Little did we know that things would happen more quickly than planned. After I changed into my lovely hospital gown and the nurse asked us a million questions, they hooked me up to the monitor for the night and told me they would be back as needed, advising us to get a good night's sleep. But around 9:30 pm, after about 30 minutes of monitoring baby girl, I started having contractions every 2-3 minutes. The monitor showed that there was no need to wait for a morning induction; I was in active labor that moment! The next seven hours were very uncomfortable, thanks to my night nurse. As soon as I saw that I was having regular contractions and that they were beginning to get VERY uncomfortable, like gripping-the-side-of-the-bed-with-deep-breathing-exercises uncomfortable, I requested to go ahead and get my epidural. For some reason, my nurse decided to wait. We are not sure what her theory was, but she kept telling me that "I was not there yet" and would offer me pain medication instead. Around 1:30 am I finally gave in and got some pain medicine, because at this point I was wearing out fast. She gave me Stadol which usually knocks you out and allows you to get some good sleep. Instead, it made me have an out-of-body experience and feel super loopy; yet I could STILL feel the pain from the contractions. One word: miserable. So I continued to have consistent contractions every 2-3 minutes for another FIVE hours. I called my nurse for what seemed like the hundredth time at around 6:00 am begging, once again, for an epidural, and another nurse came in to take my call. She glanced at the monitor, looked down at me, and said, "Girl, why haven't you gotten your epidural yet? You are in labor! Are you going all natural?" I looked at her like she had lost her mind and informed her that I had been asking for it ALL night. Before they gave me my epidural, they checked my cervix to see how much I was dilated. I was 2 cm when I got there the night before, and I was 5 cm in the morning when they checked me. So they finally called in an anesthesiologist, and within 30 minutes I received the glorious epidural. After that we finally got about 2 hours of marvelous sleep. At about 8:30 am the morning nurse came in and checked me again. I was already progressed to 8 cm. We all were shocked. She said that it probably wouldn't be much longer and that she would be back in about an hour to check me again. At 9:30 am she came returned and, sure enough, I was 10 cm dilated, fully effaced, and ready to push! Never even had to start pitocin, praise the Lord! From this point on, everything became a blur. It all went so fast. Our parents thankfully had arrived at the hospital around 9:00 am, so we were able to see them one last time before I started pushing.
Our last picture before beaming a family of three right after they told us it was game time!
Of course I had to freshen up my make-up before I started pushing :)
Beautiful David Yurman March birthstone earrings from Alan for my "push" present.
I started pushing at 10:25 am, and she arrived at 10:56 am. It wasn't bad at all, and it went fairly quickly, thank goodness! We had the sweetest moments in between contractions, waiting to push again, knowing that in just a matter of minutes our precious baby girl we had prayed and longed for was about to be placed in my arms. Thank you, Lord, for this gift! My heart is so full.
First photo as a family of three!
First time in daddy's arms
My OB- Dr. Travelstead
Once we had some special time together as a family of three, our parents came in to meet their brand new granddaughter!
Grandaddy and Granmomma
Lollie
Grandaddy
Poppy and Daddy
After tears of joy and lots of snuggles, it was time for her to go to the well baby nursery and get her vitals checked, footprints made, and receive her first bath.
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I never knew love like this existed until March 4, 2015 at 10:56 am. We have fallen so deeply in love with her, and I find myself thanking God over and over for entrusting us with her.
"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15
More from the rest of hospital stay to follow........
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