So far things are wonderful and the birth was so amazing.
Baby's due date was February 20th and on and off from the 20th until birth I had some contractions here and there. Friday night I had contractions that seemed consistent for hours that were 10 minutes apart, but they didn't hurt- I could just tell my tummy was tightening up. However, I went to bed that night and nothing came of them. Then on Sunday during sacrament meeting I was having contractions that were only 5 minutes apart and they were more crampy than just the tightening I was feeling before. Taylor and I went on a long walk and tried to see if anything would come of them, but I took a nap and they pretty much all went away. Then Tuesday night I started having the crampy contractions again but I didn't time them and I tried to think nothing of them because I had gotten my hopes up the past couple times and didn't want to keep psyching myself out. I woke up at 1am on Wednesday morning because of contractions and couldn't go back to sleep. I thought maybe the reason I couldn't go back to sleep was because I felt really hungry, so I ate leftovers and wandered around seeing if I would get sleepy. Then I noticed I was still having contractions, so I figured I'd sit in the tub because they would probably go away and the tub might help me get sleepy again. I did that and honestly thought the contractions lightened up in the tub, so I tried to sleep. I laid in bed for a while but never went back to sleep. I did time a few contractions between 1-3am and they were always less than 5 minutes apart, but again I didn't think a ton of it because they weren't super painful yet. Finally, when it was around 4:30am I started thinking maybe there was something to this because I still couldn't sleep and the contractions hadn't gone away. I woke Taylor up and he got up around 5am thinking that we were still in the very early stages of labor saying "You should try to sleep though them" I obviously wasn't really psyched on that because I had been trying that for hours.
Soon after Taylor was up, the contractions became more and more intense and I needed Taylor to be there for me as I relaxed through them. Taylor helped coach me though contractions and he texted the midwife to let her know that contractions were about five minutes apart, but we were handling them well and relaxing through them. We spent a while in bed and I would just let Taylor know when a contraction was coming and he'd help me though it. I then started timing them again and realized contractions were now only about 2 minutes apart. I guess the 2 minutes apart thing should have alerted us that things were moving quickly and getting serious, but I could still smile and talk in between contractions, so I didn't think it was that serious yet and I didn't want to jump the gun. However, after a little while, even though I could talk and smile in between, I started feeling nauseous during contractions and there was one or two that I got the chills/shakes during. I remember from the Bradley class that nausea and chills usually comes during transition, so I told Taylor he should let the midwife know, even though I still felt like we probably had a ways to go. When Taylor told Roxanna that I was nauseous and asked what he should do, she said she wanted to come check on me.
Roxanna arrived at about 7:15 and by that time I was serious. I was not smiling in between contractions, I was just trying to stay focused and relaxed because it was starting to get intense. When Roxanna came she said "it doesn't seem like this is going to be an 18 hour labor." That was before she even checked me, she just saw how serious I was and said, "it sounds like you might be in transition." When she checked me she didn't tell me how dialated I was and I didn't ask because I didn't want to know and find out I wasn't very far (later I found out I was 4cm at that point). I just wanted to stay in the zone and let things happen as they happened. During the time Roxanna was listening to baby's heart and checking me I was still having contractions, so Taylor and Roxanna helped me through a few of them together using counterpressure and it was AWESOME. Roxanna pushed her fist against the small of my back and then had Taylor push against by knees and immediately 75% of the pain was gone. It was the coolest thing ever. Unfortunately, we couldn't do that the whole time because Roxanna went into speed mode getting all her stuff ready and setting up the tub (so Taylor informed me later because I wasn't paying attention to anything. Also, I asked Roxanna later about it and she said that even though I was only at a 4, the baby was already at a +2 which means her head was already really low). Taylor and I spent a while in the bathroom laboring. Somehow, that ended up being my favorite spot because the contractions kept making me feel like I had to pee and also because Taylor could kneel right there in front of me and I could lean on him and he could coach me through. He also did counterpressure, squeezing my hips together during contractions to help with the pain and it was nice. However, as you can imagine after sitting on the toilet for 45 minutes or so I wanted to move and I thought maybe I'd like being on my hands and knees or leaning over the bed. Roxanna set up some chux pads and pillows so I could do that but I only had a few contractions there before I was just not having it anymore. My back was hurting so bad and the nausea was still there so Roxanna rubbed some deep Blue on my back (bought myself some now because its amazing) and had me smell some doterra oils to help the nausea which was nice. After only being back in the bedroom for a little while I headed back to the toilet because it was so much better laboring there.
Soon after, (probably around 8 or so) Roxanna said the tub was ready and I jumped right on that. I got in and the first two contractions in the tub were bad because I couldn't figure out what position I wanted to be in that would be comfortable, but then I figured out what worked for me and was able to start focusing and breathing again. Roxanna checked me again and I asked her this time how far along I was because I thought I had to be getting somewhere with the intensity and how quickly the contractions were coming. She said I was 7cm and I remember saying something along the lines of, "dang, that means I still have a ways to go, huh. I wouldn't mind if this was over soon." However, Roxanna also said she could feel the top of the baby's head when she checked me and she said I could feel it too. It was only about two knuckles away and I could feel something hard. (she later told me baby was at a +3 then) At this point (again I found this out later when I was able to comprehend) Roxanna had to reach in and hold my cervix back during contractions because I was not fully dialated but the baby was so low that she was pulling my cervix down the birth canal with her.
I don't really know how many contractions or how long it was but suddenly during one of my contractions my body started pushing. It was one of the craziest things I've ever experienced because it was like my body did it without me even knowing what was going on. I always thought that you get the urge to push and so then you start pushing, but for me it was like my body started pushing, so I figured I should go along with it and help out. Suddenly, the contractions turned into pushing contractions. The apprentice and our second midwife, Sherri showed up right when I started pushing. Sherri was a big help during the pushing stage because she had her face right up next to mine and was calmly talking right into my ear telling me exactly what to do. Baby's head came down quickly and I could feel the hear head right there each time I pushed. I made a conscious effort not to push too hard because I wanted to ease the baby out and not tear. I just tried to go with my body and then let her head go back in between. It didn't seem like I had been pushing long when her head seemed like it came out much further than before. I was anticipating that my body would slow down and she'd move back again before another contraction came, but my body just continued to have the pushing contraction and her head popped right out! I couldn't believe it! I had always imagined that pushing the head out would be so overwhelming and that I'd maybe scream or something, but it just seemed so natural. I think I can thank the water that I didn't have any sort of burning or "ring of fire" sensation that people talk about, and also I think having my hand there feeling her head move was very good for me mentally because I knew exactly what was happening the whole time. After her head came out, I didn't have another pushing contraction, but the midwives were still telling me to push. I told them I didn't have the urge to push but I was fine with them just getting her out at that point. (Roxanna said later there was something going on with her shoulder or something and so she needed to adjust it) I moved my hands back and next thing I knew I had my baby! This might sound boastful or something, but honestly right after she came out, I was feeling so proud of myself! haha. I couldn't believe I had done and it that it wasn't that bad! Then Roxanna asked for time and they said 9am. I can't believe it was so quick!! We hadn't planned on doing a water birth, but things happened so quickly that no one even mentioned trying to get me out of the tub and I'm glad.
We stayed in the tub for a long time just adoring our beautiful little girl. I looked at her and thought she looked just like Lillianna, Amy's little baby and I also realized that I had no idea what to name her. We had been deciding between the names Kennedy or Reagan, but I looked at her and wasn't so sure about either of those names. (It took us 5 days to finally decide and the final decision was Madison Ann.)
After she came out they made the water a lot warmer for me and baby and I just held baby's head and let her float around in the water. She was doing lots of stretching with her arms and legs and she even kicked off me a couple times like she might just starting doing backstroke across the tub. She looked like a good, healthy sized baby (which I expected) and later when they weighed her she was 8lbs 10oz. Sounds like a normal sized Riggs baby-and to be honest I was quite pleased she was not even bigger than that considering she was five days over her due date and she has plenty of cousins who were a good hearty size as well.
Well, it has been a week and a half since the birth (it took me a while to find time to finish writing this all down :) But we are doing well. I think Heavenly Father sent angels to help me through the birth because it really was a good experience. We also have seen so many people, (angels on earth) who have stepped up and helped us with meals and things. Taylor and I have been really inspired by the good examples of others. We love our little girl so much. She is a great baby. She loves to be held all the time, and as new parents we are happy to oblige.
The last couple of days before Madison arrived...
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