Thursday morning I woke up after a great night's sleep around 7:45 am and had some mild contractions. This was nothing new (I was having more intense contractions when I was sleeping or resting), so I shrugged them off and got Lyla up and dressed. Normally my contractions would go away around the time Lyla and I were eating breakfast, but they continued (still mild, though). I made sure after breakfast I got showered and dressed and that Lyla was ready to go for the day. STILL more contractions happening. I started to get a little nervous that this might be the start of labor, but I really didn't want to be wrong and tell everyone and look like an idiot. I called Dustin to mention to him about the contractions and told him I would keep him posted. I wanted to keep my mind off of them, so I decided to take a shopping trip with Lyla to Target. While I was there, I started timing my contractions. They were about 6 to 7 minutes apart consistently for over an hour. Some of them started to feel worse, and I would have to stop pushing the cart to get through them. I called Dustin and told them they were persisting, but not to leave work just yet. I thought it best to go ahead and check out of the store and head for home, just in case.
When we got to the car, I called my mom to get her take on what was going on. I know this sounds silly, but keep in mind last time I went into labor my water broke so I KNEW labor was starting. My mom told me I needed to hightail it home and call Dustin and Sherie to let them both know to get to the house. She was chastising me for being out shopping when I was in labor and driving a car to boot, but I honestly didn't feel that bad. I told Dustin to come on home and called Sherie to put her on standby. I didn't want Lyla to know anything was going on, so I kept on with her normal routine. We got the groceries packed away and I made lunch for her and I. I was starting to think I should rest a little since I'd been on my feet all morning, so we had a special lunch in front of the television. While sitting, I had some contractions hit me hard, and I was starting to feel grateful that Dustin was on his way.
Dustin got home around 12:30 pm and put Lyla down for her nap for me. We then headed out to walk around our street so Dustin could time my contractions (and I felt better being up walking around then sitting on the couch). I was telling Dustin that I still wasn't sure that I was in labor, to which Dustin responded that he didn't care, we needed to get to the hospital pronto because my contractions were about 3 minutes apart or less. We called Sherie to come over, got changed, called the hospital, and were off.
I'm REALLY glad Dustin told me we needed to leave when we did, because the contractions started hitting HARD when we got into the car on the drive over. Plus, we hit traffic. Yuck. Luckily, it wasn't too bad and we got to the hospital a little after 2 pm. I got signed in and put on my hospital gown, and waited for someone to come in and check me. I was really uncomfortable and told Dustin that if I was far enough along, an epidural would be really helpful. Still, staying on my feet was making me feel better, even if I had to double over through a contraction. THANK GOODNESS, when the midwife came in, my contractions were about 2 minutes apart and I was dilated to a 5.
We got to my delivery room and waited for the anesthesiologist to come in and give me my epidural. To get the epidural, you have to get a certain amount of fluids in your system via IV to make sure you're not dehydrated. I HATE needles, but I've been tolerating them really well. I let the nurse know I didn't like them and that I was going to close my eyes just as a precaution. Well, the nurse hit a few snags with the IV, and proceeded to start telling me that she was sorry she was having a hard time, but she hit my vein wrong and there was blood everywhere. I recall the specific phrase "Wow, there's so much blood it looks like I shot you over here". Great. Now I was feeling faint, so I asked Dustin for some water FAST. The nurse said I looked faint and laughed that I didn't tell her how much I was afraid of needles. I didn't have the strength to argue that normally people don't poke me with a needle and end up with a gore fest of blood. Anyway, I got through it, and we again waited for an epidural. The only anesthesiologist n call was in the operating room with a C-section, and the nurse said it may be up to an hour before I could get an epidural. An HOUR?! Dustin was great about helping me get back up on my feet to labor and get through the contractions. The nurse finally offered me some Fentinol to take the edge off my contractions until the epidural. It made me really woozy, but taking the edge off was a great relief.
FINALLY, the anesthesiologist came in and was ready to give me the epidural. He worked really fast and did a great job - the needle from the epidural hurt less than the IV! I remember complaining that the epidural didn't feel like it was working, so the anesthesiologist helped me lay down to help the drug start to spread. Well, as soon as I laid down I had an overwhelming sensation that it was time to push NOW(!). The midwife rushed in and I was already just shy of a 10, so she broke my water and the anesthesiologist had to shut off my epidural. How was my luck bad enough that I had to suffer through an epidural and then not even get the benefit of any medicine! At this point, I fell apart a little, telling Dustin I couldn't do it without an epidural and how I wasn't going to be able to get the baby out. The nurse, midwife, and Dustin were patient with me, and 45 minutes or so of pushing later, he finally made his way out. It was odd - for as terrified as I was, I felt more in control of things this time around, and in much better shape. Aside from my mini-breakdown at the start of pushing, I was proud I was able to withstand almost all of labor on my feet, and only having to spend less than 3 hours in the hospital. As soon as Hank was out, I felt great - way less exhausted than I was with Lyla.
Dustin and I started to make our phone calls and take some pictures, and we invited Lyla, Hank, and Sherie to go ahead and come on over to see Hank. They got there while I was still in the delivery room, and we had a sweet first meeting of Lyla and Hank. She was so excited, almost to the point of being a little emotional, which of course made my mommy heart melt. We put on some party hats and had birthday cake to celebrate Hank's "birth" day - Lyla even led us in singing "Happy Birthday" to him. At the close of visiting hours, Lyla, Hank, and Sherie went home and Dustin stayed the night at the hospital with me. I was surprised how much more relaxed we were this time around, and we slept a lot more soundly. Hank sleeps like a champ, so that helped, of course.
Our hospital stay was pretty brief - we ended up going home the next day around noon. Like I said, the combination of me feeling pretty good, Hank doing great on all his tests/procedures/immunizations, and us feeling like we had things under control made us feel like the sooner we went home, the better. We are extremely excited to start new adventures as a family unit of four and can't wait to see what the future holds!
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