For those of you who don't like long posts, this is fair warning. This is my longest post yet!
I got my membranes stripped on Tuesday morning at 9:30. I had heard tons of horror stories about how painful it is, but it really wasn’t that bad. At first I was like, okay how long is this supposed to take? Lots of women would have returned home to get their house in order for the new baby (scrub toilets, mop floors, etc), if she happened to come soon. Not me, I went shopping with my sisters and Mom. We went to some craft stores and tried to walk around and get things going. Nothing happened, but I did find a cute bow and a vinyl saying to go on the nursery wall, so it wasn’t a complete bust. By 3:00, I was starting to get a little bummed thinking nothing was going to happen. I went to my Mother-in-laws and got on her treadmill for 20 minutes or so. Still nothing. (looking back, I’m not sure what I expected to happen. Appointment at 9:30, regular contractions by 12:00 and baby by 5:00, I guess)
On my way home from my in-laws, I had a few contractions and thought, okay, something might be happening. I got home and once again instead of cleaning my house, I went to get Easton’s hair cut. I knew he’d be getting lots of pics taken of him and his hair was way long. Well, I got back to my house and once again avoiding the dreaded housework, I started cutting back my rose bushes in my front yard. I think this is what finally put me over the edge. My Mom came over to measure for some curtains that she made and that’s when the contractions started to get stronger and more regular. We needed to go to Wal-mart to get more fabric and then I needed to go get Landon from work (we’re a 1 car family at the moment.) My Mom wanted me to just go get Landon and go to the hospital, but I really wanted to get the curtains done and we needed the fabric. Priorities, priorities people! So, off we went to Wally world. I know I was making my Mom way nervous by being there because she was watching me like a hawk. Finally, after we got the fabric and a couple other things, I left to go get Landon from work. My Mom told me to go get Landon, drop Easton off at her house and then get my prego ego to the hospital.
Landon said he could tell them minute he saw me that we were going to be headed to the hospital. I guess he could just see the strained look in my eyes. We went to my Mom’s to drop Easton off and we timed the contractions the whole way there. The contractions still weren’t super consistent (3 minutes apart, 6 minutes, 4 minutes etc.), so I was wary about going to the hospital. I didn’t want to get sent home!! Landon and I decided to go for a walk to see if we could get things going even more. Meanwhile, Tiffany and Annika (sis and sis-in-law) were calling every 5 minutes to see what was going on. Tiff was going to come and get Easton if I did go to the hospital and keep him overnight. I didn’t want them to come all the way from Eagle Mountain unless it was a for sure thing. (By now, it’s like 10:30pm) Landon and I had a nice walk (as nice as you can while in labor) and sure enough the contractions started to come closer together and more consistent. Landon said I would speed up my walking every time I had a contraction. We walked back to Mom and Dad’s and I walked into the bathroom and Landon walked into the family room and said to Mom, “call Tiff, we’re going to the hospital.”
We get to the hospital and I guess I just had that “deer caught in the headlight prego style look” because they just asked me my name and my Dr.’s name and then took me back to the first triage room. Two minutes later, a nurse came to check me and I was dilated to a 4. Then she asks when I want to get my epidural. I was floored! I was like “holy cow” this is really happening. I told her I wanted to walk around a little, but for sure wanted the epidural before they broke my water. Another nurse came in and I walked to the Labor and Delivery suite. We had quite the view, too bad I was in no mood to “enjoy the view” from where I was sitting! Thankfully I was able to get an epidural pretty soon after getting into my room. My doctor was coming in to break someone else’s water, so he was going to come do mine as well. I wanted to be fully drugged before that happened. We made small talk with the anesthesiologist and joked about how dumb it is not to get an epidural. We could have done an infomercial for him.
After I go my epidural, I felt great and was able to rest for 45 minutes or so. Before the 45 minute rest, I was at a 5. After the 45 minutes I had progressed to an 8. I got an extra dose of the epidural and 20-25 minutes later she was here!! I remember being so emotional when I had Easton, but this time I was just so exhausted that I didn’t have the energy to cry. I guess that’s what I get for going a million miles an hour that day. She was so beautiful and had chubby cheeks and lots of hair. I remember that they took her over to get her cleaned up and everything and she wasn’t crying that much. That made me way nervous, but the nurse kept reassuring me that everything was fine and she was nice and pink and not to worry. I was so glad she was here and healthy and it was so nice to be done . . . with that part anyway.
On my way home from my in-laws, I had a few contractions and thought, okay, something might be happening. I got home and once again instead of cleaning my house, I went to get Easton’s hair cut. I knew he’d be getting lots of pics taken of him and his hair was way long. Well, I got back to my house and once again avoiding the dreaded housework, I started cutting back my rose bushes in my front yard. I think this is what finally put me over the edge. My Mom came over to measure for some curtains that she made and that’s when the contractions started to get stronger and more regular. We needed to go to Wal-mart to get more fabric and then I needed to go get Landon from work (we’re a 1 car family at the moment.) My Mom wanted me to just go get Landon and go to the hospital, but I really wanted to get the curtains done and we needed the fabric. Priorities, priorities people! So, off we went to Wally world. I know I was making my Mom way nervous by being there because she was watching me like a hawk. Finally, after we got the fabric and a couple other things, I left to go get Landon from work. My Mom told me to go get Landon, drop Easton off at her house and then get my prego ego to the hospital.
Landon said he could tell them minute he saw me that we were going to be headed to the hospital. I guess he could just see the strained look in my eyes. We went to my Mom’s to drop Easton off and we timed the contractions the whole way there. The contractions still weren’t super consistent (3 minutes apart, 6 minutes, 4 minutes etc.), so I was wary about going to the hospital. I didn’t want to get sent home!! Landon and I decided to go for a walk to see if we could get things going even more. Meanwhile, Tiffany and Annika (sis and sis-in-law) were calling every 5 minutes to see what was going on. Tiff was going to come and get Easton if I did go to the hospital and keep him overnight. I didn’t want them to come all the way from Eagle Mountain unless it was a for sure thing. (By now, it’s like 10:30pm) Landon and I had a nice walk (as nice as you can while in labor) and sure enough the contractions started to come closer together and more consistent. Landon said I would speed up my walking every time I had a contraction. We walked back to Mom and Dad’s and I walked into the bathroom and Landon walked into the family room and said to Mom, “call Tiff, we’re going to the hospital.”
We get to the hospital and I guess I just had that “deer caught in the headlight prego style look” because they just asked me my name and my Dr.’s name and then took me back to the first triage room. Two minutes later, a nurse came to check me and I was dilated to a 4. Then she asks when I want to get my epidural. I was floored! I was like “holy cow” this is really happening. I told her I wanted to walk around a little, but for sure wanted the epidural before they broke my water. Another nurse came in and I walked to the Labor and Delivery suite. We had quite the view, too bad I was in no mood to “enjoy the view” from where I was sitting! Thankfully I was able to get an epidural pretty soon after getting into my room. My doctor was coming in to break someone else’s water, so he was going to come do mine as well. I wanted to be fully drugged before that happened. We made small talk with the anesthesiologist and joked about how dumb it is not to get an epidural. We could have done an infomercial for him.
After I go my epidural, I felt great and was able to rest for 45 minutes or so. Before the 45 minute rest, I was at a 5. After the 45 minutes I had progressed to an 8. I got an extra dose of the epidural and 20-25 minutes later she was here!! I remember being so emotional when I had Easton, but this time I was just so exhausted that I didn’t have the energy to cry. I guess that’s what I get for going a million miles an hour that day. She was so beautiful and had chubby cheeks and lots of hair. I remember that they took her over to get her cleaned up and everything and she wasn’t crying that much. That made me way nervous, but the nurse kept reassuring me that everything was fine and she was nice and pink and not to worry. I was so glad she was here and healthy and it was so nice to be done . . . with that part anyway.
4 comments:
I am so glad it was a long post. You had quite the day. I am glad it went well. I love her name. i hope you are healing up quickly.
Aren't you so glad to have a story!
What a fun story that will be to tell and re-tell her every birthday! You did such a good job, made me so proud of MY little girl. You forgot to mention that she was almost exactly the same size you were, only 1 oz. more and the exact same length!
Maybe I'm weird but I love labor and delivery stories! I can wait to see her and I hope you both are adjusting and doing wonderful!
Post a Comment