And here is Posey’s birth story (fair warning, its not short).
Posey Crowley Guinane
December 25, 6:25am
7lbs 15oz
19 inchesBorn 40+1
Early labor: 16.5 hours
Active labor: 8 hours
Transition: 4 hours
Pushing: 1.5 hours
Total time from first contraction to her birth: 30 hours
Our Miscarriage and Infertility History
After 2 miscarriages and then trying to get pregnant for over a year, we were going to be starting clomid the following month. I told my husband we should take the month off from focusing on getting pregnant since we would most likely be pregnant in a few months with clomid – plus, if we got pregnant this month the baby would be due right around Christmas, and that wouldn’t be very fun. 😳 Clearly, Posey heard this and was a determined little girl.
The Night Before Labor and Delivery
Contractions started overnight on the 23rd/24th but I slept through most of them only waking up a couple of times because of them. I did, however, sleep terribly because we ate Skipolinis famous labor inducing pizza for dinner on the 23rd which gave me the worst heartburn of the entire pregnancy – but perhaps it worked?
Contractions Begin
The morning of the 24th contractions continued and I really thought at some point they would stop. The 24th was my due date and I knew how uncommon it was to deliver on your due date! My mom, sister, and Grandma were coming over to have dinner and I texted them letting them know I was having contractions so maybe they should come over and we could eat earlier just in case.
My family arrived and we opened presents and decorated cookies while waiting for dinner to cook. My contractions continued to get stronger but were still very manageable where I could talk and walk through them. We ate dinner around 4 and I was ready for everyone to leave by the time we finished, so we said goodbye and they wished us luck!
By about 5:30, I was ready for our doula to join us at home. My husband put on Harry Potter for us to watch (my fav 🤗⚡️) and my doula helped me by timing my contractions and doing massage and acupressure through them.
By about 8pm my contractions were lasting a minute and were 1-3 mins apart. I had to stop to breathe through them, but still felt they were very manageable and in between would feel normal, having conversations, etc. My doula wasn’t sure what to do since contractions were close together, but I was so calm through everything – she said I was very hard to read.
Heading To The Hospital
By 8:30 we agreed I was ready to go to the hospital so we packed the car and went! When we arrived they made us sign a bunch of paperwork and then the lady asked if I was being induced and I couldn’t believe I had to tell her no, I’m in labor now.
As we walked down the hall, my OB was on call that night and said to us (Posey, really), “Good girl! Right on time!” We were excited that she was the doctor on call. Her name is also Hailey, and she performed the version that flipped Posey from breech just a couple weeks earlier!
We got to our room and the nurses were ready for us – we were the only people in labor and delivery! They checked me and I was at 5cm. I was slightly disappointed only because I had already been at 3cm before going into labor and contractions felt pretty intense by this point and I knew I still had a ways to go. The nurses started to get me ready for wireless monitoring and had to scratch my skin with sandpaper like tape to get the sensors to stick. The monitor wasn’t working so they had to re-scratch me which hurt a lot – and eventually had to move us to a different room where they got the monitor to work.
At this point labor gets a little fuzzy. I remember my doula telling me to try different things like walking, changing positions and eventually suggested the shower. It was the most wonderful shower I’d ever had – it really helped slow the contractions so I could rest a little. The wireless monitor wasn’t handling the shower well though and my husband would try to stick it back on, but it would hurt every time it touched my skin so I asked to take it off and be monitored intermittently to which the nurses agreed.
After spending about 45 mins in the shower, I continued to labor mostly on the bed in different positions because contractions hurt too bad while I was standing. My doula wanted to get my water to break because she knew it would help speed things along so I laid with a peanut ball between my legs and eventually my water did break!
Transitioning and Pushing
This entire part of labor is still very fuzzy for me, I felt like I was yelling through each contraction (my husband says I wasn’t) and I just remember squeezing the bed rail as hard as I could to get through them. Looking back our best guess was that I was in transition for 4 hours. I never asked for an epidural, but do remember asking to just be done. Like I guess I thought I could just go lay down and sleep through the rest? Transition makes you so logical.
Eventually my body starting pushing – like it wanted everything out of my body, so I also threw up. The nurses in their sweet voices were like, “It’s not time to push, Haylee” and I yelled back, “I’M NOT TRYING TO!!! IT’S MY BODY AND I CAN’T HELP IT!”
I was only at 9cm I think by this point, but my body wasn’t really stopping so they brought in the doctor just to check and she gave the go ahead to push!
Pushing was so much harder than I thought it would be, I understood what they wanted me to do, but physically it was exhausting. After an hour and a half of pushing, my Dr. said she would give me one more contraction to get her out on my own and then would need to use a vacuum to help get her out since her heart rate had declined. I remember thinking and possibly saying, “Yes! Please just get her out!” They did end up using the vacuum and my doctor said this is the lowest baby she’s ever had to use a vacuum on – she was practically already out. And with just one push and the vacuum our girl was here!
Moments After Birth
They put her immediately skin to skin and after about 5 minutes, she wasn’t crying well so they took her to the warmer to check her and suction out fluid. She was only there for a few minutes and they brought her right back and we had skin to skin for over an hour.
Overall, our birth went really well with almost no interventions and we loved the hospital staff. They were all so kind and respectful during the entire process. Though I do remember thinking after it was over, “I want the epidural next time.” Looking back (now that a month has passed) I think I could do it again, as long as it’s shorter the second time like everyone promises.
