Our journey began (unexpectedly) the morning of February 13th, 2012. I set my alarm for 8 o'clock so I could get up and get a shower before my OB appointment. Feeling really large and lazy, I hit snooze to lounge in bed for a few more minutes before trying to crawl over Daniel. Eventually I mustered the energy to sit up and suddenly.. Surely not, I thought to myself. My due date wasn't for another month (March 15th), surely my bladder was just a little weak. I made another move, slow and cautious. Gush! Uh oh. I tried to sit up, all the while leaking fluid all over my (now ruined) body pillow. I shook Daniel and whispered, "I think my water broke." I will never forget his reaction, haha! He shot straight up in bed and immediately started asking a billion questions: who to call, when to go in, was I having contractions, why aren't you freaking out...
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| Uncle Brandon's addition to our calendar |
My first call was to my mom, whose suggestion was to call my aunt. Then we called my grandmother and my dad while waiting for my OB's office to open. Finally, we called the office and they told me to come on in since I had an appointment later that day anyway. At this point I'd had at least three gushes of fluid. Daniel's mom and mine met us at the doctor where I sat very impatiently for at least half an hour. They called me back and I had another gush as I made my way. They still insisted on a urine sample, etc etc. I guess they finally decided it was a good idea to wheel me on down to triage. The ride there is a really big blur. I remember Daniel and the moms jogging along behind us and just feeling a sense of calm. I was about to have a baby but I was totally not freaking out. (If you know me, this is not normal.)
In triage they had to test whether or not my water had actually broken (uhm, excuse me? Do my soaked undies not tell you enough?). Apparently there are three tests they can try, depending on how much fluid there is left. They did all three but didn't seem too satisfied with the results. (I mean, you waited long enough guys.) The next bit of fun? The IV. I hate large needles, any needles really. To make it worse, they ripped the needle out of my hand and had to do it ALL OVER AGAIN in my other hand. After all this, Dr. Felty came in to see if I was dilated at all. I was at about 1 cm and had some scar tissue in my cervix that she wanted to move around. She said once I was in the delivery room, I should get my epidural so she could come in after her lunch (ha, thanks doc) and move that junk around. Yes please, ma'am! Go on and drug me up!
Once in the room, I got the epidural around noon. This was when I really started shaking. You have to lean over sitting on the bed, holding a pillow, while they jab a huge needle in your back. Okay, maybe jab is too strong of a word. I didn't feel anything really- just felt sick to my stomach thinking about it. Of course I had a cath, too, but we won't talk about that. Time, at this point, just didn't mean a thing to me. People were coming in and out, petting me and feeding me ice. Daniel was by me the whole day. I really don't know what I would have done without him. I believe the first time Felty checked on me, I was dilated 4 cm. My best friend, Sydni, was watching the monitors and at some point noticed my heart rate was dropping and asked one of the nurses what was going on. I was having contractions! Hoorah! Felty came in to check on me again. "Come, look, Dad! I can see a head full of dark hair!" I WAS CROWNING OH MY GOSH! Or do you say the baby was crowning? Whatever. BIRTH TIME!
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| Notice the time stamp here? Z was born at 4:42 PM. |
Remember, I've had an epidural. I can't feel my legs. Naturally the doctor asks me, "Can you lift your legs up for me?" Okay lady, come on now. So she ends up lifting and placing one while Daniel holds the other. I don't remember exactly how many times I had to push but it couldn't have been any more than five. Again, everything was kind of a blur. I remember hearing her cry and watching the NICU nurses take her to to corner to get checked out. I remember Felty handing Daniel some shears to cut the umbilical cord (which was something he was so not interested in). He told me later that it was really hard to cut, haha! After all the other fun grossness I was rewarded with holding my daughter in my arms for the very first time...and the biggest cup of ginger ale they could find.
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