For weeks now, it seemed like every little pain in my stomach made me think I might be going into labor. Rather than voicing these thoughts and scaring Dave every time I felt a cramp, for the most part I just waited them out to see if they'd progress into more of a pattern. You'd think after having one child that I'd know exactly what it felt like when the labor pains began but I think I was caught more off guard this time than before.
Two Fridays ago my mom and I set off for Fair Oaks Mall with the intention of purchasing a few items still left on our Pottery Barn Kids registry that I wanted for Hadley's room. As we shopped, I began to feel a few pains here and there but assumed, like the others I'd felt in the preceding days, they were just something else. Later that evening, Dave noticed that I seemed to be having the pains awfully frequent and close together, but I still brushed it off. After he headed to bed, I realized I was getting a lot of them and decided to write them down to see how far apart they were and how long they lasted. They were three minutes apart! The doctor had suggested we head to the hospital when they were four minutes apart so I quickly woke Dave and called my sister to come take Caleb to Granny's. In the meantime, the two of us scurried to pack the bag we had talked about packing for weeks and never finished assembling.
After loading Caleb in the car, we headed to the hospital with my mom trailing close behind. We arrived to find the main entrance locked and had to figure out how to get to emergency room which was a bit confusing. Finally, we made it!
After I figured out how to get on the complicated hospital gown, the nurse checked me and estimated that I was only 2-3 cm dilated. Her suggestion was for me to walk the loop around the maternity ward for two hours and then be checked again. Disappointed that I wasn't farther along, I basically speed raced for the next forty minutes. At that point, the contractions were so painful I felt I could hardly stand it but felt embarrassed to wimp out and ask them recheck me before the two hours were up. When I started feeling the urge to push shortly after, I thought I'd better tell someone. Sure enough, this time I was 8 cm and they called for the doctor.
The doctor on call didn't seem to be in much of a hurry and took an hour to arrive. I requested an epidural but there was no anesthesiologist available so we had to wait on the doctor to get there to do that as well. Finally, he showed up, gave me a small dose of the epidural, and pretty much immediately had me start pushing. To my dismay, it took awhile for the epidural to begin working. To make matters worse, he gave me such a small amount, assuming I would deliver quickly, that for most of the pushing I felt a lot of the contractions. It wasn't until about the last couple rounds of pushing that he finally gave me enough to help me settle and have the energy to finish getting our little girl here at 4:15 a.m. on March 31st.
As she was coming out the doctor yelled for me to stop pushing because the cord was around her neck. It was definitely a scary thing for a mother to hear, especially when she can't see what's happening, but in the end everything turned out fine. She had an Apgar score of nine, passed her hearing test, and was jaundice free. On the other hand, I had to be the difficult one and ended up hemorrhaging which kept me in the bed for awhile and made our hospital stay longer than I'd hoped.
Since we've been home though, both of us have been healthy and happy. One of the nurses warned me that because of the hemorrhaging I may not have any milk come in and have to forfeit breastfeeding, but God has provided me with enough milk to probably feed three babies. Unlike our challenging breastfeeding days with Caleb, I know what I'm doing this time around and Hadley nurses very well. She is a great sleeper which has helped me get the rest I need to prevent Lupus/Fibromyalgia flare ups as well. We also had a great first visit at the pediatrician's office and go back next Monday for another check-up.
Now that you have the story of Hadley's birth, here are some of my favorite photos from the first few hours after her arrival:
I wouldn't have any idea what it's like to go into labor on my own.... Sounds like things went pretty fast. So glad to hear the nursing is going well!
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