My dad and his mom came in on Monday. We went to dinner so I could eat a "really good meal" before I went to be induced. My dad had said repeatedly he did not want to know the gender, so we have been trying for MONTHS to keep it from him. Of course we almost let it slip numerous times in the few hours before we went in!! lol We were talking about what I should get my little sister for her bday since it is/was July 2nd. My bf said, "Well she'll be here that day, so that'll be a nice gift for your sister." HAHA Then at dinner, my sister was telling a story and let the baby's name slip!! I punched the side of her leg under the table and had to keep myself from laughing too hard. My grandmother even let it slip when we got home from dinner after giving them both crap! haha
Speaking of after dinner: When I went to my doctor appointment earlier that morning, the doctor and I confirmed I needed to be at the hospital by 8pm to start induction. We got a phone call around 6:30pm from the hospital. The person I spoke too said they were "overbooked" and I would have to come in later. They didn't know how much later and would give me a call. If I didn't hear anything by 9pm, I needed to call them. I got upset and told everyone what I was told. My bf was upset too so he called. This time he was told they weren't "overbooked;" they just had a lot more people go into active/natural labor than they had planned and there wasn't room. Okay, makes sense. I can deal with them having to take women who went into labor unexpectedly. Makes more sense than telling someone you are "overbooked." We called back @ 9pm and they said someone had just had their baby; they have to keep them for 2 hours, so we should check in around 11pm.
We showed up at the hospital a little after 11pm. I went to registration and let them know the deal. We tried to tell them the baby would not be under my insurance, but under her dad's; they said we could fill all that out later. Okie dokie. Then the registration lady calls up and tells them to send a wheelchair transport. Apparently someone up there said "Well, she's being induced so she can walk right?" I told them I didn't mind walking as I heard it would speed up labor. Anything to get me going! Turns out this actually was a problem: You need the transport people for more than just pushing a wheelchair...you need their ID badge to get where you are going! We get to the elevators and can't get on because we don't have a badge. We find the public elevators and take those to L&D...only to find out we again need the ID badge to get in! We ring for the nurse. She comes over and tells us we should have had a wheelchair because they just mopped and the floor is really wet. Umm... we were told to walk up! Sheesh. It took them 30 minutes to get us into our room.
After we get in our room, I have to change into the robe-gown. Then answer questions for an hour. Once that's done, the nurse says she is going to call the doctor and see what he wants to do next. I happen to agree with the point my bf made: Why didn't she call the doc to find out what he wanted to do and ask questions while we waited?? After another 15 or so minutes, the nurse comes back and says we are going to do fluids and then the Pitocin. She screwed up the IV on my right hand so bad there was an air-pocket! And instead of admitting she screwed up, she tried to push the pocket. Kind of like you would if you were putting a screen cover on your phone and there was an air bubble.
She moved to the left hand and couldn't get it. She finally gets the IV on the side of my left arm. I was just glad to have that over and done with.
The nurse came back in at 1:45 to start the pitocin. (FYI: This is when I consider myself to be "induced" and the start of my labor. I will base all labor times off a 1:45 start....) She gets me going at a level 2. For the next 3 hours I have a good amount of contractions. Some get pretty high up there--upwards of 50, whatever that means. They weren't too terrible though. I mean, yes-some were uncomfortable, but they were bearable. I thought to myself: I can totally do this without an epidural (which was my goal). My bf started getting texts from family asking how I was doing, etc. He said the pit must not be working because I hadn't complained yet! LOL
At 4:30am, my doctor came in and said I was 3cm dilated and 50% effaced. He decided to break my water. Little did I know the nurse also decided to up my Pitocin level at the same time! She bumped me up to a level 4. All of a sudden my contractions were right on top of one another. For 90 minutes they wouldn't stop. I could hardly breathe! One didn't end before the next one began. I was miserable. I was in so much pain; my bf crawled into the bed with me. He just held me the best he could with one arm, letting me use his other hand to grip during the worst part of the contractions. This seriously went on for 90 minutes. I finally decided to get the epidural. I figured I didn't know how long my labor would be and if it was too long and continued like this, there would be no way I could push her out.
The nurse came back and checked me. Said I was still just 3cm dilated, but I was 100% effaced. That's when they started the fluids again. You have to have fluids before you get the epidural. Takes almost another hour and a half for the fluids. So I was laboring "naturally" for three hours in constant, never-ending pain. The anesthesiologist came in and let me tell you... I LOVED that man after he gave me the epidural!! He was a really nice guy. Told me about his 2 little girls, talked to me about anything BUT the epidural and labor, which helped take my mind off it. He did explain what was going on but just let it be simple.
Took 2 hours to get to 5cm dilated, 100% effaced. Then an hour and a half to get to 8cm dilated, 100% effaced, Stage -1. (That means, she was just a little high up, but *right there*). That was at 11:45am. At 12:25 I looked at my bf and family/friends who were in the room with me at this point. (There were a lot of us!) I told my bf he needed to go get the nurse. I said, "I think I'm done dilating." He just looked at me like I was nuts. He asked how I "knew." I told him I didn't know how I knew, but just *KNEW IT* He went to get the nurse. When she came in I told her the same thing. I told her it felt completely different than it did even an hour ago. She kind of rolled her eyes (wouldn't you?!?) and checked me. Then she got this shocked look on her face. She said "Well, you are 10cm. You're done! Time to call doc and deliver this baby!" I knew it!. I just knew something was different.
We kicked everyone out and started the labor process. I pushed for what seemed like forever. The doc came in and eventually told me that the baby was turned just a little bit. Her nose was supposed to be at 6 o'clock and it was at more like 8 o'clock. So every push for the longest time, was just so he could turn the baby into the right position. After he got her into position, then my pushes were to be used to get her out!
My bf was on my right, coaching me through the whole thing. He would tell me how far out her head was. Tell me when to breathe. Help push my leg up during a contraction/push. He was so excited to meet our daughter. He'd tell me to keep pushing, don't stop; even when I was out of breath, he'd say "She's almost here, just keep pushing!" It was cute to see him that excited, but I was exhausted already! At one point my nurse--who I LOVED--had to leave to go start pitocin on another patient. So the male Med Student grabbed my other leg and took over where nurse had to leave off. Plus there were two female Med Students by the door. My doc, at one point, told me 5 more pushes and my daughter would be out. So I pushed...and breath and push.... and breath and push.... ok. I thought that was three. My doc goes "Okay, four more of those." I looked up at him and said "What are you talking about? What were those? Military style?!?!?" Everyone started laughing. I would have too, except I was starting to wear out.
After a little while longer, my doc ended up having to give me an episiotomy. And then I pushed some more. In the end, her umbilical cord was just sooo short, that every time I pushed, the cord would pull her back in. So they had to suction her out. They put her on top of my chest and let me see my beautiful daughter. I was in love the second I saw her. She was sooo perfect to me. Then they took her over to the station and weighed/measured her. About two seconds after they took her, my bf asked if I minded if he was there by her instead of by me. I told him "Not at all. Go see our baby girl." He stood there, taking pictures of her the entire time she was there. He was actually the one to bring her back to me after we were both cleaned up some.
I laid there, holding my daughter, thinking I had never seen any baby more beautiful. She started looking around. I asked if she was looking for her daddy. My bf said "What?" And then she stopped looking around! It was like she just wanted to make sure he was still there! Too perfect!
We had everyone come in and see her. She was passed around for so long. Everyone kept saying how adorable she is and just wanted to hold her. I couldn't blame them. She is pretty spectacular. My mom, my dad, and my bf's mom were the first to come in. My dad was in awe of her. He came over to me and I said "Look, Daddy. You have a granddaughter." He said "Yes I do. I have a granddaughter and a great-daughter." I can't remember the last time I saw my dad that happy, as happy as he was holding my little Emmaleigh.
2 hours later, they rolled me over to the Mommy-Baby wing. We set up there, ready to spend the next 2 days required. What happened next needs its whole other post for itself!
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