Let me start off with introducing Mr. Cameron James
9 days past his ETA Cameron decided he was ready for his arrival. The day prior while out on our daily walk we managed to run into everyone we know and when asked when I thought he might come, my answer was always "not soon apparently" After having early labor signs for the past 5 weeks I figured he was just going to stay put until 42 weeks.
That night while laying in bed Frank and I were talking about when we thought he would come and Frank was asking questions about if my water broke and how long it can take.. you get the idea.
I got up to go to the bathroom at midnight and as I was walking back to bed my water broke! The location was perfect, I was at the door of the bathroom standing right next to the linen closet. Of course my first reaction was "did I just pee myself?!" ha. Once it kept coming in force it was pretty obvious. If there was one moment I could have captured on camera it would have been Frank's reaction when I told him my water had broken. He jumped out of bed with more glee I had ever seen and started jumping around ha. Of course all my laughing resulted in an ever bigger mess ha.
We both knew we should have gotten rest but we were too excited to lay down. What do I do? I cleaned of course. We finished packing our bags (FYI you don't need to take much of anything with you. We took next to nothing and it still felt like too much. I stayed in my hospital gown the whole time so I just wore the same clothes home that I went in. Cam didn't wear anything except a diaper and Frank just stayed in sweats and a tshirt. Our toiletries took up the most space.) and Frank got in a little game time while he could. An hour and ten minutes later non painful contractions started. Ten minutes after that is when the pain came on. They were nothing horrible but I did notice they were coming pretty quickly and only getting closer together. By 1:55 (almost 2 hours since my water broke and a half hour after contractions started to make their presence known) I realized maybe I should be timing these. They pretty much started out 10 minutes apart and by 2:55 Frank was practically pushing me out the door since they were around 6 minutes apart. Factor in how fast I was progressing and the 45 minute drive we had to the hospital he was getting nervous ha.
I should also point out that a few days prior I found out that its normal for the women in my dads family to have fast labors. I still didn't think it would happen to me.
Our original plan was to go to lodging on base so I could labor there (I was looking for comfort!) then head over to the hospital around transition. On our way to Yokosuka my doula asked if that was still what I wanted or if I wanted to go straight to the hospital. I told her I would decide once we got there. Yup, the hospital it was! By the time we got there around 3:40 contractions were around 4 minutes apart and the walk to the maternity ward was more than enough for me ha. Frank being the nice husband he is ran inside to get me a wheel chair but I had just sat for 40 minutes.. definitely needed to walk!
Even though it was obvious I was in labor I still had to spend almost an hour in triage being monitored... was not thrilled about that since I was in no way comfortable. At that point my doula arrived and man alive was I happy to see her! I could write an entire post on how amazing doula's are and why everyone should have one. Frank and I both agreed it was the best money spent and we will always have one with any future births. I'm not going to go into detail since it would be way to long, however, you can message me if you have any questions about what they do!
Around 5:00 I finally got set up in a delivery room. Since my contractions were so close we never had the time to even go over my birth plan. I had to tell the doctor admitting me to just yell over my moaning since he couldn't get everything he needed to say out between each contraction. Thankfully we were pretty much on the same page and he was more than okay to let me do go as natural as possible. Only thing I had to do was get a hep lock inserted just incase I needed anything. Some could say I could have declined and only had it done IF I needed anything. However... I am more than happy that I agreed to it. I didn't need anything at all but man were they horrible at getting my vein! It took like 3 or 4 different people, both arms, and a burst vein before they could get it in. Had it been an emergency...
Eight hours and twenty minutes after my water broke, seven hours exactly after contractions really started and three hours and twenty minutes after getting into a room Cameron made his debut on one contraction and two pushes at 8:20 am :)
7 lbs 9.5 oz 20inches
A run down with out getting too personal...
I ran into the room (it was probably a fast walk but it felt like a run to me!) and immediately asked for the lights to be dimmed. How can people go through labor with those things shinning in their face!?
Sitting on the toilet was the most horrible pain I experienced. I don't think I have ever gone to the bathroom that fast in my life ha.
I had ALL back labor except for three small contractions in the front.
The birth ball was my BFF.
Poor Frank thought he was going to break me with how hard he had to keep pushing into my lower back. And it still wasn't enough ha. If only you all could have seen the bruises!
Around transition I started yelling for the drugs. That's how they knew I was getting close!
Pushing was the easiest and least painful part of labor.
I never felt the 'rim of fire' that everyone talks about. In fact I had no idea his head came out. I let them know I couldn't push anymore because the urge was gone. They informed me I need to keep going since half of him was out ha. Talk about a "REALLY?!" moment!
No tears! Something every women prays for.
Since we never got to go over the birth plan everything after he was born was asked and agreed on in the moment. The midwife didn't even mention cutting the cord until it had completely stopped pulsing. So happy! I also got lucky and just as the corpsman was about to start suctioning Cameron's nose and mouth I asked that he not do that. They were all so friendly and had no problems with what I wanted.
After all was said and done it was an amazing experience and Frank and I were blessed with a handsome little boy :)
Its tiring being born!
First bath!
Bored in the hospital.. first family selfie!
Busting out!!
Molly and Ellie meeting their new brother :)
Family nap time!
