On Wednesday, July 9, 2014, I was 40 weeks, 5 days pregnant. I woke up feeling kind of nauseous but that's not completely abnormal for me at that point. I got the kids ready and we went to the women's summer book study/club at 9am. I was feeling a little better then and was able to eat breakfast there with no problems. I left just after 11am and went to my weekly OB appointment. My blood pressure was up a bit but it was still safe. Baby's heartbeat was 135, which was pretty normal throughout the pregnancy. Dr. Cada checked my cervix and I was excited (and slightly bummed) to find out I was dilated to a 2. The night before I had done some walking which triggered lots of contractions so figured that was why I FINALLY was starting to dilate.
I had an induction scheduled for Friday morning at 5am and since my cervix was starting to dilate on its own, I didn't have to go in Thursday night for the cytotec tablets, which I hated having done with Grace. I went home after the appointment and we had lunch. As had been typical for the past week or two, I laid down on the couch in the early afternoon while the kids did their quiet time. I just wasn't feeling good, still fairly nauseated. I dozed a bit and woke up around 2 or 2:30. I walked down to get the mail and move the van into the driveway from the street (had gutters replaced that morning) and just felt gross and yucky. Then the diarrhea hit. Seriously thought I had the stomach flu for about the next hour as it just kept hitting over and over and over.
And then the contractions began, probably around 3pm. They were much more painful than what I had been experiencing up to that point, with a lot of it in my back. I started timing them and they were very powerful and only 3-5 minutes apart. After debating a bit and thinking I should just wait until Dustin got off work at 5, I realized that this was probably the real deal. I called my mom at 3:30 and told her to come because I thought I was in labor. This was probably surprising as I had just talked with her at noon telling her about my OB appointment and how I was only dilated to a 2 and wasn't expecting anything to happen until the induction on Friday. :)
I then called Dustin and told him I thought I was in labor. He said he would get back to the store (he was on the road) and then come home to get me. In the mean time, I had the kids pick up their room so it was taken care of before we left. The contractions kept coming and were very painful. The kids just looked at me weird as I went through each one. After yet another bathroom trip, I saw that I had bloody show which just convinced me more that I wasn't being fooled and that this was probably real labor. I would then have a contraction space about 7 minutes apart and would start second guessing but then they would be 3-5 minutes apart again and the intensity was there.
Dustin got home at about 4:15. My mom had gotten to a spot of stopped traffic on the interstate and was running late. I knew I couldn't wait much longer and luckily the neighbor kids across the street were out. We asked the almost 16 year old, Maddie, if she could come watch the kids for about 10-15 minutes until my mom got there. So thankful she did!
We left for the hospital and the ride wasn't overly terrible. Pot holes and speed bumps were definitely not my friends but we made it. I am thankful for the "oh crap" handle as it helped me through many of my contractions in the car! I told Dustin to just park in the garage and I walked the tunnel in with him. I figured it would just help my labor go instead of him dropping me off in front. We went up to the labor and delivery floor in the Bryan tower and told them I thought I was in labor. It was about 5pm at this point. I was expecting to go to a triage room but I must have looked like I was in enough pain and they admitted me to a room immediately. After changing, they checked my cervix (which I screamed through, like normal) and they said I was dilated to a 4. I told them at my appointment a few hours ago I was a 2. So we knew things were really going. They got my IV in and I did all the questions and paperwork and everything necessary with getting set up. At 5:30 Dustin left and went back home. We forgot to leave keys for my mom to have access to our van and the car seats to be able to transport our kids. Whoops!!!
While Dustin was gone, the anesthesiologist finally came in at 6pm and got my epidural in. I am thankful for that. While a lot of the labor was in my back, it took away the front cramping pain. Looking back, I didn't have the epidural in that long and had I known how quickly it was going to go I probably could have done it without since I did almost all my laboring without it! Dustin got back right before 6:30 and they checked me at 6:40. I was a 9 by that point. They called the on call doctor, Dr. Mahoney, and she said she would be there as soon as she could. She had her kids at swim lessons so would come from there. Had the doctor been there, I'm pretty sure I could have delivered Emma before 7pm as she was right there but I just had to wait.
At that point, they decided there was no use putting in a catheter because it was going so fast and they have given me UTI's in the past. And they were going to have my lay on my side and switch sides but at that point they said I was not allowed to move AT ALL as they were worried the baby would literally slip out if they did that.
Dr. Mahoney finally showed up a little before 7:30 and got her scrubs and everything on. Once she was ready she checked me and then I started pushing. It took 10 pushes, a total of four minutes, and Emma was born! I was the one who got to look down and see if she was a boy or a girl! I was shocked as I announced to Dustin that it was a girl! I was totally expecting a boy, even though Dustin thought it was a girl! I got to have Emma lay on me right away and they let me do skin to skin with her for awhile before taking her to the warmer. It was fantastic!
After they delivered the placenta they were a little worried as I was bleeding a lot and passing large clots and my uterus wasn't clamping down the way it was supposed to. Then they realized they never drained my bladder! After they did that (and they were shocked by how much they had to drain) everything did as it was supposed to and resolved very quickly. Phew!
I told them to take Emma and get her weighed so I could know her measurements. She looked much smaller than Kyler did when he was born so I was expecting her to weigh less than his 8lbs, 13 oz. She didn't have arm or leg fat rolls. While her cheeks were super chubby, the rest of her looked skinny. I was surprised again when it came up that she was 9 lbs, 0 oz! And she was 21 inches long, a quarter inch longer than Kyler was. Her head and chest measured 14 inches each, which was similar to Kyler as well.
So that is the majority of the birth story. They thought I may need a blood transfusion the next day as I lost more blood than a typical person does during delivery but my labs were good the next morning and I didn't need anything like that--so thankful!
And now here we are, a week later, and I am just loving this perfect, sweet little baby girl! She is healthy, above her birth weight already, and never even had an indication of jaundice. She is so perfect and I am wrapped around her tiny, skinny, long little fingers already!
Grace and Kyler are doing great with her! No signs of jealousy have been shown (yet) and they think she is just cute and wonderful!
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