...our precious little girl, Aveline Brianna Renee, entered this world. And this is the story of her birth.
September 14th, 2010: My last Dr's appt went well. I had progressed from 1cm the week prior to 2cm so Dr. A stripped my membranes for me, but she said my cervix was not completely ready for labor yet. She asked me if I was okay with just being patient for another week. I said "physically, yes...I feel great. But mentally I'm done." So she scheduled me for an outpatient Prostaglandin Gel induction that Thursday the 16th because she was going to be on-call at the hospital that day. Gel inductions do not usually start labor immediately, their purpose is to "ripen" or prepare the cervix for labor, so most people going in for this type of induction are sent home a few hours later to wait for labor to begin (which could be hours to days later). At least this was a starting point to the end. I was at the point where I just needed our sweet little girl in my arms, to know that she was safe, and to put the last 19+ months behind me. My doctor also wrote me a note to be off of work from that point on, as I was scheduled to work Wednesday and Thursday nights...and there was no way that was going to happen if I was going to be induced Thursday morning.
September 15th, 2010: I woke up at 2am and could not for the life of me go back to sleep. I finally gave up around 4am and watched TV for a couple hours, falling asleep on the couch at around 6 and not waking up until 10:30am. Little did I know that would be the last sleep I got for about 36 hours! I was excited about the following day's induction, and figured I'd better get the house clean just in case I ended up staying at the hospital on the 16th instead of being sent home. I dusted, swept, mopped, vacuumed, and cleaned bathrooms. Somehow the kitchen escaped me. At 5:15pm I went to get a pedicure, mostly just for fun but also kinda hoping the old wives tale was true about pedicures starting labor. The technician asked my due date, and I could tell she looked a little nervous. She even told me to tell her if I started contracting...but I wasn't about to say anything about the braxton hicks I had been having all day, and even now while sitting in her chair. After the pedicure I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. I got home at about 6:45 and started cooking the lasagna hamburger helper we had planned on, along with steamed broccoli and french bread.
We sat down to dinner at about 7:20, arguing about whether or not we'd be having a baby the next day...I was trying to explain to Scott that gel inductions do not usually result in labor and it was an outpatient induction...we would be coming home. The whole thing had started when he told me he had said "goodbye" to all his coworkers that evening, in preparation for having the next week off. I got irritated because the plan was for him to be off Thursday for the induction and back to work on Friday...of course assuming there was no baby yet. I kept telling him "We're (probably) not having a baby tomorrow, it's an OUTPATIENT induction!!" He kept insisting that he understood, but that he still hoped it would be tomorrow. I responded with "Yeah, well, me too, but it just doesn't usually work that way." An annoyed silence ensued. Not even 60 seconds later, I felt a strange "pop", and for a split second my brain registered it as a strangely placed punch down low from Monkey. But when a warm and fast gush followed, my eyes immediately bugged out, I let out a surprised gasp, and jumped up and told Scott "that may have just been our free ticket..." as I ran to the bathroom.
There was no mistaking it, my water had definitely broken. I yelled for Scott to bring me an old towel, which I quickly pulled up between my legs to stop the waterfall. "Um, I guess you win" I admitted to Scott...as I slowly realized that this was it...there was no question about it, we were having this baby tonight. There was no wondering whether or not I was in labor, whether the contractions I was having were still the annoying old braxton hicks I'd had for weeks...we got the free pass to labor and delivery (which I had secretly hoped would happen all along)! I HAD been having braxton hicks anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes apart all day long, and they were slightly stronger than what I'd felt in the weeks prior, but still none of them were what I would call painful nor did they stop me from going about my regular business that day. But now it didn't matter, I didn't have to wonder what was a real contraction and what wasn't...we got the free pass!! And as a side note, even with all those braxton hicks I had had since 28-ish weeks I never once had a real contraction until after my water broke...and I can say that now having felt the difference, lol!!
So with a towel pulled up between my legs I waddled from our guest bathroom into our bathroom, still dazed and not quite sure where to start. With every move I felt another gush. I sat down on the edge of the bathtub in an attempt to stop the gushing, and asked Scott to bring my phone. It was about 7:30pm, and I called Dr. A on her cell phone to let her know what was going on. Then I finished my dinner, still sitting on the edge of the bathtub.
(It's 5:06am right now...our little girl is exactly 1 week old!!)
I wasn't exactly sure how to go about packing the last-minute items into my bag, get dressed and get to the car without making a huge mess. At this point I was now standing in the bathtub, afraid to step out and get the floor all wet. I changed my (soaked) shorts and underwear and tried stuffing a hand towel inside them to keep them dry...oh how I wished I had one of those huge postpartum pads from work!! The handtowel, even though it was thick, only lasted a couple minutes. I finally decided there was no way I was going to make it to the hospital with dry clothes, so I gave up and hoisted another huge bath towel up between my legs and waddled around the bathroom grabbing last minute things as Scott helped and carried stuff to the front door. It was both comical and frustrating at the same time, because I literally couldn't move without leaking! By shortly after 8pm we were in the car and headed to the hospital, Scott calling people to let them know what was happening, and me sitting stunned on a trash bag and two bath towels in the front seat. I was starting to feel contractions...they felt like mild menstrual cramps, only instead of constant they came and went...the whole way to the hospital they were exactly 3 minutes apart. I was slightly paranoid because I hadn't felt Monkey move since my water had broken about 45 minutes previously. I was probably just too distracted to notice, but it still bothered me and I sat there pushing on my belly trying to get a response out of her. In the back of my mind I had been worried about her umbilical cord possibly being in the way and getting caught when my water broke...comes from knowing too much about what can happen I guess...and with the constant gushing I was having I knew her head wasn't super super low yet or it would have acted as a cork and stopped (or at least majorly slowed) the leaking after the initial break. Fortunately (for my sanity) she gave me a reassuring kick and a squirm just as we pulled up to the Emergency Room.
I asked Scott to go in for a wheelchair, as there was no way I was walking into the ER with a towel between my legs (HA!). I got registered, and then wheeled up to L&D...the floor I work on. It felt kinda strange (and I had been scheduled to work that night before Dr. A gave me the note to be off!). It had to have been close to 9pm when I got situated in bed and on the monitor. Oh how reassuring that monitor was!! Monkey was very happy on the monitor, and so was I...I was finally here...and I finally felt safe. It was at this point that I knew everything would be fine...we wouldn't be leaving without a baby in our arms...which is something I had questioned every.single.day since January 11th when I saw that second line. I can honestly say I enjoyed the last 8 to 9 hours of my pregnancy the most, because I truly wasn't worried about a single thing! Go figure. I was also relieved to find out that I got one of our charge nurses, Courtney, as my labor nurse. Almost any of them would have been fine, but I had still wondered who I would actually end up with when the time came and I was very glad it was her. She got me admitted, did the fern test for amniotic fluid (as if there was a question, haha! I think they have to do it anyway for their log book...), started my IV, drew my blood, and checked my cervix. I was still 2cm, same as in the office the previous day, and I was only rating the contractions at a 2-3 on the pain scale. She said I should get up and walk for an hour to try and make the contractions stronger before thinking about an epidural. At that point, I wasn't sure if I'd be getting an epidural or not. My plan all along was to just see how things went. I got out of bed, and the contractions immediately got stronger...I'd say maybe a 4-5, but definitely still bearable.
Scott looked at his watch and announced that we had to walk until 10:45 (1 hour). I was starting to feel less and less thrilled about that with each passing minute. About 5 minutes into walking (we were just making big circles out in the waiting room at this point), his parents and oldest brother showed up. They said hi and then sat down on the other side of the waiting room out of sight. That made me happy, as I really didn't want to be around anyone at the moment. The contractions got really bad really fast, and I finally knew what "can't walk or talk through them" meant. Scott finally knew what it was like to lose feeling in his hands. Now we were just pacing back and forth slowly, and it seemed like we'd only get 10 feet before another contraction would hit and I'd be paralyzed again. I asked Scott what time it was. 10:05. "Are you kidding me, it's only been 20 minutes??" I told him I didn't know if I'd make it a whole hour...I also told him I could probably do this longer if they weren't so close together, but they were literally right on top of each other...the contractions seemed longer than the break inbetween them...and I had only been 2cm...I was beginning to like the idea of the epidural...ALOT. By 10:15 I had had enough and went back to my room and admitted to Courtney that I wanted the epidural...asap. The contractions were at about 8-9 on the pain scale now. She started my fluid bolus and I signed consents. The next 30 minutes were kind of a blur...I know it felt like 2hrs as I watched the IV fluid run in thinking it would never finish. It was impossible to get comfortable in bed and all I could do was breath through each contraction and squeeze something...mostly Scott's hand...he's probably glad I didn't wait any longer for the epidural too!! The epidural was placed around 10:45, and by 11pm I was almost pain free. Courtney checked my cervix again around 11:15 and I was a whopping 2 1/2 cm. Boy was I glad I got that epidural! At this time she also started pitocin.
Epiduralized and happy! :-P
I was a little shocked at how soon I needed the epidural. I typically have a pretty high pain tolerance, so I really was taken by suprise at how quickly things got painful after my water broke. But if a contraction at 2cm felt like that there was NO WAY I wanted to know what a contraction at 8cm felt like!! I was kinda feeling like a wimp until I remembered someone telling me that your water breaking makes contractions much much worse because you lose some of the "padding" the fluid provides. Makes sense. And I am in no way ashamed of getting that epidural! There's nothing like sitting in bed totally comfortable and watching your contractions on the monitor and NOT feeling them. Bliss! :-D And for the record, I had an AWESOME epidural, I never once felt pain once it took effect, and I could still move my legs, change positions, lift my bottom...it was awesome! And I could tell when someone touched me because of the pressure, but I couldn't feel it...if that makes any sense at all. Anyway, back to the story...
September 16th, 2010: My parents were now here, and my mom got comfortable in my room while my dad, after saying hi to me, joined Scott's family out in the waiting room. I had decided way back that I wanted my mom in the delivery room with me because I knew it would be special for her having never been through any of this herself as both Sam and I were adopted. For the next couple hours we tried to rest, but there was no sleep...too much anticipation to sleep! At ~2:30am Courtney checked me again and I was 5cm/90% and Monkey was starting to descend a little. She turned me onto my other side and put a big "peanut ball" between my legs to hold them open. This was supposed to help open up the pelvis to allow baby to drop lower into the birth canal, which would in turn put more pressure on my cervix and assist with dilation. As soon as the ball was in place I started feeling a little bit of pressure with each contraction, but nothing strong. An hour later she came back and checked me again, and to my shock I was 10cm!! Monkey had also come down a lot further, but not quite far enough to start pushing yet so she let me labor down for another hour or so. Around 4:15am she came back and we did some trial pushes. I pushed with maybe 3 or 4 contractions and I did so well that she said she would go ahead and call my doctor in...I'd be ready by the time she got here! We pushed with a couple more contractions as we waited for Dr. A to arrive, but then Courtney had me stop altogether because I was pushing so effectively! With the epidural it was the weirdest feeling...I mean, I knew I was pushing but I couldn't really tell WHERE I was pushing, nor could I feel anything (which was definitely a good thing!). But apparently I was doing a good job! She had even pulled a mirror out for me so I could see what I was doing, and with each push we could see a little bit more of Monkey's head...and her dark hair!!
Dr. A came in special for me (she wasn't supposed to be on-call until 7am that morning) and got there around 4:45am. I pushed with 3 or 4 more contractions and before I knew it there was a head sticking out of me...and then out came shoulders and a body...and let me tell you, THAT was a weird feeling because I could feel it, but it wasn't painful. I had seen this whole process over 100 times at my old job (Banner Desert), but this time it was ME and it felt so surreal. I was in shock as our daughter was placed on my now flat belly...Scott was standing to my right, but I don't know what he was doing...I think he was in shock too! I had envisioned this moment a million times, wondering exactly what would happen and what I would do. And now the moment was here, and I didn't know what to do! I couldn't cry, and at first I couldn't even talk. I think I managed a quiet "Hi baby!" as I stared for the first time at the face I'd been waiting so long to see. Our little Aveline...our "longed for child"...was finally here in my arms!! Her official birth time was 5:06am. A few seconds after she was handed to me I started rubbing her off with the towel to try and stimulate her to cry as Brenda, our nursery nurse, did the same thing and checked her out. It didn't take long before we heard a few gurgly cries. But Monkey was a little shocked too, so a minute or two later Brenda had to take her over to the warmer to give her some oxygen. She pinked up pretty quickly, and was crying well. Scott was over at the warmer with her and my mom got some pictures.
Right after she was born 
Holding Daddy's hand
Miss Aveline 
Big girl!
As my doctor worked on freeing my placenta and stitching me up, we all took guesses on Monkey's weight. I guessed 9lbs even. Dr. A was spot on at 8lbs 14oz...I think she's had a little too much practice at that, lol! Monkey was 20 inches long, and her apgars were 7 and 9 (thus her initial shock, haha). All in all, the whole labor lasted 9 hrs, and I couldn't have asked for an easier or smoother delivery, and we were both healthy. A few minutes later, Scott came over to the bed with our little girl in his arms. She was just staring up at him with wide open eyes. Again, I think we were both still in shock, and I really didn't know what to say. I just kept thinking "Thank you Jesus" over and over in my head. The past 19 months were finally over. Our precious girl was safe and healthy in our arms.
Proud Daddy
Happy Family
“May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests.” Psalm 20: 4-5
And I must say...all our requests were granted. And I know I've quoted it before, but...
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21
So, IF the ultrasound was correct and she's really packed on 4 lbs in the past 6 weeks (remember she was ~3 lbs 6 oz at 28 weeks), and she still has another 6 weeks to cook...AND they tend to gain more at the end...she has the potential to be 11+ lbs. I took care of an 11 lb baby last night at work. Ummmm, can you say TODDLER??? :::cries::: I don't want to give birth to a toddler!!! Haha, I'm just kidding, she's not going to be that big. (What's the definition of denial again?)
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