We had a baby shower the Saturday before and everyone casually joked leading up to it that they hoped I would make it to my shower, but why wouldn't I? It was 2 weeks before my actual due date, and even though I had a feeling that she would come early, I never thought it would be THAT early. I had left everything at school the Friday before somewhat organized "just in case", and left my lesson plans where they would be easy to find. The following week was supposed to be my last week of work, but I went ahead and made the sub plans for it just for my own sanity.
Fast forward to Monday at around 1:00 am. I woke up, just like I had done every single night for the last 9 months needing to go to the bathroom. It always felt like I was having Braxton Hicks when I woke up because of the immense pressure on my bladder. I went to the bathroom and went back to bed. I then woke up at 3:30 to what felt like me peeing myself, but there was no pressure on my bladder/Braxton Hicks. I immediately jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom. After a few minutes of sitting on the toilet, my mind finally registered what was probably happening. I had the same feeling I had when I first took that pregnancy test 9 months before and saw that it was positive, heart racing, sweaty palms. I knew this was about to be real! I woke Landon up and said, "Either I just peed myself or my water just broke." Calmly, he got out of bed and sat at the foot of the bed and asked if I was having contractions. When I told him "no", he said, "Ok then lets go back to bed." Ha! I knew there wasn't really anything to do yet, so I went back to bed too.
Contractions started around 3:45 but were anywhere from 8-12 minutes apart and weren't painful at all. I never went back to sleep because the feeling that I was continually peeing myself was more uncomfortable than the actual contractions. So I laid there until 6:00 just timing contractions. I finally got up at 6:00, fed the dogs, ate breakfast, and then called the hospital. They told me that it sounded like my water had indeed broken and to come on in. Again, we were in no rush. I knew I didn't want to sit in a hospital room forever, so we slowly but surely began getting ready.
Because both of us were not expecting to be gone from school this week, Landon quickly showered and went up to his school to take care of things, and I called a couple teachers from my team and let them know what was going on. I took a shower while Landon was gone and put on make-up. I knew there would be lots of pictures that day, and I wasn't going to look like crap:) Landon got home between 7:30 and 8, and we started cleaning up the house, finished packing our bags, and made arrangements for the dogs. At this point, contractions were between 5-8 minutes apart but still not painful, only uncomfortable.
We finally headed out the door at 9:45 but needed to run a few errands before we went to the hospital. The dogs needed medicine and Landon had an appointment to get a steroid shot for his allergies at 10:00. We finally walked into the hospital at 11:00, registered, and got checked into our room. Our nurse checked to confirm that my water had broken and I was then dilated to a 3 and 100% effaced. At this point contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and getting stronger, but nothing I couldn't handle. All I could think about was how hungry I was, so the nurse gave us the ok for me to eat something small. Landon went to get us some lunch, and while he was gone, my contractions started getting more intense. At one point, I had to call the nurse because I was getting pretty nauseous. Luckily, I didn't get sick, and Landon came back with my sandwich from Which Witch. Between that time and about 3:00 I threw up 2 times, and I was now dilated to a 5.5.
I had only had a handful of contractions that were pretty painful, hence the throwing up part, so when the nurse asked if I wanted an epidural, I told her that I was fine for now. Between 3:00-4:00 the contractions intensified, and I finally decided that I would get the epidural. The anesthesiologist came in at 4:00 (who was a very odd fellow with no sense of humor) and attempted to give me the goods. In between contractions and him messing up the first time, I finally got it and he was gone. It took some time for the epidural to kick in, and still, I could feel every contraction. They just weren't as long. My biggest fear was that now my labor would slow down because of the epidural, so when the nurse came in at 5:15 to check me, I was afraid I would still be at a 5.5. Hearing her say, "Wow, you're at a 9.5!" was like music to my ears.
The next 15-20 minutes were all a blur. I had this idea in my mind what it was going to be like delivering a baby just from movies that I had seen and YouTube videos I had watched. I was expecting drama and chaos, but it was quite the opposite! My nurse told me she was going to get the delivery table and another nurse and then we would be ready to push. When she left the room, Landon prayed for me and Olivia that everything would go smoothly and safely. I felt such a peace and was so relaxed during the whole thing. The doctor, who was not my doctor, on call came in for most of the pushing. She was very laid back and funny, which kept me and the whole process relaxed. She kept asking what my first meal was going to be after I pushed this baby out and told me I needed to get a big margarita too! I pushed for an hour and a half, but it seemed like only 10 minutes.
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| Sweet angel baby! |
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| last picture of just us! |
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| Our new family of 3! |
