Here she is, our sweet little girl Emma Marget Patterson! She was born March 31, 2007 at 1:03 am, on her Dad's birthday. She was 7 lb 14ou, 21 inches long.
My water broke at 4:30pm, although I was in total denial that that was what happened. After a few calls to the hospital we decided to go in and "make sure" that was what happened. We checked into Triage first and they monitored my contractions and Emma's movements. We could see my contractions coming consistently, and after 20 minutes the nurse did an exam and sure enough the "rest" of the water broke, and we walked right over to a Birthing Room. Labor progressed pretty quickly after that. We never got a chance to watch any movies, listen to music or anything - Emma was just on her way!
I got into the tub a few times, while Elliott would rub my back and move the shower head back and forth over my spine (Emma was turned a bit sideways so I had A LOT of back labor). This was very relaxing, but I was a little concerned about slowing down labor! Once we got out of the tub and I could feel the contractions I realized that no, labor had NOT slowed down a bit.
Long story short, I layed down in bed about 11pm, on my side to see if we could get Emma to turn a little bit. Once I got in that position I didn't move - labor kicked into gear. Elliott was WONDERFUL at rubbing my back and understanding when I didn't answer his questions. We also had an AMZING Labor Nurse who was with us throughout the entire process. Her and another, who helped when she took a little break, really helped me remember to relax and breath through the pain, and to get "ahead" of the contractions (to take control of them right away).
Once Emma's head turned there was no stopping her. The urge to push came (Elliott said he never thought I could make sound like that!), and Emma was out 20 minutes later. Elliott was able to catch her, and cut the umbilical cord. I actually had my eyes closed until she was out because I just had to stay focused. So we did it! No medication what so ever (evidently lss than 2% of birth's go that way)!!
3 comments:
hello jill darling,
love the photos, writing and stories of birth! Emma is so lucky to have loving parents bring her into the world. She will be bright as the sun cause mom was brave enough to do it all without meds! rock on Jill!
love to all,
auntie em
Jill....you are amazing!
Yes, I agree. Both Jill and Elliott are amazing parents--I could burst with pride and joy!!
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