I got home from work the morning of the 29th. It seems crazy that I worked the night before and I am glad I didn't go into labor there-we take care of sick kids-not women in labor. Anyway, I had thought I would go to church with everyone, but I was tired and decided to stay home and sleep. I did wake up to fix lunch for the boys and then took and afternoon nap.
I woke up to my alarm on my phone and then fell back to sleep until almost 5pm. I couldn't believe I slept that long since I had only worked the one night and it had been an easy shift. I got up, showered and came downstairs. I would like to say that I was feeling no contractions at this time. I had had intermittant little contractions before, but if I moved around or changed position, they went away. I sat down on the couch with Liam to watch a video and Andy started to make the kids dinner. When it was about time to eat, I got Liam off my lap and stood up, and gush my water broke. It was about 6pm. I said, "Andy, I think my water just broke." He said, "I think so." I went upstairs to get cleaned up and call the oncall doctor and Andy got the boys started on dinner and went down to our neighbor's house to see if they could watch the kids (of course they could-they are so kind). While I waited for the doctor to call me back, I packed for the hospital and folded some clothes. I wasn't really feeling strong contractions. Andy called his mom and then my mom to see who could come out and pick up the boys from the neighbors. My mom answered her phone and started the 4 hour drive to our house.
We dropped the boys off at the neighbor's. They were happy to go and play with the other kids. We chatted with them for a few minutes and then got in the van and left. I was able to talk to my sister and my mom on the way to the hospital. Once I sat down for the ride, I started to pay more attention to the contractions. Maybe because I wasn't moving around anymore, but they seemed to feel stronger and they felt like they were about every 5 minutes apart. I know Andy was trying to get to the hospital as fast as he could without breaking the law. He took a way that was pretty fast. By the time we got to the hospital, I bet the contractions were only 3-4 minutes apart and uncomfortable-I do not like pain.
When we get to the hospital they take me to a triage room. It was 730pm. This confused me and make me a little nervous since I knew that across from the triage rooms were delivery rooms attached to the NICU. I asked the nurse why I was back here instead of in a labor room. She said it was because everyone gets brought back to triage first to make sure they are in labor. But, once she saw that my water had clearly broken and that I was obviosly having close, strong contractions, she said forget it, you are going right to a labor room now. I am excited because I am looking forward to an epidural to take care of this labor pain.
I meet my nurse, get taken to an actual room and she pages anethesia. Another nurse comes in to start an IV and my doctor comes in to check me. I am 8-9 cm dilated and 0 station. There's at least 1 or 2 other nurses in there now getting an isolet ready for the baby and a delivery table ready too. I get my IV and anestheia comes in. My contractions hurt and I am very uncomfortable. The epidural goes in, no problem and I get a little relief when he gives me a little bolus of medication. Then he has me lay back down.
Ok, this is where it gets a little hazy. I remember my legs starting to shake and the nurse said it was because I was transitioning out of the second phase of labor. I remember thinking-this epidural is taking forever to work. Then I remember really feeling the urge to push. The nurse was telling me to blow the contractions away, and I tried, but they were so strong I know I pushed some. Well, the nurse yelled that she needed a doctor in there-now! and a doctor did come in and then right behind her, came my doctor. Then we started pushing. I remember doing 2 sets of the 3 pushes. I remember they put an oxygen mask on me-pretty standard. I remember getting at least another bolus of epidural medication. I can't remember if I did another set of pushes before I remember my doctor saying for the next set, really draw your knees back. I remember that was uncomfortable and hard for me to do. Then I remember my doctor saying, okay now push right down here. I thought she was trying to help me focus for the next series of pushes. That first push hurt! That was the first one that I actually said OW for. But, that was the head coming out. She had me take a breath and push again, and Kella was born. 855pm. That was a fast labor. They put her on my chest and I remember thinking how much hair she had! And, that hair was clearly red. And, then, my epidural starting to kick in. Nice. We hung out in the labor room for the next 2 hours for recovery before going to a post-partum room. They checked Kella's sugar a couple of times and she ended up getting a little formula for a glucose of 52-they wanted it above 50 and her's were drifting down. She also had temps in the 97s and didn't get herself a bath right away either, we just kept her warm and bundled.
And that's it. Like I said, it all happened so fast, I hope I got my facts straight. The rest of the time in the hospital went fine and we were ready to go home and have her meet her brothers.
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