Well, as you know, I was to be induced today at 6:00am. The plan was for me to be started on pitocin and then my OB would arrive around 8:00am to break my water. We were hoping for a shorter 4-5 hour labor like our first induction.
Fortunately Adalee, and the Lord, had other plans! I went into labor naturally in the middle of the night! No induction or pitocin needed here! Praise God!
Now for the details:
I went to sleep on the couch around midnight, praying that labor would start on its own. I woke at 2:45am to a contraction and thought "I don't want to go through an induction - pitocin contractions will hurt more than this and this really hurts"! I fell back asleep while praying again that labor would start on its own. I woke again at 2:53am to another painful contraction. I thought maybe I was getting the contractions from a full bladder so I used the restroom. It wasn't from a full bladder as they immediately started coming every 2 minutes and were doubling me over with their intensity. I got into the shower hoping it would slow things down a little. That was a bad idea! The contractions instantly started double peaking. It felt like the contractions were pushing my baby out through my skin. I knocked on the shower wall a couple times to try and wake my Husband. Finally I got out of the shower and frantically started calling his name. When he finally heard me I told him it was time, I was in labor! At this point it's 3:06am and I thought I was in transition already! I was shaking and couldn't stay on top of the pain. It felt like I was losing control. I got dressed while my Husband threw out bags in the car. I raced downstairs to warn my Mom we were in labor & headed to L&D. I even told her, as I was walking out the door, "I think I'm in transition"!
On our way to the hospital my Husband called his Sister who was supposed to be at the delivery. She thought he was playing a joke on her. After he convinced her to race to L&D we called the hospital to warn them of our arrival. During the car ride, which is only 5 minutes, I had to have him stop driving. And yes, he did drive CAUTIOUSLY through a red light.
When we arrived at the ER my Husband ran in to get me a wheelchair. This was the first labor I actually felt I NEEDED a wheelchair to ride to L&D. An ER nurse came out while I was in the middle of a contraction and seemed surprised when she noticed I was in labor. She walked me up to L&D while my Husband parked the car. I filled out the sheet of required paperwork before my nurse brought me back to my room. She asked if I had other fast labors and giggled nervously when I mentioned my last labor was 2 hours long. I was feeling pushy by the time she got me to my room so she checked me right away and I was 6cm.
She hooked me up to the monitors and confirmed that my contractions were double peaking. She started an IV right away since I had a history of postpartum hemorrhage. Two attempts later the IV was in and fluids were pumping. I was laying on my side, since they require 15 minutes of monitoring upon arrival at L&D. The contractions were unbearably painful at this point and I almost cried from the pain.
A few minutes later I was moaning with each contraction and shortly there after I was pushing. I told my nurse that I would have to push with the next contraction or two and her response was, "I hear that"! She called for my OB who was in the hospital parking lot. Thankfully by the time I needed to push my on-call OB had made it into my room. She didn't have time to remove her sweater and just started slipping on gloves and gown as quickly as she could.
The next four contractions were very "short and wonky" as the OB called them, only last about 30 seconds, so I was unable to get any decent pushing done. The next two contractions were decent lengths and I was able to deliver miss Adalee! She had passed her first bowel movement or mecconium so she had to be taken straight to the warmer to be checked over. She was fine, thankfully!
She had a FULL head of black, curly hair and the sweetest little cry!
She latched on wonderfully right away and has been a breastfeeding pro ever since! She weighed 8lbs 9.4oz and was 21.5" long - EXACTLY THE SAME SIZE as her older brother Cobi who was also born at Woodwinds in October!
So we now have two Boys and two Girls - two October birthdays and two February birthdays!
