A Birth Story

We arrived at the hospital on January 21st around 9:55 pm after having a fun/busy night getting last minute groceries and playing rock band with friends. As we walked up to the emergency room entrance (the main entrance was closed) I thought, this is it -when I leave this place I’m going to be leaving with a baby. Brand and I looked at each other and I’m pretty sure we felt the same thing, here we go.

We got up to labor and delivery and were introduced to our nurse -she was heaven sent and I know it for a fact.  She introduced herself with the bubbliest personality and after she did the word yay! escaped from my mouth.  She showed us to our room, I changed into my hospital gown, and we started the sign in process -you know, the can I have your ID, insurance card, what’s your height, how much did you weigh before you were pregnant, yadda-yadda. It wasn’t till about midnight when the whole induction started. 

I was still only dilated to a one and not very thinned out so I had quite a ways to go. The nurse gave me medication to help me progress and cause contractions. Sure enough it did, my contractions became more mild, but really I couldn’t feel them one bit. The night was pretty slow, I didn’t sleep because of all the anticipation of this little girl’s arrival. By morning I was dilated to a 3 and my doctor came in to break my water. 

7:30 am January 22nd -water broken.  Holy cow can I tell you how crazy/awkward/weird that whole thing felt. I felt like I had just wet my pants a hundred times over. After my doctor broke my water the contractions started getting more strong. I was able to muscle through them for almost two hours when I finally requested an epidural. What they say is true, request an epidural before you think you will need it, especially if there are a lot of other women in labor, everyone will want an epidural at the same time! My anesthesiologist was just going into a c-section when I requested mine and it took almost an hour for me to get the epidural. I cannot begin to tell you how painful it started to become, it was one of those things where I didn’t know if I would be able to make it through if he didn’t get there soon. I didn’t know how women give birth naturally -more power to you guys! 

After I got my epidural -my anesthesiologist was amazing by the way- I realized that I could still feel the right side of my leg/body.  My nurse didn’t believe me and told me that it would take a while for the epidural to work. My thoughts: well then why can I not feel the left side, but I can feel the right? So I waited, in lots of pain, crying pain actually, Brand went to get the nurse because this wasn’t just pressure and the epidural really wasn’t working on my right side. The anesthesiologist came back in, tested my legs to see what I could feel, and then decided to give me lidocaine. The wonderful medicine worked like a charm and in minutes the pain was gone! 

One o’clock came around, I was dilated to an 8 and they put me on the peanut ball.  From there on it was more waiting and more doses of lidocaine, because it seemed to wear off pretty fast.  The afternoon flew by and we were able to take a bit of a cat nap before her big debut. There was about an hour in the afternoon where I wore a breathing mask to wake the little girl up because she seemed to be napping and they wanted her to be awake. Around 4:50 my nurse came in to let me know that it was time to push, and so I did. Then my doctor came in when it was really time to push, 

10 contractions or less, and pushing 3-4 time with each and there she was. 5:19 pm our little Hazel Anne joined our family. You guys, I was in heaven and I’m pretty sure I went right into mom mode. I cannot tell you how wonderful a day it was. I remember seeing Brand with her for the first time and my heart grew three sizes, it was something I will never forget. Just the way he looked at her, you could see the love pouring out. 

After Brand and I spent about an hour with our little Hazel, getting to know her and starting the whole nursing thing -which she did like a champ- Brand and her headed to the nursery where she got a little bath and some time under the heat lamp. Brand said she loved the heat lamp and stretched out her little legs and arms like it was nothing new to her.

While they were in the nursery I was waiting to be checked out by the nurse. Can I tell you I waited an hour and a half for my day nurse to help me, I just sat there on the delivery bed, medication wearing off and all… Little did I know she was going to just leave me there until her shift was over. Let me just tell you, I was really upset about that. But anyways, my night nurse -the one I loved- had just started her shift and came right in and got me all fixed up, she got me a yummy cranberry sprite drink and wheeled me to my new room, Brand found me and came along and Hazel followed close behind.

The whole thing was better than I imagined and labor seemed to go by really fast. I’m so grateful to have a healthy happy baby on my hands, she is so calm and sweet. I’m so excited for this motherhood thing.