11/13/10, Saturday- I spent a lot of the day Christmas shopping with my mom, trying to walk (let's be honest--waddle) this baby out. I got lots of "pity looks" from strangers and "When are you due?!" statements. Truth be told, I wasn't that uncomfortable.
7pm--I started feeling somewhat crampy, but blew it off as nothing since I'd had these feelings before.
7:30-The back pain started in. I started to wonder if this might could be it....
8pm- I put Drew to bed a little early and realized as I was rocking him that this was it. My cramps were a good bit worse and the back pain was beginning to "radiate" like all the textbooks say.
9pm- I told Andrew this was probably "it" and he needed to get some rest. I headed off to bed, hopeful for a few hours of rejuvenating sleep.
10:15--I got out of bed because I had not yet fallen asleep thanks to anxiety and minor contractions. I decided to get up and the contractions got worse.
10:30--I believe this is when we started making phone calls for family to come sit with Drew and the "don't go to bed yet" calls for those living a little farther away who wanted to know the moment we went into labor. I got into the shower to shave my legs and wash my hair, two very important things on my list. Andrew sat outside the shower and timed my contractions which, by this point, were definitely painful. They were 2-4 minutes apart.
11:00ish--My parents arrived to keep Drew for a while, and we headed out the door to have a baby! The drive to the hospital was quite painful, but bearable. My contractions were 3-4 minutes apart, like clockwork.
11:45-We arrived, went in and got last minute paperwork done, and headed to our room. My contractions were about every 2 minutes by this point and quite painful still.
Sunday, 11/14/10
12:00--I got hooked up to the monitors, checked, told I was 3-4 cm (like I was on Thursday at the office), and told they would monitor me for the next hour to see if I was really in labor or not. Little did they know, I was not leaving! I knew this was it!
1:30--The nurse came in to give me Stadol, and I refused. She informed me my contractions would continue at 1 minute apart, and I was okay with that. I didn't want anything besides my epidural on board.
Around 2:00 I got checked and it was determined I was a "definite 4." I must admit I was a little disappointed. I was hoping for more!
I think it was right around this time that my back labor began. The contractions in the front that "radiated" around were painful, but bearable. When the contractions moved to my back, I thought I was going to throw up each time from pain. I couldn't move, breathe, etc. All the while they're asking me to climb up in the bed, bend over, and remain still for the epidural. That's like asking a fish not to swim! Impossible! The lady doing my epidural did a great job with the very little room I gave her to get the catheter in the right spot. Only one attempt and within a couple of minutes I had sweet relief. I don't know how much they charge for an epidural (I'll see soon-yikes), but they could have charged me 5,000 just for the injection at that moment and I would have said, "Done deal!"
The hours passed and family visited. I sneaked in drinks of a Sprite because I was shaking from lack of nutrition (a silly no eating rule caused this), and that helped my nausea a lot. I tried to sleep, but to no avail.
Around 6am--The nurse came to check me and announced I was about an 8! I was thrilled! All that dilation and no pain made for a happy laborer!
Around 7:30am--My new very sweet nurse, Dana, checked me and I was at a 9.
Doctor Tinker came in soon after and said I was a 9 1/2 with just an "anterior lip" left.
Around 8 there was no change in dilation, so they started Pitocin. I'd really hoped to not have to use this drug at all, but I figured I wouldn't have to use it long, so went right along with it.
8:30--Started pushing with each contraction.
9:15--Got another small dose of pain meds through my epidural. Continued pushing with each contraction, some of them being just a minute apart. Even with an epidural, I was exhausted!
9:30--Still pushing. Doctor Tinker comes in.
9:40--I'm told that Hannah is facing up instead of down. That's why it was taking so long! She was "stuck." Doctor Tinker announced that he needed the forceps and I freaked out "just a little." I don't know what my exact fear was...a head bleed, pain for the baby, lots of bruising for her...but whatever it was, the tear turned on like crazy. But I went with it because we really didn't have another choice. It took him less than 5 seconds to turn her around face down.
9:53--Hannah arrives! She wasn't crying which scared me to death, but as soon as that umbilical cord was cut (yay, Andrew!), she wailed with the best of them.
I was never prouder than when they placed her on my chest. That was a moment that was taken from me when I had to have a C-section with Drew and desired to experience that moment so badly. Let me tell you, it was as great as I had imagined. She had a head full of hair!
To be honest, when she was born and laid on my chest, there was no indication of her gender that was spoken of. I looked at her and thought, "She looks just like Drew! Wait...is this a girl?!" So I asked aloud and everyone chuckled and assured me she was still a girl!
9:54--Apgar 8. I was aloud to hold her on my chest for several minutes while the nurses wiped her off. She was such a beauty, and I was in love already!
9:58--Apgar 9
Soon after, they brought her back over to me, and I reveled in my little girl's presence. All the waiting for her was finally over. She had arrived!
We were finally a family of 4!
She was a great nurser from the start. After I fed her, the family came in to meet her. Lots of tear and shouts from my Dad when he found out she slightly has a dimple...a trait only he has!
Later that evening Drew arrived to meet his sister. We were a little worried, but he was so smitten with her. He kissed her repeatedly and looked under her blanket to see all of her body parts. When he saw her umbilical cord, he proudly exclaimed, "Wee wee!" Guess he thought he got a brother out of the deal after all!
We had a very brief hospital stay (about 30 hours) with the best nurses I could have asked for! Our hospital experience was an A+ and honestly more like a hotel stay at times!
On Monday night we left the hospital around 5pm to head home as a family of 4!
4 comments:
so glad you had such a great experience!
Thanks for posting about your experience! I have been pretty nervous about the whole labor thing and it helps to hear how someone else got through it.
Congratulations! She is so cute with all that hair!
Aw! Thats great! And guess what, Aiden was upside down too and forcepts had to be used all while he didn't cry till Chris cut the cord!!!
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