The Labor Story . . .

So I never forget . . .

My due date was January 16th, but we had an induction scheduled for January 13th. My doctor said that second time moms are always favorable enough to be induced after 39 weeks, and we thought it would be best to have the delivery planned so that we could have work and babysitting figured out. As the 13th drew closer though, it was very obvious that my body was not ready to have that little girl yet. My doctor kept telling me that Maisie was hanging out way up in my ribs and that I was not at all dilating. I was so disappointed. I was ready to hold my baby girl. I was ready to be done with work. I was ready to move on to this next stage in our lives.

So, I couldn't be induced. I went back to the doctor on the 17th, and I was still not progressed enough for an induction. So, just like with Kaiah, I went a full 41 weeks. At that point my doctor thinks that it is safer to do an induction, even if my body isn't favorable, than leave the baby inside. Looking back, I think that the extra time was a blessing in disguise. It gave me a few extra days with my Kaiah before her life changed forever.

Seven days passed due, on Monday, January 23rd, I waited a little impatiently for a phone call from the hospital to tell me to come in for an induction. They said I could receive the call as early as 5:30 a.m., so I did not get much sleep at all. My mom had spent the night at our house, and we all enjoyed breakfast at Kneaders that morning. I finally got the call to come in the hospital at 10:30 a.m. It felt weird to finally be going in, knowing that I would have my baby that day. I had waited so long, and now it was finally here. Kaiah stayed home with Grandma WeWe (my mom) and Jer and I headed to the hospital.

When we finally got a room and settled, they checked me and said that I was almost dilated to a one. They started me on pitocin and the waiting game began. Everything seemed to be moving so slowly. I got the epidural around 2:00 p.m., which just made life a lot happier! We kept waiting, but the nurse said it looked like things were just going to continue going slow and steady.

At a little after 5:00 p.m., the nurse checked me (and accidentally broke my water). I was dilated to a four, and the nurse predicted that it would take about an hour a centimeter from here - so my baby would be coming around 11:00 p.m. I was so tired of the waiting. We called my mom and told her to get settled in for a long night. I posted on Facebook: " 7 hours in and dilated to a 4. I sure hope the rest goes fast."

Boy - I am not sure if I cursed myself or received an answer to my prayers, but fast it went! All of a sudden, I had terrible, terrible pain - the worst in my life besides my bone transplant. I pushed my epidural button, but it didn't touch the pain. I asked for the anesthesiologist to come and give me some more direct medicine. My whole body was shaking, and I was crying and just trying to keep my breath going evenly. Jer knew that I was seriously in pain because I didn't push him away when he came over to hold my hand and push my hair out of my face. The extra medicine helped a little, and I was able to relax a bit. I told my nurse that I knew that I was still very far from giving birth, but I felt like I really needed to go to the bathroom. This was at around 5:40 p.m. This made the nurse check my progress, and she was shocked to find out that I was dilated to an eight! I couldn't believe it - from a four to and eight in about 30 minutes.

The nurse started prepping the room for delivery, and I told Jer to call my mom and tell her to come immediately. By the end of that call I was dilated to a 10! Well, it was, like, the one and only day we have had any snow at all. My mom rushed to meet amid super slick roads and snow. She made it to my room at 6:09 p.m. and Maisie was born at 6:19!

The delivery process was a complete 180 from how Kaiah's went. With Kaiah I pushed for 2 1/2 hours. Torture. The whole time I just thought how unnatural it all felt. I felt like I was having two different sets of contractions that were at opposite times of each other, and I was confused about when I was suppose to push. It really honestly seemed really confusing and unnatural to me. I was exhausted, frustrated, and overwhelmed. With Maisie, it all finally made sensed and clicked into place. It felt natural. I could feel what my body wanted/needed to do. It was so invigorating and powerful. I was relaxed and so were the people around me. This time, I wasn't pressured by what I was supposed to do - I was in charge. It went so fast. 10 minutes of pushing, and my beautiful baby girl was here!

My first thought: she is so little! Compared to Kaiah's 8 lbs 14 oz, she was tiny! She was 7 lbs 4 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. Tons and tons and tons of hair, just like her big sister. I was overwhelmed by how beautiful she was. The first time I touched, cuddled, fed, kissed her - all were very relaxing and just perfect.

One of the greatest blessings this time - because the delivery was so fast and the laboring happened during the day, Jer and I were both very much more "with it" this time. We weren't exhausted, which allowed lots of precious cuddle time. We also didn't have many visitors because of the snow, which allowed for a lot of much needed recovery time.

We love our little girl and are so excited to welcome her to our family. It truly is amazing how something can be both such a huge change, yet so natural. Our lives have changed forever, and I am ready for that change!