A couple weeks ago I started to write a blog about the doctors appointment that I had just came from and never finished the post --
The paragraph below was written on Tuesday, July 10th..
After last weeks doctors appointment, I tried not to have high expectations as to what my progress would be with the pregnancy. I've read countless articles and posts online about women who go to the doctor and get 'checked' only to be told that they aren't making any progress towards having their babies and I know that this point of pregnancy has to be really tough for some people. I mean, let's face it - there are not too many patient people left out there... at least not in a society where everything comes to you as soon as you want it or as fast as you can drive to get it! However, I've been pretty proud of myself because I'm not feeling anxious or ready in the way of "just get this baby out of me" which is how most people get - But I'm not going to lie... My doctor told me today that I've made great progress in one week, going from nothing at all last week to 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced this week! And even though I know it is totally possible to stay at the same point for weeks to come, I'm very excited! I've been having contractions for a while now but they've definitely been more painful in the last few days so hopefully they continue!
Well, that night a couple of things happened. I told Edward that I really wanted to take a walk because I'd heard that you are supposed to walk everyday in the last few weeks of pregnancy - right before we left on our walk we saw a full rainbow outside of our house - Ed made a video of it actually... really cool. You could see where it began and ended which is obviously pretty rare. When we went on our walk later that night we also saw a shooting star so I turned to Edward and said, "A full rainbow and a shooting star?!" and continued to make some smart remark about how I was probably going to go into labor that night. At 9:55 p.m. I looked at my iPhone because I'd been having contractions that I thought were pretty regular - I'd been having contractions for weeks so it wasn't a big deal but I just kind of thought I should start timing them to see if they were regular. I took a shower and went to sleep and starting timing them on a handy App that I have on my phone. Throughout the night I woke up about twice an hour because of contractions - like I said, I'd had contraction before but they didn't hurt too bad and definitely had never woken me up. When I woke up I started timing them and they were between 10 and 15 minutes apart so I called work and said I was going to stay home and see what happened. Actually I said, "I'm having contractions so I'm going to stay home for a while and I'll be in later if/when they stop." Edward left for work and I continued to lay in bed - after an hour or so I called my mom and sister to let them know I stayed home from work and my sister suggested I take a shower and shave just in case - so I got in the shower, shaved my legs and then continued to time contractions. When Edward came home from lunch I was sitting on his exercise ball taking deep breaths - he looked a little confused and said, "What's going on?" Of course I looked at him (confused as well) and said, "I'm in labor." At this point I realized that instead of saying that I was having contractions all day- which I'd been saying for 2 weeks - I should have described this in another way. He started to help me take the time and for the next couple of hours we sat in the room and he rubbed my back, put washcloth's on the back of my neck, brought me trash cans when I had to vomit and then started to get our bags together (somewhere throughout this time he said, "Um, I don't think I should go back to work".... yeah, probably a good idea!). When my contractions were 3-6 minutes apart for a little over an hour and when I started to think that I wouldn't be able to walk in the hospital if I waited much longer I told Edward it was time -
We arrived at the hospital at 4:50 p.m. I could tell the nurse was used to women coming in who had a long time left because she took her time checking me in even though I told her my contractions were less than 5 minutes apart. I told her that I didn't want an I.V. and that I planned on having the baby without pain medication. When she finally came back and checked me she looked really surprised and said, "Oh! You are already 5 centimeters... let me get the doctor." Shortly after that my sister arrived and the doctor came in and checked me and asked if I was ready to push! Everybody was a little in shock except for me - I was relieved and felt ready to have the baby -- and not too long after that, (@ 6:08p.m. to be exact) our angel was born!! I couldn't thank God enough for how my labor progressed and it's only through him that I was able to have Kwesi with no pain medication and no complications to follow. Edward and I feel extremely blessed and every day it's hard for me to believe that I'm so lucky.
Pictures and introduction to follow! Stay tuned!!
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