Saturday 9/19 started out normal. Me watching t.v. and not really doing much, husb was doing the laundry.
At 2:30, I went to get some frozen yogurt at a local shop because it was so hot and quickly went back home to eat it. After I was done, husb and I took a nap together.
At 4:20, I woke up needing to use the bathroom, but was having the worst time trying to go #2. When I got up, I saw a gooey pink blob in the toilet. My “bloody show.” Hmmm, I thought, I guess my water is gonna break sometime in the next few days. Then I started feeling lower pelvic cramps and decided to eat a chicken bake since I hadn’t eaten real food in a while. Then I noticed the cramps didn’t feel like my normal Braxton-Hicks and that something just wasn’t right. Plus they were every 10 minutes.
After waiting an hour, I woke up husb and told him I felt funny. Maybe we should go to the hospital so I can get checked. He was too concerned about his headache and thought we should wait a while. The pains were getting more intense and insisted that we go. He went to get my mom, who was in another room, and I told her my assessment. She also thought I lost my mucus plug and told me to take shower to see if the contractions stop. After, I showered, it only got worse. Both my mom and husb finally agreed with me and both needed to get dressed to leave. My dad was on his way to a party, so we told him to go and we’ll see what was going on with me.
I was ready to go, but everyone else took forever! The pains were so intense, I started feeling nauseaous. Husb was really taking too long, so mom and I went together and he came later with the luggage.
At 6:15p, I was checked into L&D triage. I was contracting every 5 min, but only 1+cm dilated and 50% effaced. They wanted to wait an hour to see what happens. I threw up repeatedly! And that was a sign that baby was coming. Deep breathing helped me through the intense contractions. There came a point where when one stopped, another one started right away. They checked my cervix and I was 4cm already. Husb came finally.
I was then admitted to deliver and my nurse Sharon was the same nurse who took care of me after my water broke with the twins. She was so happy to be there for the happy occasion. My mom is friends with a lot of the L&D nurses, so the charge nurse kept asking her who she wanted to take care of me.
At 8 something, I was checked again and now 5 cm, time for my epidural please! After my labs and IV were done, I needed a shot of Stadol to help take the edge off. I couldn’t talk or sit still at this time because the pain was 10 out of 10! With the Stadol, the pain was a little less, I was just a little “high” and able to sit still. The anesthesiologist came in and placed my epidural with no problems.
At 9 something, I was up to 7 cm and feeling sleepy. But mom and husb kept talking to me, so I didn’t get to sleep much.
At 10 something, I was up to 9 cm.
At 11 something, I was fully dilated, but MeMe was floating high and they didn’t want me to have to push for hours to bring her down, so we let nature do her thing.
At 12 something am, MeMe was much lower and I was starting to feel my contractions again. It was less painful, but the wonderful numbing powers of my epidural had diminished. MeMe was wiggling her way into my pelvis and her head was molding so they did a quick US to make sure it was her head and not her butt cheeks.
At 1:15am, it was time to start pushing. Big breath in and out, then big breath in and PUSH! 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10. My mom and husb were holding my legs up for me. When MeMe was crowning, the doc came in barely had her sterile gear on. Crowning stung and was very uncomfortable. I can’t imagine what it feels like au naturale!
MeMe’s head popped out and then the rest and I only had a minor 1st degree tear. Doc put 3 stitches in to stop the bleeding. Other than that, no crazy complications.
MeMe placed on my belly with a towel, then taken by the nursery nurse to be checked out. When they said she was 5lbs and 15oz, I was sooo shocked. I thought she was at least 6.5lbs because of the US done at 33 weeks. We all cried and held her.
The doc wanted her blood sugars checked because she was so small. She had one low sugar (44) so from then on, every feeding was breast first, then top it off with some formula. After that, her sugars were steady. We stayed in L&D until about 5 am.
My mom’s friend was my postpartum nurse so they all hooked me up with extra supplies. And made the whole experience wonderful. Mom’s coworkers kept coming in the room so that they can see the baby! I stayed in the hospital until Monday afternoon since I have tons of help and expertise at home (thanks mom).
We gave thank you mugs to all of my nurses.
We also gave thanks and praise to God for giving us this blessing. She is our angel on earth!
