We arrived at the hospital and got all set up in the room. I have very small veins so it took them three times to set up the IV - I think that hurt more than anything else. The nurse did another internal and said I was close to a 6 and that I had a stretchy cervix. They started the pitocin by 7:00 and for the first hour all we did was sit around and talk with my family.
At around 8:00 my doctor came in to check everything out and to break my water. It was pretty disgusting to be sitting in your own "juices" so my wonderful nurse changed out my sheets while I took one last trip to the bathroom. By this time the contractions were really coming on, about every 3-5 minutes. After they broke my water they started getting really intense and I actually had to concentrate and breathe through them. The nurse suggested that if I wanted to get an epidural that I might ask for it now since it can take about 30 minutes for them to show up and I was progressing pretty quickly.
Around 9:00 the anesthesiologist came into the room - he was one of my favorite visitors of the day!! He talked me through the procedure, letting me know everything he was doing and anything I would be feeling. It really wasn't that bad, the worst part was being so still during a contraction. Once the epidural set in I was feeling a lot more comfortable, but I got the shakes pretty bad and threw up a couple of times. At this point they thought I might be transitioning and suggested I take a nap before it was time to push.
At 11:30 the nurse came into check me and I was pretty surprised when she said I was already 10 cm dilated and completely effaced. The baby's head was still up a bit so they decided to have me labor down a bit to see if her head would come down more before I started pushing.
At 12:30 everything started getting a little crazy in my room as they prepared me for pushing. My sister and my DH held my legs and they started having me do some "practice pushes" to make sure I could feel what I was doing. Let me just say that I had no clue what I was doing, but I just pretended I had to take a big pewp and let things go from there. After a couple of pushes they asked if I wanted a mirror to be brought in because you could see the top of her head and they thought that might inspire me to get her out sooner. I thought hey why not - I haven't seen my vagina in months anyway! The mirror was pretty cool and it did help in the beginning, but once I saw the blood and I knew I was starting to tear I had them take it away.
After pushing for an hour I was starting to get tired, but everyone kept telling me how great I was doing and that I just had a little bit longer. At this point my doctor was in the room checking on me and all of a sudden another nurse comes rushing into the room and whispers something in her ear. This of course freaks me out - all I could think was that there was something wrong with the baby. It turns out another woman was having some problems in another room and my doctor had to go and check on her. Because I was getting so close they told me to stop pushing until the doctor could come back. Stop pushing!!! How could I stop pushing when every contraction made me feel like I had to push no matter what!! Luckily they only made me wait about 15 minutes, but it seemed like much longer.
Once the doctor came back into the room things got really crazy. I swear it felt like there were like 20 people in the room getting things ready for the baby to arrive. They finally said I could push and it felt like the best relief in the world!! It was by far my best push and the next thing I know they told me not to push again because she was crowning!!
The next thing I know they are telling me to push again and I felt an intense burning as her head and then her body came out (looking back I know now this is when I got my 2nd degree tear.) They put her up on my chest and I remember looking at her and then looking at my DH (who was sobbing by this time) and thinking to myself oh my gosh we have a baby!! I think I was in complete shock and the first thing I could think of to say was - is it still a girl? All the nurses started laughing, I guess they found my statement quite humorous.
Everything after that was a blur as they took her to be cleaned and checked out. I remember delivering my placenta and looking at it briefly. I remember looking down and seeing them stitching me back up and asking how many stitches I was getting. When it came time to weigh her officially they made sure to put the scale close enough so I could see what it said. I remember my sister was taking a ton of pictures and my DH never left our little girl's side as she got cleaned up. I think I fell in love with him all over that day watching him care for our daughter!
All in all it was one of the most memorable days of my life and despite the pain and discomfort I would do it all over again in a heart beat if it meant having my little girl in my life!!
Madelynn's first photo
A close up of her adorable face
Our first "family" photo
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