WARNING: Mildly graphic :)
Like all my other pregnancies, my BP spiked at the end, so at my 37 week appt, they put a 39 week induction on the calender. This was earlier than the first two pregnancies, but I was OK with it. It was nice to have a little over a week warning, so I could wrap up as much as possible and get prepared!
Unfortunately, two days before the big day, Kyla got the stomach flu and the next day Ellie got it as well, so I didn't have the relaxing few days prior that i was hoping for. In fact, they were sleep-free, stressful, and stinky. I spent the whole day leading up to going into the hospital doing load after load of laundry, disinfecting everything, and praying Scott and I wouldn't catch it. Fortunately we kept in the clear! That evening, we tried our best to get to bed early since we had to wake up at 2:55 to get to the hospital on time, but I couldn't fall asleep until midnight!
Bright and EARLY the next morning, we woke up, ate some breakfast, and headed to the hospital. I was very nervous but ready! They admitted me and I just waited to start the fun! When the first nurse checked me, she was surprised they didn't have me come in the night before to start the "ripening process" and the baby still felt extremely high and I was only 1cm. She said she had no idea how my OB was going to break my water as originally planned. She said we were in for a LONG day. She actually called the on call doc because she didn't feel right about about just starting pitocin and wanted to give me the best chance to have the induction work. The on call doc agreed and they even had to do an additional ultrasound because they weren't sure if the head was even down. Ultrasound confirmed head was down, but they decided to do some cytotec before the pitocin to help things along. The good news was that before anything started, I already had a regular contraction pattern of 5 minutes apart so they were hopeful I was ready. So from 5:30-9:30. I just hung out while the cytotec did the job. I was having lots of contractions but I was still comfortable. At 9:30, they started the pitocin and my OB visited to say he would check back around lunch to break my water. There was a bet if this was going to be a breakfast, lunch, or dinner baby, but I was just hoping for one that day.
I felt things pick up quickly after the pitocin. Since I wasn't far, I wanted to delay the epidural as long as possible. Scott and I just hung out and watched TV. I could tell i was VERY tired because i actually passed out between a lot of the contractions. It was pretty boring and uncomfortable. Every time they checked me, it was very minimal progress. At noon, I got my water broken and things got even more uncomfortable. I was just hanging out around 3cm and not thinning out either. Around 2:00 I decided to get the epidural even though I was only still 3cm. I was definitely scared this was going to end up a c-section! My OB kept checking on me and was surprised things weren't moving quicker, but said he was sure things would get moving soon and when they did it would fast and furious.
Eventually I was on my third nurse for the day and getting anxious. All the nurses were wonderful though! There had a been a few times during the day where the baby's heart rate dropped during the contractions but they were able to stabilize things by having me move positions. It was hard to move because my legs were completely numb. The epidural worked a little too well. Usually i could still move around a bit, but I couldn't even wiggle my toes.
At 6:50, I was checked again and only 5 cm. At this point the baby's heart kept dropping and I was moving positions every 10 minutes or so. They just moved me to an almost upright position. I was watching the heart beat on the monitor and it kept completely dropping off and coming back. I was getting really nervous. All of a sudden my OB shows up and says time to have a better look at the baby. I thought it was for sure emergency c-section time. He checked me and said "oh, time to push!" so i went from a 5 to 10 in a matter of 10 minutes. That is part of the reason the heart beat dropped off the monitor, because the baby was dropping.
A new nurse took over and the doc was getting prepped to deliver. I wasn't sure how easy it was going to be to push. Though I could feel contractions, i could not feel my legs AT ALL. But, it only took 2 pushes and out came baby. I kept asking "WHAT IS IT" and it felt like forever before Scott said "It's a girl!" I was completely shocked but definitely happy! 7:25 pm, 22", 7lbs 13 oz. So much tinier than the other girls. Long and skinny! She is a complete little baby monkey.
I didn't make it to the recovery room until almost 10 PM. I had a very hard time getting to the wheelchair and bed because of all the numbness. I had to be carried and I still almost fell. It wasn't until 2:30 am where I could finally take a few steps with help. Overall the hospital stay was OK. They were maxed on capacity and their computers were down, so the nurses didn't bother me a whole lot since I already know what I'm doing. Sleep was OK the first night and horrible the second. They HIGHLY encourage nursing moms to keep the baby with them at all times but I put her in the nursery for a few hours the second night so i could catch a nap. I also had a super nasty nurse that night, but I tried not to let it ruin my experience. I sort of got jipped on my stay after having the baby late on Thursday. I had to be out ASAP on Saturday, so I only had 4 of the delicious meals that I didn't have to cook myself :) That was probably the worst part of the experience :)
It is nice to be home! Ellie is totally taken with Madelyn and Kyla is doing better than expected. The weather is great so I'm trying to sit outside a little while and take a few short walks. I'm hoping that I don't go through some of the bad swelling and high blood pressure post delivery that I went through with Kyla. Don't want to end up miserable and back in the hospital.
