My sweet Sadie Marie arrived on Monday November 4th, 2013 at 11:38 am. She weighed in at 7 pounds 12 ounces of pure perfection. I can't even tell you how in love I am with this girl. How could something I created ever be so perfect?!
Sadie's Birth Story:
On Sunday 11/3 we went to my sister-in-law's house for a birthday dinner honoring my brother-in-law. I felt kind of weird all day. Similar to how I was feeling the previous Sunday when I was nauseous and dizzy off and on all day. By dinner time I was feeling fine though and we had a great time with our family! We got home and rolled into bed (literally). I, being 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant, was up and down many times to use the bathroom as always. I got up probably just a few minutes before 2am Monday morning to use the bathroom, came back to bed, laid down feeling very slight cramps. A few minutes later I felt like I was having stomach cramps that would indicate another trip to the bathroom was coming. I got up, grabbed my phone and headed back to the bathroom.
Once in the bathroom I immediately started bleeding. Panicking, I called for my husband who was snoring away in the bedroom, not hearing me yell for him!! I obviously had to take matters into my own hands so I called the doctor's office, left a message and waited for my call back. In the mean time I was debating who I could call/text about this issue because although I wasn't having contractions, I was pretty sure that red blood that late in pregnancy just wasn't good.
I finally was able to yell loud enough to my husband that I was thinking it was baby time. He said, "What? Now?" Yes! Now!! I got a call back from the on call doctor and explained to her that I was bleeding red blood and that I wasn't sure why. She basically told me that she didn't really care what color it was (haha) and that we needed to come into L&D, now! I got dressed, made sure Matthew was fully awake, he got dressed, and then asked, "Should I put my contacts in?" Umm. I don't really care, just hurry and make a decision so we can leave! I texted my mom because we were supposed to take Teddy over to her house when the time came. She didn't want us to bring him over so late so we had to leave him at home. That broke my heart. He's never been home alone during the night before.
We grabbed our bags, grabbed the car seat and headed out the door. I feel like it took forever to get to the hospital. From the time I got the call back from the on call at 2:14 until the time we got to triage in L&D 45 minutes had passed! When we got into a triage room our nurse informed us that this was probably nothing, it was probably just my "bloody show" and that some women bleed more than others during that time frame. I was thinking she was crazy because she didn't actually see how much blood there was. We were kind of bummed that she was saying this probably wasn't it.
We waited for the doctor who came in rather quickly and performed her exam. She said I was at a 2cm and she wanted to check to make sure my water didn't break. She also mentioned that some women can have
several bags of water and that one of them may have been broken just based on what she was seeing. I had no idea you could have more than one bag of fluid. She said that even if one of the bags broke we'd be staying because the risk for infection still goes up, even if the bag that broke isn't the one containing the baby (or something like that). She left and came back about 2 minutes later and said we're staying!! Oh my gosh, we're really having a baby!?!
They got us into a L&D room and said that there's a chance we'd have a baby by dinner time, but because I was only at 2cm, not to be surprised if she didn't arrive until 11/5. At this point I was feeling contractions but they weren't anything I couldn't handle. Once settled into our room I was hooked up to an IV of fluids and they wanted to start me on Pitocin after breaking my water (the other bag?!)! Matthew was trying to get some sleep but I definitely could not sleep! The contractions definitely picked up after the broke my water and started me on the lowest dose of Pitocin. Around 7 I was starting to wonder why I was in so much pain being only 2 cm. I hadn't been checked in a while but I gave myself a (very) small goal of trying to make it until 7:30 without an epidural. I felt like I was being a baby about the pain since I thought I was still at only 2 cm.
7:30 came around and Matthew convinced me to stop being brave and get the epi. Best advice ever! The anesthesiologist came in at 8:00 - the nurse said that I chose a good time to get the epi because they were about to get very very busy. The administered the medication, I was
really nervous for this and my hands were shaking. Luckily my husband was there to hold them! The epi was NOTHING!! I can't believe how nervous I was for it and it didn't hurt a bit. There was a point where I felt a "zap" and jumped a bit. The doctor then said "Oh, you might feel a zing." Felt it. Thanks for the warning ahead of time. That was the most painful part because I wasn't expecting it. They told me that I should be feeling good within 30 minutes but I was feeling really good before they even left the room at 8:10!! It's such a weird feeling trying to swing your legs back up onto the bed and not being able to move them!
At 9 I was checked again and was at 5 cm so we just continued to hang out. Matthew may have slept a bit more, I can't remember. I was texting/emailing friends and family to let them know this is really it! My future sister-in-law Kelsey was working the night before so it was nice to be able to text someone at 4am and have them respond, because I was kind of bored! :o)
A little after 10 I was checked again and they said I was at a 10 and it was time to push! Holy cow, what?!?! Right now? It's time? I began panicking and clicking the button to administer more epidural pain medication. I was still pretty numb, but wanted to push it a few times, just in case!
At about 10:30 I started pushing and I would just like to say that pushing is no joke! I could feel when I needed to push but I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. And it was exhausting. I think I thought that I'd push a few times and baby would pop out, but that's not the case for everyone! My nurse was encouraging though and let me know when I was doing it exactly like she wanted me to. The doctor came in to finish the job and I remember they kept saying that the baby just needed to get under (over, maybe?) the pelvic bone. They said it a lot and I kept thinking, she's still not passed that part? How much longer is this going to take? I was getting sweaty (During labor? That's unheard of!) and light headed and kind of felt like I was going to pass out! I kept thinking if it was too late to go back and get a c-section. I finally asked, if they could give me an estimate of how many more pushes until she was out. They said 4. That was crushing.
I gave 3 really good pushes and the doctor and nurse kept telling me to look down! Look down! I looked down and there was my little girl! She pooped all over me as she was being placed on my stomach but I think I love her more for it. They cleaned her up and put her on my chest and I just remember looking into those beautiful eyes in disbelief that this little girl is what I've been waiting on for 10 months! I kept telling her how pretty she was and how much I loved her and how long I'd been waiting to meet her. Matt and I just kept looking at each other and laughing with tears in our eyes, in shock that we created something so amazing. We are absolutely in love with her and couldn't be happier that she's finally here!
We joked that we thought we
might have a baby by dinner time but ended up getting her before breakfast was really over! After about a few hours we were moved into our postpartum room where we stayed until Wednesday around noon.
We've been home for a week now, and while it hasn't been smooth sailing the whole time (I'm having a hard time getting Sadie to latch for feedings) she is well worth every single second. I love snuggling her and kissing her and loving on her all the time!
