Polly's Arrival
Well Polly had a most exciting birth so I thought I should document it while it's still fresh. I had taken up tennis a year prior and was having so much fun (and really wasn't looking forward to being homebound after getting a taste of freedom with Daisy in preschool and no babies at home. I was trying to get in as much as I could before the baby). My team is made up of ladies from my ward. It has been so fun having tennis to socialize and exercise 2-3 times a week. We joined a beginning tennis league and I was determined to continue playing as long as possible. My team captain scheduled me to play the day before my due date, and everyone knew I might not make it but I had a goal to play if the baby had come yet, no matter how slow I was. I had also continued to play several times a week before this match.
The morning of the match came and I remember getting ready and feeling a very low contraction, not really in my belly at all, but felt more like right at my cervix. I thought the baby had finally dropped and brushed it off. I went to my match as and just a few minutes into playing I was having regular contractions. I ignored them at first but joked with my partner, Jennie, that she needed to stall a few seconds before she served so I could finish a contraction. She told me I should really start timing them and I reluctantly told her we could (at this point I didn't want to make a big deal of it because I hadn't gone into labor on my own in 12 years since Brighton was born). As we were timing them they were about 3-4 minutes a part. I chalked it up to the fact that I was moving so much and jumping/lunging around the court. Finally they were about 2 minutes apart and we were playing our second set. They didn't feel like they hurt too much but I was also distracted, but a little worried at this point if we lost the set because I didn't know if it really was labor if I could last a third set. In between games while we were switching court sides I sent Justin a quick text that I might need to go to the hospital after the match. He assumed I was joking and responded "Better make it a win then!"
Fortunately we did win, but I still didn't think I was truly in labor, I just thought the contractions were from all the movement. We even played for a minute or two so one of my teammates could snap some pictures of me playing while I was pregnant.
Afterward I was chatting with my teammates and still having contractions and one told me I should sit down, I tried it during a contraction and realized they were actually hurting and likely real labor contractions. I decided I should go and Jennie came with me since she needed a ride home. The walk from the court to the parking lot seemed like a mile! I realized I was really in labor and knowing how fast things progress by the time my contractions hurt that bad, I knew I was in trouble and was chastising myself for waiting...
We drove home and the drive seemed like it took forever! I called my SIL Angie, who had agreed to come and take pictures of the birth, and told her I was in labor and she should get to the hospital within the hour. I called Justin and told him I was in labor and we needed to go to the hospital as soon as I got home. Jennie offered to walk home from my house but I played off my nervousness and sped her home, meanwhile each contraction was hurting more and more and I began to truly fear not making it to the hospital. I got home and walked into the house and called for Justin and he came out not dressed to go or anything. A little frustrated, I told him I said we needed to go! He said I sounded calm when I called and he didn't think it was a big deal that we had to rush. I told him to hurry and went to my closet to change out of my tennis uniform. I was barely able to get my clothes on and one shoe, but couldn't even get my other shoe on so I just brought it with me. Luckily the hospital is less than 3 miles away so pulled up and I walked in with just one shoe on. As always, triage didn't take me seriously although I told them this was baby #5 and I KNEW I didn't have much time. Although I had preregistered online, they told me I could wait in the waiting area for just a few minutes. I didn't, I scooted over 3ft from the triage window to let the next person in and stayed there leaning on the ledge. I told Justin it was going to be like Brighton's birth all over again where they didn't take me seriously and left me in the waiting room. I got my other shoe on with Justin's help, texted Angie and my teammates to tell them I really was in the hospital in advanced labor (this was less than 30 minutes after leaving the court!), and finally a nurse asked me if I was feeling pressure and I told her I most definitely was. They gave me a wheelchair and left Justin and I alone to make our way around the hospital to the elevators up to the maternity ward. I couldn't even sit down all the way and was shocked that nobody would accompany us!
After what seemed like forever we got up there and luckily one of the midwives from the practice was standing right in the hallway. They could tell by the way I was sitting that I was very close to delivering so they ushered me right into a room. Being in pain and scared of delivering right on the floor I threw off my clothes without any care of who was looking. I noticed I had already started bleeding. I thought maybe I should go to the bathroom and the nurses cautioned me to not have the baby in the toilet. I admit it was difficult trying to relax enough to pee but not push! I got it done and then asked the midwife if she could break my water to speed things up since I was in a lot of pain and knew I was close. She advised me to just let my body take care of it since it would break during delivery. I couldn't get comfortable sitting on the bed so I got on my knees facing the back of the upright hospital bed. I wasn't feeling the urge to push yet but I also didn't want to wait any longer, so on the next contraction I just started pushing. One contraction later they could feel her crowning, the contraction after that I had pushed her out to past her shoulders. I remember being so exhausted (first labor without drugs!) and thinking I must have pushed her head out but it still hurt so much! I was waiting for the next contraction but the midwife told me she needed me to give one more good push (because I had birthed to past the shoulders but not far enough for them to pull her out). I said I was tired and she told me again to push so I did with the little I had left, and there she was! Polly Rose Ellsworth Owens was born 13 minutes after I arrived at the delivery room at 11:23am, less than an hour after finishing my 9am tennis match! She was 9lbs 4oz, 21 inches long.
Poor Angie didn't make it there until after she was born, and I was such a mess! I don't even know what happened to my hospital gown because it was gone after I delivered her and I still hadn't delivered the placenta yet. The midwife was waiting for that and then took a while stitching me up. Angie got the pictures she could but I was half naked and felt sorry for her getting flashed by me on almost every angle! She managed to get some sweet pictures though.
Jennie had gone to the school and picked up the kids for me. Originally I was going to have them there for the delivery but the way it went down was so chaotic for me that I am actually glad they weren't there (don't know how they would have enjoyed me on my knees screaming into the hospital pillow on the head of the bed). Justin gave them a peak of Polly while I was getting stitched up, and after I was giving a new hospital gown we let them in. She is one very loved and adored baby!
Daisy's preschool teacher laughed that who would of thought I would still be pregnant and not in labor when I dropped her off that morning at 8:30am, only for the baby to be here before she finished at noon! She was able to come by later in the day to see Polly.
Ugh, hospital florescent lighting bringing out the yellow in my hair...
We had visits from aunts and uncles and friends, but the only picture I managed to take was with Grandma Barbara.
Welcome to the family sweet Polly!
The morning of the match came and I remember getting ready and feeling a very low contraction, not really in my belly at all, but felt more like right at my cervix. I thought the baby had finally dropped and brushed it off. I went to my match as and just a few minutes into playing I was having regular contractions. I ignored them at first but joked with my partner, Jennie, that she needed to stall a few seconds before she served so I could finish a contraction. She told me I should really start timing them and I reluctantly told her we could (at this point I didn't want to make a big deal of it because I hadn't gone into labor on my own in 12 years since Brighton was born). As we were timing them they were about 3-4 minutes a part. I chalked it up to the fact that I was moving so much and jumping/lunging around the court. Finally they were about 2 minutes apart and we were playing our second set. They didn't feel like they hurt too much but I was also distracted, but a little worried at this point if we lost the set because I didn't know if it really was labor if I could last a third set. In between games while we were switching court sides I sent Justin a quick text that I might need to go to the hospital after the match. He assumed I was joking and responded "Better make it a win then!"
Fortunately we did win, but I still didn't think I was truly in labor, I just thought the contractions were from all the movement. We even played for a minute or two so one of my teammates could snap some pictures of me playing while I was pregnant.
Afterward I was chatting with my teammates and still having contractions and one told me I should sit down, I tried it during a contraction and realized they were actually hurting and likely real labor contractions. I decided I should go and Jennie came with me since she needed a ride home. The walk from the court to the parking lot seemed like a mile! I realized I was really in labor and knowing how fast things progress by the time my contractions hurt that bad, I knew I was in trouble and was chastising myself for waiting...
We drove home and the drive seemed like it took forever! I called my SIL Angie, who had agreed to come and take pictures of the birth, and told her I was in labor and she should get to the hospital within the hour. I called Justin and told him I was in labor and we needed to go to the hospital as soon as I got home. Jennie offered to walk home from my house but I played off my nervousness and sped her home, meanwhile each contraction was hurting more and more and I began to truly fear not making it to the hospital. I got home and walked into the house and called for Justin and he came out not dressed to go or anything. A little frustrated, I told him I said we needed to go! He said I sounded calm when I called and he didn't think it was a big deal that we had to rush. I told him to hurry and went to my closet to change out of my tennis uniform. I was barely able to get my clothes on and one shoe, but couldn't even get my other shoe on so I just brought it with me. Luckily the hospital is less than 3 miles away so pulled up and I walked in with just one shoe on. As always, triage didn't take me seriously although I told them this was baby #5 and I KNEW I didn't have much time. Although I had preregistered online, they told me I could wait in the waiting area for just a few minutes. I didn't, I scooted over 3ft from the triage window to let the next person in and stayed there leaning on the ledge. I told Justin it was going to be like Brighton's birth all over again where they didn't take me seriously and left me in the waiting room. I got my other shoe on with Justin's help, texted Angie and my teammates to tell them I really was in the hospital in advanced labor (this was less than 30 minutes after leaving the court!), and finally a nurse asked me if I was feeling pressure and I told her I most definitely was. They gave me a wheelchair and left Justin and I alone to make our way around the hospital to the elevators up to the maternity ward. I couldn't even sit down all the way and was shocked that nobody would accompany us!
After what seemed like forever we got up there and luckily one of the midwives from the practice was standing right in the hallway. They could tell by the way I was sitting that I was very close to delivering so they ushered me right into a room. Being in pain and scared of delivering right on the floor I threw off my clothes without any care of who was looking. I noticed I had already started bleeding. I thought maybe I should go to the bathroom and the nurses cautioned me to not have the baby in the toilet. I admit it was difficult trying to relax enough to pee but not push! I got it done and then asked the midwife if she could break my water to speed things up since I was in a lot of pain and knew I was close. She advised me to just let my body take care of it since it would break during delivery. I couldn't get comfortable sitting on the bed so I got on my knees facing the back of the upright hospital bed. I wasn't feeling the urge to push yet but I also didn't want to wait any longer, so on the next contraction I just started pushing. One contraction later they could feel her crowning, the contraction after that I had pushed her out to past her shoulders. I remember being so exhausted (first labor without drugs!) and thinking I must have pushed her head out but it still hurt so much! I was waiting for the next contraction but the midwife told me she needed me to give one more good push (because I had birthed to past the shoulders but not far enough for them to pull her out). I said I was tired and she told me again to push so I did with the little I had left, and there she was! Polly Rose Ellsworth Owens was born 13 minutes after I arrived at the delivery room at 11:23am, less than an hour after finishing my 9am tennis match! She was 9lbs 4oz, 21 inches long.
Poor Angie didn't make it there until after she was born, and I was such a mess! I don't even know what happened to my hospital gown because it was gone after I delivered her and I still hadn't delivered the placenta yet. The midwife was waiting for that and then took a while stitching me up. Angie got the pictures she could but I was half naked and felt sorry for her getting flashed by me on almost every angle! She managed to get some sweet pictures though.
Jennie had gone to the school and picked up the kids for me. Originally I was going to have them there for the delivery but the way it went down was so chaotic for me that I am actually glad they weren't there (don't know how they would have enjoyed me on my knees screaming into the hospital pillow on the head of the bed). Justin gave them a peak of Polly while I was getting stitched up, and after I was giving a new hospital gown we let them in. She is one very loved and adored baby!
Daisy's preschool teacher laughed that who would of thought I would still be pregnant and not in labor when I dropped her off that morning at 8:30am, only for the baby to be here before she finished at noon! She was able to come by later in the day to see Polly.
Ugh, hospital florescent lighting bringing out the yellow in my hair...
We had visits from aunts and uncles and friends, but the only picture I managed to take was with Grandma Barbara.
Welcome to the family sweet Polly!
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