The day before my due date, I didn't feel well all day. I went to work but left early. My stomach felt really upset, my back hurt, and I just felt generally sick and achy all over. I was hoping I might be going into labor but didn't want to get my hopes up. I went to my parents house after work and hung out with my mom. We decided to go get pedicures to help me feel better. :) I was feeling a little better at that point, but when I got home from the pedicure, around 7 pm, I started feeling a lot worse. I was still super achy and then started feeling really nauseous too. I tried to sleep it off for a couple hours, but I felt worse when I woke up. I didn't feel like I was having contractions, so I didn't see any reason to go in to labor and delivery. I figured I was probably just sick.
I was stressed and feeling rotten, so I decided to ask for a priesthood blessing. My parents came over, and Sam and my dad gave me a blessing. We talked to them for a bit, and my mom encouraged me to go in to the hospital if I didn't start feeling better. After that, I was able to get some sleep, but when I woke up around 5:30 am, my back was killing me. I decided that I was either in labor or had a bad kidney/bladder infection and should probably go in either way. We threw our stuff in the car and made it to the hospital around 6:00 am.
Once there, they hooked me up to monitors and had me pee in a cup. We watched my contractions (which were present but mild and about 10 minutes apart) and baby's heart rate while we waited for the test on my urine sample to come back. After a while, the nurse came back in and said that my urine sample looked normal but that the baby's heart rate looked a little high (in the 180s), so they wanted to keep me and watch her for a bit. Dr. Aagard was the doctor on call, so we waited to hear what he wanted us to do. I was certain they would send us home.
About an hour later, the nurse came in and said Dr. Aagard was in a surgery but that he had reviewed the readings from the fetal heart rate monitor and decided that, since I was full-term and the baby's heart rate indicated some possible stress (probably just from me feeling horrible!) they wanted to admit me and deliver me that day!
We (mostly me) were so surprised and excited! Sam cracked me up when he frantically asked the nurse if he had time to run out the car to grab our bags. Yes, we had plenty of time. :) We were both a little frazzled and filled with nervous, excited energy. We were finally going to meet our baby!
They got me set up in a room and started pitocin pretty much right away. At this point, the baby's heart rate looked great. We were so relieved. My mom got to the hospital to hang out with us around 11 am. They increased the pitocin every half hour for three hours, and then checked my cervix...Nothing at all was going on down there! I had been having contractions every five minutes, but they weren't changing my cervix. So frustrating.
Since the baby's heart rate looked great, the doctor gave us a couple of options. One, we could go home and wait it out until I went into active labor on my own. Two, we could continue the pitocin and see what happened but this increased our risk for c-seciton. Or, three, we could unplug the pitocin and try something called cervadil--a pill inserted up to three times, every 3-4 hours, to slowly soften the cervix. If the cervadil worked well, then they would turn the pitocin back on and hopefully things would move along quickly.
After talking with the doctor and nurse, we decided to go with the third option and felt really good about it. The nurse told me that most women don't have contractions or any discomfort with the cervadil, so I would probably just be able to hang out and relax and maybe even get some sleep. I was pretty exhausted already from being sick all day and night, so sleep sounded great.
They put in the first dose of cervadil around 2 pm, and my mom left to go get us some lunch. We at chik-fil-a and watched TV. Even with the pitocin turned off, I continued to have mild contractions every five minutes. By about 4 pm, they started getting a little stronger, but when they checked, I still wasn't dilated at all. They went ahead and put in the second dose of cervadil around 6 pm, and we kept waiting.
By this point, I was pretty wiped out. My contraction were pretty painful and consistent, and I had been having them all day without a break. They obviously couldn't and shouldn't do the epidural until I was in active labor, but I was physically and mentally exhausted. I was overwhelmed thinking that I would have to keep going through this for 3-4 more hours before they even started the pitocin again and things got moving. Sam and my mom did a good job of distracting me, but I was getting close to tears by about 8 pm.
At 9 pm, it was time for them to check me again and put in the last dose of cervadil. My contractions were still pretty painful, and I was having a strong one when the nurse got me on the bed to check me. I tried to ask her to wait until the contraction was over, but she just started reclining the bed back really fast. With the combination of the two, I felt a little pop and a gush of liquid. I told the nurse that I thought my water had just broken. She looked a little skeptical. Then I felt another big gush. "Yep, I'm pretty sure my water broke." She went ahead and checked me, and I was at a 2. Hooray! Finally some progress, and we didn't even have to do the third dose of cervadil.
Things picked up pretty quickly from there--they got me the epidural pretty much right away. I was nervous for this part but so tired and ready to be done feeling pain. After having contractions for hours and hours, I didn't even feel any pain when they did the epidural. It started working quickly and was the best!
At this point, we turned on Home Alone, and just hung out and rested. They said they would check me again at midnight. I was feeling pretty good except I got super shaky all over--this lasted until a few hours after I had the baby. By around 11 pm, I started feeling tons of pressure. I got nervous and pushed the button a bunch to increase my epidural. I told the nurse I was feeling lots of pressure, and she just nodded and said they'd check me at midnight. (She was not my favorite--didn't really listen to anything my mom or I said.) Finally, a different (and super awesome) nurse came in around midnight to check me. She said I was at a 10 and totally ready to go! She said it looked like I had been fully dilated for an hour or more. While it was kind of annoying that the first nurse ignored me, it ended up being good that we waited--it made pushing super fast and easy!
I pushed twice with the nurse while my mom and Sam held my legs. Then, the nurse grabbed the doctor, and I pushed a few times with him, and she was here at 12:23 am! I was so numb that it was really surreal when they handed me my baby. I couldn't believe she was really mine! I expected to cry but I just kept smiling and felt so happy, just taking it all in! It was so great to share that moment with Sam.
Claire was healthy and strong, weighing in at 7 lbs 7 oz, measuring 19 3/4 inches. She was smaller than we thought she'd be, judging off of how big Sam and I were as babies! We noticed her cute little dark hair with lots of funny cowlicks, and a big swirl in the back, right away. We also noticed that she looked a lot like me through the eyes/brow. The first thing I asked, before they even handed her to me, was, "Is it a girl?" Ha! I just wanted a baby girl so bad, it seemed too good to be true, and I half expected her to come out a boy. (Don't get me wrong--I will LOVE to have a boy or boys someday--I have just always wanted a little girl, as I'm sure most women can relate!)
My mom stayed while they got me all cleaned up, and then she headed home when they moved us to the recovery room and took Claire to the nursery. They let Sam and me go with her to get examined and have her first bath. By this point, I was so exhausted I could barely see straight, so I didn't last long in the nursery. Sam stayed and took pictures of her first bath and then met me back in the recovery room. We ended up having the nursery keep Claire during the night and just bring her to me to eat. Originally, we had wanted to have her in our room all the time, but we were both so tired we quickly changed our minds.
We stayed in the hospital all day Saturday and Saturday night and then got the go ahead to be released Sunday morning. We were both pretty terrified to leave the help of the nurses and constant supervision but also ready to get home.
We are so grateful that everything went so smoothly and that we have our precious baby Claire in our family. We love her so much!
I loved reading this post. I'm so happy baby Claire arrived safe and healthy. :)
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