Meet Autumn Kristine!
^^^^The first two pictures are from when she was 2 days old, and the third picture was just taken this morning. They change so quickly in the first few weeks!
Our little Tummers is the sweetest, squeakiest, most wonderful addition to our family. I thought that her birth would be pretty similar to Austin's, but it was a completely different experience than his or Nicole's! It just goes to show that every pregnancy/labor is really, truly different.
Pre-labor was a LONG phase with Autumn. We're talking a good 2 weeks of having several contractions an hour during the day. Less than a week before my due date, I got a stomach bug. Chills, tummy pains, headache, perhaps even a slight fever. It lasted a good 24 hours. I went to my midwife the next day bawling because I was SO tired and done. She asked me if I wanted to induce, to which I said "No... not yet, at least." My mom and sister arrived from California that evening in anticipation of the baby coming any time now, and after a good rest that night, I was much better by the next day.
My due date (February 2nd) came and went without event. Then the next evening I got sick. Again. This time it was only 12 hours, but... well, let's call it a "full body cleanse" and it started just after midnight, so I got NO sleep that night. I was SO glad to have my mom there to care for the kids that morning. By afternoon I was feeling fine, but then contractions started coming less than 10 minutes apart. It lasted for hours. We tentatively got things ready for the hospital, although it didn't feel like true labor because the intervals between contractions were still a little random, and they didn't hurt. I went to bed early because I was so exhausted from the night before, and the contractions pretty much went away once I lay down.
Darn.
The next day - Tuesday the 5th - I went in to have my midwife strip my membranes. I was dilated to a 3 at this point, and I hoped that the strip would kick things into gear that very day. I was also VERY done at this point because of being sick again, so I went ahead and set up an induction for the next day, for multiple reasons. I never thought I'd be one of those women who set up a non-medically-necessary induction. Yep, we all eat our words sometimes.
I went home and--once again--contractions started up for the whole afternoon, always coming under 10 minutes apart. Some even had a bit of "bite" to them. By evening they decreased in frequency, and I got a call from the hospital saying to be there the next morning at 6:15 AM for my induction. We went to bed knowing that even if I didn't go into labor that night, it would be over the next morning at the very least. We didn't sleep well that night, out of anticipation and nerves.
That night, Utah County and the surrounding areas had one of the worst snow storms we've seen in years. Oooof course. Thankfully, Orem was not hit as badly as other areas, and driving was still feasible. Leaving my sister in charge of the kids (who were still asleep at the time anyways), Doug and I piled into the car with my mom and set out in the cold, snowy darkness of that February morning. We left 10 minutes earlier than we normally would have so that we'd have extra time to drive very sloooowly to the hospital. Several blocks away from the street that led to the hospital, Doug was approaching an intersection at 5 MPH. He started breaking, and the car started sliding! We slid sideways right into the curb, which caused me to hit my head semi-hard on the car frame. The impact also bent up the wheel of the car, but the car was fortunately still able to function. We made it to the hospital with a couple minutes to spare.
We checked in, and I was taken to my labor/delivery/recovery suite. By a stroke of luck, it was the same room I delivered Austin in! I settled down on the bed in my hospital gown while my nurse asked me the loooong list of check-in questions and got my IV started. She also checked my cervix, and I was heartened to hear that I had progressed to 4 cm in the past day since my membrane strip. 4 cm is how dilated you have to be for a typical hospital to admit you when you're in active labor, so that helped me feel better about coming in for the induction. I probably would have gone into labor naturally in the next day or so on my own, just based on the dilation progress I'd made.
By this point, it had already been over an hour since I arrived at the hospital! I wanted to start with having my water broken, rather than using any meds like Pitocin. In retrospect, that was a good choice on my part. My midwife was delivering down in Provo at this point, and needed to get from there to me in the snowy weather. She didn't manage to get there until 10 AM... nearly 3 hours after I checked in. Let me tell you right now... If we had started with Pitocin, I probably would have had the baby before she could get there. I'm glad I waited for her instead of starting right away!
She broke my water and let me settle in and wait to see if contractions would pick up. They did slightly, although I felt like they were still so far apart, and not really very painful. After an hour, I was feeling rather bored. I wanted things to get going, so after chatting with my midwife about it, I had my nurse give me the tiiiiniest bit of Pitocin.
That was all I needed, folks. And I kid you not, it was the smallest amount of Pitocin.
Once the Pitocin started, I noticed an immediate change. I was trying to fill out the birth certificate paperwork, and I kept having to stop writing so that I could close my eyes and breathe through the contractions. After about 10 minutes of that nonsense, I called my nurse back in to ask for an epidural. I had been planning all through this pregnancy on a natural labor like with Austin, but I was still so fresh from being sick and just wanted a break from the pain for once. She sent for the anesthesiologist, while my midwife checked my dilation... 5 cm. I waited about 10 more minutes for the anesthesiologist to come, during which my midwife pushed just under my knees during contractions to give counter-pressure. It was surprising how much that helped me manage the pain. It was a cool trick!
The anesthesiologist arrived sometime between 11:20 and 11:25. He had me sit on the edge of the bed to prepare. At this point, my contractions were coming only, like, 2 minutes apart. My midwife probably should have checked my dilation before we started the epidural... I was probably at a 6 or 7 at this point, and I guarantee she would have told me it was too late for the epidural. BUT she didn't check me, so we didn't know. I had to hold still for the epidural, so I breathed through several intense contractions while holding perfectly still and leaning on Doug's shoulder while squeezing the crap out of his hand.
Once the epidural was finished, I lay back on the bed. I knew it would take some time to kick in, but told myself I'd get relief soon.
Yeah, no.
Within 10 minutes of finishing the epidural process, I started complaining that my bladder felt really full. My nurse started preparing me for a catheter. My legs were starting to feel a little tingly from the epidural, but I could still feel everything. Just as my nurse was about to put the catheter in, I started saying that I needed to pee NOW because my bladder felt like it would burst. Then the sensation increased, and my back arched, and I said something I don't remember, and my midwife said, "Baby's here!" to which I replied, "What?! But I can still feel everything!" in a squeaky voice.
My midwife put a bedpan under me so I could relive my bladder, since we hadn't managed to put a catheter in, but I couldn't pee. I suspect that I never really needed to pee... I was feeling pressure from the baby, rather than pressure from my bladder. She removed the bedpan and helped the nurses get everything into place as another contraction hit me. I squeakily asked, "Can I push????" to which my midwife replied, "Well, you can if you need to, but we're not quite ready yet..." (I caught them all by surprise with how fast I progressed!) so I went ahead and semi-pushed through 2 contractions.
Then it was showtime! I pushed as hard as I could through the first contraction. I had what felt like only brief moments to rest before the next contraction hit, and I had only just barely started pushing when I heard my mom exclaim, "Oh, there she is! There she is!" and there was some burning and my midwife said, "Head's out! Okay, stop pushing..."
I thought to myself, "Head's out already?! Really?" and then a few moments later out came the rest of the baby! It felt like it was over so fast! I could see her little feet from over my belly, and then the midwife brought the rest of her into view. Oh, that little baby was so mad! They suctioned her and put her up on my belly for a bit until we got the cord clamped and cut. The nurses weighed and measured her while my midwife delivered the placenta, and then they brought her over to do skin-on-skin while I got stitched up because I tore. Second degree, just like my previous two deliveries. My midwife had to give me a local because the epidural STILL hadn't kicked in, so I could still feel everything.
My nurse shut the epidural off, and by the time I was done being stitched up, I was unable to lift my left leg. That's as numb as I got, folks. What a waste of meds! I should have expected that there wouldn't be time for the epidural to kick in, though. I went pretty fast with Austin too, once I got to 6 cm or so. If/when baby #4 comes along, I REALLY need to not even bother with the epidural. They just don't ever work out for me, and now I've done a (for all intents and purposes) meds-free labor twice and survived just fine.
Autumn was my smallest baby, weighing in at 7 lbs. 7 oz. and 20 inches long. Perhaps that's why it only took 2 rounds of pushing to get her out! It took a good hour for Autumn to calm down enough to eat, and then after half an hour of nursing for the first time, she finally fell asleep. That girl was so mad about being evicted! Then she slept for nearly 6 hours, and it took me a whole hour to prod and poke and nudge her awake enough to finally eat again. After that, she nursed quite readily.
We checked out of the hospital the next afternoon, just an hour or so after Autumn hit the "24 hours old" mark. I was rather hormonal/emotional for a few days, but by the time Doug's paternity leave was used up (when Autumn was 8 days old) I was in a pretty good place. We even went to Target that day! First errand with 3 kids in tow, woot woot!
We love our little Autumn!
Read Nicole's birth story here.
Read Austin's birth story here.
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