Special Delivery!

About 8:00 on the morning of January 25, I decided I needed to push that baby out. Unfortunately, my nurse informed me the doctor was still in the OR, finishing a C-section. She ran to check on him. He was sewing up and would be there soon. Nurse M offered to bolus my epidural but I refused it. I just wanted to get the baby out and start the rest of my life.

8:10. I felt the huge primal urge to push. Nurse M told me to go ahead and push if I really felt like it. So I did. It was the best feeling EVER. Then she shrieked "Okay! Stop! Don't push anymore! Your doctor will probably kill me if he doesn't get to deliver this baby!" My response was "Then get him in here!!"

She ran to find him.

8:15 she tells me "He'll be here in five minutes. Just hang in there!" I half-heartedly laughed and said "Well that's nice 'cause this baby will be here in ten. The man needs to hurry!" Nurse M told me I could do "little pushes, just little ones" in the meantime. (Sorry M, I pushed as hard as I felt like pushing)

8:25, he comes in the door and as he is suiting up, he tells me "Hey Miss Anna, if you're feeling the need to push, you just go right ahead." I screamed out "Thank God" and pushed once. DocMac said "Whoa! There's a BabyH head! Push again!" I pushed once more and her head was out. Then he told me to stop and breathe while he got her situated. The cord was around her neck, but it wasn't tight or anything like that. Then he said "Okay, push once more and she'll be out." So I pushed hard and at 8:31 AM, January 25, 2013, HHB was born!

I want to tell you the first thing I thought when I saw her face was "Oh what a beautiful baby" but my first thought was "Dang she's got a huge snot rocket on her face." Apparently, when babies are pushed out, they are rather mucous-y. When they're pushed out fast, it doesn't all get juiced out of them. But they put her on my chest and as they did, she started to cry.

In that moment, my heart nearly burst. Hubs cut the cord and we became Mommy and Daddy. HHB proved her lungs were quite strong and she let us all know of her displeasure of being in a cold room. When the nurse was wiping her down, HHB expressed her displeasure by taking her first peepee all over the sweet delivery nurse. Sorry about that!

I told Nurse M to tell our family (who'd all kept vigil in the waiting room) the baby was here and fine, and that I wanted someone to bring me a Rt 44 tea from Son!c. My dad sent the message back that I would get tea when they got to see the baby.

We were in the delivery room for about an hour and a half after HHB's arrival. That time was spent cleaning up her, me, and the room. I was able to nurse her right away, and she ate very well I stayed on the . Then it was time for us to depart the suite. Nurse M told me she was going to get me a wheelchair to take me to my recovery room. I told her I could walk.

Yep. I said I could walk.

After some debate and proving I could indeed feel my feet and was mobile (I was smart to not bolus that epidural), Nurse M held my elbow and allowed me to walk out of L&D. My dad was the first person to meet me in the hallway. He said "What are you DOING?!" I answered "Ain't nothing to it." HHB was behind me on her little hospital bassinet, all wrapped up like a burrito.

The most beautiful face I've ever seen.

I got in my room and settled in bed. No one else was there. Thirty minutes later, my dad came in. He was elated. He said, "Wow! I can't believe how big she is!" I then realized I had no clue how heavy or how long my daughter was. I said, "Seven, seven and a half pounds, right??"

Wrong.

HHB tipped the scales at 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and 21 and 1/2 inches long!!

I am woman, hear me roar.

Dad and I had the room to ourselves for a good while. The rest of the family trickled in and they sat and talked to me about delivery. They still couldn't believe I'd walked to my recovery room. I heard a set of wheels coming down the hallway, and then a baby crying. I told them "Oh, here she comes." Someone asked how I could possibly know that was her and not some other baby on the floor. I said, "I know because she's mine." And of course I was right. The nurse put her in my arms, and all was right in my world.

The Induction and Labor

Do you know what 4:30 AM looks like? Non-college students, sit down. I mean waking up and being somewhere at 4:30.

Cause I know this feeling.

Freaking. Early.

DocMac said to be in the hospital at 4:30 so I could get things started. That's the time I had to be up to get ready and make sure we were there on time. We live in a small down with everything no more than ten minutes away, but I was determined to look cute. I actually straightened my hair and took makeup with me. Hindsight, that was a bit vain. But I stand by my decision to look as fabulous as a land whale possibly can look.

At 4:30 on the dot, we walked in to the ER and I checked in. Then we went up to the Third Floor of our hospital. THEEE floor. The one where babies come from. This mess just got REAL. I was escorted to the Periwinkle Suite (there are three suites, all with some name like that) and promptly told to undress and get comfy in one of those modest, tasteful, flattering hospital gowns. I got to leave my socks on though. 

Both of my nieces were born here, too!

By 5:30, I was hooked up to some monitors and an IV of saline and Pitocin, my precious nurse checked me and I was dilated to 1 cm, just like I had been for almost a month. Now it was time to sit and wait. 

Cue the thumb twiddle music.

At 8:00 I was starting to feel regular contractions. That's a strange feeling. It was right then, my doctor came in to tell me I was being bumped. WHAT?! You gotta be kidding me. Nope, totally serious. Three women came in at just about the same time and since I wasn't in active labor yet, I was going to be moved to what would be my recovery room later. But no worries, I would probably be back in my suite quickly. One lady that was in labor was having her seventh baby. Yeah, that's right. Seventh. She's 26. You do the math. I tried my best not to judge. I figured I would be back in there seriously fast though. I'm told by baby number 4, they basically walk out, so number 7 shouldn't take long. So they took me off the Pitocin and everything got suspended.

9:00... watching t.v., NCIS marathon was on.

10:00...still watching NCIS.

11:00...Gibbs had slapped McGee and DiNozzo twice each. A nurse came in to tell me "Thank you for being so sweet! We should be able to get you in by lunch."
Good. I had people there who'd made a special trip to be there on just that day. My dad even took off work. I was having this kid on the 24th, dangit!

12:00...Gibbs brought Abby her 8th CafPow of the marathon. I was brought some hospital cuisine to enjoy.

1:00... Ok, now I was getting pissy.

2:00... Hormonal Holly was here to play! I was so ill. But there is one cardinal rule I always follow. "There are three people in this world to whom one must always be nice. 1. Your hairdresser. Make her mad and she will color your hair orange or snatch you bald. 2. Your restaurant server. Watch the movie 'Waiting' to see what I mean. 3. Your healthcare providers. They have the pain meds." So I was as nice as I could be to the very sweet nurses and my awesome doctor. The nurses all thought I was just a doll. My doctor knows that I was doing my level best to be nice, but he knew I was so over waiting. Thankfully, he came in to tell me it was time to go back to the delivery room. HALLELUJAH!!

2:30: Hooked back up to everything. Pitocin, monitors, the works. Snacking on ice chips, which were really the ice you can get at Z@xby's or Son!c.

By 5:00, I had dilated to almost 2 cm and was feeling contractions. My doctor decided at this point to go ahead and break my water.

Let's pause for a moment.

That was a totally and completely disgusting event. It felt like I was having a long, continuous "accident." It still makes me shudder. But, yay! Once your water breaks, you're considered to be in "active labor."

Back to the story.
The doctor was still in the room when I literally felt her head hit my pelvis. That was not pleasant. She was not thrilled about having her pool taken away. By this point it was me, Hubs, my parents and grandparents in the room. They all came back in after my water was broken, that was a show no one wanted to see. Well, once she dropped, it started to hurt. I mean it HURT. I wasn't going to take pain meds. Really, I wanted to hold out until I couldn't take it anymore.

HA!

Around 9:30, I'd had enough. I told my sweet nurse to get me the "Epidural Fairy." Sweet relief was on its way! He came in and kicked everyone out, and I sat on the edge of the bed and literally held on to my nurse (Nurse K)  for dear life. The EF was so sweet to tell me everything he was doing. He gave me a little shot to numb the area where he was putting the epi. I barely felt it over the contractions. Then he put the four-foot-long needle in my spine, kidding, it's only five or six inches long, and let the meds do their job. They taped the tiny medicine tube to my back and laid me down. I felt my left leg go numb. My right leg, nothing. I felt most of my stomach numb up, but there was a football-sized area on my lower right side that was still wide awake. Nurse K said "Oh, it's a hot spot. Those happen sometimes, but maybe it will go away."

If you know me at all, you know I'm just not that lucky.

By 2:00 am, yes it's January 25th at this point, I was dilated to 4 cm, and in extreme pain. I was not able to rest. Contractions were literally two minutes apart and it was more than I could handle. The EF came back and was so kind. He kicked everyone out and told me he was going to re-do my epi. He and Nurse K took off the tape, took out the tube, and he moved the epi up one vertebra. I leaned on Nurse K again, and was very literally shaking from head to toe. It was either pain or hormones, but most likely both. By the time they were re-taping everything, I was already feeling relief. At 3:00, I was able to lay down and take a nap. Nurse K put an oxygen mask on me, and kept re-positioning me to make sure the baby was getting enough oxygen. She checked me. I was still only at 4. But I couldn't feel anything from my ribs down, and was relaxed for the first time in 23 hours.

3:30... 7 cm baybay!! Being able to breathe and relax helped me progress quickly. 

I woke up from my nap around 6:30 and was at almost a 9. The same thing was true at 7:30. At 7:45, my doctor came in to tell me I probably wouldn't have this baby before ten. I was at 9 cm and stalled, so he was going to go ahead and do a C-Section and would be back after. 

Great. 

8:00. I felt like I needed to push. I can't describe the feeling. It is something like cramps and having to poo. But not. It's a very primal feeling. My new nurse (thanks, shift change) had taken over. She taught my childbirth classes  and I was so glad to have her there!! Nurse M checked me and I was close, but not quite where I needed to be.

This is where it gets a little pushy, so I'm going to leave you hanging. Next post, "Special Delivery!"

Third Trimester...ugh.

Let me just start by saying I had high hopes for the third trimester. The first two were so great, I felt confident I would love the third.

Did you hear God laugh?

Y'all. It was miserable. The last four weeks were the absolute worst. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat or drink ANYthing without having heartburn. I kept Tums in my purse, my car, my desks at both schools, and on my bedside table. I'm not exaggerating. I was HUGE. Not all over, just my stomach. I was literally ALL belly. But DocMac swore I was not having a big baby. Thank goodness!!

By week 34, I was ready to get her out. Oh, was I ever. I turned 35 weeks pregnant on Christmas Day and was BEGGING for some relief. At my 36 week appointment, DocMac said I wasn't dilated, but if I went into labor he wouldn't try to stop it. HALLELUJAH!

37 weeks... dilated to 1 whole centimeter. Good!!

38 weeks... same thing. Well, alrighty!

39 weeks... no change. Are You Kidding Me?! DocMac was very perceptive to my misery excitement to meet this baby, and set me to be induced on Jan. 24th. Oh thank goodness!! My baby was coming soon!

Here's a glimpse of just how big I was, three days before The Induction.

Big Mama!!!