I feel like the hospital holds a special place for me, specifically this hospital. The place where I’ve had all three of my girls, where we first became parents, where we finally understood what a sleepless night was. The hospital where I learned what postpartum looked like, and realized that having a baby was going to be the biggest-blessing and the biggest-learning-moment of my life.
The hospital for me is a place of re-cupe, beginning, and love.
Those first few moments, minutes, and hours after having a baby are priceless. And some of my very favorite memories. The fresh new baby, their new sounds, their brand new wrinkly hands, and feet. I love every part of it. Even if I’m sitting there in pain.
The moment they place your new baby on your chest for the very-first-time. There is nothing like it.
I can vividly remember these moments after I had the girls. Their sacred weight on my chest, their lives just beginning. And they were mine forever.
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Our induction date was scheduled for December 3rd at 12:00 am. Which meant we were going to be up all night waiting to go into the hospital. Midnight rolled around and the hospital had no room for us quite yet. So we went to bed and tried to get as much sleep as we could.
That morning I drove Hazel to school and while we were in line at her school I got a phone call saying they would have an open bed at 830am. I dropped Hazel off and told her that the next time I saw her she would have a new sister -my oldest girl becoming a big sister again. She was thrilled, although I don’t know if she was more thrilled for her new sister or to sleep at Gran’s house. haha!
830 – we got to the hospital, checked into our room, and I change into my hospital gown. The whole time, all I could think was “How is this already happening!?”
9 – they placed my IV and checked me to see if I had made any progress. I was dilated to a 4 and would start Pitocin soon.
10:45 – contractions were getting bigger and my doctor came in and broke my water.
After she broke my water my contractions started getting bigger and harder, but I decided to wait to get my epidural. After an hour and a half of hard contractions, I decided to get on the epidural list – unfortunately the list was pretty long so I had to wait even longer.
12:25 – I got my epidural. It’s so amazing what an epidural can do for your pain. I felt so extremely relaxed and a little silly at the same time. I could feel the epidural kicking in and I was able to get a little rest before Elsie was born. These pre-birth naps are some of the best. It’s so relaxing, especially when you go from having so much pain to having little to none. And every time I get one of these pre-birth naps I am amazed and question why I wait to get an epidural. By this point, I was dilated to a 7 and they also had me using a peanut ball at this point.
2pm – Contractions started getting really hard again -even though I had an epidural. It felt like it did without my epidural and I started wondering if it had stopped working.
The nurse checked me and told me that I was at an 8 and told me it was only a matter of time. The contractions continued with intensity, so much so that it was extremely difficult to hold it all together. I had the nurse come back in and she said I was fully dilated and ready to push. Which meant I just dilated from an 8 to a 10 in a matter of minutes –that’s why it hurt so much!
My wonderful doctor came in, I pushed for a little bit and then our sweet Elsie was born at 2:43 pm. Our perfect baby girl. She cried a little bit, but it was one of those sweet newborn cries. All I could think about was the feeling of her on my chest. The newness that she brought, the calm that I felt instantly. Our baby Elsie, fresh from heaven, the freshest you could ever get. And I loved her.
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They moved us into our postpartum room and it all just seemed like a blink of an eye. She got her newborn screening, her first bath, and all the snuggles we could ever give her. We went home the next day, but I wished I would have stayed because the nurses were so amazing to me. Bringing me drinks, and this wonderful heating pad that put me right to sleep. I’m so grateful for wonderful nurses. Especially for the ones I had.
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