Noah's Birth Story - Part 2

Well I last left off on Noah's birth story the weekend before he was born. C was traveling to New Orleans for a game and I was paranoid I'd go into labor so I put myself on a self imposed bed rest almost the whole time he was gone.

My little man!

He returned home late Sunday afternoon and I decided that since I had spent the weekend in bed trying to prevent the birth, now I was going to try and speed it up! I had heard that lots of walking is helpful and also bouncing on a big exercise ball could help, so off to run errands we went! 

We spent at least an hour walking around Buy Buy Baby, then headed to Target for more errands (and to get an exercise ball!) and stopped at Olive Garden for dinner. At this point I was feeling just really uncomfortable. My body hurt and it was tired. I was done being pregnant. I remember saying that I was so glad I only had a week to go cause I wasn't sure I'd make it much longer. I was ready!

After dinner we went to Walmart to run one last errand. Leaving the building, I felt really light headed so we decided to head home. Once we got on the road, the light headedness got worse and I started seeing spots. I was on the verge of passing out and I was really scared. I just kept trying to breath through it all. 

Once we got home, C called the hospital to ask if there was anything we should do and if that was normal. They thought that I was probably dehydrated so suggested I chug some water and call back if I didn't feel better soon. C drew me a bath and I climbed in with a few water bottles to drink while I was in there. Thankfully, it made me feel a lot better and I was able to go to bed. Pregnant women, make sure to drink your water!!! 

Sometime during the night I started waking up feeling some pain and then going back to sleep. I was only half awake, so I honestly have no clue what time this actually started. I would wake up in a lot of discomfort, try to get settled in a different position and then go back to sleep. Around 5am, I woke up enough to realize what was going on. Could this be a contraction?

I started timing them around this point and would try to go back to sleep after each one. Soon enough though, the pain was a little too much to go back to sleep. I would lay in bed and whimper a bit through each one. Around 7am, I saw on my handy dandy contraction tracking app (seriously this thing was awesome!) that they were getting closer and closer together. They were sitting about 6 minutes apart at this point. 

I decided to wake C up and let him know what was going on, but also make him walk around the house with me. I had held off labor for the weekend, but now I was ready to make this thing happen! He helped me out of bed and we started to pace. I text work and let them know I wasn't going to be in right away and I might not be in at all. 

I was really hoping this was it, so the vain woman in me decided to put on some makeup! I would pace for a bit, have a contraction, then head to the bathroom to do my makeup for a few minutes. Then I'd start the process all over again. C worked on putting the last items into our hospital bags while I did this. 

Sadly, after an hour or so I noticed the contractions were starting to slow down and I was getting bummed. I wasn't about to let them stop! So I did what any woman would do....I used my husband hehe. I had read many times that sex can help kick start labor, so we tested that theory! 

After that we realized we were really hungry and I was craving bisquick biscuits. Of course we didn't have any bisquick. Off to the grocery store we went! I continued to have contractions while we were there. I would just put my head down and lean on the grocery cart, hoping I didn't look like a crazy person. 

At the end of our trip, C and I split up to each grab one more thing. One of the Rattler fans works at the grocery store and unfortunately saw me. He started chatting with me even though I wasn't too responsive! I actually had a full on contraction while he was talking and I don't think he even noticed! I was trying to look as normal as possible haha.

Once we got back home the contractions were definitely starting to pick back up. They were getting pretty intense. C was busy making breakfast and I was busy laboring. I think the position that was the most comfortable was on my knees leaning over the couch during each contraction. 

I started to notice the contractions were getting pretty intense, but they weren't totally consistent on their timing. Some would even be only a few minutes apart. Finally, I told C that I thought it would be time to go to the hospital pretty soon. Of course, the biscuits had JUST gone into the oven. I conceded that we would wait until they came out and then take off. Talking myself through that 15 extra minutes was not my favorite!
 

Had to take a picture of the egg that we had
 to wait on before we left for the hospital!

Finally the biscuits came out and we were ready to go. Or so I thought! C wanted to make a breakfast sandwich so he was quickly making an egg. Such a man right? Gotta get some food before everything goes down! 

After the sandwich was complete, we piled into the car and took off to the hospital! Eek! Was this really happening??