The Arrival of Alyssa

We went to our midwife appointment today and she checked my cervix. I was dilated to 5 cm, but not having any contractions and my water hadn't broken or anything. She asked if I wanted to go over to the hospital and have my water broken since I was already so far dilated. We still had to pick up Alex from ASP (after school program), so we told her we were going home to get ourselves together and we would be back at 7:00ish. We were back at North Fulton by 7:05pm and settled into our room by 7:30pm. My midwife came in and jiggled Alyssa around a little. They wanted me to start contracting a little before they broke my water. She only moved her around that once and I started contracting regularly on my own. Alex and Kaitlyn came in for one last time and Alex was so sweet. The Happy Grandmommy had taken them to the cafeteria for some candy and he got some Reese's. He offered me one of them and I told him that I couldn't really eat until after the baby came out. He said that he would put it on my tray, so that I could eat it as soon as she was born. :) They broke the water between 8 and 8:30pm and I got into the tub. The water was really warm, almost hot. It was cool because I take really hot baths, but my neck/shoulders/face were steaming. It was making me really uncomfortable. Jon made me a fan to fan myself with. Then he tried to help me fan myself and accidentally smacked me in the face with it, so I had to find him something else to do. :) Then my L&D nurse found me an electric fan and it was truly a godsend. I don't know if I would have been able to stay in the tub otherwise. Then my contractions started hurting a little, but I really think the tub helped with that part of it. We were curious as to how they would know when it was time for me to push since I wasn't hooked up to any machines. She said that most moms make this strange moaning noise when it was time, so for the rest of the labor we kept questioning if each noise I was making was the one she was talking about. Then the contractions started REALLY hurting. After about 15-20 minutes of really bad contractions, I felt like I needed to push and told my mom to get the midwife RIGHT THEN or else I was going to have to deliver her myself. I reached down to feel if her head was already coming out. Jon told me later her thought I was trying to push her back in. HA! The midwife and the nurse rushed in and told me to start pushing. Jon was holding one hand and my mom was holding the other, so that kind of kept me anchored in the water, but the lower half of my body was kind of floating/thrashing about. It really hurt. I remember saying that there was nothing natural about natural childbirth, that it was the most unnatural pain I had ever felt. I think that was the only complete sentence I was able to get out during that time. Except once the head was out I kept saying, "Okay, get her. Get her out now." I pushed for less than 10 minutes though. She was actually born at 9:50 pm. They put her right on my chest and I kept her body in the water to keep her warm. She stayed there while they cleaned her and during the cord cutting. They took her, so that I could get out and wrapped her in a blanket and brought her to me in the bed. She nursed almost right away. Her face was a little bruised because I pushed her out so quick, but she was squished and beautiful looking. She looks a little like Kaitlyn, but not as much as I was expecting. They have similar noses. She has more hair than either of the other kids and it is a little darker. She was 7 pounds and 9 ounces and 20 inches long. The kids came in right away. They were both pretty awestruck. The first thing Alex said was, "Mommy--were you so scared?" I said, "Yes. Yes I was." They both wanted to hold her right away, but I asked them to wait until everyone was home on Sunday. Everyone left the hospital and Jon, Alyssa, and I settled into our hospital room.