Adelyne's Birth Story

Our newest addition to the family, Adelyne Quinn, is our third child, second daughter. She was born naturally at our local hospital at 8:27 a.m., on July 26th 2015. She was 20 1/4 in. and weighed in at an even 8 lbs (Our biggest in both weight and length!). 

Labour did not go as I expected, not even in the slightest. I was expecting a relatively quick labour, being that she was our third, and because Zachery came in a grand total of five hours (you can read about his birth story here). So I was a bit thrown off when after 24 hours of "consistant" contractions that there was still no end in sight... 

On July 25 around 5 a.m. contractions began, nothing extreme, just those preliminary tightenings. By 7 a.m. they were consistently 10-12 minutes apart and moving closer together, so I knew it was the real deal in the works. I figured things would progress quickly and got our cousin/babysitter over, texted my mom to give her a heads up... but there was no progression, contractions actually slowed down. 

By 10:30 I had gone from 7 minutes apart back up to 10 minutes apart, however the pains had gotten a little worse. For a few hours I napped and contractions went up to 20 minutes apart, and by 3pm they were back to 10 minutes apart... but still not super painful, I was so confused! As the evening went on things seemed to pick up more normally, by 11pm contractions were 4 minutes apart and about a 5 out of 10 in the pain department. We were getting ready to head to the hospital soon, as our midwife said to come when contractions were roughly 3 minutes apart. My mom arrived at 11:30 to take over as our on call babysitter, our poor cousin waited all day/evening with us but alas this baby was taking her sweet time and she had to head home. 

At about 12:30 a.m., now July 26th I was absolutely exhausted! I laid down to rest and those close contractions I was having shot up to 12-15 minutes apart and stayed that way unless I was up walking around, they were seriously just all over the map, I couldn't understand it. The pains had gotten worse, probably 7 out of 10 and just like Rylee I was having horrible back pain. At 3 a.m. I laid down again, and went from 6 minutes apart to 10 minutes apart... I was being tortured and if the pains of labour aren't bad enough I was starting to get anxious that something wasn't right...

So by 5 a.m., 24 hours since it all began, I made Sevio call the midwife to see what our options were and if we should be concerned as to why it was taking so long. She suggested we come in, she'd check me over, see where and baby was at and we'd discuss whether to break my waters to speed things up. So we were at the hospital at 5:30, the midwife said I was 4-6 cm dilated and baby's head was in position, so she did a membrane sweep and told me to walk around for an hour before we would decide whether to get admitted and possibly take further action. 

At 6:30 I was about 7 minutes apart, and the pains were getting extreme, Sevio had to be on his toes for whenever one hit because I needed him applying pressure to my lower back. Back labour is awful, thats all I have to say about that! My hour of walking was up, and I decided whether or not this baby was coming soon or way later in the day I wanted to be admitted. I just couldn't imagine going home to my two toddlers, who would be waking up very soon, and having them crawling all over me and making noise and messes... nope... couldn't even handle the thought of it! So I was admitted. Unfortunately to a room without a birthing tub, which was my birth plan... again what I envisioned was not going as planned and I was thrown for a loop.

We decided I would try to rest for an hour, and go from there. I had been up for 26 hours and totally worn out. I actually slept, I had about 2 contractions in that hour. 

At 8 a.m. I woke up to one very painful contraction, the kind that comes with a burning sensation down under... and I was like "Crap! It's coming!", I told Sevio to go, and go quickly to get the midwife. While he was gone I got myself up to go pee and had another contraction keeled over the bathroom sink, thats when the midwife arrived. Thats when she taught Sevio how to properly relieve the pressure off my back, and thats when I learned during a contraction you could actually see a bulge in my back from the baby... no wonder it hurt so bad! 

After that contraction I made my way back to the bed, which I honestly looked at and was like "how do I give birth on that?", I couldn't even sit comfortably, let alone think about leaning back to get into a proper delivery position. Just as I was getting on the bed another contraction hit and Sevio said to the midwife, "She thinks the baby is coming", and the midwife was like "Wait, what!?", and then asked me to wait a minute... haha as if! She kicked into high gear, she wasn't prepared at all, but thankfully she had a nurse with her to help. 

I continued to find a "comfortable" position, and found that having the bed in the sitting position with me on my knees holding on to the back was the way it was going to happen. I began to get the chills and shake and as the next contraction hit I was ready to push, and I tried with all my might, and all I could give in the form of a push was just holding my breath for about 3 seconds. It was pathetic. I was done. I was over the top exhausted, and slightly panicked that I wasn't going to be able to finish this. With the next contraction I was able to bear down, bite the bed and PUSH! I couldn't stop pushing, I was afraid of ripping open, but even that fear couldn't stop my desire to get her out! 

With one push my waters broke and surprised both the midwife and nurse. With the same push her head was crowning. With two pushes her head was out. And it's a bit foggy whether it was the same push or there was a third when her shoulders popped out and along slide the rest of her. I couldn't see anything, but there was the sound of her cries, and then the midwife was handing her to me through my legs. All I remember at this point is trying to get turned around, holding this new baby in my arms, and having not even an ounce of energy to really look at her. I just closed my eyes. For a few moments, I just needed to breath. 

After I regrouped myself and realized it was finally all over I pushed exhaustion to the side and let the excitement of getting to look down at this little being take over. I saw Rylee in her features, and Zachery in her little pouting expressions, but still she was her own, she was Adelyne, and she was so special in her own little way!