Carley's Birth

Carley decided to come on Easter Sunday here is what happened:

I had contractions all day on Saturday. And these were not the menstrual cramp type, these were "give me a minute to walk" type. Which I have never had before! I was miserable all day, and I told Eric specifically "I can not do this all week". Well, I got woken up at midnight with hard contractions as well. They were irregular but so painful. They woke me every time. I got Eric's stop watch and got in the tub. My contractions would come 9 minutes, 4 minutes, 4 minutes, 9 minutes, etc. They did that for 1 hour. I called L&D and they told me not to come in until they were 3-5 minutes apart. But they got weird where I would have two contractions like 2 minutes apart, then one 7 minutes, etc. And they were getting harder. Around 2:00am, we decided to go to the hospital. We called Amy and woke her so she could come stay with the girls.

At the hospital, they all thought this was my first baby because I was not sure if I was in labor or not. Ha Ha. They checked me and I was only dilated to a 3. WHAT? I remember being so mad. Eric kept laughing at me, and it is so hard to laugh during a contraction. I tried to get mad at him too, but it was pretty funny to hear me moan through these contractions. They made me wait an hour (HELLO! I wanted an epidural!!!!!) and then checked me again. If I was the same they would send me home, but thankfully I was at a 4. So, I got admitted.

I got to the room and they asked me a million questions, and I just had one for them. Epidural please. Thankfully, he got there and got it started a little before 6am. At 7am, they checked me and I was at a 5, so they broke my water. They got the room all ready, and said it should be anytime! They were wrong. I kind of stalled for a while there, but I was comfy and happy. I was checked a few hours later and I was at a 7, so I thought we were coming along. I started to get really bad back pain, and I could feel my contractions on my right side. I started moaning and crying and called the nurse, I thought something was wrong. They could not figure out what it was, so we all assumed my epidural was not working as well as it has in the past. They turned it up, but for the next hour, I felt like I would pass out or throw-up or both from the pain. At 11:00am, they checked and I was at an 8 ONLY, so they decided to give me pitocin to get things moving. By the time the order came in and they got me set up, I was at a 9 and the pain was so intense. I remember wishing that I did not have the epidural because I could have at least moved around during a contractions. But since I could not feel my legs, I had to just lay there still and endure. Ugh, I am still sick just thinking about the pain.

Thankfully, he checked me at about 12:45pm and I was fully dilated! Yea! I got a little nervous about the size of her. The Dr.'s had a special station set up for shoulder babies, or babies whose shoulders might get stuck. Lovely. But the first contraction came and he said she should be out soon. Second contraction I was pushing and the Dr. said, "Whoa, slow down!" He did not want me to tear. So, he eased her out and she was here!!! I could not believe how easy that part was!

A beautiful 10lb baby girl was here at 1:03pm! They took her to clean her up and suck out some stuff she swallowed, but then I got to hold her a few minutes later. She latched on right away and ate for about a 1/2hr, before they took her away to check on her breathing. I did tear a little bit, but it was a 2nd level tear, which is what I had with both other girls.

The recovery of this birth has been my easiest so far. I was up and walking a few hours after, I have hardly bled or had any pain at all. I was actually discharged from the hospital the next morning after she was born. And I lost 20 lbs immediately!