My official due date was March 3, 2015. We woke up excited and anxious, but not too hopeful. My last checkups and shown no signs of labor, and how many babies actually come on their due dates? It was one of two snowy days we had had all winter. Something I think will be neat to remember. I started my day like normal - shower, breakfast, etc. It was about 10:00 before I realized that I hadn't felt any movement from my usually super active jelly bean. Being a hormonal, tired, crazy soon-to-be momma, I instantly began to think the worst. I tried to calm myself down by telling myself that she was just probably taking a morning siesta. I went about my business, but tried to pay closer attention to the bump so I wouldn't miss any jitters. After about another hour without feeling anything, I was really starting to get worried. I tried drinking orange juice (something that always made her wiggly), walking around, etc - still no movement. I called my sister and asked her what she would do. I was hesitant to go to the doc/hospital because I didn't want to be one of those pregnant women who ends up going to the hospital four or five times before they're actually admitted. She basically told me to stop being stupid and that it was better to be safe than sorry. So I called my doctor. He wasn't in the clinic that day, but his PA, Brooke, told me to come in and they would do some monitoring (since I refused to go straight to the hospital).
When I got to the doctors, they strapped the monitors to my belly and began tracking baby's movements - they were doing what they called a "stress test." We sat there for about 30 minutes listening to the baby and watching the machine make squiggly lines on the paper. Brooke came in and said that she needed to call and discuss the results with Dr. Burgette and then we could decide what to do from there. After the phone call, she came back in and said that Dr. Burgette wanted us to go to the hospital for more monitoring. As we were leaving she said, "I don't think you'll need to rush home for your hospital bags or anything."
Since Brooke had made it seem like we shouldn't be in a hurry to get to the hospital we decided to stop at Arby's on our way there. We had a nice little lunch watching the snow fall and stuffing our faces (this pregnant girl can eat!). After lunch, we headed over to the hospital. When we got there at about 3:30 they immediately took us to a room and had me change into a gown. Soon a nurse came in and started preparing an IV. This confused me. I thought I was just there for monitoring? So I asked her... "What are the chances of us going home?" She responded, "Oh, you're not going anywhere. You're having a baby." What a crazy feeling! We were going to have our baby! FINALLY! The nurse explained that because I was so far along in my pregnancy and the baby was obviously under some sort of stress that was causing decreased movement, it was just better to be safe at this point and induce my labor. She finished my IV, hooked my belly up to the monitors, and gave me Cytocec - a pill that would "ripen my cervix" (isn't that lovely?). A while later (8:00) they started my Pitocin and we were on our way to parenthood!
Labor is painfully slow - especially when you're so anxious! I started getting steady, consistent contractions rather quickly, but was very slow to dilate. After 4 hours I was only at about a 1.5. Adam and I watched Leverage on Netflix to help pass the time. My parents came to visit that evening just a little before 9. At this point my contractions were pretty painful. I was happy to have them there and have my dad and Adam give me a blessing, but I was also pretty excited for them to leave so I could get my epidural. I wanted the juice! The epidural process wasn't fun, but I definitely think it was worth it. It was a silly feeling being completely numb. After the epidural, Adam and I tried to get some sleep while I labored through the night. It was hard to sleep with the monitors on my belly and the stupid blood pressure cuff digging into my arms. I had a chronic cough that caused the monitors to slip and lose the babies heartbeat so they had to be adjusted about every 30 minutes. Between the monitor issues and dilation checks it felt like there were always people coming in and out of the room. Needless to say, it was a very restless night.
That morning when I had finally dilated all the way, we knew we were getting close. The only issue now was getting the baby to drop lower into the birthing canal. They tried putting me in all sorts of positions in order to help move her down. This was the most painful part of labor - they called it "rest and descend." I felt so much pressure and wanted to push so badly. It was also probably pretty painful because my epidural medicine was wearing off right at the same time. I tried not to give myself more because I wanted to be able to feel enough to push. After she had finally moved far enough down, it was time to push. I pushed for about 3 minutes and then they told me I needed to wait for the doctor to get there - she was coming to fast. We waited for the doctor to drive from the clinic to the hospital (15ish minutes that felt like 15 years!). Once Dr. Burgette got there, I pushed about 4 more times and she was out! She was here! Totally worth every minute!
