On October 18th, my mom's birthday, I woke up feeling uncomfortable, which wasn't unusual, but when I think back on it, it was different. Also - I was more irritable (I later told Richard on hour way to the hospital that I felt bad because I'd snapped at Lily that morning and it was her last morning as an only child!). We had my moms surprise birthday lunch that day, so I took my time getting ready and we left the house about 1pm to head over the restaurant.
On the way to the restaurant, I started having contractions. Now, I'd been having contractions on and off for the better part of the last 2 or 3 months with this pregnancy so, at first, I thought nothing of it. But I timed them anyway and they were about 7 minutes apart or so, although they varied somewhat. We got to the restaurant and they started to actually hurt somewhat - enough to take notice. I started timing them regularly at that point. It's funny, Richard noticed me doing this about a half hour in and started timing them on his own :). My mom and older sister Cara were sitting right next to us and they also picked up that something was going on. Once I hit about an hour of those contractions, they got to be about 3-4 minutes apart and stayed pretty intense. Richard had wanted me to call the doctor for awhile but I kept putting it off - I think I was nervous that it was actually happening. And I also wanted to eat! I knew that if we had to go to the hospital they wouldn't let me eat until it was all over and we were enjoying some really good food. But eventually (after we had snickerdoodle birthday cake :) ) I called the doctor and he said we needed to come on in to the hospital. So, conveniently, we left Lily with my mom and dad, my sisters, my brother in law and aunt, as well as Lily's cousins. She was well taken care of! Our original plan was for Lily to stay with my mom and dad while we were at the hospital, so this had actually worked out really well! We were about a half hour away from the hospital and the contractions got steadily more intense as we drove.
When we got there, we checked in at the nurses station and she sent us straight back to labor and delivery where we were set up in a room. We found out later that the usual protocol is for them to send people to triage to be evaluated before going to a room and getting all checked in, but our nurse told us that over time, the nurses have developed a sixth sense of sorts as to when a mom is in actual labor, so they sent us on back.
We got settled in about 445 and started to wait. The contractions got to the point where I couldn't talk through them anymore, which I hoped meant we were making good progress. But, when the nurse did her first check, I was at a "snug 3" and 90% effaced - not as much progress as I'd hoped for but some.
The doctor on call (who I had never met before and wasn't a doc at my practice) came in and introduced himself and basically said "now we wait". We had a nurse change about 630 and I was really grateful for that. Our first nurse was really nice, but annoyingly chatty and a little difficult to listen to :). The nurse that stayed with us from then on, Lanona, was just awesome.
So not long after this, the doctor came in to check and I was at a 4. The baby had a couple of episodes of heart deceleration at this point, depending on my position, so unfortunately I had to get back in bed and pretty much stay there throughout the rest of labor. The doctor decided to break my water at about 8p and Annabelle had already pooped :( so we knew from the get go that they would call in the special nicu team when she was getting ready to make her arrival so that they could suction her out really well and hopefully avoid meconium aspiration.
So, about a half hour after breaking my water, my contractions got INTENSE. They were coming every 90-120 seconds and lasting for about a minute. I couldn't believe how much they hurt. I honestly don't know if I just blocked it out from when I was in labor with Lily or if they just weren't as bad with her. Not long after that, they checked me again and I was at a 5, but I was in so much pain. Since I wasn't able to move around the room or bed, I just had to lay on my side and try to deal with them. I decided then that I really needed to get an epidural. The nurse, our brilliant, thinking ahead nurse, had already gotten things going in preparation. I think she could tell by my tears and moaning that this would be the next step :) I got the epidural about 915 or so and although it wasn't instant relief, it did take the edge off. I could still feel an intense amount of pressure, but the pain was gone.
The doctor actually came in just after I'd gotten the epidural and said "oh, I was going to say we should probably get ready for a spinal instead...". Apparently, Annabelle had continued to have some decels and a c section was a definite possibility. BUT! Our awesome nurse was able to find a position she liked and put me on some oxygen so we were able to avoid that scenario.
A little while later, maybe 20 minutes, the nurse checked me and I was at an 8! I was so happy to hear that. I never got beyond a 4 with Lily, so this was amazing to me. Not long after, I had that uncontrollable desire to push. Of course, the first thing the nurse says is "don't push!", which takes an amount of willpower I didn't have ;). She let the doctor know I was having the urge to push and he came in to check me and I was complete! The nurse later said that she thought the epidural helped to relax my body just enough to allow it to finish doing it's job. I would definitely have to agree with that. Before the epidural, I was SO tense. And would just get more tense, instead of less, with every contraction.
So I thought at this point, the doc would get all doctored up, sit down by my legs (hiked up in the lovely stirrups) and we'd get this baby out. Um, no, - he patted my leg, said "let's see how pushy you are!" And left! Seriously dude? Apparently he was only needed for the baby catching part!
Lanona coached me through pushing, congratulated me on my powerful pushing ability and we got down to business. Again showing her incredible gift of foresight, she had shut off my epidural pump so I had plenty of feeling and pressure to work with. She started me out pushing on my side, which worked really well. I started pushing at 10:30 and she went to grab the doc at 10:55 because it was time for Annabelle's appearance!!
At this point, things did get a little scary. The doc was really trying to hurry things up, so he gave me an episiotomy and told me to push really hard. Her head came out and he told me to stop pushing. He did something and then said, "ok, give me another really good push" and she was out! Annabelle Elizabeth was born absolutely perfect at 11:07p , 7lbs 11oz and 21 inches long on her nana's birthday -they are exactly 60 years apart in age!
After she was born, the doctor handed her over to the special NICU team and they did their thing to get her good and suctioned out. Later I found out that when the doc got into his hurry mode, it was because he saw a huge drop in her heart rate as she was crowning. Annabelle's chord was wrapped around her neck and had tightened as she was coming out. When he saw this as she was born, he pushed her back in somewhat, unwrapped the chord, and then helped her the rest of the way out. I was so glad we had this doctor - he was incredibly calm and collected, while at the same time taking charge of the situation and being personable. After Annabelle was done getting all checked out, I got to do my skin to skin time with her before they took her to the nursery to get double checked. I got to nurse her as soon as she came back and she latched on like a champ! She has been a champion nurser ever since.
Annabelle is an awesome baby - we really only had a few rough nights in the beginning and I think most of that was gas pain related. She's a little more picky than Lily was - things like her clothes being uncomfortable or her being hot/cold can bother her more than they did her sister. But once you figure out what she needs, she's easy to comfort. She loves to nurse, which is awesome, but it took her awhile to take a bottle - that was making mommy nervous! She finally took her first bottle last week, thank goodness.
Lily is adapting to our new normal really well. She wants to hug and kiss her baby sister all the time, but doesn't like it when she cries ;) She's quick to tell me what she thinks will help when Annabelle starts fussing. She loves to help and I think she would snuggle her all the time if she could. We've had some trouble with pushing/testing boundaries but we're slowly working on that. And honestly, part of that is her age I'm sure. Sometimes, I am completely staggered by the fact that we have 2 kids. Crazy! And wonderful :) and tiring!
Update 12/6/14:
So I had to come back to this post today to do an update. I realized that I really didn't mention Richard much throughout this post and I totally should have! While he was present in my mind when I was writing it, it never came through on the actual post and he was a huge part of that day (probably obviously).
He timed my contractions and urged me to call the doctor, even when I was nervous. He comforted me after I burst into tears when the doctor told me I needed to come on in. He kept me calm on the way to the hospital, and only got slightly irritated at the massive amount of fair traffic waiting for us prior to being able to turn into the hospital parking lot ;) He didn't rush me inside the hospital when we got there, although I kind of think he wanted to. When my contractions got really bad, he was there letting me squeeze the ever living crap out of his hand, fingers, triceps and neck, all while telling me that I was going to get through this and that we just had to get through this part to reach our goal of a new baby. He supported me in getting an epidural, even though I had been so strongly against it at first. He is amazing enough to recognize when I need to offer myself some grace and to encourage me to do that. He held me while the anesthesiologist gave me the epidural through some massive contractions, helped me stay still and breathed with me. He never left my side the entire time - even to go to the bathroom! And he was there to see our second baby girl make her way into the world and was the second person in the world to lay eyes on her (after the doc ;) ). He stayed with Annabelle as they worked with her, took her first pictures and then waited patiently to hold her until after I had some time with her. He had the biggest grin on his face when he finally did get to hold her and I'll never forget that sight.
Babe, I love you and I couldn't have done it without you. You're amazing. Thank you.
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