To say that I was anxiously awaiting the birth of our fifth baby would be an understatement. From the moment I found out that she was a little girl, I couldn’t wait for the day that I would get to meet her! 

In comparison to my previous pregnancies, hers was not an easy one. I had a good bit of morning sickness in the beginning, so I felt super crummy from conception to week 14. Adjusting to pregnant life with 4 kiddos and it was exhausting and my normal routines were non-existent. 

But after week 14, things seemed to get easier, my normal routines were easier to execute and I started to feel back to normal. Then at 23 weeks I got really sick. I experienced seizure like shakes, high fevers, high heart rate, rock bottom blood pressures… I was suffering from an undiagnosed UTI that was resistant to most antibiotics. As a result my body had gone septic and I was hospitalized for 5 days. I was very sick. Thankfully our baby girl was just fine, but it took me much longer to recover. 

I eventually felt back to my normal self, and I started focusing more on what my body needed from me. As we got closer to our due date I noticed a lot of Braxton Hicks appearing, which was completely normal for me. They never hurt, but around 37 weeks pregnant they started coming in very regular patterns very close together. I would time them and wonder if it was labor or not. My only other spontaneous delivery was with Benjamin, and the only reason I knew to go to the hospital with him was due to my water breaking at home, and his labor went extremely fast. So the question of the day soon became- “Is this labor?” I didn’t want to miss the signs and not get to the hospital in time. 

My due date was August 20th, but I started keeping track of these contractions from the first week of August. The second week of August I went to my 38 week OB appointment and requested a cervical check. I was super excited to learn that I was already 3cm dilated. That made everything so much more real. I mentioned to my OB the patterns of contractions I was experiencing and he recommended that I come in when I experienced contractions that stopped me in my tracks for an hour. Otherwise he would see me at my next appointment that was scheduled for when I was 40 weeks 3 days. 

The next week I contracted one evening into the night and then they got stronger overnight. The next morning they spaced for a bit but I was extremely tired all day from being up with contractions all night. By the time it was time to pick the kids up from school they had picked up. As I was sitting in car line I remember thinking man, these are getting close and stronger. So I started timing them and they were 2 minutes apart! They weren’t intense pain, but the frequency of them was something that Brad and I were concerned about. He had just gotten to work for the night shift when we decided to go into the hospital to be safe. He came home and we loaded up and made the drive to Lafayette. On the 2 hour trip the contractions began to space out. From 2 minutes to 4 minutes to 5 minutes and eventually to 10 minutes apart. When we got into triage everything had pretty much stopped all together. The cervical check revealed that I was still 3cm and the nurse mentioned that my cervix was not favorable for labor at all. The OB on call came and mentioned that it was probably best for me to go home and come back when things progressed. Although she could have kept me and started pitocin, she wanted for me to go into labor on my own. So we left and headed home for the night. 

That weekend was Natalie’s birthday sleepover and birthday party, so it worked really well that Olivia hadn’t been born yet. Funny enough, I went days after that hospital visit without contracting. 

Early in the morning around 2:15 on August 22 I had an extremely sharp contraction that woke me up. Over the next couple of hours I had a few more but I was able to sleep in between them. I woke up for the day at 5:15 and got things ready for kids to go to school. I noticed throughout the morning that they were getting closer, but I decided not to time them. I had frequent bathroom breaks and many of these contractions I just naturally stopped what I was doing to wait for them to finish and then I continued. I don’t remember them being extremely painful, just sharper than they had previously been. 

Around 6:00am I noticed a small bit of my mucous plug when I went to the bathroom. But I continued to get the kids ready for school as best as I could in between contractions. Once I got home from taking the kids I began to time the contractions to get an idea of the frequency. By 8:30am the majority of the contractions were 10 minutes apart, but some were further apart and some closer. There was not a clear pattern, but they were sharp and crampy. Something was different. 

At this point I was noticing the differences but trying to not get my hopes up. I had labeled myself as the woman who cried labor, and I was not about to cry labor again until I KNEW that it was labor. I did however give a heads up to my mom, doula, and photographer just because you never know. But if you have ever experienced prodromal labor- you know… its exhausting both physically and mentally.

Around 11:00am I tried to nap a little bit while the boys were napping. I couldn’t get comfortable, and I was still experiencing intense contractions, but I definitely noticed that they spaced out while laying down. I picked up the kids from school and started our normal afternoon routine, stopped for contractions as I needed. 

4:00pm is when I noticed that the contractions were picking up. My back had started hurting during contractions and between contractions. By this point Brad had gotten home from work and noticed that I was acting differently through contractions. He mentioned that he thought we should go ahead and call mom to go into the hospital. At this point contractions were about 5 minutes apart. I didn’t HAVE to stop what I was doing, but it felt better to stop and just breathe slowly through them. I was concerned about going back into the hospital because I was nervous that it would just be false labor again. At 6:30pm my mom showed up (of course, he called her) and we decided to leave for the hospital and by 7:15pm we were walking out the door to the car. It took me two contractions to get to the car. It was then that I thought.. hmm.. maybe Brad was on to something.

This drive was completely different than the one the week before. The contractions became extremely uncomfortable. We arrived at the hospital at 9:00pm and by 9:12pm the nurses had me hooked up to monitors confirming the pattern and intensity of my contractions. In between contractions they did a cervical exam and told me that my cervix was 4cm dilated, 80% effaced, the baby was at -2 station and my water bag was bulging but intact. This was encouraging for me and it was the moment that I realized- I am about to have this baby! They aren’t sending me home! 

So they quickly got us to a L&D room and by 10pm we were settled and my photographer Catherine and doula Bridget had met us in our room. The nurse came in and did all of the admitting things that they do when you show up to have a baby. I was hooked up to a wireless monitor, My IV was started so I could receive the penicillin that I needed due to being GBS +, and all the admitting questions were asked. 

My contractions were about 4 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute at this point. I was feeling fine in between them. Some required focus and some weren’t too bad. I did my best to concentrate on my breathing during a contraction. Catherine was amazing at reminding me to release the tension that I was holding in my shoulders and Bridget offered some amazing counter pressure in my lower back for the back pain I was experiencing. 

At 11:00pm I decided to take a bathroom break since I had been disconnected from the IVs. From my previous experience with Benjamin’s labor, I knew that sitting on the toilet is uncomfortable but MAGIC during labor. We birth workers refer to it as the “dilation station.” When sitting on the toilet all of the pelvic muscles relax tension and contractions are much more effective. So I made a deal with Catherine that each bathroom break I took, I would stay on the toilet for at least 4-5 contractions. I believe during this break I sat through 4 contractions but then opted for a change because I noticed the intensity was increasing a lot. 

I went back to the bed and asked Bridget what she recommended that I do to encourage labor to move along. My previous labor had moved along very quickly (due to getting “stuck” on the toilet for 15 minutes twice”), and I wanted this labor to not be a long one as well. The goal was to work WITH my body to get to the finish line. A birth ball was not available to us at the time, so Bridget recommended side lying with a peanut ball since I was really tired. (Remember I had been awake on and off since 2:15am). I started out on my left side and she wedged the peanut ball between my legs. The contractions definitely felt more intense in these positions. I just focused on my breathing during these waves, but the back pain was taking over. 

At 11:30pm I switched over to my right side with the peanut ball and Bridget offered counter pressure on my back which helped dull that pain. It was just what I needed. By 11:45 they were picking up and side lying was not comfortable anymore. I took another bathroom break that lasted about 10 minutes. I pulled a cart in front of me to lean against and I tried my best to embrace the contractions one at a time. By the end of the 10 minutes the contractions had picked up to every 2 minutes lasting 1 minute each and I was starting to let out a low moan during each contraction. 

At midnight we decided to do another position change and I got on my hands and knees in bed and let me belly hang down during contractions. Bridget was squeezing my hips during contractions and it helped relieve a lot of that intense pressure I was feeling. 

12:15am the nurse came in to check on me and see if I needed anything or if I wanted a cervical exam. I decided that I did want a check because I had noticed frequency and intensity changing and I felt like I was getting close. Yes, It had only been 2 hours of laboring, but I remembered transitioning SO FAST in Benjamin’s labor that I wanted to know where my body was in the process. She quickly checked me in between contractions and I was so excited to learn that my cervix was dilated to a “stretchy 6cm”, it was 100% effaced, the waters were still intact but bulging and the baby was still high at a -2 station. I was so excited but couldn’t believe that she was still so high. 

When the nurse left I asked Bridget what I should do to encourage the baby to move down (do you see the trend- even as a trained birth worker.. when you are the one IN labor, its really hard to recall what you should do next.) Both Bridget and Catherine suggested standing during some contractions to let gravity assist. At this point I couldn’t get comfortable in bed, so I agreed to stand through a few and see what happened. My legs were super shaky through the contraction so I held on to Brad’s neck as if I was slow dancing. Man those contractions got intense. I felt my body tensing up during the contraction because I was trying to hold myself up- this increased the intensity of the contraction. So, I followed the voices of my support team as they recommended that I just let my body go to jello during the contraction and let Brad hold my weight up for me. I moaned through each contraction, they were 1.5 minutes apart lasting a minute. I tried to ignore the sensations I was feeling and just focus on letting out long deep breaths. Doing this made the process much less painful. 

At 12:30am I had this urge to lean against something, so Brad brought over a chair and recommended that I lean on the back of it during a contraction. I leaned over and breathed through what felt like the longest most intense contraction. As soon as the contraction released, immediately my bag of waters ruptured (you can see Brad’s smile as he realized what had happened), I felt my baby descend down extremely quickly, seconds later I was nauseous, and before I knew it I was vomiting AND involuntarily pushing through the next contraction. Catherine called for our nurse knowing that things were about to start moving very quickly. 

I remember standing bedside, shorts still full of amniotic fluid, pushing through contractions and the room started becoming very distant. I do recall the nurse calling for backup, apparently she was the only nurse on the floor at the time. The OB on call was called and the hospitalist OB I had seen earlier that night was paged. My birth support helped me take my bottoms off and get into the bed. I remember fluid hitting the floor sounding as if someone had just dumped a bucket of water. I leaned against the back of the bed on my knees and breathed through another intense contraction. 

At 12:35am Dr. Fashho (the hospitalist OB) walked in to coach me through the delivery of our baby. By this point there were 2 neonatal nurses, 3-4 L&D nurses, the OB, and my birth support team in the room. Brad allowed me to squeeze the blood out of his hand as I pushed with contractions, Bridget was next to me the entire time and it was so comforting, I never felt her hand leave my back. I could hear Catherine’s voice the whole time encouraging me and gently giving me guidance on relaxing. Dr. Fashho helped me know whether my pushing was effective or if I needed to try to angle my body differently or hold the push a little longer or deeper. There wasn’t any “PUSH!!! 10, 9, 8…” It was all so calm. I deeply breathed through my contractions, moaned when pressure got intense and every now and then I shouted out when I would feel a surprising sharp sensation. 

Around 12:45am Dr. Fashho noticed the baby’s heart rate was low during a contraction and it wasn’t recovering as quickly as they would like to see on the monitor. So she recommended a change in position, possibly on my side. I was fine with that, but as I started to rotate another contraction came on quickly and I decided to wait until the next break to move. I bared down so hard in that contraction and felt an intense pressure in my sacrum. I pushed again and felt the ring of fire as she began to crown. The doctor told me that if I could push like that one more time she would be born. So I took a deep breath, held it, and pushed as deep as I could, birthing her head.

I heard the OB say that the baby had a tight nuchal cord that she was releasing. Another contraction came on and I pushed again but her shoulders were having difficulty fitting. Dr. Fashho quickly told me that her shoulders were slightly stuck, so they were going to need to flip me and reposition her to get her shoulders out. And just like that, my body was being lifted in the air by nurses and I was flipped onto my back.

I gave another push as Dr. Fashho repositioned the baby (which caused me to jump and react), then with the next push at 12:47am her shoulders and the rest of her body were born and she was immediately placed on my belly. We were both in shock. Olivia and my body had worked hard together to get her earthside and in a matter of 30 minutes we had progressed from 6cm dilated at a -2 station to delivered. Mind-blowing. 

It took me a few seconds to register that she had been placed in my arms. They went ahead and disconnected her cord so that she could reach my chest, it was thought that her cord was pretty short, but after the fact we realized that she was just a little gymnast and was all tangled up in it! 7Her color was not super pink yet, so the nurses and I began rubbing her down to stimulate her a bit and she began to cry. It was the sweetest cry. After a few minutes with her the nurses took her to evaluate her and she got a good suction and some oxygen to help get her levels up a little bit. She was born so fast that her head was still perfectly round and she wasn’t in the birth canal long enough to squeeze the fluid out of her lungs. 

She was born 8lb 2oz and 20.5 inches long and she is perfectly healthy! She was born 2 ½ hours after we got to our delivery room and by 3am we were settled in our postpartum room. I’m confident that the 12 hours after birth were indeed more painful than the actual labor and delivery was. They say that afterbirth cramps are worse with each baby that you have, and I am here to say that they are right. The cramps I experienced after delivery were indeed much worse than the actual contractions I experienced during the whole labor. I think that is mostly because the cramps are constant, and the contractions come in waves. 

I am so thankful that I was able to experience another natural birth without complications. God has truly blessed our family with healthy babies. Birth makes you feel so empowered. It somehow erases all of the memory of pregnancy hardships and just makes you want to experience it over and over again. 

HUGE shoutout to the following:

Brad- for always believing in me and being my biggest support!

My parents- for always jumping in to take the kids when its time for us to meet a new one.

Acadiana OBGYN- Dr. Cudihy: for letting me practice bodily autonomy and birth my babies exactly how I dreamed of.

Dr. Fashho at Lafayette General: for being so CALM and supportive during my delivery.

Bridget Wojtowich- For being an incredible friend, doula and soon to be midwife!

Catherine Walker- For being an amazing support prenatally, a constant support during labor, and for ALL of these amazing birth photos!