I've been putting off blogging because there is so much I need to catch up on. However, putting it off till later only makes the "catch-up" list longer (obviously). So, I've decided to skip a whole bunch of stuff and get down what is most important...Eleanor! And even so, I'll still be leaving a lot out, but I've been feeling really guilty lately that I haven't documented ANYTHING about her and her birth (besides Instagram posts) so here we go.
*If you really want to know details, read right along. I'm writing mostly for my own sake since my blog is my journal!
My official due date was September 12, 2012. Well, that day came and went. At every doctor's appointment I was told that I had made 0 progress. Finally, I was able to schedule my induction date for September 19th. The closer that day came, the more convinced I was that I was going to be induced because I still didn't feel any different and hadn't felt contractions. However, my mom kept reminding me that the baby could still come any day. My mom said she was only induced with one out of five kids, and she always did all of her progression the day of delivery. As we neared my due date, I started walking the hill behind our house every day, I bounced on my exercise ball, I ate spicy Indian food and I even gave "curb-walking" a try....nada. My plan was to work right up until I had the baby, work became pretty stressful around my delivery time so I thought I could even go into a stressed-induced labor! Didn't happen. So, I ended up working from home on Monday, September 17th as my last day before the baby. I thought it'd be nice to have the Tuesday off as a day all to myself one last time and then I'd be having my baby on Wednesday. Well, things don't always go as planned.
Around 2:30 am on the morning of Tuesday, September 18th, I woke up and with my eyes half closed, got up from bed to go to the bathroom (this was a very frequent occurrence seeing I was 40+ weeks pregnant). In the bathroom, I realized something had just happened and I immediately called out to Sam, "Something is happening! Something is happening!". In a split second Sam was standing next to me and I told him that I thought I had just lost my mucus plug (I know - such a gross name). I was excited because this was the first sign that my body knew I was supposed to be going into labor! However, some girls lose this weeks before starting labor so I didn't really think baby girl was coming that day. Well, within 10 minutes I started having contractions. I remember that I had gone to bed with my hair half wet and I knew I needed to straighten it between contractions because I didn't want to go to the hospital with how it was looking! Sam was wide awake with me and started timing my contractions. Slowly they began to come closer and closer together. Around 5:30 am we decided the time had come and off we were to the hospital! I called my parents on the way and got to talk to my mom. We arrived at the hospital and contractions were getting worse so Sam pushed me in one of the wheelchairs. I felt like I was in a movie. For so long Sam and I had talked about how my labor would start and wondered where I would be, if Sam would be with me, how we'd get to the hospital and here it all was...really happening!
We checked in and the nurse introduced herself and said her shift ended at 6:00 am so she wouldn't be with us very long, but she got us all set-up and situated. The nurse examined me and said I was only dilated to 1 cm so they would probably be sending me home. She said she was almost sure I'd need to go back home, but that they would monitor me for an hour and then call my doctor and he would make the decision. She kind of made me feel dumb that I thought my labor was coming so quickly that we had to get to the hospital at that time. Well, the shift ended, I got a new nurse (and her "trainee") and at the hour mark they called my doctor, who told them to keep me there! Thank goodness. I don't remember at what point in time, but the new nurse said to me, "Good thing we kept you here. If we had sent you home you would have made it to the parking lot then would of had to come right back up here!" I got an IV and they gave me something to dull the pain a little. Getting my IV was one of the worst parts of the whole delivery. I am awful with needles and the nurse-in-training couldn't get it in my vain right. Not fun. Both Sam and I later said we regret not asking them to just have the other nurse do it. Oh well, I survived!
The time frame is all a blur for me, but here are a few things I want to remember:
- The room we were in had a great view of Provo
- Each time my doctor walked in the room, I had the most peaceful feeling. I was so grateful for him and completely trusted him.
- The first time my doctor showed up he asked why I hadn't had my epidural yet. I responded "I don't know." He said, "Well, get it!" And then I did. Thank goodness!
- The epidural wasn't bad at all. It was done quickly. I did ask Sam to come by the bed and hold my hand and talk to me to distract me. I was surprised when they said they were done. The IV was ten times worse!
- Sam and I watched two episodes of Modern Family on the ipad and the nurses loved it
- I was feeling pretty calm the whole morning until my doctor said, "Ok, we'll be back in about 20 minutes to start pushing". I got so nervous/anxious and started crying. I asked Sam to say a prayer with me and he did.
- Pushing was hard. Labor is called labor for a reason. I guess I pushed for about 2 hours. I had no concept of time during it besides it was taking forever. At one point I really wanted to just stop and say "I give up!", but I told myself that's not what I came here for and that wouldn't help anything. Seriously, there was a mental battle in my head for awhile because I was getting so exhausted.
- Sam was great. He was on my left side the whole time encouraging me. At one point I told him to stop saying whatever he was saying because it was bugging me. I remember the nurse on my right side laughing at that.
- Doctors and nurses kept telling me they could see dark hair!
- I had no clue what was taking so long, I knew they were using the vacuum thing and I could tell it wasn't working. I knew something was wrong when my doctor said "We need to get a heartbeat" but I didn't really have time to worry because everything went so quickly right then. Before I knew it my baby girl was out and they took her over to the ICU team that was in the room (they had told me before hand that the ICU team would be in there because when they broke my water they could see a little bit of meconium, but it was minimal and they weren't that worried about it).
- Sam gave me a kiss, told me I did a great job and that our daughter was beautiful
- After they had weighed her and cleaned her a little, a nurse brought Elle over to me and told me that I was only going to get to hold her for a minute and then she needed to go to ICU. I got to hold my daughter for the first time and it was an overwhelming feeling. Sam was standing next to us. I kissed her forehead again and again and just couldn't believe she was in my arms. The minute flew by and off she went. It was sometime after that when someone told me she was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice. I almost laughed and said, "That's how I was born!" I don't think that was the reaction they were expecting.
- Even though I only got to hold Elle for a minute and knew she was going to ICU, I never felt that worried. I think it was just a blessing that I knew everything was going to be alright. Sam went with to ICU and he sent me pictures of her. I called my mom while they were cleaning up the room and told her that little Eleanor Rae was born.
- I was transferred to my recovery room and Sam was there not long after. I don't remember how long it was until Elle was in our room, but Sam had told me that she was doing great. It turned out that Eleanor wasn't even in ICU for 30 minutes. They originally took her there because her breathing was off, but she corrected it on her own. Something with her blood was off because of the extra blood she loss from having the umbilical cord cut before she was even out of me, but by the evening that was fine as well.
It was an amazing feeling to know that I had given birth and that our daughter was now physically with us. We couldn't stop looking at her. Her nose, ears, lips...were all the most precious things I had ever seen. As Sam told me more about what happened in delivery with the umbilical cord, I was even more grateful for my doctor and knew that it was a blessing that we had picked him. He safely delivered our precious baby girl to us.
Sam and I took turns holding Elle the rest of the evening. My friend Dani came and brought Sam dinner. Both Sam and I were exhausted and I know I was out of it. We were so happy to have a healthy, beautiful baby girl. We were now a little family of three, and loved it!
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