The birth story

Not complet yet.....

The lead up

At my doctors appointment on 11/27 the doctor checked me for the first time and I was already 3 cm dialated!  I  lost my mucus plug over the course of the next few days so I was getting very excited but nothing was happening.

On the way to my follow up appointment on 12/4 about 5 minutes from the doctor's office I got rearended.   The car hit me so hard that I was forced into the car in front of me and she was forced inot the car in front of her.  We'd all been stopped at a light and the lady behind me just didn't stop.  We had to go to the Labor and Delivery center in the woodlands to have the baby monitored to make sure she was okay.  Ken called everyone under the sun an eventually three of our friends showed up to take me to the L&D.  All was good and it was just an hour in the triage room listening to her heartbeat. 
Had the actual follow up appointment on december 11th.  At that point I was 4 cm dialated and the doctor decided to strip my membranes.  She was pretty sure I'd be in labor any time, possibly even that night. I'd been having periodic contractions so  I was super excited because I really wanted the baby to be born on 12/12/12.  But 12/12/12 came and went with no baby, not even a contraction once I left the doctors office. I was really sad and at that point hit the 'this baby is never going to come out' point.
At the school's winter program practice on 12/13 I had some fluid leakage but it stopped,I wasn't having discernable contractions and wasn't a big gush so I didn't go in.  On 12/14, my last day of work I kept feeling some very small amounts of leakage periodically throughout the day but still no contractions at all.  I called into the nurses line and they recommended I go into the L&D and be checked in case it was a slow leak of amniotic fluid.

Ken and I packed up our bags and drove up to the L&D. The whole time I was complaining to him that this was silly and they were just going to send us back.  This was to preserve my own sanity.  I'd gotten so wound up about 12-12-12 that I just didn't want to be dissapointed again. They put me on the monitor and checked me.  I was 4-5 cm dialated and was contracting sporadiacally but the amniotic sac was still in tact.  They monitored me for an hour and it didn't really progress.  So they had me walk around the hospital ward for an hour.  While I walked Ken got some food and brought some of my Christmas fudge to the nurses.  The nurses loved it and it was really funny to see them all sugared up.  As I was walking I started to feel the contractions a little but but not much. 

After an hour they put me back on the monitors and checked me again, I was about 5 and contracting about every 4 minutes.  So they decided to admit me!! We were having a baby!


The Labor

Early labor was (and I hate to say it for fear of attracting the wrath of women kind) easy.  I barely felt any contractions I was happy and comfortable.  At that point I was thinking to myself...if this is labor I'm going to do just fine!  The only real annoyance was the IV.  The triage nurse blew two veins in my arm while trying to place the IV.  The on call nurse finally managed to get a vein in my other hand. 

They'd admitted me around 6pm.  Around 11pm the contractions started for real.  And they hurt.  A lot.  But, I figured I would try them out for a  while and see how much I progressed.  They checked me after an hour and I hadn't progressed.  And it still hurt.  A lot.  And I was so tired but couln't sleep because it hurt.

So...I opted for the epidural.  Part of me felt a little bad, like I was giving up or taking the easy way out...but there is no prize other than a healthy baby and you still get that even if you have an epidural.  So eipdural it was.  Poor Ken had to leave the room while the set the needle in my spine.  I'm not sure who that was harder on.  Once the medication was flowing life was awesome.  I could still feel the tightening of the contraction but there was no pain.  Of course I was then restrained to the bed as my legs no longer functioned.  The left leg was not getting quite as much medication so I still had some control over it while I practically had to move my right leg with my hands.

Ken came back in and we were both able to get some sleep, well, interrupted sleep as they check on you every hour, but it was better than the constant pain.  Around 4 am they checked me again and found that I was fully dialated!   They brought in all the crazy scary looking tools and sterile drapes, changed the bed to the delivery bed and called the doctor in.

At 430 we were ready to go and I was starting to feel the urge to push.  The doctor broke the amniotic sac and it was go time!  Labor went smoothly.  I needed some oxygen to keep the baby's heart rate up and the mask made my nose stuffy when I pushed.  Finding the right way to push was a little odd but once we figured it out we were rolling!  I pushed for an hour and then at 5:29 E was born!

The doctor even remarked on theh smoothness of my labor.  She said "see, unassisted deliveries do happen!"  to her support nurse.

E's cord was super short.  They couldn't put her up onto my chest because it was so short.  They had to cut it very quickly to move her out of the way.  Ken cut her cord and then they finally brought her up to my chest and I got to hold my beautiful little girl.  The first thing everyone said about her was all about the cheeks and the hair.