Victoria Elise

First I want to say thank you to my mom and dad for sharing their anniversary(this year was 35!) with Victoria and for my mom for changing her flight to come down on her anniversary to be here to help with Ava! I also couldn't have made it this past week with out her and I don't know what I'll do when she leaves!

Also I want to say thank you to the Harrison's for watching Ava and then picking up my mom from the airport and bringing them to the hospital! And Danika who called at a time where I was internally freaking out bc I didn't know what we would do with us being at the hospital and when she called and offered to help, helped calm me down.

A Huge thank you also goes to Lizette! She offered to be my doula for this birth and I would not have done it naturally and would have gave in to an epidural and probably had a longer labor had she not been there! We were truly blessed and watched over during the whole day!

But on to the big day!

I woke up at 4:30. I thought it was because I usually get up at 5:30 and get ready for the gym and with daylight savings my body was just waking up early. But within seconds I understood why. I was having contractions. After it went away I thought to myself "If this is me going into labor I can apparently only start labor at 4:30 am and I'll know for future pregnancies" since I started going into labor with Ava at the exact same time. But I just laughed ,after the pain, to myself and I was like no it can't be. Especially since with Ava it felt like she wanted to escape and Victoria it felt like she was just chillin and I thought she would stay in until her due date. (I was obviously wrong!) So I tried to go back to sleep but they were every 15 minutes for the first hour and a half. I tried changing positions, going bathroom, walking around, drinking some water since I thought maybe they were braxton hicks again and that's what you do to kinda help them go away. After a couple of contractions Spencer was like what are you doing? I told him what was happening and he told me he was going to shower and told me to get the rest of mine and Ava's bags packed.

At 6 am I sent a text to Lizette telling her I think I'm in labor(I was still skeptical) and then called my mom. She didn't say hello or any greeting just a NO DON’T TELL ME YOU'RE IN LABOR. My response was "Happy Anniversary. I Might be in labor I don't know for sure though." I described to my mom what was going on and she groaned "you're in labor! Victoria you're suppose to wait until tomorrow!" She had told me she was up at around the same time I started getting contractions and was like that was probably why. I finished getting my bags packed and then mom called me letting me know that she was able to change her flight to that night at 6 for free(Thank you American Airline miles card!) and to just wait until she got to Dallas to have her.

I then started cleaning. This was also something I was thinking. The I knew I should have done _____ last night! The 2 main things being painted my toe nails which I was going to do until Ava decided she wanted hers done and then I forgot about doing mine and then cleaning up the apartment. After that it was 7:30, the time I usually start working. It was something to keep my mind off the pain. Lizette came over and gave me some oil to help with contractions and told me to contact her and let her know what was happening and that she'll be available when ever. I also got a blessing from Spencer. I love the priesthood and the blessings we get from it and am so glad that I have a husband who lives his life so that he is worthy to hold it! Parts of the things that were said is what got me through the last 30 min of labor.

Between about 6:00 am and noon my contractions would vary from 15 min to 3 min to 10 along with the strength of the contractions. I was still in denial, but at 11:30 I stopped working and we went to lunch. It was at about noon that my contractions started becoming more consistent. They were happening every 10 min at about the same pain strength. Then after a little over an hour It started going to about 5-6 minutes apart. So we took Ava to the Harrison's. She was excited to play with Lydia! Spencer had to fill the car with gas and then put the bags in the car so I told her when daddy got back we would take her to see Lydia. She got so mad when dad did come and we didn't leave right away. We dropped her off and went to the Hospital. I was still skeptical.  I knew I was in labor, but I thought that they would send me home. I don't want to be the girl who cried wolf I guess!

We got to the hospital around 2. They set me up on monitors and I was like I'm not having contractions anymore. They're so going to send me home and then mom coming down early was completely unnecessary and Spencer staying home from school and just everything else and all the worries started to pile up. After an hour they checked and they were being generous since both nurses said I was 2.5 dilated but probably saw my face and then said "Well…. We'll say it's at a 3 and check you in a hour or so." Rachel, my midwife, came in and asked me what I wanted to do. What I wanted to do was not be in pain and have the baby right away, but since that's not really an option she said she'd let me think and come back. She mentioned that I might go home and the baby could be born tomorrow. The next hour and a half I was having constant little (in comparison to later on but they felt big at the time) contractions. Rachel checked me and I was at a 4.5.  We weren't going anywhere. Especially since with Ava I went from a 4 to an 8 in about 2 hours.

Since I wanted to have Victoria all natural (with Ava the epidural slowed down my labor and it didn't work completely and could feel just about everything) I was able to walk around and they would monitor me sporadically. The walking seemed to help take a little off the pain. I was told to breath deep and it helped so much, but I also felt like I was sounding like a ghost or a dying cow and I was really loud! They checked me again an hour later and I was at a 7. It was here that I was thinking nope, I don't want to do it natural anymore I want an epidural. Then Lizette would start to rub where my contractions were (She did this for EVERY ONE!) and it didn't make it completely go away, but the pressure helped make them feel a little better. I decided that since Lizette was there doing that and helpng me breathe and Spencer was there holding my hand I could make it.

 Rachel had to leave and the other midwife on call suggested I get on all fours. It seemed to help more than standing or laying down and I was in this position for about 30 minutes until I had to push. They felt like they were just one constant contraction. There was 2 times that I can remember that I was able to lay my head down and kept silently saying a prayer for the strength to get through the pain for however long it was going to last. Near the end instead of doing the low guttural breathing, I was screaming Owie! They kept saying when you feel you have to push let us know. So during one of the contractions I yelled out that I had to.

  

 I turned onto my back after telling them I was ready to push and they checked me. I was completely there at a 10 and they just had to re sanitize the area before I could push. This all literally happened within the space of a couple minutes.  I was like nope I have to now and started to push. I really couldn't help it. Everyone was telling me to wait and I could see that they were going fast, just not fast enough to my liking. In what felt like forever, which was probably only a minute, they were like okay next contraction you can push. So I did and Victoria was out. Everyone was impressed. It took 2 pushes and that was only because they told me to stop pushing the first time. At the time I was just like, good It's over, but now thinking back I'm pretty impressed with myself too.

At 6:09 PM Victoria Elise was here! She weighed 6lbs 10.8 oz and 19 3/4 inches long with lots of dark hair. I got to hold her while Spencer cut her cord. Honestly I don't remember much of what happened after. I just knew there was some pain but I got to hold my baby.

My mom got off the plane a few minutes before she was born. We laughed and were like, Well Victoria listened to you. She did in fact wait until you were in Dallas to be born. If you wanted to be at the hospital, you should have been more specific!

Ava was a little skeptical of her new sister. I wanted to have Ava come in first and sit with me and then have Spencer bring in Victoria but that didn't work out. Ava only wanted Nana and wouldn't even come near me. She did sit with Nana and sister and had fun counting Victoria's toes though. 

Ava not really wanting to be here. 

Making her smile by counting sisters toes

Over all it was a painfully pleasant experience that I am so glad is over! If you are looking to do a natural birth I highly recommend a doula (ESPECIALLY Lizette if you are in the DFW area, seriously she was amazing!). I think one thing that helped me too was going to the gym every morning and then right after I would do a prenatal yoga  video, which I also highly recommend. I was able to walk on my own right  away whereas before I needed a ton of help and didn't even want to attempt it since it was so painful.

I can't thank enough everyone who helped make what could have been easily the most stressful day of my life into an amazing one. We love our new princess, she is perfect for our family!