Elizabeth's Birth

{I started a note in my phone of all the events leading up to Elizabeth's birth.   I am SO happy I did because looking back, all the times and events are a blur.}

B and I arrived at the hospital at 6.  Our doctor, Rambur, was on call Tuesday night, so she wanted us to come in to be induced while she was working.  We were then taken back to a L&D room, where I got checked in while hooked up to a contraction monitor, as well as a HR monitor for baby E.  Our nurses were in the midst of switching shifts, but both were just awesome.   They had to give me a hand IV port since I have small veins, and also did a right arm blood draw for the cord blood banking that we decided to do.  This whole time I was having contractions, but was having to lay in the bed.   As soon as they were done with checking me in I asked to get out of bed.  I stood up in time for a pretty painful contraction and it literally brought me to my knees.  I became so frustrated during the contractions that I took off the straps holding the monitors on to my stomach; the nurses were not thrilled with that move.  Right around this time my doctor came in and checked me.  I was still at 1cm, although she has trouble reaching my cervix because Elizabeth was sitting at a +3.  I was so upset and disappointed!!   I'd been having some intense contractions for over 6 hours, but hadn't made any progress at all.  After checking me, Dr. Rambur told me getting an epi now would be best to relax me, and hopefully allow my body to progress.  I was briefly disappointed because I had wanted to labor naturally for a little longer.  But I was also SO sick of not dilating.

The nurse hooked me up to an IV for fluids and a few minutes later, at 7:30, the anistiologist came in.  He was so great!   I honestly didn't feel a thing, and he was very very fast.  It was actually a great experience.  Once he was done I had one more contraction that I could feel before numbing up.  For the first few hours I was able to shift my weight from one hip to the other, so the medicine wouldn't pool on just one side.  But once I fully numbed up, I had to get help from B or the nurse to move my lower half.  Not long after the epidural, my blood pressure bottomed out and I had to breathe oxygen for 10 or 15 minutes.  I didn't realize it was happening at all, I guess I expected to see spots or get dizzy.  But Elizabeth's heart rate stayed pretty normal so it wasn't an emergency.  They did keep the blood pressure cuff on me for the rest of my labor and a few hours post-partum, just in case.  At 8:20ish my doctor came back in and broke my water.  There was a slight amount of pressure, but nothing worth blinking at.  And compared to how painful it had been just an hour before when she tried to check me, it honesty was no big deal.  But when she did break the bag, there was meconium in the water.  That scared me a little bit, especially when Rambur explained that we would have to have the NICU nurses in the room, just in case E inhaled it.

Once things calmed down and it was just B and myself, I texted my girlfriends and SIL to let them know that this was happening, while B called our brothers.  After that our parents came in from 9-11.  We had my parents come in first, then Bs, and then both sets at once so we could say goodnight for a few hours.  After 13 hours of contractions, I still wasn't dialating, so I was given 3 "units" of pitocin at midnight (women are given up to 20 "units", so 3 was a very small dose).  After that I dozed on and off for almost an hour, while B slept on the fold out bed next to me.  My contractions had been very irregular/non existant till 1:30am, then they started to pick up.  Around 1:45 I noticed my back labor started again, and at 1:55 my nurse checked me and I was at 9cm!  I was so thrilled that I made that much progress in just 2 hours!

I think I must have fallen back asleep because I don't remember anything happening besides frequent checks, until 3:50am.  At that time we did a few practice pushes and I was fully dilated   We had our parents come in and we had a family prayer before shooing everyone out for some alone time before becoming a family of three.

I started pushing just after 5am, and at 5:57 Elizabeth Rylie entered the world!

B was so amazing though everything.  He helped physically support me while I pushed, and having his arms around me and hearing his voice tell me I was doing a good job through each push made all the difference.  His emotional support was unsurpassable, too.  I know how exhausted/excited/scared he must have been, but he never showed anything other than excitement and happiness.

Elizabeth came out with a few strong cries and after just a few minutes had turned a beautifully rosy color.  She ended up getting an 8 and then a 9 on her Apgar which thrilled me because I was worried about all the drugs making her drowsy (which is totally normal and common).  She didn't latch right away, but after maybe 20 minutes she was ready to eat!

Holding daddy's hand

B put on her first diaper, gave her her first bath, put her in her first swaddle, and was also able to hold her skin to skin for a few minutes (yay daddy-daughter bonding!)

B and I both feel so blessed to have had such a positive labor and delivery experience, even though Elizabeth took her sweet time to come to us.  After being home just a few days, B and I agreed that it felt like she had already been with us forever; as if she has always been our daughter.