I woke up sometime between 2 and 3 in the morning that day. I was having weird pains in my lower abdomen and lower back. They weren't normal contractions so I just laid there awake until it was time to get up. They were still happening so I decided after being awake most of the night I would call and ask if it was something I needed to worry about or just ignore. The doctor told me that if they didn't go away or if I started having contractions to come in and they would check me. At my appointment that week I hadn't progressed any more and I felt sure that if I went in, there would be no change and they would just send me home. I had an appointment on Saturday morning to get induced so I didn't want to go in and get sent home for one day!
I had things to do so I got up and showered. The boys and I drove Dave to work and by then my contractions started. I called my parents on the way home and was in tears saying I think today might be the day. I was determined to make it to school for Cole's play and lunch with Braxton. I couldn't let them down. I had arranged for my friend to keep Porter that morning and had texted her to see if she could keep him longer so that I could go to the hospital when I was done with everything. By the time I made it home, I sat in the garage and cried as I told the boys that I wouldn't be able to come to their things that day, I needed to go to the hospital instead. I was heart broken.
We came in the house and they finished getting ready for school, while I finished getting the hospital bag ready and things Porter would need for the day. I tried calling my friend to see if Porter could come sooner than I said I would be bringing him and I couldn't get a hold of her. I called Dave and told him to cancel his 9 am meeting at work because I was coming to get him. I got the boys off to school, pulled the hospital bag down our flights of stairs, and drove to my friends hoping that she could take Porter then.
Luckily being 8 in the morning she was home and I left Porter.She was even willing to get the older boys after school and keep them. My parents were going to leave to come so they took over that evening after they got into town. I started the drive to get Dave and by this time my contractions were happening every 2-5 minutes. YIKES!!! I had Cole super fast and it was turning into his delivery all over again!!! I got to Dave's work and didn't tell him how close my contractions were. He was dead set that if I was in labor we were calling an ambulance just in case we couldn't make the 40 minute drive to the hospital. When we pulled into the parking garage I told him how close they were. I insisted that I could walk through the lot and through the hospital and I would be fine. I was sure I was just being a baby and that nothing was going on.
I walked super slow, super painfully, and sometimes even had to hold onto the rail along the wall holding myself up. We FINALLY made it to labor and delivery and I told them I thought I was in labor. There was a sweet nurse there that had been there a few weeks before when I had my 7 hour stay and got sent home. The same LDS nurse who only works two 12 hr shifts and we were lucky enough to come in on her watch.
They put me in the room of limbo and waited for the doctor to come and check me. I had been at a 3, 75% effaced, and a -2 station the day before. The doctor checked, I was at a 5, 90% effaced, and a zero station! I was in active labor and was having a baby!!!! The nurse told us either way the doctor wasn't going to send us home even if there was no change. She would have just started me.
They took me to a room, had me get the gown on, and they came in right away to break my water. The anesthesiologists were there and waiting for the doctor to finish so they could give me my epidural (one of them is in my ward and the husband of one of my visiting teachers from church). I don't remember it being so painful having an epidural put in before, but it hurt so bad!!! I wanted to do a slow drip so that I could still feel everything, just have the edge taken off, but it turned out like Braxton's and I couldn't feel my legs!!! It was really bad.
After I had been in there for an hour they checked me again and I was at an 8. My contractions were every two minutes, but after being at an 8 for three hours they decided that the epidural had stopped my contractions from doing anything. They shut my epidural off and told me that I could try pushing in a little while.
They came in a little while later and checked me again and said that whenever I could feel to push, we could start. I was determined to get this baby out so as soon as I could feel a little pressure I called them. I still had no feeling in my legs at this point and was worried I wouldn't know how to push. They were hoping that with the first push I would be able to push her head down a little bit more because she was still a little high. I pushed one time and they said, oh! She's ready here's her head!!!
The team gathered round as Raegen was making her debut! She was ready to come out, but the doctor decided that she had to cut me a little or she wouldn't come out very well. As soon as her head was out I said, oh her head is out it feels so much better! Then I said the same things about her shoulders. It felt so much better when she was out!!! They had to suction her a lot. She didn't cry for a few minutes and was extremely purple when they laid her on me.
They took her to a little area near by to work on her. Then I heard all the gushing of blood and told the doctor that I have a tendency to be a bleeder. She just laughed and said they figured that out when they cut me. I guess I bled a lot then too. She decided to give me a shot of something so that I wouldn't bleed as much.
They had gotten Raegen cleaned up and finally got around to her measurements. One of them thought she was well over 10 lbs, they were all taking guesses. She weighed in at 9 lbs. 9 ozs. 21 in. long! She was HUGE!!! Cole was the biggest baby I'd had and he was almost two whole pounds lighter. She was also longer than any of them by an inch and a half.
We got moved into a recovery room that night and it was pretty eventful for a day! I had gotten up to use the bathroom for the first time in the room and had to have someone come in to clean up the whole way there.... So not flattering I know. This is probably all too much info, but my only journal so I'm sharing all the details! I was so embarrassed!!! I know they deal with it all the time, but it seemed like the only time I needed a nurse was when there was a problem.
It didn't end there. I took a shower the next morning and when I got out of the shower I started gushing blood all over. There were two women waiting in my room and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I realized as I was washing my hands that the blood was gushing in the sink and wasn't stopping. I had pulled out the line to my iv! At least it wasn't somewhere else, but I still was naked and needed help from the nurses to stop my hand from gushing. I used a towel to cover up the front and had them come in. I was so embarrassed yet again. They got some gauze and covered it up. I cleaned up and came out to let them do whatever they had come in to do. At this point I just decided that I was going to have issues everywhere and this wasn't going to be pretty! Thankfully that was the end of my issues and the rest of the time was ok!
We are so glad she's here and that she's healthy and plump!!! She's thinned out a bit already and is cute as can be!
The little work room for the baby to go!
On Friday night at the hospital they planned a dinner for two for us. We got to have a date night on the hospital!
Getting ready for her first car ride home!
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