It all started on Friday March 11th. I was at work, almost done for the day, and I went to the bathroom. Nothing new, as I had been going to the bathroom 10 times a day by that point. But on this trip, I noticed I had started to loose my mucous plug. This made it seem very real that she could be coming any day now. I did know that loosing your mucous plug did not guarentee anything but at least there was progress. That weekend I consistantly lost more of my plug and on Sunday I had my bloody show. Yes this is probably TMI!! Monday morning came around, Chris asked how I was feeling and if I was having any contractions. I said no because I thought they were only Braxton-Hicks contractions. I did tell him to stay by his phone though just in case. We both went to work, but on my way to work I started timing my "contractions". They were 7 minutes apart. I timed them throughout the morning until about 9:30 am. By this time the were 5 minutes apart and 1 minute long. Since my office is 45 minutes from the hospital, I left work, called Chris and drove home. I do not reccommend driving with even minor contractions because hitting the brakes was painful. When I got home, I took a shower and waited for Chris. As soon as he was home, I called my doctor, while Chris called the family. Finally got to see my doctor, she checked me and I was 3 cm dialated, so I was told to go eat and the walk. When she checked me again, I hadnt changed. I was so disappointed because part of our family had already driven up from Houston. But I did have an appointment with her on Wed morning and if everything looked good we would probably induce. Was there truly a medical reason to induce? No, but my doctor wantedto put me out of my misery and I had a list of problems.
Wed. morning, I went to see my doctor and lo and behold, we are inducing within the hour. When you think induction you think Pitocin, but we were going to try and break my water first. My goal was to go as long as possible without an epideral. I went home to get Chris, but the maids were here cleaning and our family idnt make it to our house in time, so I drove myself to the hospital. I got my room and the paperwork was underway. (this was around 10 am) I got my IV and everything now I was just waiting for my doctor. Around 11:30 am she came down and broke my water. This was the weirdest feeling ever. I literally felt like I had peed all over the bed. I started to feel contractions within 20 min, but they wanted me to walk around to get them really going. Once Chris arrived, we did just that. We walked and they got stronger, this continued for about 10 minutes then Chris had to leave to get the dogs situated at the house. Jennifer came up to help me out and she could tell I had to have progressed because I was no longer able to talk or walk through my contractions. I got checked and had progressed to 5 cm. When Chris finally arrived back to the hospital, my doctor had recommended I try the shower, but it didnt help at all. I was in so much pain, Chris looked at me and said "Which one do you want me to get?" Meaning, which pain medicine do you want, epi or IV meds. When my doctor came back in, I went straight for the epi, knowing that the amount of pain would not go down much with just the IV meds.
The anethesiologist (sp?) came in to give me my epi and man, he sucked at it. After 3 trys, it was in the right place. The hardest thing was not crying too hard because the stupid epi hurt. During this time my contractions were still just as painful too. Once the epi was in place, I felt like I could make it through the next few hours. I was given the epi around 5 or 6 I think. Family came in and out of my room, just trying to keep me laughing. I was resting when there was no one in my room.
Jennifer, the entire time, was watching my contractions on the monitor. They were pretty much on top of each other the entire time. I could feel them but there was only pressure not pain. I had been laying on my left side for about 2 hours when my back started to hurt again. When the nurses tried to turn me over, Bree's heart rate dropped to 85. The "quickly" tried to turn me back and once situated again, she recovered. Although this did mean the use of the oxygen mask for pretty much the rest of my labor.
Around 9:30, my doctor checked me and to my surprise I was 9.5 cm dialated. The other .5 was a lip on the right side. Bree's head was also at an angle coming down the birth canal. Again I was turned from my left to my right and again, her heart rate dropped. The needed me on the right side to get that lip away though so I got to sit up and lean to my right. My doctor was amazing during everything though. An hour later . . . it was time to push. I started pushing around 10:30 pm. The hardest part was getting her to straighten out so she could move UNDER my pelvic bone. Yeah that took a few trys, LOL. Once I felt her go under, I could actually feel enough to push effectively. I pushed and pushed and at 11:50, the nurse said only 1 or two more contractions and she should be out. Right then, my contractions spaced out. It took two more contractions and her head was out. The next contraction was to get her shoulders out and of course Bree's right shoulder was stuck. In a matter of seconds, my doctor had her hand inside and there was a nurse pushing on my stomach. Then my beautiful daughter was out!!! I cried the minute she was out. I was finally done!!! I had my vaginal delivery, with my doctor, and Chris was amazing during the entire thing.
She was a little blue because of all the shifting, but they got her some oxygen and within seconds she was turning pink again. She weight 8 lbs, 3 oz and was 20.5 in long. So much for my "small" baby. I did tear because of her shoulder being stuck, but overall it was not that bad. I would do it again in a heartbeat. My overall recovery was not that bad either. I was in the hospital for a total of two days, Wed. - Fri., and then I was home with my family.
This is my complete birth story. Now . . . this is my beautiful daughter:
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