July 24th: Arrived in Honolulu to wait for Geneva's arrival. We decided to experience her delivery on Oahu with a Midwife and in a "baby friendly" hospital(which means the baby never leaves the room of the parents).
July 30th: Appt. with Midwife, 39 weeks, baby looks good, dilated 2 cm, midwife said it could be tomorrow or it could be 2 weeks still.
August 1st: Mark gets food poisoning---and is severely ill. So thankful I didn't eat what he ate!
August 4th:
6am, Woke with a contraction that felt different. I had been having contractions throughout my pregnancy, but they most felt like tightening with very little pain. The contraction that woke me on the morning of the 4th was more painful and intense.
9:30am, Left for the North Shore. I was still having contractions, but they were very inconsistent(one every 15-20 minutes). Looking back this was not a great idea, but I think I was prepared for another long labor(18hours with Lucy), not willing to believe it would be any different.
1pm, Back at our rental in Waikiki, wanted to get out and walk some. We walked to the beach, Mark got some lunch, and I floated around in the water feeling more contractions. I believe it was at this point that I allowed myself to relax and welcome the contractions.
3pm, Walking back to the rental is when the contractions started coming at regular intervals and labor was in full swing. I showered and made sure our bags were packed.
4pm, I called the hospital and explained everything to the labor nurse who said I could come in now or try to labor a little longer before coming.
4:45pm, Mark was getting VERY anxious and convinced me that we should leave for the hospital. I was determined that I did not want to arrive at the hospital in early labor and only a few cm's dilated, so I was trying to put off going as long as possible---needless to say this made Mark very nervous!
5:20pm, Arrived at the hospital. When we walked up to the nurse's station there were a couple of nurses, the doctor, the midwife, the clerk all sitting around since there was no one in labor at the time. After I left the desk, they all made guesses among themselves as to how much I was dilated, the consensus was 2-3 cm based on how much pain I appeared to be in. But when I was checked by the midwife I was 7 cm(100% thinned, with a bulging bag)!! At this point I was very uncomfortable(understatement) and the contractions where coming every 2 minutes. At the height of each contraction I would think, "I can't do this, it hurts too much, I just want the pain to stop", but then the midwife would tell me it won't be much longer and I was doing a wonderful job.
5:55pm, I was fully dilated, the midwife broke my water, and I began to push. Baby was crowning after one push, the midwife was so helpful by panting and grunting with me, she used mineral oil to ensure that I didn't tear, and she coached me through 2 more pushes and Geneva was born at 6:05pm!
Right after Geneva was delivered and was in my arms for the first time, Mark turned to grab his phone to take some pics, he glanced out of the window and saw a double rainbow. It was an indescribable, amazing moment!
Thank you, Father God for your abundant blessings!!
