We have a baby!
That's right, our little girl made her arrival on October 27th. Here is her story. We were in the hospital for 6 days, so it's a long one!
The week leading up to my due date Justin and I walked and walked and ate a few foods they say induce labor. At my appointment a week before I was not dilated and not a whole lot was happening, other then the fact that the baby was measuring just great and looking healthy. My mom flew in on my due date which was the 21st, and still no baby. We spent the next day walking around the mall of america for over 6 hours, no baby. The next day we went shopping and walking a ton more and still no baby. Sunday we went to church and I got lots of sympathetic " You are still pregnant" comments, and still no baby. Monday we went in for an appointment and I was barely dilated to a 1. We had an induction date set for the next day but the doc decided to send us to the hospital that night to start me on a medication called cervadil to help my cervix soften and prepare for labor. We went out to one last dinner at Macaroni Grill and then it was off to the hospital. My mom stayed home since the plan for the night was just to start me on the meds, and let us have one last night of sleep before inducing in the morning.
We checked into the hospital around 7 Monday night and they got me all hooked up to the monitors. I was a little freaked out for the whole process since I had never been a patient in a hospital before. I have never even had stitches, broken a bone, or taken any meds stronger then a tylenol. I also got my very first IV which was one of the worst parts for me ( I don't know why, I just hated that thing). They were going to start the cervadil right away but they noticed I was already contracting on my own and they were about 4-6 min apart or so. I was in no pain so after a few hours they decided to go ahead a start the cervadil to speed things up a bit. They usually leave people on it for 12 hours, but I reacted very strongly to it and my contractions started coming more quickly and in sets of 3 with no break in between. It was getting pretty intense and I was really feeling the pain and started throwing up so they took me off the cervadil after abut 6 hours. Lets just say I got no sleep that night and was already exhausted.
The plan was to start pitocin on Tues morning, but I was already having pretty good contractions so they just let me labor on my own and said that we would most likely have this baby before 6 that night, the only problem was that I was dilating very slowly. Later that afternoon they went ahead and started the Pitocin and let me labor for a few more hours. 6:00 was quickly approaching and I was only at 5 cm after being in labor for almost 24 hours. They then decided to break my water (weirdest feeling ever). My contractions REALLY picked up after that. I spent time walking around, taking baths, etc to try and deal with the pain. Throughout the whole process I had been pretty level headed and calm but by this point I was soooo exhausted and in pain that I was starting to lose it. Justin was amazing through the whole process. He held my hand and kept eye contact with me and helped me breath through every single contraction for hours on end and I know I could not have done it without him. I was so tired though, that I was literally falling asleep for 1-2 minutes between contractions. By this point I was considering getting an epidural even though I didn't want one going into the situation, it was just so much longer, tiring, and painful that I thought it would be. I finally cracked when I started having cluster contractions again, they were coming in three's and I was getting no break for minutes at a time and I was still only a 6 or 7. I finally decided to get an epidural and it was a great decision. They gave it to me at about 2 or 3 in the morning, after about 33 hours and the relief was instant and I fell asleep on the spot.
I woke up the next morning feeling heavy and numb, but I had slept well and was in no pain and it was just what I needed to face the day. Overnight I had finally dilated to a 10 and I was ready to push that morning. We started pushing but after about an hour we weren't really getting anywhere so they decided to turn down my epidural. We waited for a little while and then started pushing again. After lots more pushing they decided to turn off my epidural completely to see if that would help since very little progress had been made. I was getting a little freaked out when I started to feel my contractions again, but I really wanted to get that baby out! I kept pushing and pushing and the doctor said that I was pushing in the right spot and that we were doing great so I felt that with a little more effort, this baby was finally going to come out, yet we still pushed for a few more hours and still no baby. They decided to let me rest again. To me it seemed out of nowhere when a group of doctors came in and hit me with the news that we needed to have a c-section. My water had been broken for a long time, the baby's heart was starting to decelerate when I pushed, and we had already been pushing for about 4 hours and they didn't like the lack of progress being made. I can't explain how defeated I felt in that moment, all I did was break down in tears. I was so confused and shocked and I couldn't believe I had done all that work to end this way. I was hit with all this talk of surgery and consent forms to be signed and all the legal business that seemed so unfair to talk about in the moment.
Before I knew it I was being taken into the OR by myself, prepped and numbed from the chest down. I couldn't stop the tears, and I think it was a mixture of defeat, excitement that I was going to see my baby soon, and relief that it was all going to be done. The OR was so bright and busy and there were so many people bustling around. I was desperate for Justin to come in, but they wouldn't let him in until they were sure the medication was working properly. Justin finally came in and then they cut me open (lovely, I know). I could feel the motion of it, but not the pain, it was quite the experience. When I finally heard my baby cry, I started sobbing. I was so relieved. I sent Justin to go look at her and I waited and waited. When they were finally done cleaning, weighing, and all the other initial things they do, they brought her to me and placed her by my face. She was so beautiful and calm and had the most perfect little nose and chubby little cheeks. I kissed her and talked to her and I was finally at peace.
Then I had to go to recovery, which was a little rough. I was separated from my baby and Justin and had to go be monitored for a little while. For some reason I was also shaking uncontrollably and dry heaving like crazy, it was more annoying then anything. I have no idea how much time passed, I was pretty out of it, but I was finally taken to my room and got to see my mom and Justin and then my baby. I held her for the first time, and even though I was beyond groggy, it was beautiful.
We were so exhausted after everything, so that night Justin and I decided to have the baby sleep in the nursery so we could catch up on some sleep and I could let the meds wear off a little. The next day was wonderful as we were well rested and able to enjoy our baby. Because of my c-section the kept us for 3 more days so that I could recover. I actually didn't mind being in the hospital at all. It was nice not to worry about meals or cleaning or anything else other then getting better and figuring our new baby out.
We were discharged on Saturday afternoon and I went outside for the first time in over 5 days, it was awesome and scary and exciting all at the same time.
After the surgery Justin had a chance to talk to the Dr and she said that the baby probably wouldn't have come out if we had continued to push. Her head was not centered right with my pelvic bone and she already had some swelling on her head from trying to be pushed and not fitting. We most likely would've made the situation worse if we pushed her down any further. We are so grateful for modern medicine, and when things were getting rough, that our baby was able to be born so quickly and perfectly healthy. I hate to think what our outcome may have been if we lived in an earlier time. Both the baby and I are healthy and happy and that is all that matters. Now that we are all home, those 3 days of labor seem so long ago, and they don't seem to matter much. It really doesn't matter how they get here, as long as they get here, and ours got here perfect and happy and healthy and for that we could not be more grateful. We love our little girl.
