BACKGROUND

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Baby Lexi- Labour and Delivery Story

So as many of you already know, we bought a house last month!!! We had been looking around since January, as it was one of our biggest goals this year, and finally found something we loved right before the baby was suppose to come! I had been keeping quiet about the whole thing because it is always scary buying your first house and not knowing if you are going to get it or not. Anyways, I stayed away from the blog because I was so scared I was going to spill the beans haha.

As has been stated in a previous blog post, I had 2 different due dates with this baby and they were quite far apart...so me being the naive person that I am decided that I would stick with my April 9th due date even though the 20 week ultrasound had told me April 20th. I wasn't too stressed about when she was coming because we had TONS to do before the big move. I will have to post a separate entry about the house but for now just note that I had so many calls to make, things to transfer, paperwork to get in order and packing to do that I figured she would come when she was ready. It was also nice that she was my second so the days didn't seem to drag on as I was chasing a 21 month old around! Well, Easter came and went and the days started getting closer to moving day. My doctor was gone on holidays and it is standard procedure to induce 7 days after the 20 week ultrasound due date. I thought for sure I would have her before he got back....man was I wrong!!! We decided that it would be way too stressful to go to the lawyer during the week of the 20th-26th because the chances of going into labour were pretty high and we didn't want to waste any one's time. So we booked the lawyer for Monday the 28th to sign and go over paperwork on the house. I would just bring the new baby and everything would go smoothly. Monday came and went...Tuesday came and went...Wednesday came and went...Thursday came and went.....NO SIGN OF BABY....not even a little tiny contraction. I HAVE TO HAVE this baby this weekend I kept thinking...how on earth is she still in there??? Then we got to Saturday night and I thought to myself.....you better stay in till Monday morning girl...or this is going to get very interesting...seeing as our possession date is Wednesday the 30th!! It was Sunday night and I was so incredibly torn....I was now a week overdue and so stressed we were going to go into labour in the middle of the night and then all would be ruined and the house would be lost to someone else....irrational fear of a pregnant woman. I made it to Monday morning and thought...sweet...now I just need to sign this paperwork and my body will feel ready to go into labour because EVERYTHING is done now. The lawyer we go to was super funny...he told us that he usually only does hospital calls for people who are dying..not having a baby lol. So we finish at the lawyers and I drive myself over to the clinic...walk in embarrassed thinking....how is this even possible. The doctor checked me and I still hadn't progressed at all...he couldn't even strip my membranes and I was 41 weeks!! So I had a decision to make. Roll the dice and hope to keep this baby in till Thursday (after the move) or get induced on Tuesday the 29th and leave the rest of my house to be packed and cleaned by others. My biggest fear was that she would come on Wednesday and then both Andrew and I would be useless for moving. So we decided to go ahead and induce on the 29th. This is also my little sisters birthday so she wasn't too pleased...her sweet 16 to be exact....but I was caught in a tough place. When I got home from the doctors I started cleaning and packing like a mad woman....baseboards were getting wiped...the magic erasers were going crazy getting crayon marks off the wall! I knew that I wouldn't sleep that night unless I really tuckered myself out...plus there was still a small glimmer of hope in me that somehow my body would naturally go into labour on its own. I went to bed around 11:30...leaving most of kitchen left to be cleaned. The whole upstairs was packed and cleaned but we still had a bunch that I left for others to do. This whole experience probably just sounds like a typical pregnant lady going overdue but to me this was one of the most challenging experiences of my life. I relied heavily on others and on my heavenly father....though I often questioned WHY IS THIS HAPPENING..WHY WON'T THIS BABY JUST COME!! Anyways...enough with the blah blah blah...on to the Labour and Delivery

I got to the hospital at 6:45am on the 29th and got all signed in and hooked up to the monitor. Andrew was dropping off Scarlette with my mom so for the first little while I was all by myself...definitely glad I knew someone was coming to be with me eventually. I can't imagine having to go through labour alone. The doctor came in around 8am and decided to use the gel to induce me. I had been drinking juice all morning and didn't go pee before the gel was put in so it was a really long half an hour before I got to go the bathroom haha! Andrew got there around 8:45 and I was still being monitored. I had a few contractions but nothing major. I looked at the bag he had brought me and realized he forgot the camera! He said we could just take photos with our phones but I was not going to have all these awesome pictures of Scarlette and then just take phone pictures for Lexi. At 9am I was able to go off the monitor and was told to go walk around. I was craving something sweet so I bravely went walking around the hospital in that ugly gown to get a treat! We stocked up on some starbursts and eat more bars and went down and sat in that hallway where they display artwork. We talked about how excited we were to be finally meeting this little girl and watched as the construction workers were working on the new building. This lady walked by and said "if you decide to have a second (baby) then you will be having it there (pointing at the new building)"...she walked off and Andrew and I couldn't help but burst out laughing because we were pretty sure that building wasn't going to be ready by the end of the day...and we were super overtired haha. We had to get vitals every hour so we went back up at 10am and everything looked good but I was lazy and didn't want to walk around anymore. I dozed off for about 45 minutes and we waited for the next hour to be up. At 11am I still wasn't having that bad of contractions and Andrew was eager to get things going HAHA...so he made me go on a walk around the hospital. I actually walked around the whole hospital OUTSIDE...in my gown...I was so scared my butt would somehow be seen but all was well. The looks I got from people driving by were ridiculous haha and everyone that passed us walking made some sort of comment. We rounded the hospital back to the front doors and I sat down on one of the cement benches. I had 2 contractions that were decently painful so I thought....why not ask for my epidural early this time haha!!! I got my epidural at 6.5 cm last time so I thought....I'm sure I'm a four with those last two contractions. It was now noon and Andrew was hungry so he walked me back up to the room and then left me to go get some hospital food. My nurse was on lunch so another nurse came in and I told her how I was thinking that I was getting close to being ready to have my epidural. The doctor had checked me at 8am and I was still at 1cm from all the previous weeks and they said he probably wouldn't be coming back at lunch hour so she thought that a shot of morphine would do ( I'm pretty sure she didn't think I was even close to being ready for my epidural)...almost immediately after she had said that she would check on a shot of morphine for me the doctor walked in (about 12:30) ..checked me...I was at 4cm...broke my water..gave me a high five and headed out! I absolutely HATE the part where they break my water.....I honestly have to have the blue pads changed every 2 minutes....I carry a lot of fluid. I never ended up getting my shot of morphine. Anyways, I got into the labour suite at around 1:15pm and the anesthesiologist was in shortly after with my epidural. I definitely felt it this time around. The freezing was the worst because I kept having these irrational thoughts that my legs would move the rolling chair under my feet while he was giving my injection and that I would be paralyzed....I was under a lot of stress LOL. At 1:45pm the freezing was pretty much working and the nurse checked me....low and behold I was 10cm and ready to start pushing. Once I get that epidural it is like 10 minutes and I am fully dilated haha. The doctor had only been gone just over an hour when he had to be called back haha...the nurse even made a comment about how she might have to deliver. I didn't really have the urge to push and he made it back by about 2:05pm so thankfully he got to deliver her. I pushed during 3 separate contractions and she was out! Her official time of birth was 2:13pm!!!! When she first came out we didn't think she looked anything like Scarlette! Her hair had tons of red in it...her nose was a lot wider...she just looked completely different then what we were expecting. I didn't think she looked like a Lexi but didn't have any back up names or even any names that came to mind when I looked at her. I had to stay in the labour suite till 5pm because I was bleeding fairly bad...they hooked me up to some oxytocin and because of the swelling my catheter had to stay in. Andrew had Scarlette outside by the Tv's and the first thing she said was "baby!". She was super excited to see her little sister...all she wanted to do was touch her eyes, nose, mouth, feet, hands...all the body parts she knows haha. It was only a short visit because Andrew had to get to our home walk through! Talk about a crazy day!!! I was left by myself with this new little person...and I got to bond with her for a little while before anyone came to visit. She is such a little sweetheart and hardly made a peep! My first thoughts were how precious she was...how much I loved her even though I thought I wouldn't be able to feel the same way as I do with Scarlette. I am just so incredibly blessed to have two beautiful children to love and care for. I also was thinking to myself how even though labour isn't exactly a nice experience haha...how it really does bring two people together. I have now had two experiences with labour where Andrew was right by my side the whole time. He holds my hand and supports me....he honestly knows EXACTLY what to do when I'm in labour...which isn't true for most of our other life situations haha! I am a super hard person to please! I love the part where I feel that baby pop out and we look at each other and then look at our baby and instantly start commenting on all of her little features! Anyways, I'm just so grateful to have such an awesome, loving, supportive husband and two beautiful little girls all to myself!!!