On Thursday I was 41 weeks. We went to the hospital to check on the baby and everything was looking good. For the 2nd week in a row I was just 1cm dilated and not effaced at all. She was at a -2 station. Friday (41 weeks + 1 day) I lost my mucus plug. Sorry if that is TMI, but that never happened in my other pregnancies. It was exciting to Roger and I! :) I spent Friday cleaning up and baking cupcakes for Hannahs birthday on Saturday. She had her party already but we were just going to celebrate with some cupcakes and presents before Roger left for work on Saturday. Late Friday evening I felt compelled to clean the house. What if I went into labor RIGHT THEN and someone had to come over to watch the kids - the house was a mess! So I made Roger help me get some things picked up. When things met my approval I let him sit down and relax. :) I was piddling around on my computer and watching tv and Roger was doing the same. At 1am (yep, still up. Normally we go to bed between 12 and 1) I decided to time contractions.... just to see if they were actually timeable. I had been feeling a little crampy all evening but didn't really give it much thought until 1. They were 12 minutes apart. So I pulled up a website that allowed me to time contractions with the push of a button. At 2 Roger went to bed and I tried to rest but I was waking up every 12-20 minutes with contractions. Nothing major, but enough to wake me up. At 5am I woke Roger. I was having a lot of back labor. I was sure that this was the real thing, but wasn't sure how quickly anything would go. So Roger got dressed and ready for the day and then came out to help relieve some of the pressure on my back. By this time my contractions were bouncing between 7 and 9 minutes apart. Still, they weren't anything unbearable. My back hurt more than anything else. At 6am they were 5 minutes apart and Roger thought it was high time we head to the hospital. I didn't think it was necessary - and I didn't want to have to call our friend at 6am to see if she could watch the kids! He convinced me that it would take awhile to drop off the kids and actually get to the hospital... so thats what we did. The kids were excited, which was great. I was afraid that they would be a mess but they woke up very happy to be going to their friends house for the day. :) (a little sobbing when we actually left, but they were fine after a few minutes) It was about a 20ish minute drive to the hospital. The contractions that came as we were pulling into the hospital parking lot were not fun. I didn't want to be in labor IN the car anymore. My back was killing me. I think it was about 7:15ish when we got to the hospital. We had to go through the ER and register first. That took a sweet forever. Finally I was wheeled up to L&D, got into a gown and was checked by one nurse while another nurse asked me a thousand questions. By this point it was 8am. Contractions were averaging 5 to 7 minutes apart. I was 6cm and 75% effaced and the baby was at 0 station. Wow! Roger and I were SO surprised! questions, questions, questions... contractions, contractions, contractions... I'm glad Roger made me leave the house when he did. As soon as we got here every contraction that hit was twice as bad as the one before it. None of it is like anything I ever experienced before though. Labor on your own vs labor that was induced... words can't even describe the difference. I opted to get the epidural. I can handle contractions, but I dread the "ring of fire". The anesthesiologist was a great guy. His wife is pregnant with their 12th! So, I think it was at 9am that I got the epidural. I needed meds for Group B Strep, and they started that at that time. They really wanted to get 2 doses in and they have to be a certain number of hours apart so I was told that if my water didn't break on its own that they would do that for me when my 2nd dose was finished at 12:30ish. 12:30ish came and went... the Dr was with another patient. 1:00pm I was beginning to feel different. It wasn't the urge to push, but I could tell this was the end. Contractions were coming hard and fast. I wasn't feeling pain, but I was feeling the contractions. I hadn't been checked since I arrived at 8am. My nurse came in and said the Dr would be here any minute, she was coming from the neighboring hospital. My nurse wanted to drain my bladder before the Dr came to break my water, so she did that and then checked me. I was complete and the bag of water was right there. The Dr showed up at about 1:15 and she was preparing to break my water. She checked me and laughed. She said "there isn't anything there to break. You are ready to push. This is going to be easy, I can already see her hair" So a contraction came, but I was so shocked that I didn't start to push with the start of my contraction. With the 2nd contraction Adaiah Eden was born! I got to hold her right away and Roger and I loved on her for a few minutes before they took her away (like 3 feet away) to clean her up. It was amazing! It was so unreal. I almost had a hard time believing what just happened because it all seemed so simple. She let out a good cry the second she was born. Her lungs... they work. :) Her eyes are almost brown already. And her hair is a dark brown. She is just amazing and we are so blessed to have her in our life. It was a long (and sometimes very stressful) wait, but she is worth it. She is so worth it.
Thank you Lord for our baby girl.
3 comments:
What a lovely birth story. Looks like once she decided to come out, she wanted it NOW. :) Thank you for sharing.
I was delighted to check back here and see that you posted the birth story. Sounds wonderful Val! I am so glad you now get to start a new season with your new addition :)
I loved reading this!! I'm so glad you got a chance to post this so quickly. :)
Can you sometime write about Adaiah's name--what it means, how you chose it, etc? :)
I hope you're getting some rest and enjoying your sweet little bundle. Doesn't it feel good to be on this side of the birth?
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