Let me start off by saying that I'm a bit of a dramatic baby. =]
At my doctor's appointment the week before her due date, Dr. Carlson asked if I wanted to set an induction date. I asked if it was better to wait or if it didn't matter. He said that a lot of people liked to set their induction dates, simply for convenience. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have like zero patience! So obviously, I set an induction date because I could hardly wait any longer. On Wednesday, November 9th, I was scheduled to go in around 7pm, but I was supposed to call around 5:30 to make sure there was room.
Apparently, it was a baby crazy day, and there actually were no rooms available, so they told me to call back in about 2 hours. When I called back, there still wasn't room, so they said to call back in another 2 hours. Of course, by this point I was dying of impatience. I had it set in my mind that I should have already been induced and getting ready to meet my sweet angel. The 2 hours passed and I called back again. They said there still was no room, and decided to just have me reschedule and come in the morning around 5am. So Kyle and I went to bed, a little anxious, but prepared to wait. Around 10:30pm that same night, I got a phone call from the hospital saying they had room, and I could go now if I wanted to. Of course I woke Kyle up and nearly ran to the car (well waddled quickly)!
We got there around 11 and they took me to the room I would be laboring and delivering in. The nurses came and started getting everything set up and ready to go. Right around midnight, they administered the drugs that would start my induction. The nurse and doctor on call told me to try and get my rest while I could. I tried, but honestly who were they kidding?! I was about to have my baby! I was way to anxious to sleep! I was in and out for the next couple of hours. They gave me one more dose of the drugs around 2am. At about 3am my contractions started. They weren't bad and it actually took me a little while to figure out what they were. They were pretty infrequent and didn't last very long.
At 5am the contractions really hit. It was bad. Apparently, I was carrying this baby in my back, so I was having really bad back labor. Kyle was still sound asleep on the pull out sofa in the room. I turned and yelled at him that for being my support person, he wasn't being very supportive. He of course groggily rushed over to help me in whatever way he could. The contractions only got worse from there. They were coming quickly and were lasting a good minute or two each, with only about 2 minutes in between. It was horrible. I was crying and yelling, and really not being very pleasant at all. The nurse had me sit on the birthing ball to help rotate the baby to the front. It took a while, but eventually she moved because the pressure was relieved from my back. Now, however, I got to feel the full force of the front contractions, and they were not much more pleasant than the ones in my back.
I NEEDED my epidural. They checked my dilation, and said the baby's head was clear down, but I wasn't quite dilated enough yet. Not to sound cliche, but I was in the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. I started to notice that right before I was about to have a contraction, I could hear the baby's heart rate increase on the monitor. I began to dread that sound, and actually would clench up whenever I started hearing her little heart rate speeding up. It never failed, every single time, right before, the monitors would start going off. She wasn't in distress or anything, it was just her little body reacting to the contractions. It was around this time that I started turning into a big drama baby. The door to my room was open so the nurses could hear me, and I started yelling very loudly that I needed my epidural RIGHT NOW!!! The contractions were coming more and more quickly, in fact I had almost no break in between them.
Finally, around 7am when they checked me again, they said I was definitely dilated enough to get my epidural. They called the anesthesiologist, then came back and informed me he wouldn't be there for about 45 minutes, but I would be alright. It was also at this time that Kyle called my mom to come down, so she wouldn't miss the birth. As every contraction hit, I screamed and yelled and Kyle would calmly try to remind me to just focus on my breathing and that I couldn't breathe if I was yelling. I tried, but it was unbearable. The anesthesiologist finally showed up around 8, along with my ob/gyn. Dr. Carlson, my ob/gyn wanted to check me before they gave me my epidural. He said we should break my water before. I flat out told him no. I absolutely could not wait any longer for my epidural. He of course, being the good doctor that he is, did not listen to me. He said, "Well, just let me take a quick look here." Then he broke my water before I even knew what was happening.
Everyone was very worried about me getting the epidural, because they said I had to hold absolutely still while he was inserting the needle. My contractions were so close together, I didn't think I could hold still that long, and of course being the big drama baby I am, I had to stand, sit, stand, crouch, slump, stand and try any position I could think of to ease the pain. Kyle was a huge help through this all, and especially at this point. I sat up in my bed and turned towards Kyle, with the anesthesiologist at my back. Kyle grabbed my hands, and the anesthesiologist began the epidural. When my contractions hit, I squeezed Kyle's hands as tightly as I possibly could, and he squeezed right back. It was the most difficult contraction for me to deal with, because I could do almost absolutely nothing to ease the pain. He got the catheter in, then began giving me the medication. I was told it would take a little while to kick in, but I could no longer move around, and I would need to stay laying down.
My mom showed up around 20 minutes after they had given me the epidural, and it still hadn't kicked in. They ended up giving me 2 more doses before I stopped feeling pain. After that point, labor was a breeze. I was in a cheerful mood, joking with everyone, and just ready to meet my little girl! I continued laboring for another 2 hours, but it wasn't bad, the contractions still had a lot of pressure and a little bit of pain, but compared to before, they were just a mild disturbance.
At around 10, one of the nurses came in to check on me. She took one look at my cervix and said we were ready to go! She went and called the doctor, then came in and said she was going to have me start pushing. This was it. I was scared and nervous, but mostly very very excited! Kyle, my mom, and my brother were there to witness my baby's birth. The only person missing was my dad, who unfortunately could not leave work. They prepped everything they would need for the delivery, then she told me to push with my next contraction. Kyle held my left hand, my mom held my right, and I began the delivery of my beautiful baby girl.There was absolutely no pain at this point, it was definitely the easiest part of labor and delivery for me. Two pushes later, Dr. Carlson showed up. He took over for the nurse, and said we were almost there. After the next push, he said she was crowning and asked if I wanted to touch her. I'm pretty sure my eyes went huge and my face probably looked a little grossed out as I hesitantly told him sure. He guided my hand down to her head, and I don't know if the medication was making me kinda of loopy, or if I was just getting into that weird exhausted stage, but the first thing I said was, "Wow! She's hairy!" Then it was time to move on. A couple pushes and around 5 minutes later, they told me this was the final push.
My beautiful baby, Adalynn Sofia Hand, arrived in this world at 10:18am. I held her squirmy little body against my chest and never wanted to let her go again. Unfortunately they told me she wasn't crying enough so they needed to take her over to the heating lamps. I reluctantly let them take her from my arms to the other side of the room. She gave them some good screams then they weighed and measured her. She was 8lbs 15oz and 21in long. After they had cleaned her up a bit, Kyle brought her back to me. We held her together and looked down at the beautiful angel that was ours to keep forever.
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