Avery's Birth

My bean is almost half a year old and I've yet to share her birth story. 

Is it bad that I do that? By that I mean I'm so lazy that if I have to tell a story more than like 10 times I tell people, "I'll just write a blog post and tell ya'll when its up." Its one part laziness and another part me hating repeating myself.

So Jess, this one's for you since you keep reminding me that I've been procrastinating, like, e'ryday...

Let me start with a quick backstory. And I mean quick: 

Ethan, my oldest, was a textbook pregnancy. Period. Done. And thank goodness because I was only 17 when I had him so the last thing I needed was a complicated pregnancy at that point.

Ariana, babe número dos, not so much. I began having contractions with her at 20 weeks. They gave me a shot to stop my contractions and put me on bed rest. I went into preterm labor almost monthly (the 'why' is a longish story) and got a shot, hospital stay, and bed rest each time until finally, at 36 weeks, I went into preterm labor and they let me have her. She was healthy and happy. Boom.

Owen was high-risk since I had such a complex pregnancy with Ari. But all went well and at week 37 I went into (a very short) labor and damn near had him in the car. I seriously had him within minutes of walking in the hospital, no doctor, nurse didn't have gloves on... But that's a post for another day.

Check out my overall game circa the year 2000. That's me and mi madre when I was like 85 months pregnant with E. Meeeemories.

Now that the cliff's notes version of my previous pregnancies is out there I'll tell you Avery's story.

I knew Av was gonna come early. 

And I was considered high-risk and had to inject myself with a progesterone shot every week from week 16-36 (this was to prevent premature labor). Luckily, I have a high tolerance for pain and needles don't bother me. There were a few times were I started to get contractions but they were able to be stopped. 

Fast forward to 12 March. I had contractions all day. Nothing insane but definitely consistent. But by late afternoon they stopped. 

The next day was a Friday (the 13th) and the boyfriend had a, let's say, "gathering" to attend after work with his work mates. I know my body. Like, it's insane how in tune with it I am and I told him, "This baby is coming in the next day or two and I can't have you sauced in the delivery room so nurse your drinks, lover." 

And guess what? 

He went to his gathering, came home expecting exciting baby news but I had nothin' - my contractions had stopped since about noon that day (Friday) while he was still at work. And they hadn't returned by the time he got home late that evening. So we went to bed thinking I didn't know my body so well after all.

But then...at 3 o'clock that morning (Saturday) I woke up to a gush of fluid and a wicked painful contraction. So bad that I couldn't go back to sleep. I knew this was it.

I waddled to the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair. The contractions were coming one to three minutes apart right from the giddy-up. And with each contraction came more fluid.

Fun.

Fun.

Fun.

I knew it was go-time but I hate hospitals and I didn't want to go in and be there for hours before having my baby. I wanted to do as much of my labor at home as possible.

I rang the hospital and they asked their questions. They pulled my chart and saw I was high-risk and that with Ari and Owen I was in labor for a very short amount of time before delivering them, I also had to keep telling the nurse to "hold on" because my contractions were so painful I couldn't talk to answer her questions while I was having them.

With that, she said, "You definitely need to come in right away."

Mmkay.

I went upstairs and woke Seth with a gentle rub on the shoulder and a whispered, "It's time to meet our baby girl."

He got up and got ready. Calm and deliberate in his actions.

He grabbed our bag and we hopped in the car. I had numerous painful contractions just on the five minute drive to the hospital and several more on the way up to Labor and Delivery.

Once there, the nurse asked if my water broke.

Yep.

She wanted to be certain so she was gonna check but then she saw me get up from the bed and leave a huge wet spot so she was like, "yeah we don't need to check, it definitely broke."

You think?!

They admitted me and brought me into my room. They asked if I wanted drugs. I declined. I'm a bit of a hippy child in that regard. I hate medicine. Always have. And typically only take it if my life or kiddo's life depends on it (such as the progesterone shots).

And I had natural births before so I knew I could do it. 

We got to the hospital right before 5 in the morning and Avery was born at 0747 AM. I'm pretty sure at around 0746 I was like...fuck this, bring me alllll the drugs!!! Seriously though, I stuck it out and breathed through all my contractions - I didn't want anyone to talk to me. I didn't want anyone to touch me (although I squeezed the hell outta Seth's hand). I just wanted to breath and focus. I finally had the urge to push so I called the nurse in. She came and grabbed a blood pressure cuff.

Uh, what?!

She was all, "okay, you feel pressure? Let's check your vitals."

Um, no sweetness, you need to check my vagina!

She won; she began checking my blood pressure and half way through I said, "I'm gonna push."

So push I did.

And she got her ass down to the end of the bed like she should've when she first walked in the room; I won.

Two pushes later my baby girl was being laid on my chest.

Tears, instant pain relief, and complete gratefulness is what I experienced in that second she put my baby on me. Along with a deep love of our little miracle.

Despite being four weeks early Av weighed 6lbs 2oz. I make big babies. My one and only full-term baby was almost 9 pounds. Hello, motherhood.

And Seth was amazing through it all. That guy is my rock, I tell ya. He may have been anxious for me at moments but never did he show it. Instead, he was there holding my hand, supportive, and stoic. I love that man. And I love this baby girl he gave me.