*WARNING: There are some details that some readers might not want to know about.... read at your own discretion. LOL.
ADELYN'S BIRTH STORY
I had a fantastic pregnancy with Adelyn. I was never really that uncomfortable, slept pretty well, and felt pretty good overall right up until 41 weeks!!!
At about 27-28 weeks I was told that the baby was really low in the pelvis already and that I will "probably have the baby early, but hopefully not too early!" At 35-36 weeks I was already 2cm dilated and baby was still down nice and low, so doctors still told me there was no way I was gonna be overdue. I didn't really care when the baby came, as long as it was after the 37 "full-term" mark. At about 38 weeks I was about 3cm and the doc could feel the baby's head "right there" and the bag of waters was bulging.... she assured us once again that there was no way we would be overdue and it would probably happen within the next week.
At 41 weeks I was 3.5 cm, with the baby's head "right there", waters bulging, and no contractions. Not even uncomfortable. I didn't mind one bit... I was enjoying my time alone at home. Our doctor was shocked that I had gotten to 41 weeks and still no baby, so she set up an induction for us at 41 weeks 1 day pregnant on Feb. 8th.
We got to the hospital around 7:15 that morning. They admitted us, went through all the details with us and checked my cervix. I was at 4cm (without contractions!!! I was so happy to have gotten nearly half way there without even noticing!). They inserted some gel to soften the cervix and hopefully bring on some contractions, then sent us to walk around the hospital for a few hours. Nothing happened. So, we went and had some lunch in the cafeteria and went back upstairs to labor and delivery.
We waited around until 1pm for my doctor to come and decide what to do next. When she got there, she decided to break my water (since it was still "bulging" lol.) Then they sent us to do some more walking around. In the hallway we passed a nurse that made a joke about how I wasn't going to have a baby anytime soon because I was still smiling and talking. Well, after walking for about 1o minutes up and down the halls, I had my first contraction. It totally caught me by surprise and stopped me in my tracks! I had to stop and lean against the wall to get through it. Once it was over, I thought "ok, that was interesting" and we kept walking down the hall. I had another little about a minute later, and then at the end of the hall way I had another strong one. I was kinda getting nervous because they were so strong and coming so quickly. Then all of a sudden I felt super nauseous. I told Shaun that I wasn't feeling well and about 2 seconds later I threw up all over the hallway... twice. Right at that exact moment the same nurse that made a joke not even 5 minutes earlier, entered the hallway to see me throwing up. LOL. I think she was as surprised as we were. She ran to get the labor and delivery nurses, they came and cleaned up the mess and rushed me back to labor and delivery.
We were finally given a birthing room (we had been in the fetal assessment are up until this point), and they rushed me in the shower. I was so happy to be in there! I was having very regular contractions at this point and it was all in my back, so the water felt wonderful! I stayed in there for about an hour, until they wanted me to come out and be checked. That is when all hell broke loose! The minute I got on the bed, the contractions were instantly stronger and unbearable. They checked me and told me that I was still at 4cm. I was so disappointed to hear that! To make matters worse, they wanted to start me on pitocin to get things "going".... I didn't know what to think of that because as far as I was concerned, things were already "going." I was also disappointed because that meant I had to stay on the bed instead of going back into the shower.
The contractions were getting stronger and stronger and I was barely able to stay on top of them because there was no break in between. I also had a terrible nurse that made me feel insanely stupid, so that wasn't helping. We had a student nurse that was trying to put an IV in my wrist for the pitocin, but she was having trouble (I'm not sure why... I wasn't really paying attention). Then the grumpy old nurse took over and by the time they got it in my wrist I felt like I needed to push. I didn't want to say anything at first, because they had just told me that I was at 4cm and they hadn't even started the pitocin yet... but I told them anyway.
They all looked at me kinda funny, but agreed to check and sure enough I was at 10cm and ready to push. I'm not sure how you can go from 4cm to 10cm in 15 minutes, but it happened. They quickly rushed to get everything set up and get my doctor there.... then I pushed just a couple times and Adelyn was born at 4:01pm after only 3 hours of labor!!!! She was perfect and healthy, with plump little cheeks! Everyone was shocked that she came so fast... one of the nurses even told me that she didn't expect us to have a baby on her shift (she wasn't off until 7pm).
I had a really bad tear that needed to be repaired in the OR instead of just in the room, so I only got to see Adelyn for a few short minutes and then I was rushed away. They had told us that I would only be in the OR for about 15-20 minutes and then back to the room, but it was more like 2 hours later until I finally got to go to our room on the maternity floor. I was so out of it for a long time and didn't really know what was going on. Plus I had a bunch of IV's and a catheter, which made it nearly impossible to take care of Adelyn since I couldn't get out of the bed. I didn't even get to shower until 2 days later... yuck. So, all of that kinda ruined the experience for us.
Adelyn was born on Friday, Feb. 8th at 4:01pm weighing 8lbs exactly. We finally got to take her home on Sunday late afternoon. We were so excited to have a healthy, beautiful little girl! We both secretly where hoping for a girl the entire pregnancy. :o)
