My original due date was July 27th, at times it seemed like the day would never come, but overall my entire pregnancy flew by.
On July 28th I had a dr appointment, and happened to see my sister's doctor, since mine was on vacation. One of the first things she said to me was "Well, I hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and called Labor and Delivery and scheduled your induction for next Monday." This was the greatest news in the world to me. I really didn't want to be induced, but I was so ready to meet my little girl! At the appointment my doctor checked me and said my cervix was very soft, but I still wasn't really dilated much. So since I had my induction date I decided that Wednesday, July 30th would be my last day of work, and then I would have Thursday through Sunday to relax and prepare for delivery and bringing home the baby.
Thursday, July 31st - I woke up in the morning and seemed to have my bloody show, which can or can't mean that labor is coming.. so I didn't think too much of it. I started my day by cleaning the house and doing some laundry. I went to go bring lunch to Joe and told him that I think today might be the day, but I was only half serious, cause I really didn't know. After lunch I went back home and continued cleaning and by 3:00 in the afternoon I was exhausted, so I decided I was done for the day. Around 4:45 I had a little gush of fluid, I kinda wondered if it could be my water breaking, but I wasn't sure since it was just a little bit, and you always hear the stories of water breaking and it goes everywhere. So Joe got home a little after 5:00 and we went to Target to buy a few last minute baby items. While we were at Target I started getting really uncomfortable, feeling crampy and having a lower backache, but not having any regular contractions. By about 6:45 I had a few more gushes of fluid, so I figured I better call the doctor to see what they say.
I called the doctors office and they told me to go down to the hospital and they would test me to see if it was my fluid that had broke, and if it was that meant we would be staying at the hospital and having a baby. So Joe jumped in the shower and I finished packing up all of our hospital bags, we arrived to the hospital at about 8 pm, at which point I was still not feeling any regular contractions.
When we arrived at the hospital they brought me back to a room and had Joe wait in the waiting area. They hooked me up to some monitors to monitor my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. They did a test to see if it was my amniotic fluid, and the test showed that it was my water had broke, so the nurse went to go get Joe.
When Joe got into the room he noticed that the monitor was measuring my contractions and they were coming almost every 4 minutes, I was feeling them a little bit, but they weren't too bad. At around 9:00 they came and got us and brought us to our delivery room. The nurse had mentioned that the doctor wanted me to start on pitocin right away because I had tested positive for GBS, which basically means they don't want you to be in labor too long. But I asked to see how I progressed on my own for a little while before we started the pitocin. The nurse checked me and I was 3 cm dilated 80% effaced and my contractions were coming every 2-4 minutes. The contractions were starting to get stronger and I was getting more uncomfortable.
Around 10:30 the doctor that would be delivering Kara stopped in our room, she had to deliver another one of my doctor's patients that night, so she came and checked in on us. She basically just asked how I was doing, and told me that I could get an epidural at any point now. The nurse checked me again around 11:00 and I was now at 4cm. She asked if I was ready for any pain meds, and I wasn't sure if I was or not. I felt like we had just got there, and I hadn't been in labor long enough to have any drugs yet, and once the drugs were started I would be stuck in bed for the rest of labor. I decided that I might as well just go for the epidural and get some rest. The anesthesiologist came in around 11:30 to give me the epi.. it was a feeling of lots of pressure, but not really any pain, and I have to say it was probably the world's best epidural!
The nurse checked me again around 1:30 or so and because of the epidural my contractions had slowed and I was still only at 4 cm and 90% effaced, so she decided it was time to start pitocin. I was trying to sleep as much as I could in between visits from the nurse, but I was only sleeping about 10 minutes at a time.
The nurse came back around 4 or 5 in the morning and was concerned that the pitocin wasn't doing much because my contractions were not becoming regular. They were averaging around 1-3 minutes apart, but were going up to as much as 7 minutes between contractions, so she was very surprised that when she checked me I was at 6-7 cm and almost fully effaced. She told me if I started feeling any pressure or the urge to push to let her know as soon as possible.
The nurse came back in and checked me at 6:08 in the morning and I was fully dilated and effaced.. it was time to start pushing with the next contraction!! At 6:18 am I started pushing, it was kind of a practice push to see how I would do. The nurse was thinking that Kara could be born before her shift was over at 7:30 in the morning... we started getting really excited at this point! The nurse called the doctor around 7:00 in the morning, and I honestly have no clue what time she actually got there, once I started pushing I didn't pay any attention to what time it was. Even with my epidural I could feel pressure and tightness with each contraction, so I knew when I needed to push. I pushed through every contraction for 3.5 hours! Around 2 hours of pushing talks of a c-section started. Kara's head wouldn't come through my pelvic bone, so I think they were getting worried that she wouldn't fit through. With each push I was making progress though, so they let me keep pushing! Around 3 hours into pushing they called in an extra OB doctor, extra nurses and a NICU team. They wanted to see if a little help from the vacuum extractor would help get her out. They also wanted to have extra people on hand since she spent so much time in the birth canal. At this point they also realized that I hadn't had a catheter in for about 3 hours, so they thought having a full bladder may be getting in the way of her head. So they drained my bladder and were getting ready to use the vacuum. A few contractions later they were ready. I was so exhausted at this point, but I wasn't ready to give up and have a c-section... after all that work I wanted to deliver her on my own!! I got a 2nd degree episiotimy..Joe said that was the worst part of the whole delivery! He couldn't watch when she did it, and the sound was pretty horrible.. thank goodness I couldn't feel anything! So with my next contraction they used the vacuum for about 4 seconds and out came Kara.
I was balling before she was even out, I think I could feel her coming and knew she was coming out. When she came out it was the weirdest feeling in the world, I think only a person who has delivered a baby could understand it. On her way out she promptly had her first poo all over my leg... which I didn't notice, and I didn't care, I was just so happy to finally have my little girl in my arms!
They laid her on my chest and Joe cut the umbilical cord. Then some nurses took her and cleaned her off and that is when she started screaming, it was the greatest sound in the world hearing my daughter cry for the first time. The whole experience was so amazing, but still seems so surreal to me. After 3.5 hours of pushing as soon as I saw her I knew I would do it all over again!
Joe was a trooper! He watched the whole thing, and handled it much better than I thought he would :) When they finally weighed her none us of could believe how tiny she was! She was 6lb 15.5 ounces and 19 inches long, and she was 5 days overdue! I think since I had such a hard time delivering her we all expected her to be much bigger.. but she is just a tiny little peanut!
Today Kara is one week old, and it has been the most amazing, rewarding week of my life. She is a little miracle and me and Joe love her to pieces!! We are just getting settled into our life as a new family and we are loving every second of it!
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