As I stated in the last post, I was pretty lucky to have a textbook pregnancy with Grace without any major issues. I did forget to mention that when we went to our 20 week ultrasound the tech said the amniotic fluid was "low" and that I would have to come back again in 2 weeks to have it re-checked. She never said how low it looked, so of course I looked up stuff on the internet and started freaking out because most of the articles said it either meant that you were leaking fluid or the baby's kidneys weren't working properly. I called my doctor in a panic and she told me it was only subjectively low and that she didn't see anything to worry about. She was so nice and even though I was still worried she calmed me down a lot. When we went in 2 weeks later everything was fine. I would still like to wring that tech's neck!!
So, back to the birth. My due date was May 13th and I went on maternity leave from work starting on May 3rd (which also happened to be my birthday!). I was hoping that I would have at least a week off of work before the baby came, but I was also really hoping that I wasn't late!! My sister was also planning on coming up from NC to be there for the birth, so it was a little nerve-wracking hoping that whenever I did go into labor she would be able to make it. I had a doctor's appt on 5/6 and the doctor stripped my membranes and said I was 80% effaced and a little over 1 cm dilated. I called my sister and she decided to come up the next day and stay for about a week so that she would hopefully be here when the baby came.
I started getting pretty antsy after that. I remember that one minute I wanted labor to start, and the next minute I was terrified and never wanted labor to start!! I felt like a ticking time bomb that could go off at any time, and every little twinge would make me wonder if I was going into labor. On Monday, 5/10 my sister came over and we played Wii Sports and then watched Dancing with the Stars. I started feeling little contractions during the show and we started timing them. They first started about 10 minutes apart and then after about 2 hours they were down to 6 or 7 minutes apart. We all started getting excited, and we were pretty sure I would be going to the hospital early the next morning. I went to bed after my sister left and woke up around 2 am from the contractions. They still weren't really painful, but definitely more painful than before. I got up and ate some food and tried reading a book but was too anxious. I finally woke Jeff up at around 5 am and told him that I thought we should start thinking about going to the hospital. I took a shower and we left about 6 am. When we got there they took me into triage and I was only 2 cm and still 80% effaced. Since it wasn't enough to admit me, they had me walk around the hospital for an hour and then re-checked me. Nothing had changed, so they sent us home. They told me to wait to come back until the contractions were so bad I couldn't walk.
I was pretty annoyed with myself for being wrong about being in labor. We got home a little after 11 am (5/11) and I went to bed to try and get some sleep. When I woke up 2 hours later the contractions had stopped. I was so mad!! Later that evening they started again but were really sporadic and not any more intense than they had been. We went on a 2 mile walk to try to move things along, but it didn't do anything. I continued to have the sporadic contractions all night, and they did start getting more intense, but still not enough. On Wed morning (5/12) Jeff stayed home from work for an hour or so and we went on another walk to see if anything would happen, but it was still the same situation so he went to work. By 11 am I was so sick of sitting at home and timing my contractions that I called my mom and sister and asked if they wanted to go to the mall. I had to get out of the house!!
When we got to the mall we ate and walked around. I'm not sure what time it was (sometime between 1 and 2 pm) that the contractions started getting a lot more intense. They also started to get more regular and were around 5 minutes apart. We walked around for awhile before we left. On the way back to my house both my mom and my sister told me that I needed to call Jeff so he could leave work because my contractions were now closer to 2-3 minutes apart. Jeff remembers that I called him at 3:46 pm.
Jeff got home and we left for the hospital pretty much right away. We got there around 5:30 pm and waited in the waiting room until about 6 pm before going to triage. They examined me and I was 100% effaced and 3 cms dilated so they decided to admit me. I knew I wanted to try to have a natural birth so I asked if they had a room with a Jacuzzi tub and luckily they did. After being admitted, we decided to walk around for an hour and then I wanted to get into the tub. I remember that American Idol was on and I wanted to see who was kicked off so I waited until 10 pm to get in the tub. Jeff took a nap and I was in the tub for about an hour, but I noticed that my contractions really slowed down when I was in there so I got out. We went on another walk for about an hour and came back. The nurse checked me around 12:30 am and I was at 5 cms. I had been laying on my back and I wanted to roll over to my side so I asked Jeff to help me and as soon as I tried to roll I felt all this warm liquid come out. I don't know why but they first thing I thought was that it was blood. I told Jeff and I remember him saying "Don't you think your water broke?" and it dawned on me that it was probably what happened. I called the nurse and she didn't believe me, but when they tested it it was amniotic fluid. This was at 12:45 am. The contractions started getting really intense after that. I remember the baby was also kicking me like crazy! Even the nurse commented on how active the baby was.
Sometime between 2 and 3 am I decided to get morphine. I was in some pretty serious pain but still didn't want an epidural. Looking back I wouldn't get morphine again - it just made me feel really weird. I don't remember a lot of what happened after this point - I remember sitting on a birthing ball for awhile. I think they checked me around 3 or 3:30 am and I was at 10 cm and they had me try to start pushing but there was still a little bit of my cervix in the way and the baby wasn't low enough yet so I had to try not to push when I had contractions. They tied a sheet to a rail at the end of the bed and I pulled on that every time I had a contraction. The contractions slowed down some to about 4 minutes apart and I remember dozing off in between them (Jeff slept in a chair through most of this part). I do know that at one point he told me it was okay if I got an epidural and he wouldn't think I was a failure!! I think he wanted it more for himself than for me, but at that point the thought of having to sit still while someone put a needle in my back sounded worse than the pain. Finally at 5 am I told Jeff that I was glad I was getting a chance to sleep some but was sick of it and wanted to be done. I think the nurse must have been standing right outside the door because as soon as I said that she came and told me it was time to start pushing. I was so glad to hear that but I was nervous too. My sister pushed for 4 hours and I didn't think I could handle it if it took that long for me. I remember that while I was pushing I asked the doctor if the baby was close and she told me that the head was right there and I asked her if she was lying to me so that I would keep pushing! Even though I didn't have any pain medicine I never felt the burning that the books talk about so I thought that I still had a long ways to go, but it only ended up taking a little over 40 minutes of pushing for Grace to arrive.
We hadn't 100% agreed on a name if it was a girl because there were 2 or 3 that we liked, but we had always liked Grace because of its religious meaning. When she came out, I knew that had to be her name. We also picked Luella because that is Jeff's grandma's name and she is one of the most wonderful women I know and we thought it would be an awesome way to honor her. It was so cute when we told her - she said, "I didn't think anyone liked my name!".
We ended up staying in the hospital until Sunday, May 16th because Grace had jaundice. That was awful - she had to sit under the lights with these goggles on and I could only hold her when she had to eat and she cried and cried. I think that took a big emotional toll on me. Thankfully it wasn't any worse and we were able to come home without any additional problems, and our life hasn't been the same since!!
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