Life in Time Out: March 2012

February 1, 2012

Jeremy and I arrived at the hospital at 6 am for the induction at 7 am. I was getting a little irritated when 7:15 rolled around we still weren't in a room, but once we got in a room things went pretty quickly. By 7:30 I was in my bed, hooked up to pitocin, and Dr. Barrett broke my water. I was 5 cm dilated and 60% effaced when we showed up at the hospital. I decided to labor without an epidural for a little while.

Ready to meet our baby!

Around 10 am I hadn't made any progress. After using the restroom I felt like Baby had dropped a little, but the nurse didn't notice any difference. I started feeling a little discouraged thinking this might take all day, so I requested my epidural. The anesthesiologist showed up around 10:45 and was really busy. She tried calling 3 other doctors to give me the epidural but they were all busy also. The anesthesiologist had a planned c-section at 11 but thankfully finished my epidural first.

At noon the nurse checked and I still wasn't making any progress. She said my baby either had a very bald head or my water needed broken again. What?!?! The nurse had to quickly catch my doctor before another patient's c-section at 12:30. Around 12:15 Dr. Barrett broke my water again. Apparently Baby had dropped and covered the hole so the fluid built back up again. Dr. Barrett said she would check on me again between 1:30 and 2 after her surgery. The nurse and Dr. Barrett were a little concerned of my lack of progress and started talking about other options (a catheter to stimulate contractions). I decided to rest since this was turning into a longer day than anticipated.

Around 2 pm I asked for a cup of ice. A different nurse came in and I asked if my nurse could come in and check me for progress. The hospital was very busy that day and ended up having over 30 deliveries. My doctor had been called back to the office and wasn't able to check back in with me. My nurse came to check on me around 2:20. She started getting the catheter ready while explaining how busy they were. When she checked me she asked if I was having any pain. The epidural was a little strong (I had already asked them to lower it twice) and I was only able to wiggle my toes. I hadn't felt anything and was resting until she came in. Once she checked me she was shocked! She got up a little quickly and said "That baby is 'right there'! Don't cough or sneeze - I need to call your doctor quickly!"

To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what that meant. I knew it meant Baby was on its way, but didn't know if that meant a few minutes or another hour or two. Then the nurses showed up and starting getting everything ready. Dr. Barrett came back around 12:40, checked me, and said "Don't laugh, cough, or sneeze!" They were concerned I wasn't going to be able to push with the epidural up so high so they turned it off and asked me to do a practice push. I reassured them I could push and they had me stop so they could get all the nurses in the room.

I started pushing at 12:51 and Hannah was born at 12:55. I couldn't believe how quickly it went. I wonder how quickly it would have went if my water had broken correctly the first time.

Hannah was 9 pounds 7 ounces and 20 inches long. She had a lot of hair on the back of her head, but not much on top. She was not very happy to be out in the world and had a pouty face most of the night. She looks very similar to Abby. And she stole our hearts immediately!