Birthday! September 23, 2008

On Monday, September 22nd, I woke up just feeling "off." More than the regular 39 weeks pregnant exhausted/sore/in pain feeling - more like I was ill with a sort of constant headache and being nauseous. So I decided to take my blood pressure just to see and the first reading was 140/100! Too high! I kept an eye on it all morning and each time I took a reading it was about 140/95 so I called my doctor's office and made an appointment for 1:00 p.m. to have them check it.

At the doctor's office they took my blood pressure three more times - once when I got there, once after laying down for 10 minutes and one at the very end - all three of them were high. My doctor also checked my cervix (I had progressed since last week to a "loose one")and measured me and I could just tell she was concerned. Should we induce again? Should we keep waiting? I knew she didn't want me to go through a failed induction again but it was obvious that between the baby's size along with this high blood pressure she was getting concerned. I had vowed to just "let it happen" but I had been so miserable all weekend I was really ready to try again - plus I was also concerned with the high blood pressure! We decided to go ahead and induce as soon as possible so I could have the cervadil in for a full 12 hours and then see what happen. But, she said, this baby needs to get out so one way or another you will be having a baby in the next day or two. To me, this meant that I was going to be allowed to labor on my own for awhile but if I didn't make progress it was c-section time which really concerned me. She called Rose to get it all set up and I started furiously texting Drew to get Meyer ready to go and get us ready to go because induction #2 was under way!

I left the doctor's office and went home. Tom and Maureen were on their way back from Canon City so we would have to bring Meyer to the hospital for a little while until they could come pick him up. Actually totally okay with me as I knew these would be my last moment's with him as my one and only! We got all packed up (Drew was so on top of it!) and left for Rose. We got there about 3:15 p.m., went through admissions (Meyer was given a cookie by an older volunteer lady who fell in love with him) and then we went up to our room! L&D Room 2. When we got to the room I looked at the bed. I remember from my failed induction that I had looked at that bed and thought "this is the bed where I will give birth to my daughter" which, of course, had turned out not to be the case and that just made me nervous - like what if this one fails too? So I just tried to be calm and not get my hopes up too much or have any more thoughts like that.

I got undressed and my nurse hooked me up to the monitors, started my IV (yet another double poke! I have never had an IV put in on just one try!) and generally prepped me. By now it was 4:00 and Meyer had left with Maureen. So hard to say goodbye to him - this is the first big thing that Drew and I have done since he was born that he really couldn't be a part of or stay with us and there was a fleeting thought that he should stay! Glad I didn't listen to myself on that one! About 5:15 the nurse came in with a resident and put in my cervadil. Hurt like nothing before - I really thought she was being mean! It also gave me one heck of a contraction so maybe that is what kick-started everything? Anyway, after that it was just Drew and I and time to hunker down for the night.

Drew went and got Chipotle for dinner and we watched Gossip Girl and the Daily Show and Colbert and were ready for bed around 10:00. Drew was going to go home to sleep as the bed they had in the room didn't look very comfortable but I was starting to have a few contractions and we didn't want someting to happen while he wasn't there so he stayed - which was great as his presence always makes me feel more at ease. We went to sleep okay but were awakended around 2:00 a.m. by primal, visceral screams! We found out later that our neighbor in the next room was giving birth au natural and apparently it was very painful (ya think?). Anyway, eventually she was done and we were able to get a little more sleep. Around 5:00 a.m. the night nurse, Katie who was very nice, came in and took out my cervadil. I was having contractions but they were not regular or even that strong so I started thinking "uh oh, here we go again, no progress." Well, she checked me and I was at 3cm - so, yay! She also allowed me to get up and get off the monitors for about 30 minutes so I could take a shower and walk around a bit before the pitocin started. This was such a relief and I felt so much better and ready to labor after I got back into bed.

Right before she started the pitocin at 6:00 a.m. it seemed like the baby's heart rate decelerated really badly, so I had to wait for a few minutes to see what was going on. Turns out that he heart rate had just been up from my walking around and everything was okay to proceed. She turned on the pit at 6:15 and the contractions started...

I had an incredibly easy time of it from then on. The nurse "accidentally" broke my water while checking me later in the morning and I had my epidural by I think 9 or 10 a.m. The epidural was amazing and after I got it we just hung out and let the baby come down. Around noon my mother arrived and she was in the room with us for awhile. Around 1:00 Drew got really hungry and asked his Mom to bring him a sandwich from Heidi's. Nancy got to the hospital around 1:30 and came into the room while we were all playing cards. Right about then I started to feel "pressure" and asked the nurse to check me. My Mom and Nancy left the room, Drew started on his sandwich and Carolyn checked me. I was complete! All the sudden, I started to see Carolyn panic just a little bit as my doctor was still at St. Joseph's finishing up a delivery! She started wheeling things in, Drew was still trying to finish his sandwich but before long my doctor rushed into the room, my feet were up in stirrups and it was time to push! I pushed six times through three contractions and Evelyn was born at 1:58 p.m.! I started crying saying, "what am I going to do with a newborn?" The doctor just kept saying "she's so big!" Drew was just so happy and ecstatic. After Drew cut the cord they laid Evelyn on my chest. She was so calm - kept making these tiny little baby coos and grunts. We just hung out like that for a long time while they sewed me up and then they weighed her - 9 lbs, 12 ozs! Big baby! Eventually Nancy and my Mom came back into the room and we all held her and then I started to nurse her and she latched right on, no problems. About an hour after the birth Meyer and Tom and Maureen came and Meyer met Evelyn for the first time on my lap. He seemed more interested in the hospital apple juice and pushing wheelchairs than in Evelyn but he was happy. Then they wheeled me to my recovery room. We spent one night in the hospital (Sara visited that night and my Dad visited the next day). We left the hospital at about 3:00 the next day, picked up Meyer at Trisha's and took both kids home. It was great!!!