March 23 - Delivery

When we arrived at the hospital, I was having pretty consistent contractions. They hooked me up and started my IV and some pitocin to help things along. Because the baby had been breech for so long, I hadn't really dilated because her head wasn't down causing pressure. For the last month of pregnancy I had only been dilated to a 2.

After an hour or so the doctor came in and suggested he break my water. This was the weirdest sensation ever! My water broke on its own in the hospital with Michael but I don't remember feeling much. This time it was like I was wetting the bed constantly with no control. Very awkward. Once my contractions got stronger, I got my epidural. This is also such a strange feeling as it starts to take over my leg control. A little frustrated at my lack of progression (last check I was only at a 5 or 6), I sent Steve to get some lunch and a coke. Ten minutes later, the nurse came in to check me and said, "Okay you're all there and ready to start pushing!" I didn't believe her at first. While she went to call the doc, I called Steve. Within ten minutes everything was set up and I was ready to push.

After my first push, the baby nurse who was watching said "Oh my! Look at all that hair!" As she said this she held her fingers apart showing me a couple inches in length. This surprised me and I think made me wake up to reality--this was real--I was having another baby and she was almost here! And she had hair!! I started crying at this point but knew I needed to stop so I could breathe and push. After regaining my emotions, I pushed a few more times. Within 10-15 minutes the doctor said "Okay we just need one more push!" At this point my every-minute-steady-contractions stopped. The doc and nurses and Steve just glanced at each other. The baby's heart rate started dropping and I watched their unsure eyes. The doctor then said, "I think your uterus just gave out." Very reassuring... thanks doc! We waited nervously for about 5 minutes. Then all of a sudden the nurse said "Okay there's one coming... we're gonna go with it." Last push and she was out! It was a relief! She was here and she was beautiful!

The next few hours were a little rough. The baby had too much fluid in her lungs and was grunting and turning pale. They took her away to the NICU telling me they would have to do a CPAP on the baby for an hour. I had a little bit of complications making me stay in labor and delivery for longer after the doctor finished stitching me. Worried for our baby, I text Steve hoping for updates. Fortunately, Steve had watched the nurse who suctioned the baby and knew she hadn't done all that great of a job. He asked the respiratory therapist in the NICU to suction the baby just one more time saying he didn't feel like the nurse did enough. Sure enough after one more good suction, our sweet girl pinked right up and stopped grunting. When the NICU doc announced that we had a well baby and wouldn't need to do the CPAP after all, Steve was relieved and text me the good news.

After a while, Steve and the baby were back with me in the delivery room. At this point Aunt Abs had arrived to do the baby's first bath and she brought Michael to meet his baby sister.