If I could describe this birth with one word, it would be “redemption”. If you read/heard my birth story with Mettelynn, you know how traumatic bringing her in to the world by an emergency caesarean was for me. When I found out I was pregnant with baby number 2, my doctor informed me that although I was a good candidate for VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean), there still was some risk because the two births were so close together. I tried to prepare myself as best as possible that my birth plan was to get the baby here safely, but my heart had high hopes for a VBAC.
So here is the story of how Mayzie Grace entered the world:
September 29th
I decided to work a half day at my job. I worked the first half of the day, and sent out emails to my co-workers that I would be out of the office for the remainder of the day, and warned them of my nearing due date (4 days away).
12:15 PM – I went for a 2 mile walk with my friend Kaylee and her new puppy Kona. I felt a couple pains in my lower stomach, but I had been feeling those for the past 2 weeks so no alarm there.
2:00-3:40 PM – After the walk I took a bubble bath at my parents’ house. I soaked in the bubble bath with at least 6 cups of lavender and coconut Epsom salt, and watching the movie Hustlers.
4:00 PM- Drove out to Medina to pick up an order of Crafty Mama Mir crewnecks. I had told the person that I should pick up the crewnecks today because I wasn’t sure when I was going to go in to labor, but by the time I pulled in to their driveway, I started having contractions.
4:35 PM- Texted Mu “There’s a chance we’re having this baby tonight so have everything charged up”. Then the contractions really kicked in.
16 minutes apart.
8 minutes apart.
6 minutes apart.
4 minutes apart.
5 minutes apart.
2 minutes apart.
My contraction app (yes because there is an app for everything) kept telling me “it might be time to head to the hospital” and “go to the hospital”.
5:30 PM – I made it home after picking up the crewnecks, and after talking to my friend Heather who is a Doula (if you ever need a Doula I would love to refer you to my friend, she is so knowledgeable, and calm, and I don’t know what I would have done with out her with both pregnancies) she recommended that I go lay down and get some rest. If I was having this baby soon, I would need some sleep even though my nerves were electrified. I laid down, and contractions continued.
5:45 PM – I couldn’t sleep (sorry Heather) and contractions continued to come every 5ish minutes, so I called my parents and told them to start driving toward my house to pick up Mette, and that the baby was coming tonight. I went to the bathroom, and decided it was perfectly reasonable to curl my hair, wash my face, and put on some eye shadow. I changed in to the same clothes I was wearing when I left the hospital with Mette, and Mu and I packed up the car and left for the hospital (which is 7 minutes away from our house).
6:30 PM- Mu and I arrived to the hospital, dilated to 3cm. We spent the next couple of hours having my contractions monitored, as well as the baby’s heart rate.
8:20 PM- My mom arrived to the hospital, we were moved in to a delivery room (aka not sent home). I was in labor!
10:30 PM- Doctor did an ultrasound to make sure that baby was still head down, and she was.
11:30PM- Still only dilated to 3cm, 60% effaced.
September 30th
12:40 AM- Started Pitocin to keep things moving along, forgot how intense contractions get with Pitocin (part of birthing a child is blocking out the memory of pain).
1:40 AM- Requested the epidural. No way was I enduring that pain any longer. I was already in pain, and I knew it would take at least 20 minutes for the doctors to get the epidural going so I wasn’t going to wait any longer. Huge shout out to the people who give birth unmedicated, I have no idea how you do it.
2:20 AM- Got the epidural (YAY)! Even though it seemed like it took much longer to get the epidural in place, compared to the epidural I got with Mette, I was thankful that the pain was about to be blocked off, and I could rest a bit.
3:00 AM- The doctor came in to check, and this time I was dilated to a 5, and 70% effaced. The doctor talked about options for breaking my water. He showed me two different tools, and said he could use either to break my water, but all I could see when he showed me the tool was a giant crochet hook and I did not want to have my water broken with that.
3:10 AM- thankfully, my body listened to what my brain was saying and my water broke by itself, so no crochet hooks for me.
3:30 AM to 4:42 AM- got a quick nap in (thank you FitBit for tracking)
4:40 AM- Couldn’t sleep that much longer because I was so excited to have even made it to this point (with Mette I only got dilated to a 4 and then they had to do the emergency caesarean). Doctors checked me again and I am dilated to 7cm, 90% effaced!
6:50 AM- As my husband and mom tried to sleep crammed in hospital chairs, using my 50lb hospital bag as a pillow, the room was silent except for the steady beeps of the monitors. I started to feel pressure and hit the button to call for the nurses. As I sat there listening to the beeps, I looked outside and saw a beautiful cotton candy sunrise to start the day off. It was peaceful and calm. Nothing like what Hollywood portrayed it as.
7:38 AM- Doctors came in, and I was dilated to 10, and this baby was ready to make her appearance.
7:45 AM- The entire team made their way in, and I gave my first push
7:57 AM- 12 minutes and 5 pushes later, Mayzie Grace Kambilichi Olson-Okonkwo makes her quick entrance in to the world surrounded by a team of 8 nurses/doctors/students, my husband, and my mom.
And then she was here. And our family was a family of four. And she was perfect.
And I FREAKING DID IT. I got my dream of pushing out my baby. She was placed on my chest immediately as she took in her first couple gasps of air. My husband did a great job cutting the umbilical cord. I was so happy by the successful VBAC, that I hardly noticed my daughter peeing on me as they cleaned her on my chest. I delivered the placenta, and then they went to clean Mayzie up, and measure and weigh her.
8lbs 6ounces, and 22.5 inches long!
2 WEEKS LATER
The recovery for this delivery has been much easier than I thought. I tried to take it as easy as possible the first 4 days after the baby, but mom life calls and moms hardly get any time off. Mettelynn has been a great big sister, and wants to hold Mayzie all the time. We are so grateful for the family and friends who have stopped by and dropped off presents for Mayzie and Mettelynn, and food for the new sleep deprived parents. We also are so thankful that my parents live only 30 minutes away and have been such a big help as we transitioned from a family of 3 to 4.
I will cherish these next 12 weeks with both of my girls home with me. Afterall, it will be a couple more years before I get to go on maternity leave again.
Be Yourself; Every Body Else Is Taken,
Mama Mir
