My Labor and Delivery Story

Right after she was born

Man of the hour, Looking a little stressed

Our wonderful Midwife

I want to apologize now for punctuation(I get carried away in my thoughts) and for the details but I want it to be recorded how I remember it.

Everyone is asking me if my labor was chaotic. It might have been for Matt but not me. It was a very relaxing and wonderful labor in my eyes.

Every night I would do 2 to 3 hrs of exercises and stretches and tea drinking and vitamin taking all in hopes that if I did things differently this time and surrounded myself with supportive people that I would have a better outcome. I listened to everything my midwives told me to do and it paid off big time! Thanks to all of them and to my wonderful, supportive Husband who did research with me so we could make the best decisions for our family. We couldn't be any happier to have our newest Angel Kyndal Mattie Thompson join our family!

The last two weeks of pregnancy are a little difficult for me because I start to dilate and have major pressure. There were so many times I thought she might just fall out, which is what she kind of did lol. April 15th I went shopping with my mom and did all the normal things I usually do in a day. It was around 10:00 pm when I started all my exercises for the night. I got on the birthing ball for an hour like always, and when I went to get off it I couldn't get my legs back together or stand up. Matt had to pick me up and carry me to the couch, where I sat there for a while before going up the stairs. I had been walking slowly up the stairs for a while, but that night Matt said," he had a feeling that was the night because of the ball thing and because I walked extra slow up the stairs." I was thinking the same thing until I went to bed at midnight and Kyndal started moving like crazy. Having gone through labor before, I knew that babies don't move when your in labor, so I told myself I needed to go to sleep. I fell asleep at about 1:00am and by 1:55 woke up to a really strong contraction. I told Matt this could be it but I would let him know for sure if I had more contractions. Well sure enough, I had two more all pretty close together so I told him this was it and I needed him to move Hadley downstairs, blow and fill up birthing tub, set up table with everything we were going to need, but first I wanted him to time contractions for me. I started the bath, got in, and called my Mom. I wanted her and my Dad to get there first so my Dad could take mister (our dog) home with him before the midwives got to my house. He would bark and wake up Hadley and like always I was really worried about her not having her mom during the night if she woke up. We timed three contractions to get an average. The first was like two min and 30 sec apart and lasting 30 sec long. The second was one minute 50 and the third was one minute 30 sec apart so my average was a little less than two minutes apart. I called my midwife that lives in Mountain Home around 2:15am. She called her assistant that lives in Filer (this was where all my appointments were) and she had pneumonia so she wasn't going to make it to my delivery that night. I was just laboring in my bath while Matt was doing his list checking in on me every so often. My parents showed up at 2:30 and Matt tried to move Hadley but she woke up so my Mom was downstairs rocking her to get her back asleep. I was still in my bath doing my relaxation techniques that I learned about from the book Natural Childbirth The Bradley Method Way(I love this book and call it my labor bible) but was starting to get a little impatient about my birthing tub not being ready. I kept saying to Matt every time he would poke his head in, "is it done yet?" Every contraction my stomach would shrink around the baby and we could see her bum, her back, and her feet, plain as day. It was really crazy to watch. I never noticed that in labor with Hadley because I had on a hospital gown the whole time. Anyway, a little after 3 Matt noticed that my mucus plug and bloody show happened(sorry about the gruesome details) Not long after that I had the feeling that I needed to push but kind of thought I was crazy because not very much time had passed. I remember my midwife telling me it was important to labor on my hands and knees periodically to keep the baby from being posterior(face up) like Hadley was so I got on my hands and knees but was all I could do not to push. I remember reading in the book that it is impossible not to push during a pushing contraction (meaning you are dilated to a ten and should be pushing). This is so true I was trying so hard not to push but was pushing a little anyway. Then I heard and felt a loud pop. I yelled for Matt and told him to call the midwife because my water had just broke. He had her on speaker phone so I could hear what she was saying. She asked him to wash his hands and feel for a prolapsed cord. He looked down and told her," I don't have to feel because I see the babies hair." I knew he wasn't understanding what she meant so I reached down to feel for a cord and said," tell her there is no prolapsed cord but her head is about to come out." She then told him that the baby was going to come before she was going to get here and that he needed to get lots of towels under me and on top of baby and I to keep us both as warm as possible. His reply was none other than,"COME AGAIN?" I totally laughed inside! I told him to get the towels and that it would be ok. Right after that, I had a contraction again and this time knew I should be pushing so I did, all the while Matt was begging me not to push because he needed to," drain the water, get towels, and get me out of there," he kept saying. I looked at him like you're not getting me anywhere go get the towels. He then said," I have to get your Mom," and ran downstairs. He told her he could see the babies head and that she was coming and her response was ,"WHAT?" All three of them ran upstairs( Hadley was awake so my Mom just ran with her in her arms) By this time I had pushed out her head in one push and was doing what Matt calls the crab walk so I didn't smash her head.I made sure the cord was not wrapped around her neck and it wasn't. I yelled for Matt because I knew I couldn't catch her because I was holding myself up when they got to the bathroom they saw that her head was out and I said to Matt," when I have a contraction next I am going to push her out so I need you catch her ok. ok. ok." He never answered just looked at me with shock and grabbed a towel. I then said," ok her it comes are you ready." I pushed her out with one more push at 3:48am, by the time my mom went to set Hadley on the couch. That is how fast it was. Matt says," he has never seen anything come out with so much force," but he did catch her and the said in a panic what do I do with her now? I said just give her to me and I did notice then the cord was wrapped around her ankle so I unwrapped it and it pinked up right away. My mom had the midwife back on the phone at this point and Kyndal was screaming at the top of her lungs and the midwife said," she sounds great!" I told Matt to find the bulb syringe in case we needed to suck her out but there was nothing to suck she was really clear( unlike when I had Hadley she had lots of stuff to suck out) He destroyed the entire bedroom looking for it because by now I think panic had set in and he was a little shaky at this stage. I calmly told him everything was ok and the midwife would be here soon but we did it, she was here and oh so tiny. I could tell right away she was smaller than Hadley was. 15 minutes later the midwife arrived, Matt got to cut the cord, and I waited for the placenta getting to love on my baby and nurse her. It was an amazing experience. I didn't get to hold Hadley right away and have been angry about it ever since(Man that just reminds me of how much I hated that damn doctor!) I had an episiotomy with Hadley and had scar tissue and problems with it and I also had a sponge stitched up inside me that fell out when I got home the next day, so I had to be checked two days after delivery to make sure there wasn't anymore and to top it off ended up with staff infection in my uterus. This time I tore an eighth of an inch so it wasn't even big enough to have any stitches! I had no pain in my vagina at all. The only thing that hurt for a few days was my tailbone and I believe that was because when I pushed I was directly on it in a porcelain bathtub. All in all, it was a quick and easy labor.

Kyndal Mattie Thompson

Born April 16, 2011

at 3:48am

7lbs 9oz 19 in long

We had a hard time trying to come up with a middle name for her and it is very fitting that Mattie is what we chose after her Daddy delivered her and that his birthday is on the 16th.

Hadley and I share the same birthday so both girls can feel special about the days that the were born. It was meant to be!