Lexi's birth story

A little late, but ive kinda had my hands full this past month!

Lexi's birth story (A recap, as the details of the day are a little foggy)

On Valentines day, Thursday Feb 14 I had an appt with my midwife, to see if her stripping my membranes two before had done anything. When I got to the office, they told me she was in the hospital and wouldn't be able to see me, instead I would see Kathy, another one of the midwives i'd met a few weeks back. I was a little bummed because I just wanted to see MY midwife, but i was eager to see if I had progressed at all, so I didnt care too much.

When Andrea checked me, she said I was still at barely 2 1/2 cm and there had been no change. She t then told me that Alison had left her strict instructions that if there had been no change at all, that she was to do another sweep of my membranes. At this point i was a little frustrated, because if it hadnt worked the first time, what was the point?! But I was willing to try anything, so I agreed. Before she started, she turns to me and says "Now, im going to do this, and you will go into labor today, i promise!" I laughed it off and told her that if she could send me into labor that day I would love her forever! Let me just say, i'm not sure if it was the fact that I was already so uncomfortable, or if it was Cathy's freakishly long fingers (tmi I know, get over it!) but holy geez, it hurt SO BAD! Before I left the office, she told me to go home, take a shower and take a nap, because it would be a long day. Again, I laughed it off, and told her I'd see them again next week for my next appt.

My appt was at 9:20 am. By the time i got home, maybe 30 minutes later, I was already having contractions! My mom had originally planned on leaving Thursday, and coming back on Sunday, since I wasnt scheduled to be induced till the following Tuesday. When she saw how uncomfortable I was, she decided to stay a little longer that day to see what happened. I walked around the house for a while, but mainly i just laid around, really not thinking that I was in labor, just still cramping from the visit. By about 11 i finally started timing the contractions, and they were about 5 minutes apart, ad were lasting about a minute each. I texted Rony to let him know what was going on, but I told him to not freak out, it was probably gonna fade away like every other time. Luckily, Rony didnt listen to me, and decided to come home anyways. Since it was Valentines day, Rony and I had agreed that instead of a fancy dinner we'd just do a simple lunch. So when he got home, we decided to have a quick lunch at Olive Garden since it close to our house, and the hospital just in case! Let me tell you, only my dumb butt would go have lunch at a restaurant while in active labor!! I would barely make it through a spoonful before having to breath through a contraction. But, it was a nice "last meal" for Rony and I, so im glad we went!

On the way home I called my OB's office and they told me to head to the hospital, but we decided to go for a walk instead, to see if that would make the contractions more frequent, before heading over. I was so sure they were going to either stop, or they would tell me i wasnt dilated enough and send me home, so I wanted to do everything possible to make sure this was the real thing before going over there! At about 2:30pm, Rony and I told my mom we were gonna just go to the hospital and get checked out, but we would most likely be back later, so to stay home with Harley.

When I got to the hospital, the nurse checked me and said i was 4cm dilated, and they were going to admit me! Rony and I just liked at each other like "ohhhh crap, its time!" I was really excited because my midwife was on call, so i knew she would be the one to deliver Lexi, which was what i'd wanted all along! We texted our family to let them know, and a friend of ours picked Harley up from the house so my mom could come to the hospital.

Later that day Kevin and Carina (Rony's brother and his wife) came over to stay with us (Carina was my official birth photographer, yay her!) and they got me all hooked up to the IV and monitors. I was pretty comfortable for the most part, and because im a masochist, I refused any kind of pain medication, and was pretty determined to do it naturally. Not sure why that was to be honest, but i just kind of decided it, and that was that!

Alison came by frequently to check on me, and said I was progressing nicely. At some point though my contractions slowed down a bit, so they started pitocin to get them more frequent and stronger. Lissie and Milton arrived later that night (Rony's sister and her husband) and so did our friends Natalin and Erik. So here I am, in active labor and everyone was hanging out, talking and watching a marathon of "Ridiculousness:" on MTV, lol. It was nice to have everyone there though, cuz they were good distractions.

At around 7 or 8 (not sure, really)  Alison came in and asked if I wanted her to break my water. She said that if i wanted to continue to do it naturally, i could wait a bit..cuz the contractions would probably get really intense once she did it. I opted to wait a bit, but this made the laboring process longer, which in hindsight I now wish she'd just done it then and sped things up a bit. about an hour or 2 later, I was getting pretty exhausted, so i finally gave in and told her to just go ahead and break my water.

Once she did that, things go REALLY intense. I wasnt able to really breath through my contractions anymore, and I was getting too tired to handle them calmly, so i asked for some IV pain meds (or IV margarita, like Alison calls it, lol) The pain meds helped for a bit, but they made me SOOO loopy and weird. They wore off pretty quickly though, and thats when all hell broke loose, and I wasnt able to take it anymore. I was in horrible excruciating pain, and wasnt able to control it anymore. The nurse checked me (um yea, not a pleasant feeling AT ALL!) and said i was 8 cm dilated, and that if i was going to get the epidural, i had to get it right then and there. So i agreed. And I have to say, it wasnt THAT much of a relief like most woman say. It helped, sure, but it wasnt this "omg thank goodness!!!!" moment at all.

As soon as I got the epidural, Alison came and checked me again, and I was fully dilated, so I was ready to push! Im not sure how long i was pushing, but it wasnt very long at all, and as far as the "wonderful" epidural goes, i was able to pretty much feel everything, so boo for that! (I later found out that since i was so far along already, and Alison knew how important it was to me to try to do it naturally, she only gave me just enough to help me, but not enough to take away all the feeling completely)

At 12.36 am, February 15 (yay for missing Vday, smart girl!) Lexi Brielle Mayer was born!

And she is just the most amazing little thing in the world. We've had a few rough nights, but i think we've finally gotten into a good routine and she's sleeping about 4-5 hours a night...which is pretty awesome!! We are SO incredibly in love with our little princess, and big sister cannot get enough of her! I feel so blessed and thankful that our girls are both healthy and beautiful and that our family is complete. Thats right, I said COMPLETE! :)

My AMAZING midwife, Alison!!!!

Harley meeting Lexi for the first time!

My two girls!

Our new family! :)