Monday March 28 we had a doctor's appointment to see if I had dilated at all over the weekend before proceeding with induction. As I've written before, I really didn't want to be induced but we were coming up on a week late and the possible complications of being too far past the due date outweigh the possible complications of being induced. As we suspected, I was still not dilated at all! Apparently, our little girl was a little too comfortable in there! That morning, we had slept in, cleaned the house and went out for a delicious lunch at one of our favorite places, 5 Seasons Brewing. We had packed our bags and planned on going straight to the hospital from the doctor's office. However, when we got to his office at 3:30, he said we didn't need to check in at the hospital until 7:30. By the time we left the appointment, we still had 3 hours to kill. We decided we did not want to go back home without a baby so we went to see a movie, The Lincoln Lawyer, and grabbed a quick dinner before checking in.
We got to the hospital and got all settled in. I was definitely getting nervous and very excited knowing that it was the beginning of the end of my pregnancy. I knew we were only hours away from meeting our little girl and I couldn't believe it! That night, they gave me my IV and a dose of cytotec to get the process started. My mom and my sister came to the hospital and both ended up staying the night, along with Parker of course. They gave me a sleeping pill but between nerves, excitement and very loud nurses in the hall, I really didn't get much sleep at all. It was cool listening to her heartbeat on the monitor as we slept.
The next morning, they came in and woke me up at 6am. I got up and took a shower, did my hair and got ready for an exciting day. I still wasn't dilated at all so they started the pitocin about 7am. Almost immediately, I started having contractions but I didn't feel them for most of the morning. At 11am, right before they were going to break my water, it broke on its own. We were so excited!! It was the first sign that things were moving along! Pretty soon after that, the contractions started to hurt. They gave me some medicine called fentinol that was unlike any pain medication I've ever taken. When it started working, Parker asked how I was feeling and I said, "I can still feel the contractions and they still hurt...but I don't really care anymore." He laughed. Unfortunately, that only lasted about 20 minutes and then the contractions started to really hurt. I got the epidural around 12:30pm and it was the most glorious thing I think I've ever experienced in my life. Easily man's greatest invention. As soon as it started working, I never felt another contractions...until delivery but we'll get to that.
For the rest of the day, it was a waiting game. I progressed slowly but the pitocin was definitely working. In the early afternoon, we began to see that when the contractions got really intense, Mary Elizabeth's heart rate would drop. I couldn't feel them but I knew when it happened because 3 nurses would come running in to roll me to my other side to get her heart rate back up and decrease the pitocin to calm the contractions down. Parker and I were both so worried and I spent a lot of the day praying for her safety. At one point, they told me that if it kept up like that, they would have to do a c-section. I started crying but was willing to do whatever it took to get her out safely. The rest of the day cycled with them increasing the pitocin to move me along, her heart rate dropping, then having to decrease the pitocin to get her heart rate up again. It was a long, worrisome day and the whole time, I was never really out of the woods for the c-section. By 8:30pm, I had dilated to 8.5 cm but then didn't progress for over an hour. That was the first time my doctor said we might have to do the c-section and at that point, I was so frustrated. It was been a long day and to have to do that c-section at that point was so disheartening. But he said that he was willing to wait it out if I was so we waited. Parker and I figured out that if I focused on deep breathing during the contractions, he heart rate would stay up. For over an hour, Parker sat by my side watching the contraction monitor and helping me focus on breathing. It was so sweet. By doing that, we were able to increase the pitocin enough to get where we needed to be and by 10:20pm, it was time to start pushing.
I pushed for an hour and half, half of which the epidural had worn off and I felt way more than I ever wanted to feel in labor. My goal was to have her that day, by midnight. At 11:49pm, my beautiful little girl was born. It was a surreal moment but after the painful delivery, I was just so excited that it was over I could hardly focus on anything else. When her head was out, Dr. Siegel told Parker he could come help. Parker actually pulled her out, caught her and helped place her on my chest. When she was out, she didn't cry. She was wide awake, just taking it all in. It really freaked me and Parker out but after they cleaned her up and brought her back to me, we realized she was just fine.
My mom, my sister Collette and my sister-in-law Beth were all there when she was born. It was so special to watch their reactions and their excitement. Mary Elizabeth was 7 lb 4 oz and 20 inches long. She born with a full head of black hair and looked just like I did when I was born. We fell in love with her immediately.
The whole experience was truly unbelievable, for all of us. I think Parker enjoyed it the most, though I could tell it tore him up to see me in pain and to see Mary Elizabeth's heart rate dropping. He was right there by my side the whole time though and had a great poker face. He remained cool and collected, probably for my sake. He held my hand and gave me encouragement when I needed it. He was exactly everything I needed and I fell in love with him all over again, especially when I watched him fall immediately in love with his daughter. What a blessed day.
Holding daddy's hand
New family of three
Sweet angel face
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