I went into labor at 40 weeks 3 days, which was 4 days before I was scheduled for an induction. It was a Tuesday morning and I woke up to go to the bathroom at 4:53 a.m. (about 8 minutes after Brian left for work) and realized my water had broken. It wasn't dramatic, but it was definitive. :-) I immediately called Brian who answered his cell phone with "This is either really good or really bad…" I told him that my water had broken, but that I wasn't experiencing noticeable contractions and for him to stay at work for his morning shift. I then hopped in the shower (because I'm a freak about cleanliness) and proceeded to get ready. After I was ready, I packed my bag (which I had kept putting off) and then took Gatsby out. Then I fired up my work computer, sent out a flurry of e-mails on pending issues, and let the necessary parties know that I was on leave effective that morning. :-) Brian kept checking in all morning and asking me when I should call the doctor. Since it was so early, my obstetrician's office wasn't open yet and I didn't want to call the on-call doctor, since I wasn't having contractions yet, so I told Brian that I'd alert family members at 7 a.m. and then call the doctor when the office opened at 8 a.m. Then I ate a bowl of Cheerios, drank some grape juice, wrote several thank you notes that were pending, filled out my absentee ballot, and paid several bills. When I spoke to the doctor, they told me to come into the office at 9:30 a.m., so I still had time to kill. :-) When I was walking out to the mailbox, I started feeling some contractions and I realized that I was probably going straight to the hospital from the doctor. So, then, I kicked it in high gear and packed up all of Gatsby's stuff for the boarders and decided to pack Brian's bag too. I left the house around 8:45 a.m., took Gatsby to Suite Paws, and met Brian at the obstetrician, who confirmed that my water had broken and that I was 3 cm dilated and told me to go to the hospital. Since we had 2 cars at the doctor, we decided to take one car home and tie up some loose ends at home (like feed the cats) and then we were off to the hospital!
When we arrived at the hospital, we went to patient registration where the lady working the desk had a huge freakout because I was in labor until we (and another nurse) were able to make her realize that the baby wasn't coming right that second in patient registration. Once she calmed down, she took all my information and they got me a wheelchair. We then went to another desk to sign waivers, etc., and I proceeded to spill my tumbler of water all over the floor. Not because of any dramatic labor thing, but because I'm an idiot. :-) We were then taken straight to a room (the obstetrician had called ahead) bypassing triage because if your water has broken, then you have an automatic admission to the hospital!
We got to our room and proceeded to be bored out of our minds for a long time. We both just kinda played on our phones the whole time. When they checked me at the hospital, I was still at 3 cm and we decided to wait an hour or so before starting Pitocin to get my contractions stronger. When the doctor eventually came back and I hadn't progressed much, so we started Pitocin (because I didn't want to wait too long to progress and end up with a c-section). Around late afternoon, the contractions were getting stronger and I was progressing, but quite slowly, and I knew it was going to be a long night so I opted for an epidural. It took about 1.5 hours to get the epidural in after I requested it and during that time my contractions started getting a lot stronger and I knew I had made the right decision for pain relief. The epidural was really nice, but by late evening, I was feeling some pain from the contractions and we asked anesthesia to up my dosage. Fortunately, they did, which also allowed them to continue to pump up my Pitocin throughout the night. My little "magic" epidural button we set to give me drugs every 20 minutes and I pushed it pretty much every 20 minutes on the dot, so that I could get some rest. I never really slept all night, but I did rest. Brian also rested in a really uncomfortable chair all night. I was checked several times and continued to progress, but not quickly.
By 6 a.m. the next morning, they determined that I was at 10 cm, but the little lady was up pretty high. Because my epidural was maxed out after a night magic button pushing, I needed for it to wear off a bit so that I could feel my contractions to push. That was when things really started to suck. I got sick several times and each contraction began to feel stronger and stronger and they were hurting a lot. Around 7:30 a.m., they were setting everything up for me to push, but it was taking forever and I was in a lot of pain with each contraction. I pretty much sat zoned out with my eyes closed and Brian kept putting a wet washcloth on my forehead, but I was starting to get irritable (as one who was 27 hours into labor without any food might do) and I definitely had a bit of an emotional breakdown with the nurse. It probably wasn't my finest hour, but I was exhausted and ready to be done. The super nice nurse was really, really nice and helped me talk through it. Brian was also great throughout everything. He advocated for me when I needed it and would go out to talk to the nurses to get what I needed ASAP. I know it was a very long night for him, just staring at my contractions and H's heart rate on the monitors.
Finally, they were ready and it was time to push (with each contraction)! I wasn't terribly efficient at first, but I figured it out and got quite efficient. In fact, little H was ready to make her arrival and the doctor wasn't there yet, so they told me I needed to stop pushing and wait. I was pretty much like "you've got to be f&(*ing kidding me?!" but I did my best. Waiting for like 5 minutes. Eventually the doctor got there and it was like something out of a movie! She came running in, got in her outfit without missing a beat, and was ready to roll pretty quickly. At that point though, they needed to scoot me down the bed and they asked Brian to help move me (he was on my left side). In all of the chaos of the doctor arriving, he didn't hear them, but I did. I looked at him and he was just kinda looking around and I was like "JESUS CHRIST, BRIAN, LET'S GO!!!! MOVE ME DOWN THE BED!" (I did apologize later and I know he just didn't hear what they asked in all the chaos!) Once I was in position, we were ready to go and H arrived within about 2 minutes.
When she arrived, it took her about 15 seconds to cry and then they immediately put her on my chest and I met my sweet baby girl for the first time. It was pretty incredible. She was totally alert and just looking around. After the cord stopped pulsating, the doctor let Brian cut it and then the two of us just pretty much stared at H for a while. Brian took several pictures and texted the family. :-) Once the doctor got everything with me set, she came up by my head and admired H for awhile. I will forever remember what she told me: "Aren't IVF babies just amazing? I have twins from IVF that are about to turn 6." She was right--they are pretty amazing! After a bit, they swaddled H up and gave her some eye drops and a Vitamin K shot and she laid on the table for a bit while they checked her out. At one point, I looked over at her and she was just laying there, chill as can be, staring around the room. It's pretty amazing that her personality was that evident--mere minutes after she was born. Brian held her for a bit while they got me ready to move to my postpartum room and then we all moved over there. Once I got in my new room, my vitals were checked and so were H's and eventually all the grandparents arrived! While my parents were there, I passed out from exhaustion (and pain killers) and H got her first bath with Brian and my parents photographing the whole thing. Eventually, I woke up and was able to take a shower!!!!
And then we all 3 settled in for a 2 night stay in the hospital where nothing eventful happened--just lots of well baby and postpartum mom checks! (All of my postpartum drama started AFTER we left the hospital!)
H on 1/31/13 (5 days after conception):
H on 10/23/13:
It's pretty amazing what happens in 9 months.
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