to come stay at the house so we could head out to the hospital (upon calling they told me to come right in). I'd say about 5-10 minutes after my water broke I started feeling contractions. By 10:15 they were regular and about 5 minutes apart, not too painful. In the car ride on the way to the hospital they became about 4 min apart, were slightly over a minute long and definitely the real deal. We got to the hospital at about 11pm. I headed straight into a labor and delivery suite where they checked if my water had broken and they confirmed that it had. From there I labored through contractions while they did b/w. I was checked and around the time I got there and I was at 3 cm, still 75% effaced and Emilia was at a -1 station. I let them know that I wanted an epidural. My BP was high once I got there and so of course they had to run b/w for pre-e. Clearly I was in effing pain so I don't understand why high BP would be so alarming in these cases, but alas better safe than sorry. It freaking took FOREVER to get my b/w back and by the time I got my epi it was 2am and I was already dilated 5-6 cm. OMG - the contractions I had before the epi were 2 minutes apart lasting for over a minute. I was dying. The contraction monitor screen looked like a mountain range, I'm not even joking. Ah, but sweet relief once that epi came (and what an awesome epi it was, I was very comfortable the rest of the time). The OB offered a Lunesta to help me sleep and I thought hey, why the hell not, I'll need my strength. I passed out from 2.30 till 4.30 and woke up totally refreshed. No wonder Lunesta is thought of as addicting. I need some of the stuff now!


I started feeling pressure about 5am. It was around this time that I started feeling pain again - but it was just in the area of where my cervix would be. The nurse said that baby was probably pushing on my cervical area b/c I was close to pushing. I was checked and proclaimed that I just had a lip of a cervix and that I was 9.5 cm dilated. We were going to wait a bit and labor down before I started pushing. I think it was at about 5.30 that we did a practice push - the nurse immediately stopped me and said that baby was right there and that she needed to get the OB in sooner rather than later b/c it was going to be a quick delivery. The room was prepped for delivery as we waited for the OB. I don't remember exactly what time she got there. Pushing was so easy this time around. I don't know if it was because I knew how to push from the 1st time or was just more aware of where I needed to push. It was seriously like 3 contractions later and Emilia's head was out. Then just one small push for the rest of her. The OB immediately proclaimed that she had some weight to her. Once she was suctioned she was placed on my chest and I of course started crying. That surprised me as I hadn't cried at that moment with Gabriella. I think it was more emotional for me this time b/c I knew what an amazing journey I was about to embark on and how special it was going to be. To me, Emilia looked just like Gabriella. I couldn't even believe how similar they looked.


Moments later she was taken over to be cleaned off, checked, etc. I could not believe my ears when they said she was 9lbs 1oz. I mean, WOW, we knew she'd be big, but I certainly was thinking something more in the 8lb range. Then the 22 inches long was announced and I was amazed again. What a big girl!


OB delivered my placenta and I really had minimal bleeding which was great. She said I had one very small tear with just one stitch so I was happy about that as well. I was able to BF pretty much right away and Emilia was just a natural from the start. I was just amazed.