Abby's Birth Story

I wanted to write this down, so one day I could look back on it and remember some of the details of Abby's birth. Enjoy!

On May 7th (8 days past our EDD), I went to OB for a check knowing that they would probably schedule me for an induction within that weekend. My mom and Susann were already in town and were leaving starting that Sunday so I was also not-so-secretly hoping that I'd get sent soon. Well, Kevin, mom, and Susann went with me to appt with all of our bags packed (just-in-case). As soon as I got into the exam room, the dr goes "well, you are 8 days overdue - want to have the baby today?". UM. YES. PLEASE. So, she called the hospital, they weren't busy so we were sent over straight from the dr with my induction orders.

By 10 am, I was hooking up to pitocin and waiting for things to happen. Turns out, I was contracting every 3-4 minutes for 45 seconds so I probably would have been at the hospital later that day anyway! Things weren't too bad for the next few hours, the nurse was even complimenting my pain tolerance.

When they broke my water at 2 pm. And woah, things got more intense from there! By 4 pm, I was 3 cm (I was one cm dilated when I was admitted) and almost 90% effaced. I was also in severe pain so I decided to ask for the epidural. Things were great for the next few hours. I was playing around on my laptop, taking naps, visiting with everyone at the hospital, etc.

Suddenly, around 7 pm (after my nurse went to go open the special care nursery for another patient and I was working with another nurse), I started having extreme contractions again. After complaining (and crying) for about an hour and pushing the pain button, they called the anthesiologist. As soon as he got me up, he goes "uh oh". Not only had my epi fallen out when the replacement nurse turned me from one side to another about an hour before, I was bleeding all down my back. They pumped some saline to stop the bleeding, then he attempted to put the epi back in (evidently it has to go back in the exact same spot) for the next 45 minutes. Kevintold me later that he could tell things were working out as they were hoping, but thankfully, he spared me from that news. Eventually, the anthesiologist declared the second epi "in"... very hesitantly.

It wasn't in. The next two attempts weren't in either. So, at 4 am, when I was begging for a c-section at being only 4 cm (when they checked 30 minutes prior), the dr decides to give me localized pain medicine. But, when she went to check me to make sure I hadn't dialated more, she was surprised to see I had gone from 4 cm to 9 cm in thirty minutes. So, no pain medicine for me. And no c-section either. (Side note, at this point, I pulled aside mom and told her "She can just stay in there. I'm not doing this anymore) :)

At 7:17 am, after about an hour of pushing and much more med-free than I was intending, little Abby was born. Kevin and I spent the next hour with just the three of us. We actually had not decided on a name as we had a short list and wanted to see her first. So, we named her and enjoyed some quiet time as a family.

What a lovely day.