I remember at the beginning of my pregnancy, I thought to myself "maybe this time I can experience what going into natural labor myself is like." Because with my son I had to be induced because I was not going in on my own, which I didn't mind because I was pretty done with being a giant balloon at that point. With this last pregnancy with my daughter it was pretty smooth and REALLY fast. One day I was peeing on a stick and the next day I was pushing. The last month of my pregnancy it seemed by my last few check ups I was dilating and effacing good and everything seemed to be moving along.
The last week before the arrival of my due date my doctor asked if I wanted to schedule an induction. She didn't believe I was going to make it to that date but she knew I needed to have her around her due date because I needed help with my son, which my mother took the week off that my due date was on to help. So I scheduled it for April 7th at 5:30 in the morning.
The night before my induction my husband and I dropped our son off at my mothers an went to eat at Red Lobster for a "last date for awhile" sort of dinner. To enjoy time to ourselves because we knew we were not going to get it again for awhile. My nerves were just skyrocketing as I watched the clock ticking at dinner. That is probably the one thing I hated most about being induced because I knew what was happening and I had all the time in the world to think about it. Around 9 p.m. we went to bed and of course I could not sleep for the life of me, I was praying I would wake up before 5:30 with contractions and labor would have already started. The next thing I knew my alarm went off and it was that time.... scared shitless I woke up and got everything together. As we were walking out the door to load up in the car I took one last look at our home that was empty, quiet and peaceful...
As we got to the hospital and up to the women's center I had to sign a bunch of papers, some of them were just very useless but it kept my mind off of what was happening for a second. Nurse made me change into my gown and hooked me up to the monitors. Shockingly the nurse told me I was having contractions and was shocked they weren't hurting me.. She said I was defiantly going to go into labor that day or the next. So that eased my mind a lot... Although I still was being induced.
I wanted one last picture of my pregnant belly before all of this started.
They started my IV and my pitocin at 6:40 a.m. My doctor came in to check me and I was 4 cm dilated and 90% effaced. My mother arrived after her radiation around 8 to be with me because this time I wanted her with me for my labor and delivery. So my aunt was watching Dorrian, she was visiting from England for a couple weeks. At the time of her arrival the contractions kicked into high gear at that point. They started dull in my lower back area then made their way to the front and got so intense it brought tears to my eyes. I tried so hard to make it through them but I had to cave in and get the epidural. I just wanted this experience to be one that I could enjoy and not be in so much pain, so I was so ready for that needle in my spine.
By this point things were progressing so so fast. At 10:30 I was 6 cm dilated and then an hour later I was 7 cm dilated. They told me whenever I started feeling pressure to let them know and after 30 minutes of them just checking me I felt that pressure. They came into the room to check and I was 9.9 dilated and 100% effaced. At this point I started freaking out as they were bringing in the supplies and all of her stuff. It hit me this time that this was real, this was happening. Everyone tried to call me down but they just had no idea, they weren't laying on this bed.
At 12:30 it was time for me to push. I was ready to meet her but I was terrified. I started pushing and thought she was going to slide right on out. But I got my hopes up with that.. She was turned the wrong way in my birth canal. Meaning the way her body was angled was going to make it so much harder to get her out. I remember yelling asking if she was nearly out but they just smiled and said keep pushing.. I have never wanted to punch someone so hard before then at that point. My doctor said when I push she goes down but then when I stop she goes right back up. I was so aggravated and tired. I just wanted it over because my energy was giving up. I remember screaming because my doctor was trying to turn her in my birth canal as I was pushing. I thought that it was her fingers but later on my husband told me she was elbow deep on me trying to turn her... So that explain why it was so painful. Which I guess I should of known this because every time I took a break, my doctors arms were covered in blood. But honestly that was just the least of my worries. After an hour and four minutes of pushing she was here at 1:44 p.m... She decided to make her grand entrance (thank God.) Because my nurses said if I wouldn't of pushed as hard as I did the last few time they were going to have to get me into emergency C-section because they did not think I was going to get her out.
Her cry brought tears to my eyes, I was so excited and happy. My beautiful little girl weighing in at 8 pounds 13 oz and 22 inches long. Which is 8 oz bigger than my son, shocked the hell out of me. I thought she was going to be tiny. Her size and the fact she was facing the wrong way made my pushing unbearable but all so worth it! As my doctor was repairing a small tear and stitching me up, I held her and she immediately stopped crying when she heard my voice. It was truly magical. She was so healthy and had no complications, just a knot on her head from my doctor trying to turn her. I was able to breastfeed her immediately and she latched so perfectly.
Two days postpartum in the hospital was all I had to start in there for. I remember with my son I had to stay for five days because of complications with him. Our first day home was glorious, I was so happy to be home. No nurses knocking every two hours checking my vitals or asking when the baby ate last, it was so great.
Now here we are almost three weeks later and everything is still going perfectly. Zooey is such a perfect little baby and I could not be any happier.
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