We woke up around 5:15am Friday morning to call the hospital about a bed and they said they had one available. I called my parents to let them know we were going to the hospital and I sent a text to my brothers. We got to the hospital around 6:00am, I changed into their gown and the nurse got me hooked up to a water drip to keep me hydrated. I've never been hospitalized before so I was nervous about getting an IV in my hand but it wasn't bad. It pinched a little so I tried not to bend my hand too much or put much pressure on it. I'm very thankful for the water drip because I wasn't sure how I'd manage a possibly long day on no food or water since I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight. Although I could have ice chips and one flavored slushy. I opted out of the latter since it sounded too sweet on an empty stomach. The nurse asked me several questions and then strapped on the monitors for Emily's heartbeat, my contractions, & blood pressure.
At 8:00am they started my pitocin/oxytocin drip to get my contractions going and, hopefully, get the dilation started. Since I've been almost fully effaced for a while, I figured once I was fully dilated things would go really quickly. My contractions quickly started but were only a pain level of 4. Around 10:00am the doctor came in to check my cervix and I was only dilated 1 cm and 80% effaced. The nurses were slowly increasing my pitocin amount and apparently it got to be too much because a nurse came in to lower it. I was having too many contractions within 10 minutes. My contractions lowered in intensity and when the doctor came back around 1:00pm to check me I was almost 2 cm. He decided to break my water by causing a small tear in hopes that I'd dilate more. That was extremely painful. As soon as they sat me back up I felt my first gush of fluid. It felt like a lot of fluid so I was surprised when I continued to have 4-5 more gushes of fluid. I didn't realize I had so much amniotic fluid. lol A few friends had told me what it felt like when your water breaks and they're right! It feels like you've peed yourself but with warm bath water. Very weird! My first contraction after that was MUCH more intense and painful. Pain level of 10 or 11. I'm so thankful my hubby was there because I had to squeeze his hand during every painful contraction after that. Since it was too early for an epidural, the nurses gave me nubain and phenergan for the pain. They kicked in very quickly! Within seconds I was feeling light-headed and loopy and could tell my speech was slower. Scott and my parents got a kick out of that. lol. Luckily it also made me sleepy so I was able to nap. Unfortunately when I woke up the pain was slowly coming back.
Around 3:00/3:30pm the doctor came back to check me. I hadn't progressed any. Still only 70-80% effaced and 2 cm. :( I was very discouraged that I had gone through so much pain with no progression whatsoever. I got a little emotional from the pain of being checked and the lack of progression. Again, very thankful Scott was there to hold me and support me. The doctor decided to go ahead and give me the epidural so I received that around 4:00pm. I'm very glad I couldn't see the needle! It didn't hurt too much. They told me once I had a few more contractions the pain would begin to ease, and luckily it did. I'm so glad I got the epidural! Around 5:45pm the doctor checked me again and I was 4 cm. Finally some progress!! He told us to expect me to dilate 1 cm every hour. We all figured we had a long night ahead of us so Scott went home to take care of our pets and my dad went to get food. Around 7:30pm I felt more pressure in my cervix so my mom had the nurse come check me. I was 8-9 cm! My mom quickly got ahold of the guys so they could hurry back. Emily was about to make her debut! Luckily they both got back before anything major started. I had to wait for the doctor to come check me and confirm dilation. By the time he came in I was 10 cm and ready to go!
Around 8:45pm the nurses had me start pushing. Because of the epidural it was hard to tell when I would have a contraction, so the nurses helped by telling me when to push. After a few contractions they decided to stop my epidural. The nurses realized I was too numb and unable to hold the pressure after each push so Emily kept going back in. Once I had some feeling I started pushing again. The nurses soon realized Emily was stuck on my pelvic bone. We tried every position possible to push her out with no luck. I think the whole room thought I'd wind up having a c-section. I was thinking it, too. I could tell her head was right there ready to go and I hated the idea of tugging her out the other way in a c-section. By 11:00pm the epidural had completely worn off and the pain of the contractions set in. The nurses got my epi started up again but it took about an hour for me to have relief instead of the 20 mins it should've taken. This time I had the right amount because I didn't feel any pain but I still had control of my legs and body. By now I was so tired of pushing. The nurses had one more position for me to try and the doctor gave me the choice to continue trying or do a c-section. I told him c-section but a few minutes later I changed my mind and decided to keep trying. It was about 12:15am and the nurse said we'd try for 15 minutes before getting the doctor. Once the doctor came back in at 12:30am he started telling me the risks of a c-section. The nurse then suggested using the vacuum as our last option. The doctor didn't seem too thrilled with that idea because I was apparently very swollen from 3.5 hrs of pushing and he hated to cause more damage down there. He said if I chose that route he'd only try it once and if it didn't seem to help he'd stop and we'd do a c-section. So that's what we did.
Scott and my mom each had a leg and had helped me push during most of my delivery and 3 nurses had been in the room. Once I decided on the vacuum, about 8 more nurses came into my room. I had an audience. lol The doctor got everything ready and I waited for my contraction to push. After the first contraction consisting of 3 long pushes I didn't think anything had changed. The nurses continued to encourage me so I kept pushing. After my next contraction I heard my mom say "oh Heather!" in this excited, tear-filled tone so I knew Emily was almost here. I put everything I had into the next 2 contractions. After my 4th contraction I felt the rest of Emily emerge. She was finally here!! I saw the doctor pull her out & tell us it's a girl. I still couldn't believe she was mine! Unfortunately Scott wasn't able to cut the cord since her face was rather pale. They cleaned her some, got her measurements, and placed her on my chest, skin to skin. It was amazing how quickly her screaming stopped as soon as I was holding her. :) I didn't have her long before they took her to the nursery to clean her up more, get her face to pink up, and hear a good cry. In the meantime the doctor stitched me back up.
Overall I think my labor and delivery went extremely well. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be and I know I couldn't have done it without my epidural. The nurses were all amazed at how well I could push since I was able to hold my breath for a long time. Recovery was the hardest part. I had lots of swelling, 2 internal side wall tears, an external tear (since he didn't do an episiotomy), and a small hemorrhoid. The doctor called it a vaginal c-section. I apparently lost a lot of blood as well. When the nurses got me on my feet around 2:30am to walk, I about passed out twice and was extremely pale. It took about a week to get my color back. It was all worth it though. Our sweet baby girl is here and we're so in love with her. :)
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