The Birth Story

As you know I was scheduled to go in on Friday, February 8th at 4pm to begin induction. (maybe you didn't but that was the deal) So I woke up on Friday morning feeling fine, got a good nights sleep in spite of a little cramping when I got up to pee. At around 8:30 or 9 am, I felt a pretty strong contraction. Then they kept coming about every 10-15 minutes. These were much deeper and stronger than my previous BH contractions so I knew something was up. I figured I would go into my already scheduled appointment at 4 and see what they said. I started to clean the house (vacuuming the stairs while in labor is an athletic feat my friends! ) and get K ready to go to my mothers house. By 10:30-11 am the contractions were much stronger and coming every 4-5 minutes. I began to get worried so I called the Dr's office and they suggested I come in earlier than 4 to get checked. I made a 1:30 appointment and called J to tell him to come home. We actually ended up going to the Dr's at 12pm because I could no longer talk through my now very painful contractions which were coming every 2-3 minutes. I was so ready for my epidural! They finally checked me at 12:30 and I was 5 centimeters dilated and in active labor. They admitted me to labor and delivery right away. The problem was there were no beds available! I was put out in the hallway to wait till one came open. (there was actually one they were waiting on) At this point I was getting tired and was in a lot of pain. I broke out into a cold sweat and the contractions were getting worse. I think this is when I started going through transition. (In the hallway people!) When they finally got me into a room at about 2:45 or 3pm they had to hook me up to all the monitors, get an IV in me and get the epidural happening. At this point I started to feel extreme heat and pressure with each contraction which were still 2-3 minutes apart. No one had checked me since the Dr's office and I think they told my mother it was going to be a while. I tried to tell them in between contractions that I felt something "down there" but they were too busy with getting me ready for the epidural to really check. (having to lay still during those contractions really sucked!) Once they did the epidural the baby's heart rate dropped and they had me turn over. At that point my bag of waters actually fell out of me and the baby's head crowned all at the same time. There was much yelling for a Doctor to come right away then. :) Apparently I was 10 centimeters and the baby was on her way out. I found out later that the doctor who delivered her was not even supposed to be on duty that day as she had just had knee surgery. She had no time to get her crutches and had to hop up the stairs to get to me in time. Fortunately for me she did and I had pushed out my baby girl in three contractions. It was now 3:17 pm. She was born sunny side up which may be why her heart rate dropped. Also it could have been that she was trying to be born much earlier but no one was letting her. :) After I pushed her out and all the other bells and whistles my epidural finally kicked in. I remember right before I started pushing frantically telling the nurse that they needed to turn the epidural way up because it wasn't working. She laughed and told me it takes some time for it to start to work. It did, directly after it was all over. My worst fear with the whole birthing process, I had always said, was to somehow end up in a situation where I was forced to have a drug free childbirth. Go figure. Next time my worst fear is that I will have completely pain free childbirth. So there!
Anyway, that is the story of E's birth. It was totally fast and chaotic ( about 6 hours start to finish!) but of course was so worth it to get my gorgeous baby girl. I am so in love with her I can't even put it into words. This whole experience with the second child has been so different than the first. I have healed so fast with little to no pain and have already lost all my baby weight and then some! (before you start hating on me remember I was overweight to start with and am still. So let me have my moment!)
Now I am tired and need a nap.