At this point, we were a few hours in and Trip and I were bored. I asked to sit on the birthing ball (a yoga ball) to see if I could work Rhett down. My nurse bumped up my pitcoin a little more and it didn't take long before I needed to stop talking and breath through the contractions.
Within a few more minutes I went from joking with Trip about our nurse's face if we set up a kiddie pool in the room to telling him "Goodbye, I'm checking out." I put in my headphones and started listening to the Hypnobabies track "Your birthing time begins." My doctor came in to check on me. I heard her telling Trip she would check me after her C-section was over. After about 45 minutes of my contractions getting more intense, and moving into my lower back, I got in bed for them to check me. I was at 5.5 cm. I don't remember being disappointed because I knew I went fast after 6cm with Landon, but I also remember thinking that I was only half way there.
One thing that was sort of funny this time around was that I kept having to go to the bathroom. I would tell Trip that I needed to go, we would wait for the next contraction to pass and then he would unhook all of my cords as fast as he could so I could potty. I kept getting stuck in the bathroom with a contraction. Afterwards my nurse told me she told Trip I couldn't go in there anymore because she was worried Rhett was going to be born in the bathroom!
I got back on the ball and rocked back and forth through some pretty intense contractions while Trip pushed on my lower back. He asked the nurse to check me again even though it had been less than 30 minutes since my last check. I was already at an 8. They wouldn't let me out of the bed this time because my doctor was getting nervous about Rhett's heart rate. My blood pressure also started to rise so they had me constantly changing positions. This part was super annoying to me because I just wanted to be left alone and I really wanted to get out of that bed!
I guess I should explain that with Hypnobabies, the point is to be super relaxed. I describe it as "checking out." It almost felt like I was in a light sleep or super groggy - I could hear everything going on, but I didn't want to respond. Most of what happened after 6cm I was told later because I was so focused on breathing and staying relaxed through the contractions that I didn't even realize what was happening in the room. The nurse mentioned to Trip that my doctor was getting nervous about the baby and since my groans had changed she wanted to check me again. I think my nurse was worried that my doctor was going to start pushing a C-section. She checked me and said I was at a 9. My doctor came in and I remember her telling me I could start bearing down if I wanted to. I remember thinking "Good because I already am" and "How am I already pushing?" What seemed like a minute later, my legs were being put up and I was told to start pushing as I wanted. Eight minutes and three pushes later my doctor said, "Open your eyes, Ashleigh!" and my baby was being lifted to my chest. I just laid there and sobbed. The pregnancy with so many scares was finally over and he was here!
