A Baby Story

Hello, hello!  For those of you interested in hearing how sweet little Adelaide Helene came into this world, I will tell you.  This is a good baby story for anyone squeamish about childbirth.  I feel kind of bad saying this but labor was one of the easiest parts of my very easy pregnancy!  Please do not send me hate mail for that comment it is just the truth.  Get ready for the details, none of them are gruesome.

My due date was Wednesday, October 5 and I just happened to have my final doctors appointment that very day.  Full disclosure, my mucus plug (such a horrible name) came out on Tuesday night which had me convinced that I would be so dilated by my appointment that they would immediately check me into the hospital.  Not the case.  I was neither dilated or effaced.  Bumsies.  We trotted back home and prayed that this baby would come on her own before my induction date, October 12.  

Around 2:30 AM on Thursday I started having tiny contractions.  They didn't hurt but did wake me up and continued to wake me up erratically throughout the night.  By 6:00 AM I started to time them and they were pretty well between 9 and 12 minutes apart, but still not very painful and pretty short in duration.  We felt pretty certain that we would be heading to the hospital that morning so Hubs and I both showered (I shaved, washed my hair and put on makeup) and got ready in case we needed to go in a hurry.  Of course, after we did all of that they contractions started spacing way out to 20 minutes and sometimes more.  We called the soon-to-be grandparents in San Antonio and Dallas and told them to hold their horses as there might not be a new baby today.  

To entertain ourselves Hubs and I went to IHOP for a late breakfast, made a stop at Big Lots for some more frozen food storage and then hustled to the grocery store so my fabulous husband could make us some of his famous chicken soup.  By the time we were checking out at the grocery store around 3:00 my contractions were coming a bit more regularly and slightly more intensely.  I camped out on the couch for the remainder of the day while Hubs cooked and timed my contractions.  After coming around 9 minutes apart they jumped back to 14 minutes and I called the doctor to see if they could at least check and see if I was dilated.  They said not to even bother coming their way until my contractions were 5 minutes apart for an hour. 

That never happened!  Around 10 PM the contractions became super painful but weren't regular; they would be 6 minutes and then 8 then 10, always annoying.  They became so painful that we decided to go ahead and take our chances at the hospital.  While walking back to the bedroom to get our bags I had three contractions.  Then another one that knocked me to my knees - they were now coming every two minutes and we picked up the pace to make the 5 minute drive to the hospital.

We arrived at 11:45 PM and the nurses were none too impressed with how far along I might be (we didn't even bother to bring the bags in because we figured it was false labor and that we would soon be sent back home).  So they weighed me in (yikes) and had me change into a gown while I gave them a urine sample.  The nurse took a while to check me which made me flash back to the previous day when the doc delivered the news that nothing was happening anytime soon.  When she was finished she said that we would not believe how dilated I was...8 cm!  She left the room and Hubs heard her give the "Code Blue" call.  

The nurse said she hoped there was time for me to get the epidural that I desparately wanted and time to get the doctor on call to the hospital.  She assured me that she had delivered babies before and could do so for me if necessary.  At this point I lost my composure for a couple of minutes.  I had expected to be in labor for hours and get to wear my cute little labor/delivery gown that I bought to stylishly wander the halls while trying to dilate.  Having the baby so soon was not what I had anticipated in the made for TV movie playing in my head.

Get ready for a barrage of photos...

Lucky for me and for Hubs the anesthesiologist made it in time to give me a full dose in my epidural and I was feeling fabulous by 12:30 AM.  Note that even at this point, 9.5 cm dilated my water had not broken.  The doctor made it, broke my water and told me to sit tight while I finished dilating to 10 cm (too much info?).

A few minutes later my nurse was back and said I was ready to push if I wanted to try.  I like new things, so why not?  One thing that they don't tell you in birth class is that when you have an epidural you can not feel yourself pushing.  The only thing that I felt like I was doing was scrunching up my face and pulling on my legs.  I didn't break a sweat and had to ask after every push if I had actually done anything.  It is a very odd feeling, not feeling anything.

Six pushes and 15 minutes later, Adelaide arrived!  I could not believe that it was over.  It was the strangest sensation because it seemed all too easy.  Nothing hurt, no stitches, no sweat, no toots (most of the time I was trying not to laugh because Hubs was using his "A" material) and she came out perfectly. 

Adelaide arrived at 2:50 AM weighing in at 6 lbs 11 oz and measuring 19.5" long.  She was wide-eyed and beautiful.  No jaundice, no scratches or marks just gorgeous baby girl.  After that we spent some time getting to know one another and then she went off to the nursery for washing, poking and prodding.  I headed to postpartum and continued to feel great.  Since giving birth I have taken one pain pill that they gave me and am totally healed after two weeks.  Only problem now is that I'm cleared to workout, no excuses.  Except trying to leave these two...