Weight 6 lb 13oz
Length 20 inches
Well it all began on the morning of Wednesday, August 12th. I woke up feeling a little different, I thought my water might have broken, but I was unsure. This was at 7:30am. I debated all morning and into the afternoon on what to do. I continued to work and we had it scheduled for Megan to come over and baby sit Connor in the afternoon.
Once I picked up Megan around 12pm, I called the doctor to schedule an appointment for “leakage.” They got me an appointment for 2pm with which Dr? Yes, the Dr. JA. Ugh.
The appointment was with Dr. JA, he checked me and determined the leakage was not my waters, but I did dilate from 1cm from Tuesday to 2cm on Wednesday. My back was very sore and I was having cramping from my back to my front down my legs. Ugh. Finally Jeff came home, and Connor, Jeff and I took a long walk. After our walk, I decided to go relax in bed for a while. By 9pm I noticed I was having possible contractions every 9minutes and 30 seconds. I downloaded an application for my I-touch to chart the contractions. They were every 9:32 for about 30 seconds. By 10pm, I decided it was nothing. So, I tried to sleep.
I woke with a start at 11:45pm. I REALLY thought my water broke. I went to the bathroom and more fluid was leaking. Then this huge cramp come over me, that one took my breath away. I woke up Jeff and told him he needed to call the doctor and someone to watch Connor. Then these contractions started to come every 3 and a half minutes lasting 45 seconds or so. Those were some of the LONGEST 45 seconds. They brought me to my knees, yep those felt like the real thing.
The doctor said to wait an hour and see how things were going. We tried to finish the packing of my bag (which we forgot EVERYTHING for the baby). We made calls during that hour, but every 3minutes and 32 seconds I had that lovely 45 second contraction- OUCH. One of those happened in the bathroom, I had the door open under the sink. Staring at me was my positive PG test. Jeff looked at test and at me and said, “Remember how excited and shocked you were 9 months ago when you took that test?” It was pretty uncanny timing as I’m having this major contraction on my bathroom floor.
Finally I made it downstairs to open the door for Jeff’s Mom and then have a major contraction on my office floor. Once that was over I told Jeff we need to leave NOW. Stop packing and getting stuff we need to leave NOW. So, I made my way to the car, while exiting the driveway I never realized how big that bump was from our driveway to the road. Our 8 minute drive from the house to the hospital was shortened as Jeff ran a stop light and thankfully drove quickly.
We arrived at the ER, and I was wheeled up into L&D by an athletic training friend who recently became a RN. THAT was funny.
Once in L&D, I go into a room, where I promptly dropped on all 4 fours asked for something to be sick into and proceeded to contract and vomit with the next contractions. By now it’s 1:30am – 1:45am. They ask if I want an epidural during this I said YES. They checked me and I was 3 cm and about 95-100% effaced (nurse said 100% Dr. Flemming said 95%). Anyway, I put on a gown got my IV and continued to contract and vomit about every 3 minutes. I stared at the second hand at the clock with each contraction and did my best to breath through those 45-50 seconds.
They gave me some pain meds to “take the edge off.” The nurse stated it would be like drinking a 12 pack. Either I have a really high tolerance for beer or this 12 pack was near beer. The only help it gave me was taking the contractions from my legs and it was just my back and uterus. They came in to ask Jeff to move his car from emergency, while he left the asked if I wanted to wait for him to come back before I got my epidural. I said NO, send in the epidural man.
I have survived many broken bones, hyper extended knee and lots of painful athletic related injuries… NONE of those even begin to touch the pain of a contraction.
Finally around 3am the Epidural man arrived. The assured me if I was in true labor, the epidural would not slow things down. I said, lets do it. I was amazed how I was not fearful at all of the epidural at this time. I was ready. After about 10 minutes it began to kick in and it was BEAUTIFUL.
Last check of the night was at 4am, we were told to rest and they would check me back at 6:30ish. Between 4am and 6:30am, we rested. I did not sleep at all, but was in sorta of a twilight rest. I was checked at 6:30am and I had dilated to 8cm and full effaced. They guessed around 8am we’d start pushing. At that time the nurse estimated we’d push for about 2 hours and have a baby after lunch time. They checked me again at 7:30am and I was 10cm. I had 30 minutes left of resting, and I was tired. We also called my Mom who was on her way over, and we alerted the other parents as well.
They came back in at 8am, I asked if we could wait a little longer, they said no it was time to push. I said before we begin that, ensure there is PLENTY of epidural left. At this point I did not feel any contractions I have no idea how I dilated from 4cm to 10cm, but it was PAINLESS. My legs did feel like dead weight but no pain. I was concerned I would not feel to push but, hey I figured we had like 2 hours of pushing ahead of me.
Well, little did any of us realize, my years of pulling my legs for double backs, or double flyaways would really pay off. Apparently I figured out the pushing thing pretty quickly. At 8:30am Dr. F popped in. He began to glove up and such, I asked him why was he in the room. He said we were having a baby pretty soon. Then he asked if I wanted to feel her head. I did and it was a very strange feeling. At that point I decided it was a good thing to remind him to be careful with his scalpel. I said, “If it’s not necessary, PLEASE refrain.” I even asked if I was “stretching” enough naturally, he said I was. I’m not sure if this is simply in my genetics, or a well endowed husband (J) or the perineal stretching might have helped. LOL. Anyway, one more round of pushes later I was told to relax, and viola she was born!
They quickly checked her and put her directly on me. She came into this world SCREAMING. She sounded like a cat, and even now when she cries it still sounds like a shrill kitten crying. I did tear a little, nothing impressive (thank GOD!!!). Jeff cut the cord, the placenta delivered and all was well. I even checked out the placenta – that was weird. The nurse was even able to tell me I did not smoke her whole PG because of how it looked (who knew a placenta could tell you about that?!).
So, the doc finished up and congratulated us. Then things get a little fuzzy. I know they hung pictocin to help the uterus contract back, then they stopped the epidural (bye-bye my little friend). I felt really well, hence the quick texts and posts via my I-touch. Jeff made all the calls to our families.
It was crazy she was/is so small. I cannot believe it all happened so fast! But little did I realize what was ahead….the really “glamorous” part of post-pardum “recovery” that no one speaks of…..
The Howell Family
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