Landon's Birth Story- Part 1 Practice Labor.

When pondering how I wanted to do this birth story post, I decided that in order to get the whole picture of what was going on with me in my head, and how it all turned out, we had to start at the beginning, with my parents arriving to await the birth of my little guy. Then I realized that if I did it in one post, it would be so long that no one would read the good part- when he popped out 2 hours after arriving at the hospital! So if you just want to read that part, go to part 3. If not, here is the entire birth story. 

My labor and birth encompassed all 3 types of labor that I read about while I was pregnant: false/practice labor, prodromal labor, and REAL labor. 

Practice labor: 

The month of August, for me, was spent in anxious anticipation of the birth of my little boy. My parents and baby sister Claire flew into the Chicago area on August 7th to help me finish getting ready and to be here for the birth. They were able to be here for my birthday on the 10th and we had a pretty chill birthday celebration. The day before my birthday, we went to Sweet Tomatoes salad buffet. I couldn't really eat everything that I wanted to because my stomach was so squished, but I ate a huge salad and a few pieces of sourdough bread with honey butter and was super satisfied. For my actual birthday, my dad made tri-tip and bread and we capped off the day attempting to induce labor with a 4.5 mile walk to see the elk that are raised in a pen in the forest preserve by our house. That was August 10th. On my due date, August 12th, I began having regular mini contractions, but my mom could tell it was not real labor and suggested I just go to bed and see what happened. I contacted my boss at work (coaching master's swimming) and told him I was having contractions and not coming into work anymore. I awoke the next morning and did not have any contractions. I sent Austin off to work because nothing was happening. He called for the first couple of days after that during the day to check on me, but he was comforted by the fact that my family was around just in case I went into labor. I think he spent so many days in anxious waiting for my call that by the time things were actually happening he was no longer anxious or on edge. I was GBS +, so if I leaked amniotic fluid, I was supposed to come into the hospital to begin antibiotics whether or not labor started. I felt that I had leaked some fluid on Wednesday the 15th, and so we went into the hospital. I knew I wasn't in labor, but it had been drilled in my head that if I leaked, I needed to go to the hospital. It ended up that I was not leaking fluid. Bummer. I came home and Austin was frustrated that we went all the way down to the hospital (35-1 hr away depending on traffic) for nothing. 

I had periods of time with regular mini contractions throughout the next week and a half. Every day was spent trying every induction method possible, except for castor or primrose oil. I did not want to go into labor and have diarrhea all at once... I became increasingly stressed as the time ticked on; my parents had planned to stay for 2 weeks- the 7th through the 21st of August. As the 21st approached and still nothing was happening, my awesome sister Hannah basically told my mom not to come home as planned, but to stay until I had the baby. This would mean she would be in charge of getting herself and my little sister ready for their first day of school the 22nd, and taking care of the house until my mom got back. This relieved a lot of my stress, because I was so worried about not having my mom around for the labor and first few days of Landon's life. 

Some of the activities my family did while waiting for labor to commence included visiting the Lincoln Park zoo, driving through downtown Chicago, taking countless long, brisk walks, and going mini golfing. Claire had never been mini golfing before, and I thought for sure that mini golfing would do something to induce labor with all the squatting and walking. It was awesome to be able to spend so much time with my parents and with Claire, but it was sad that my dad and Claire had to go home before the birth.