This post will be continuing on with Brady's birth story. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
So we all headed to bed Sunday night with my parents in Vail, the kids and Hubby ready for school the next day, and my labor completely stopped.
That Monday, May 17, I was already on my maternity leave, so I did not need to teach or work, and I really felt like I had one thing on my to-do list — go into labor. My due date was Wednesday, and I was ready!
Tracey had a field day coming up on Thursday of that week that I wanted to attend, and we were less than one month away from our travel plans to Washington state to see my brother. I wanted to have this baby ASAP in order to begin the postpartum process to prepare for that trip. Maybe these were not things that should have been on my mind at the end of my pregnancy, but they were.
With Tracey Ann, my maternity leave was spent almost entirely at home, getting to know my new baby, learning how to nurse, and adjusting to the new demands of motherhood. Now, expecting number six, I knew firsthand that life was going to go on, like normal (at a fast pace), with the newborn at home. My "maternity leave" for this baby, was only from my job not teaching over the summer months, and my large family still needed as much as I could give them while recovering and supporting my new baby. There is no "maternity leave" from mothering my older five children (ages 7, 5, 5, 3, and 1).
That said, on that Monday, two days prior t my due date, I was hesitant to fully try all ways of inducing labor because my parents were still in Vail. So, by Monday afternoon, I asked my parents to return to Rifle because we were now nearly one day away from my due date, and I wanted to be able to try various home remedies to try to encourage labor knowing they were in-house and ready to help if and when labor began.
With my parents now settled in our guestroom, my Tuesday was spent actively trying to naturally induce labor. I had an appointment with a midwife, and requested that she strip my membranes (this does not break the water but encourages the body to begin labor if its ready). The midwife said I was about 3cm dilated so I went home ready to increase that number and encourage contractions. I mowed our grass using our push lawnmower, and then, my parents and the children and I went for a long walk to our nearby park.
When I got home, I was having mild contractions with some consistency. We also had rain in the forecast, so Chris was concerned about highway closures.
Hubby and I made the decision about 4 o’clock that I should head to the hospital.
To Be Continued...
