D-day Details

Alright, for posterity's sake and since everyone loves a good labor and delivery story, here you go:

(it's a little lengthy (11 pages in Word!) and full of details, but this is my record of the day, so that's how it is.)

How We Spent January 22nd, 2010

or

Lily's Birth

It was 6:40 a.m. and Eric and I were laying in bed, trying to persuade ourselves to get up for the day. He had a mountain of studying to do and I needed to make his lunch before he left for school. And then, I was going to go get ready for the day because I had big plans to (finally!) be really productive. I had a huge to-do list and had designated Friday as errand running day. Oh, the things I was going to cross of my list! :)

Around 6:45 a.m., Eric rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. I was just about to sit up and follow after him when my water broke!

"Eric!" I called. "Uh - my water's breaking!! My water's breaking!"

My water was broken in the hospital when I was induced with Elena and so I knew exactly what I was feeling when it happened this time. I was 200% positive that it was my water breaking.

Eric ran back in to our room and surveyed the huge, continually expanding wet spot on our bed and said something like, "Ok!" Wow! Let's get going!"

We debated what to do for a moment because we'd heard stories about people being turned away from the hospital after their water broke because the nurses didn't really think their water had broken. Although I had been having contractions all night, I wasn't having any that morning and we were worried that because my contractions weren't regular that the hospital wouldn't admit me. But, labor can really take off at anytime, so we figured we'd better head anyways. If they tried to tell me that my water hadn't really broken, I'd just punch them in the face. :)

Eric ran around getting our things together while I showered. We woke up a very sleepy Elena (who was very confused about what in the world was going on) took a couple last pictures and headed out the door to drop Elena off at Eric's parents on our way to the hospital.

All ready to go! (See Elena's little thumbs up? :)

After a quick breakfast stop at McDonald's we were officially off to the hospital. Since I wasn't having crazy contractions, we weren't quite sure where to go once we got to the hospital, but decided to start at the information desk by check-in. The old ladies manning the information desk didn't know where exactly we should go, but they decided that if I wasn't in a lot of pain, we should probably get checked in like normal. We sat in the waiting area with about 10 other people ahead of us, who had heard us say that I was in labor and were consequently all staring at us kind of funny. :) A man offered me his seat and a couple people made small talk with us. Finally one lady who had been watching us spoke up and said, "This isn't your first child is it?"

"No, it's our second."

"Oh," she laughed, "No wonder you're so calm."

Shortly after that, the check-in ladies overheard us and told us to get upstairs to Labor and Delivery right away without worrying about checking in. So up we went. The nurses were kind and, for the most part, believed me when I said my water had broken. Only one questioned me a tiny bit (and that was just the first in a long string of things that made her NOT my friend!).

"Well, we'll get you all settled in and then check and see if it your water really did break. Sometimes the baby's head can just put a lot of pressure on your bladder and squeeze urine out."

Oh, so I've just been peeing my pants for the last two and a half hours? No, lady- my water broke.

(As soon as she checked me, she said, "Oh yeah, your water definitely broke!" Thank you.)

Anyways....

I had a few more contractions over the next hour and a half - really sporadic though. Sometimes twenty minutes apart, sometimes several in a row that were anywhere from 1 1/2 minutes to three minutes apart. The nurse checked me (REALLY uncomfortable... she was pretty rough and unsympathetic.) and I was only dilated to a "1+" - barely more than what I was at my doctor's appointment on Monday. So, after getting the go-ahead from my doctor, they started me on Pitocin at 10:40 am to make my contractions more regular and get things progressing. The hours passed and the contractions picked up a little bit, but were still really sporadic, in spite of the fact that the nurses came in about three times more to crank up the Pitocin. While we were waiting for things to get going, Eric and I played Pinochle and several games of Monopoly Deal (we're so addicted - if you haven't played it yet - go get it!!!) -one game with the managing nurse (hehe). We were about 20 minutes into The Bourne Identity, when my contractions picked up to the point that I needed just to focus on breathing through them and off went Bourne.

This went on for probably close to another hour (I needed to be more scared of the pain, than the epidural needle) before I asked for my epidural. I had really let the pain get intense, but figured I could really focus and make it for the 5- 15 minutes that it would probably take the anesthesiologist to come. I figured it would only take about 5- 15 minutes because all morning, the nurse kept poking her head into my room to ask if I was ready for my epidural and told me that I could have it at any time. Boy was I wrong! Apparently everyone in the hospital decided that they needed anesthesia at the exact same time. When we called for the epidural, the nurse said it would be a bit because the anesthesiologist was in surgery and then there was another lady ahead of me. But, they had called in someone else who should be arriving soon. The nurse said she would need to check me again (the same not gentle nurse from before). So, add together intense contractions, me being tense from the pain, and the rough nurse and you get THE most painful feeling of my life. The contractions paled in comparison! And to add to that, I was only dilated to a 3 after all those hours of contractions. How many more times would she have to come check me still?? It was a sad couple of moments. :) The nurse said it shouldn't be too long and left us to wait.

So, we waited.

And waited.

And waited some more. Except I wasn't just waiting, I was also writhing.

After waiting for about 35 minutes, the nurse came in to check on me and had the audacity to crank the Pitocin up- AGAIN! I wanted to shout at her, "Um, hello! Can't you see that I am having some pretty strong contractions here. I don't think that is really necessary. We don't need to add more pain to this situation. Can you crank that up AFTER the epidural? And, speaking of epidurals, WHERE THE CRAP IS MINE???!!!"

On the way out she said, "Ok, it should just be another five to ten minutes until your epidural." I nodded and watched the clock. At least five to ten minutes was a tangible goal. I could do five to ten minutes.

But, five to ten minutes passed and still no wonderful epidural man in sight.

Another 25 minutes later (3pm)- one hour after requesting my epidural- the on-call anesthesiologist FINALLY arrived. Although I was secretly hating him a little bit, he was a beautiful sight. :) The good thing was that I didn't have to worry about being in enough pain to be scared of the needle. I was in so much pain that I didn't care what they did to me. The managing nurse came back in around that time and talked me through things and let me squeeze her hand - she was wonderful!

About 15 minutes later, I was feeling wonderful, sweet relief :) and was feeling ready for a nap. As was Eric - he was getting pretty fried just watching and worrying, so we both settled down. I was just drifting off and starting to get really cozy when I was woken up by some sharp, very localized pains down low. "Uh-oh... is my epidural not working?" I wondered. "No, I feel really warm and numb and relaxed everywhere else... like last time, it's definitely doing something." I lay there for a few more minutes trying to sleep and kept feeling those same pains. The anesthesiologist came back in to check on me and I asked him about what I was feeling. He said it was normal - that it was good for me to feel some pain, so that I could still push. The epidural should just take the edge off. "Ok", I thought, "well, that is different than last time because I didn't feel anything. But, ok. I can handle this." He also said that I could push the button to give myself another dose of medicine, if I wanted. So, I did and laid back to wait. After a few more minutes, the pains just seemed to be getting worse and I was really confused because I had just given myself more medicine. About five minutes later, I woke Eric up and told him about what was going on - how the pain was getting worse and I was worried that my epidural was working everywhere but in the one spot where I most wanted to not feel pain. He suggested that I push the button one more time for more medicine and said he was going to go get the nurse as soon as he went to the bathroom. I laid there and about a minute later had an AWFUL contraction. I didn't feel it all over like before I had the epidural, but it hurt so bad! I was all alone since Eric was in the bathroom- and I got SO scared. I didn't know what was going on because I couldn't feel ANYTHING after my epidural with Elena. I was just really worried that my epidural wasn't going to work for the pushing and actual delivery. Thankfully, Eric came out soon after and at the same time, a nurse walked in to check on things (a new nurse - hurray!). After I explained what was happening, she said, "Ok, lets check you and see how close you are." She was much gentler (and I had a blessed epidural!) so it wasn't nearly so traumatizing. :) Upon checking me, she said, "You're ready!" Apparently my epidural helped my body to relax and do its job because after only dilating 2 centimeters over 6 hours, I went the rest of the way in about 45 minutes! She went out to call the doctor, prep some things, and get the anesthesiologist to come top me off.

About two or three minutes later, a couple of nurses and the anesthesiologist came back in the room. As I watched them get things ready, I started to feel a new sensation - less pain and a ton of pressure.

"Um... I'm feeling a lot of pressure," I told the nurse.

"You are??"

"Yeah."

To the other nurse in the room, "Go tell her doctor to get here now - we're having a baby!" Everyone started running around trying to finish up the final preparations. The anesthesiologist finished topping my epidural off and turned to me and said,

"Ok, you should be feeling that in about 8-10 minutes."

"Uh, we're going to have a baby here before that." The nurse interjected.

My doctor walked in and as he made a few finishing preparations, he and the nurses chatted about the all the snow we had just gotten. I sat there feeling slighty annoyed at their small talk as I was feeling very uncomfortable. :) Then, I felt the most crazy, intense pressure EVER! I didn't know what was going on, but it felt like something important must have been happening. I thought the bottom half of my body was going to explode.

"Wow!!" I gasped. "That was a lot of pressure!!"

The doctor whirled around, Eric and the nurses leaned in, and someone shouted, "There's the head!" The doctor looked up at the contraction monitor - I was just coming off one. He told me to push, but we ran out of contraction, so he stopped me and we waited for another contraction. A minute or so later, another one came, I pushed, and out came Lily! I actually watched her come out this time - and it was so amazing!! That moment of birth is absolutely incredible - the joy, relief, sacredness, and the sheer miracle of it all always overwhelm me and bring instant tears to my eyes the moment I see the baby.

Lily's First Picture

The nurses took Lily to clean her up, wash her up a bit, check her vitals, etc. while the doctor stitched me up (only a tiny tear and one stitch - woot!!). And then they brought our beautiful Lily to us and the rest is history! :)

I survived! :)

Look at that tiny girl!

Elena meeting Lily

All wrapped up like a bug and ready to go home! (Fun bit of trivia: she's wearing the exact same outfit - even using the same blanket- that we brought Elena home in.)

What a good big sister!

Our little cutie!

Lily is coming up on two weeks this Friday - crazy how time flies! I think she's pretty much the same as when she got here. :) Although, she does stay awake for more of the day now. Which hopefully will translate to not being awake for so much of the night. :) She is such a good, chill baby! We are loving our little Lily a lot and are so glad she's here with us!