Birth Story the Fourth

(Usual disclaimer...I like to record birth stories for my own future reference. It's not gory or anything, but feel free to skip this post if you aren't interested.) 

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

4:00am: Our alarm goes off and we finish packing and quietly sneak out to the car. My Dad and Sue are sleeping in the playroom prepared to take the kids to school and carry on the normal Wednesday routine.

5:00am: Arrive at hospital and check in. They say there are a few babies being born so there will be a little bit of a wait.

6:00am: We continue to hang out in the waiting room with 2 families that have been waiting for baby news in that room for 10 hours and 24 hours, respectively.

7:00am: Finally get called back to our room (wondering why we got up at 4am)...

8:30am: IV is started, monitors in place, water has been broken and pitocin started. 3cm dilated (same as I was the week prior in the office)

9:30am: Contractions are 2-3 minutes apart, but manageable. Strange as it seems, I am watching episodes of Sister Wives on the iPad (Netflix streaming) to pass the time.

10:30am: Contractions are getting stronger, I'm having to work through them, and I'm 4cm. I tell the nurse that during Luke's birth, I was stuck at 4cm for several hours, but then went from 4cm to baby in less than 2 hours. She says that is common with subsequent pregnancies, because your cervix sometimes thins all the way out before it opens up. Interesting...

11:30am: The intensity has picked up pretty quickly, so I decide to ask for the epidural now. Since I had challenges with the epidural during David's birth, I am nervous to be late in labor while they are trying to insert it.

12:00pm: Epidural is in and working, no complications this time. This feels like a major hurdle crossed to me. At one point she said "this is the part where you might feel a sharp pain shoot down your leg..." (like I had with David) "...it's not concerning, no big deal..." and right at that moment I gasped and scared Brian and the nurse to death as the shooting pain happened again. But my bp didn't drop this time, probably because she had explained that it was fine. As much as I love the results of the epidural, I really hate the process of getting one.

12:30pm: She checks me again and I'm 4.5cm, 80% effaced, position -1. I feel discouraged because I thought I'd be farther along given the intensity of the contractions.

12:45pm-2:15pm: I rest on my sides, reporting to the nurse that I can still feeling my contractions (about 3/10 on pain scale), but they seem to have slowed down to about 7-8 minutes apart by my estimation. I tell Brian that I am worried that I won't have the baby before 5pm and my doctor will have gone home and I'll have to have whoever is on call. Disappointing.

2:15pm: Nurse comes in to check me and I'm hoping to have made some progress, but I'm worried that the epidural has slowed things down. The nurse says, "Girl, you're a 10! Time to have a baby!" So I went from 4.5 to 10cm in an hour and a half, and apparently I was only feeling about every third contraction (strongest ones?) because holy cow, I can't believe it's time to push!

2:20pm-2:46pm: Waiting on the doctor to arrive (she has to drive from her office a couple of miles away).

2:49pm: Doctor arrives and gowns up.

2:53pm: While she's still putting her gloves on with her back turned, she tells me to push through next contraction. I'm thinking, "Are you ready to catch?" but follow her instruction.

2:54pm: She turns around and shrieks because the head is out and she isn't ready to catch.

2:56pm: Baby Anna arrives into the world and is placed on my chest. I am so happy and relieved that she's here - it's such a surreal experience. She's beautiful and healthy and perfect.

3:00pm - 5:00pm - Anna was able to stay with me in the delivery room (no being sent to the nursery like the boys), and for the first time of all my kids - she latched on to nursing and ate for 45 minutes straight in the delivery room. I couldn't believe it!

5:00pm and later: They monitor me closely and give me some extra medicine because of the issues that I had last time, but everything looks good and I have a normal evening in the hospital with my sweet baby. Dad and Sue bring the kids to visit and I am so happy to introduce them to their new sister.

Overall this was my smoothest labor and delivery. It was such an answer to prayer. Also, 3/4 of my kids were born at approximately 3pm. It's a good time of day to have a baby.