On Feb 1st, I had my 39week doctor's appointment. The past few days before, I hadn't been feeling "right". It was a strange feeling like the way your head feels when you have the flu. I also noticed that my blood pressure readings were starting to creep up a bit at home. I told the doctor all of this, she didnt seem too concerned because my at home readings weren't in a danger zone yet. Because the readings were creeping up she wanted to set me up with an induction for the next week and then take my blood pressure again before I left. Well they took my blood pressure again, it was still elevated, and then told me I could go. As I was walking out, the doctor called me back and asked if I was still feeling bad and I said that I was. She decided it was best that I be sent to Labor and Delivery for monitoring for a couple hours.
Dennis and I hemmed and hawed over what to do with the kids. We originally thought, well we will just bring them with us and if something happens we'll bring them over to our Pastor's house. We just werent sure how fast things would change so, in the end, we decided to bring them to our Pastor's house first and then head to the hospital. At least that way they could play with their friends and not be bored to death in the hospital. Good thing we did!! We got to the hospital, I got hooked up to the machines, and the doctor came in and said "ready to have your baby?!" HAHA I think my jaw hit the ground! She wanted to start pitocin right away because with my blood pressure rising, she didnt want to wait and put the baby in any danger. I was 39 weeks, dialated, baby was ready to come out - her words, not mine. ;)
At first, it seemed like my body was responding well to the pitocin. I started contracting right away, but then the contractions would drop off. Every time they turned up the dose, I would contract for a little while and then drop off. After about 6 hours, nothing had changed - very demoralizing! I hadnt had anything but a bagel to eat all day, I was tired and exhausted! They kept offering to give me an epidural and break my water but I would decline, I could tell though the contractions were uncomfortable, they just weren't "there" yet pain wise. Around midnight, the doctor decided to stop the pitocin and try doing a cervix ripening medicine instead. So they gave me the meds and Dennis and I went to sleep.
At one point during the night, I got woken up by the doctor and 2 nurses running in the room and scrambling trying to wake me up and turn me over on the other side. I was still half asleep and had no idea what was going on except they were acting panicked and I had an oxygen mask over my face. After a few minutes they told me that the baby's heart rate dropped and they were trying to get it back up. Thankfully the baby responded, but it was REAL hard to get back to sleep after that big scare.
Morning came, the cervix meds did their job, I was ready to start the pitocin again. This time, I could tell, these were the "good" contractions. After a few hours doctor came in and said she wanted to break my water. I told her, and the nurse, that things usually happen very fast after that so I wanted my epidural now. LOL That epidural was the strongest epi I had ever had. I couldnt move my legs at all - usually I still have some sort of feeling. I was actually pretty concerned with how strong it was, that I wouldnt feel it when the baby was ready to push. The nurse wasnt very helpful but said I would be fine *rolling eyes*. The doctor came in to break my water - I was about 4cm dialated at this time. Maybe about 45mins later, I started feeling INCREDIBLE pressure. I told the nurse, she kind of blew me off and told me to push the button for more pain meds. I didnt want to because I knew this pain meant the baby was almost there but I did anyway (or Dennis did for me). They never believe me when I say how fast the baby comes after my water breaks. The nurse started giving me a hard time because I didnt push the button right away - I wanted to slap her. LOL She called for the doctor to come and check me and I was already at 8cm, almost ready to push. A few mins later, I got a new nurse (thank God for her), she came and checked me because the doc wasnt there yet. Baby was THERE, ready to join the world!! She had me start pushing and doc came running in. Doc didnt even have a chance to get her robe on and cover the bed, baby Abigail had arrived!
She was a bit blue but they gave her some oxygen and she pink'ed up right away. What a great day!
Elizabeth was soooo excited to meet her baby Abigail. The boys too!! I got to go home 24hours later and the boys and Elizabeth have been great big brother and sister to our newest addition to the family.
