On Friday, November 16th at 2:30 am I finally went into labor. The contractions were similar to what I had been experiencing for several weeks but this time they lasted a lot longer than usual so I knew this was going to be different. I continued having mild contractions throughout the day for various spans of time. Jennifer and I even took a little walk and picked up lunch in order to get the contractions flowing more regularly. By the evening the contractions started to pick up again and by mid-night or so we decided to call our Doula, Stacy, to come over. She arrived and I was working hard to breath through my contractions that were now timed at about 5 minutes apart and lasting about 1.5-2 minutes. Somewhere around 2 or 3 am we decided to make our way to the hospital. Upon examination they determined that I was only dilated to 2 cm and about 80% effaced. So we chose to head back home and labor some more. Jennifer and Stacy alternated turns at taking naps in order to save up strength for the impending task ahead. I continued to labor with increasingly intense contractions. I was in and out of the bathtub several times throughout the course of the next 12 hours which helped subside the impact of the contractions. I also used Jennifer as my own personal labor bar during this process. Jennifer was the strong partner I always new she was...supporting me through all my contractions. Stacy was a tremendous help offering us different strategies and a reassuring voice to the process.
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| During a contraction on the couch with my wife. |
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| Happiness after the contraction is over. |
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| Trying to walk to the bathroom while having a contraction. Now we know why Jennifer's back is so sore. |
By 4 pm on Saturday, I had taken all I could take of laboring at home and decided to head in to the hospital. The checked me in at triage and determined that I was now 4-5 cm dilated. They admitted me and we continued to labor in the room. This is where it got hard...and I mean REALLY hard. The contractions came one on top of another and were very strong. I used the yoga ball and various positions to help me get through the contractions including leaning on my beautifully strong wife. After a some time of working through each of those horrific contractions I asked the doctor to check to see how far along I was. I was just at 6 cm and at that point I really had to think about conserving my energy for pushing this kid out at the end. I decided that the best way for me to do so and for Jennifer and me to achieve our goal of having a beautiful birthing experience, it was best for me to take an epidural. It was a good choice in my opinion because it afforded me some time rest up my energy and let my body dilate. My contractions did slow down a bit but after using some techniques that Stacy recommended the contractions picked back up again and were steady throughout the the night and overnight at about 2 minutes apart. Slowly I progressed to 7 cm then 8 cm then 9 cm and then 9.5 cm....that's right 9.5! Apparently, Rowan's head was hitting a part of my cervix and making swell a little which was preventing it from opening a full 10 cm. Sometime around 6:45 am the Doctor came in a checked me out and said that with the next contraction she could move the baby's head just enough so the head could get out of the way of the cervix and allow it to open to 10 cm.
So the pushing phase began at about 6:50 am on Sunday. At first it was hard to feel when and how to push because of the epidural but eventually the pressure increased so much that I was VERY aware of the contractions. I won't bore you with my hyperventilating issues during pushing and the fact that with each series of pushes I could breath less and less due to this lingering head cold I have had for over 2 months. Fortunately, I had great coaches in Jennifer and Stacy and they helped me keep my stuff together just enough to birth this little guy. We also used a mirror so I could see his head during my pushes which really motivated me to keep going. As the doctor said at the end of all this "boy, you are a really visual person." Hey, whatever works, right?!
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| Love |
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| Bliss |
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| Joy |
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| Happiness |
So to sum things up, after approximately 54 hours of labor we welcomed our newest gift...Rowan Porter Novoa. Weighing in at 8lbs. 10.3oz. 21 inches long with a head circumference of 34.75 cm. There was such love and joy in the delivery room and it's an experience I will never forget.
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