I came back to Wisconsin the following Friday (September 14th) to spend the weekend close to Rachel again. In Rachel’s previous pregnancies, her labors lasted around 3-4 hours and we had about a 2 1/2 hour drive so all of us had been anxious we would miss the birth. Nothing happened over the weekend, so we all went to Rachel’s doctor’s appointment on Tuesday, September 18th for her 38-week appointment. She was STILL sitting about 2cm and 50% effaced, so with zero progress, Matt and I decided to head back home to Illinois. We were starting to go a little stir-crazy waiting for our little girl.
Matt and I went back home to Illinois to be with our pups – who were probably so confused we kept coming and going – each time we’d tell them MAYBE we’d come back with their little sister. We went to a movie Tuesday night and Rachel was texting me during the movie about how she was having contractions – although nothing crazy yet.
We went to bed that night and Rachel had told me that in her previous births, she had gone to the hospital around midnight or 2 a.m. with contractions and had her children in the early morning hours. For some reason that night, I woke up both at midnight and again at 2 a.m. and thought, ‘well, we aren’t having a baby today’ — until the phone rang at 3 a.m.! I had Rachel’s ringtone set to a certain one so we would know when it was her and it definitely startled both of us! She was beginning to have more consistent contractions about 11 minutes apart and given her birth history, the hospital wanted her to come in right away. Matt and I got in the shower, loaded up the car, and headed for Wisconsin at 4 a.m. on September 19th.
Rachel and her husband arrived at the hospital around 4 a.m. and when they checked her she was 2.5cm dilated. They began walking the halls to see if she was progressing and she was! They checked her again around 5:15 a.m. and she was 3.5cm and 60% effaced so they went ahead and admitted her to the hospital.
Once I knew they admitted her, and knew this was REAL, tears welled in my eyes. We were about 20 minutes from the hospital at this point and it all just hit me. I called my mom around 5:40 a.m. to let her know this was happening and Rachel was in labor and we both cried. This was the last few moments of just my husband and I being alone. Everything we had been through over the last 6 years — 5 egg retrievals, 9 IVF transfers, 6 miscarriages — and now our journey to 3 was almost over. It just didn’t seem real — heck, it hardly seems real now as Scottie is here next to me.
Rachel continued to progress and was 7cm around 11 a.m. and we walked the halls of the hospital like crazy. She also got in and of the tub as well to help with the labor.
Around noon, the midwife broke Rachel’s water and that’s when it got real, LOL. She was in and out of the tub, pumping to help contractions as well, and we walked a little bit more. Watching Rachel’s labor was one of the hardest things for me to witness — she handles pain like a champ, but it hurt me like heck knowing she was going through all this pain for US. She’s an incredible person to do this for us.
