[Continued from part 1]
After I called Daniel, I laid back down. It had already been a poor night's sleep and I knew I needed as much rest as I could get. The contractions continued, but I wasn't paying much attention to the frequency, instead just letting myself drift in and out of sleep as much as possible. Daniel told me to call and give updates, which I did at about 4:15am. He asked if I should call Louissa, who was going to be joining us, since she could get to me faster than him. I told him yes.
I'm not certain about times, but I think Louissa and Josiah arrived at 6am or so. Then Daniel, Mom, and Camilla at 6:30am. This was also when the Marottas were alerted to what was going on; I hadn't wanted to disturb anyone any sooner since this was a doctor's home and sleep a precious commodity!
Jayne, of course, started making a big breakfast for the arrivals. I took a shower, continuing to contract all the while. It was a pleasant, calm, happy environment-- the exact opposite of a hospital, in my opinion! I had worship music playing in the guest apartment bedroom, which was where I spent most of that morning laboring, either sitting on the floor in a butterfly position with my back against the warm radiator (which helped with the lower back pain) or kneeling at the bed so I could sway and try to help get the baby in a better position.
At around 8am Dr. Lenny, who had run up to his office to grab a Doppler and a few medical supplies, offered to check me and see how things were progressing. I was 5cm and about 80% effaced, and Baby sounded "happy". With Claire, I went from that point to delivery in about 2 hours, but with Jackson it had taken much longer-- and since this baby's position was still less than ideal and much like Jackson's, I tried to mentally prepare for a scenario more like that.
I continued to labor. Louissa timed contractions and kept me company for a while so Daniel could eat.
I was loving the way things were unfolding. I couldn't have a home birth because of my previous c-section with Aubrey, but this had much the same sense of ease. I was surrounded by people I love and trust. I had an OB-GYN helping me track things so that we could hopefully best time the arrival at the hospital. I was in a comfortable bedroom where I felt completely calm. Things really were working out so much better than I had ever envisioned, and it was only the beginning.
At 9:30am Dr. Lenny checked me again. 6cm and 90%. Baby was still high, though, and my cervix rather posterior. Contractions weren't long (averaging around 50 seconds), but they were gradually increasing in frequency (down to about 4 minutes apart) and were obviously doing work, which is always encouraging to a laboring mama! Josiah took over timing contractions (what a good sport!) and I opted to continue hanging out right where I was. Dr. Lenny didn't want me to wait too, too long (and get him in trouble over at the hospital!), but it seemed like there was a slow, steady pace and I felt like I wanted at least another hour.
10:20am, after a good, strong contraction, I sat back from my kneeling position at the bed and suddenly there was a gush as my water broke. Everybody sprang into action at that point since the only other time my membranes had ruptured spontaneously (and not been ruptured by my midwife or doc just before pushing) was with Claire and she had arrived probably less than 30 minutes later. Josiah drove Daniel and I to the hospital with Mom, Louissa, and Camilla following behind.
They got me into a room pretty quickly and rushed me through admission paperwork.
The thing is, we had quite a bit of time left. I was about the prove-- like I had with Jackson!-- that transition can last many, many hours.
To be continued...
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