Eliza's Birth Story pt. 2

December 3rd started off as a normal day for me; I woke up around noon. (Yes, that counted as the start of a normal day for me.) I decided that I wanted to go sit in my mom's garden tub and just soak and relax. After my bath, I decided I needed a shower to wash off everything and clean my hair. I even decided to shave my legs. My parents have a small, square shower, so to shave 41 weeks pregnant, I had to put my leg up on the wall and get in all sorts of the awkward positions. After my shower, I went to get some food, and head to my sisters house to take some maternity photos outside.

Around 2:45/3:00 PM, soon after I got out of the shower, I went to pee and lost half of my mucus plug. That started very light contractions. I messaged my oldest sister who was going to help me labor and be my doula that I believed I was in labor. I messaged Matt and told him that I believed I was in the very beginning stages of labor. I also messaged Sarah (my best friend) and told her. I don't think I really told anyone else at that point. Matt asked if he needed to go ahead and head to Mobile since he was in Hattiesburg for class, and I told him that it wasn't necessary. I told him I would keep him updated for when we were headed to Gulfport, since it was about two hours for both of us to get there. If we left our houses around the same time, we'd hopefully get there around the same time. The contractions weren't bad in the slightest, so I wasn't super worried or concerned about anything. However, from the time that I lost half of my mucus plug until probably around 4:30 or 5, I had the WORST diarrhea. The contractions, then, continued to pick up, and I snacked on some shredded rotisserie chicken for me so I could get some food in me.

I ended up puking everything that I had eaten up, and around that same time, I lost the rest of my mucus plug. Contractions began to pick up a LOT, and I was starting to be in a good amount of pain. By then, my dad was home from work, and I let him know probably around 7:00ish that I needed him to ask Karla (my sister) to start getting things ready to head over to our house, which thankfully was only a five minute drive for her. She messaged back that she already had everything ready and was ready to walk out the door, which I was BEYOND thankful for. When she got there, she used her doppler and checked to make sure Eliza wasn't in any distress during the contractions. She helped me move and find a more comfortable spot. She saw my birth ball (which was tiny) and laughed at it. She, then, called her husband to bring over her birth ball, as well as a few other things. I sat on her birth ball for a grand total of 1 second before I was like, "this is awful, get it away from me." I, then, went and laid in bed on my side. My mom was in charge of running back and forth for different things that I needed or my sister needed to help me. My sister sent her to get a heated up rice sock that I could use to help ease my back. I specifically remember one point where it was too hot and too uncomfortable, and I literally threw it across the room. My sister recognized at another point that I wasn't getting much relief on my side and offered me a new position, which I gladly took. I got on my hands and knees on my bed, and it helped a TON. She had her phone out keeping track of my contractions, how far apart they were, and how long they were lasting. She apparently sent out a text at some point to a few of her prayer warrior momma friends, that I was having a hard time and for them to pray for me. She talked to Matt some. Around 9:30 PM, he and his dad decided to go ahead and drive to Gulfport and stay with his brother, who lived down there, and be ready to be there as soon as we got there. Around this time, my sister was trying to figure out how everything was going to work, because she thought we were going to have two drivers driving to Gulfport, but it was only her and my mom there with me. My dad went ahead to bed, because he had to get up and go to work the next morning. My sister knew there was no way I could be in the back by myself, but we needed to figure out a way to get two cars to go to gulfport so she could get back home the next day. She was telling my mom to make sure the car was packed, and mom was running around trying to get everything done. At some point during all of this, I told my sister I felt the need to push, and she was like, "no, you don't; there's no way." This whole time I am screaming and in pain. At this point, I am complaining because I thought I was going to get a break between contractions, and my sister said, "You do get a break." I had what literally felt like a millisecond break and then said, "That break isn't long enough."

At one point, my sister had to go pee, so she traded out with my mom for a second, and my mom held my hand and was being as supportive as she could while my sister peed. During this time, I had a longer break between my contractions (transition phase), and my sister thought to herself, "Oh no, she may have been pushing." I was onto the delivery stage, and had a nice little breathing break before I had to push her. When my sister came back, I felt down toward my shorts (that I was still wearing), and my sister said, "Can I just check?" to which I said, "PLEASE". She pulled down my shorts slightly and saw bulging water. To which she was like, "Well crap, we're having this baby now." She used Siri to call Stacey (my former midwife), and I vividly remember her saying, "Hey Siri, call Stacey, cell." She continued to say words immediately after saying that though, and Siri was having trouble understanding her. My sister was also telling my mom to get her birth box out of her car, and my mom was confused. Karla was just like "Birth box now." We finally got Stacey on the line, and my sister said, "We're at home, and we're having this baby now. I need you to document for me." Stacey, then, packed up all of her stuff and headed to my parents house. I don't really remember pushing or anything like that; I definitely experienced the fetal ejection reflex, where I really didn't have to push her out. I delivered her on my hands and knees. My sister did her best to apply counter pressure and catch Eliza at the same time, but her main goal was catching Eliza.

At 10:54pm on Tuesday December 3, 2019, Eliza was born in her amniotic sac, which busted as soon as she was delivered, so my sister had to make sure it was fully off of her. My sister assessed her, told Stacey everything she was seeing, and how Eliza was. I had a super short cord, so Eliza was barely able to come up to my hips. My sister got my mom to get a pair of scissors and some alcohol to sterilize the scissors. Then, my mom cut Eliza's umbilical cord. At one point, I remember asking if Eliza was actually a girl like they told us she was, and my sister checked and said she was. After her umbilical cord was cut, my sister moved Eliza up to my chest, so I could hold her and everything.

At that point, my sister called Matt, and I said, "We have a baby." He said, "What?!?" Then she cried, and he said, "OH... We'll be there ASAP." They were at a gas station in Wiggins, MS. They were about an hour away, but got there around 11:30/12ish. Stacey got to the house just a little bit before they did. Stacey did some checks on Eliza when she got there and did some fundal massage on me to help make sure my placenta would deliver. It was taking too long to deliver. They tried to get me to stand and pee on my mom's portable potty (that she had gotten from her neck surgery) so that my placenta would deliver. I ended up feeling light headed, and they got me to lay back down. We had some talks about how since my iron was low and that I was feeling light headed, I should probably head to the hospital. My sister called the ambulance, and while it was on its way, we talked about our options.

My sister has been at a transfer before and said that the hospital treated the baby as a "dirty" baby since it wasn't born in the hospital. They honestly had very little compassion about all of it, so my plan was going to be to leave Eliza with my sister. With this, my sister could feed her and everything, and then bring her to the hospital to meet us in a little bit, which my sister had actually done for another momma before. Once the ambulance got there, they loaded me on to the stretcher and covered me with a blanket because it was FRIGID outside. They then asked for Eliza and we said how she was going to stay with my sister. They then proceeded to said that they would have to call the cops and CPS would be notified, if she stayed. We, then, decided to just bring her with us. Matt held her on the ambulance, and I just laid on the bed. They went ahead and got a PIC line in me, so that I would be ready to go at the hospital.