Autumn's Birth Story Part I...

...I'm laying in bed right now with my family :) Matt rubbing AR's back while she snuggles with him. I'm going to split her birth story into two parts because there's going to be lots of text and I don't want to bore you. Some of this may be irrelevant but I'm going to log in for my memory. First to break up the text, here's a pic of her sporting the home team-GO CARDS!

Okay, so Thursday at work, everyone was like maybe we'll see you tomorrow, maybe not. I was like, yeah I'll be here no worries and I left for my doctor's appointment expecting to be back on Friday. I get to my appointment and they hook me up to a non-stress test (NST) which was nice and relaxing. First off though, I forgot that on Wednesday night I pointed out to Matt how swollen my feet had gotten (it had gone down dramatically in the past couple weeks from when they first thought I was pre-preeclamptic) then on Thursday morning, I could barely fit them in my tennis shoes.

Back to the NST, I was relaxing with my feet up when the NP comes in and tells me that I'd just had a contraction. That made me feel good and I started thinking, hmm...maybe I will have this baby on my own before I have to get induced. Then a few minutes later, she comes back and asks if I'd been having any headaches which I hadn't. She went on to tell me that I'd gained 8 pounds since my last appointment one week ago and that I had protein in my urine, not a trace amount but a lot. She was going to go check with the doc to see if I should go to the hospital. Talk about a totally flip of emotions!

She comes back and says, yep head to the hospital right away. First she checked for dilation (none) and I was like, whoa! I head home and call Matt telling him to get home ASAP. I knew it'd be about an hour before he got home so I took my time when I got there finishing packing, loving on the dogs and sending last minute work emails. Matt got home and had the same idea so he watered some flowers, put away the mower until finally I was like, hey-let's get a move on it! I was told not to eat (in case I had to have a C-section once I got to the hospital) but Matt was starving so we stopped at McDonald's. Do you know how cruel that is to ride 40 minutes to the hospital smelling MickeyD's but not able to eat any?

We got to the hospital, got checked in and I changed into my swimsuit cover-up and some mesh shorts. They drew some blood to run tests and hooked me up to monitors to check the baby's heart beat and contractions. Then we waited...and waited...they couldn't start any meds or anything until my bloodwork came back. Finally it did and all looked okay except my uric acid level so good news, no C-section right away but it wasn't ruled out yet. At about 9pm, they inserted the first cytotec to thin my cervix. This HURT because my doc didn't want any gel used (apparently, it doesn't work as well). Contractions were about six minutes apart so I was feeling really good about this working.

At 11pm, I was able to eat so Matt went to the cafeteria and got me some soup and a parfait. I'd sat up right before then and suddenly three nurses showed up in my room freaking out, guess I'd moved the monitor when I sat up-oops. We were a little over anxious that first night thinking something would happen right away because we left the tv on all night and just dozed on and off.

At 1:30am on May 18, I got the second pill (you have to lay flat for 1 hour after each pill). Around 2:50am, I sat on the birthing ball because my hips were killing me but my nurse told me because of my swelling and issues I couldn't walk-lame! When I did this, Matt woke up with his second wind and started dancing around the room. Matt notes: he kept telling me he didn't get any sleep-LIE! I could hear him snoring-lol! Also, I'm glad we finally got text messaging but I think I spent about 50% of my time in the hospital spelling words for him.

At 5:45am, I got my 3rd cytotec and then at 6am, my doc comes in to see me. Basically, I was making no progress. She gave me my options which were keep taking the pills until 9pm that night then either C-Section or head home, come back a couple days later and try the whole process again. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed after that talk. Doggie commercials were making me miss my furbabies, my mom had FB friend requested me and everyone kept asking for updates to which I had NONE. I got to eat breakfast and at 9:50am, I got my fourth cytotec and was laying there with tears rolling out of my eyes just from defeat. I took a little nap and felt a bit better afterwards because I had to tell myself that I couldn't change things, that this baby would get here one way or another, I'd just have to wait.

Around 11am, my nurse got me a machine to hook the monitors up to and said I could go on a small walk right close to our room. Thank goodness! We made two laps, all the nurses asking if I was okay to which we replied, yep, just taking a walk. I really wanted to walk to the nursery but it was too far away for the monitors to still work. When we got back to the room, my MIL was there. It was nice to see someone other than Matt (not in a bad way) so we visited for a bit then she left and my mom arrived.

Around 1:30pm, my doc stopped by again and said she'd be in touch and to eat some lunch. So I ordered lunch, pushing back my next cytotec pill. At 2:25pm, my nurse comes in to check me one more time because she was about to go help with a C-section so I was getting a different nurse. She was adjusting the monitors when I suddenly felt/heard a pop and I told her that. She asked if I was leaky and I wasn't.

I laid there worrying about it because I hadn't felt anything like it but the monitors showed everything was okay. At 2:36pm (Matt looked at the clock), I started to roll over and felt the GUSH. My eyes got big and I looked at Matt, "Is something coming out of my butt?" He walks over to check and he said yes (not my butt but it was rolling that direction since I was on my side). He called the nurse and we met the new nurse who was less than pleasant (eventually she was okay and was only there for a few minutes) who agreed my water broke and confirmed I was finally dilated to a 1!!! Now that I was dilated, we were able to start the pitocin-woohoo!!!

Matt got really excited and, again over anxious, because not much happened. We didn't call anyone yet because we knew it could still be awhile. Contractions got stronger and stronger and I got more and more uncomfortable. I was trying not to think about it but all I could think of was the pain is only going to get worst. I was on the birthing ball, Matt was helping me breathe but with each contraction tears would roll down my cheeks. I looked him in the eyes and said I wanted the epidural to which he asked me a million times if I was sure. I felt like I was letting him down, letting myself down, being a baby but in the end it was the right decision for me.

At 5:30, my new nurse and the epi doctor came in. They made Matt sit down across the room away from me in case he fainted. I did have to change into a gown for this and the rest of labor/delivery. Jo stood in front of me, I was holding her arms and the doc was behind doing her thing. She inserted it and my leg jumped. My nurse said, "Now is NOT a good time to be jumpy." Luckily, the doc jumped in and said, "That wasn't her fault." The meds set in and I definitely think I had more in my right leg (it took the longest to wear off). At 6pm, they inserted a catheter and checked for dilation and I was at 3-4!!!

Right when I was about to get my epi, my dad and stepsis showed up at the exact same time! After I got it, they came in and visited for a bit. My mom also arrived and came in to visit. I told her my butt cheeks were sore probably from sitting there. She left and I rolled on my side. I started feeling strong rectal pressure. Luckily, the week before, my sister and I chatted and she'd told me when she said she felt like she had to poop, that's when the nurse told her it was time to push. So as I was feeling this, I looked at Matt and told him that I thought this baby was coming sooner than later.

At 8pm, I told my nurse about the pressure who checked and sure enough, I was already at a 10!!!  She called my doc to inform her and get instructions what she wanted to do. Then she came back and said that we'd start pushing at 9pm!

Part II...let the pushing begin!!!