On Tuesday morning I started out th day with a few contractions, but they were more than an hour apart so I didn't think to much about them. As the day went on the contractions continued, but still far apart. We had some friends come over to visit and bring a gift, and then I ran to get one of my massages. After I got home that evening(completely relaxed), I started to have contractions more often and harder(there goes the relaxation from the massage). I then knew that this was the real deal.
Brian put everything together for the hospital, and did some cleaning while I tried to work though the contractions(Brian helping me out since they were getting painful). With things all ready to go we went to bed. Well, let me just say that waking up to a contraction is really awful, I do not recommend it. After a couple of hours of trying and failing to get some sleep, I went into the nursery.
I spent the rest of the night reading, and working through one contraction at a time. I decided to let Brian sleep because I knew that a long day was ahead of us, and that I would need him more later. It was a long night, and I was so glad when Brian woke up the next morning, he did a great job helping me through the next hours of contractions.
I had a doctors appointment set up for the afternoon, so when it got close to the time for it Brian called and asked them if they wanted me to come in(my contractions were not regular, and my water hadn't broken so I wasn't sure if I should go to the hospital yet). After explaining what had been going on they told him to take me to Labor and Delivery. Brian packed up the car while I got dressed and we headed to the hospital.
At the hospital we waited a bit for them to check me, but after they did things got moving pretty fast for a little while. I was already dilated to a six, and they said that I could have come in sooner. This was also the time that they would have me decide if I wanted an epidural or not. I was not planning on having one before, but I was so tired because of no sleep the night before, and I knew that I had a lot more to go through before it was over, and I need some rest, so I decided to get one.
Before they could give me the epidural they need to do some blood work, so they gave me some medication in my IV, and a shot to help me while I waited. They had to stick me about three times to get the IV in, and then three or four times to draw my blood. It was not fun. After getting the medication through the IV I quickly felt it's effects. And I still felt it's effects after Elizabeth was born. It didn't wear off until after about eight hours(the nurses could tell that I am not one that takes medication very often).
They finally gave me the epidural, but it didn't work all of the way. The inside of my right thigh would feel every single contraction that I had. They said to fix it they would have to redo the whole thing, and so it was left as it was.
I don't remember a lot of details of what happened afterward, so I am mainly going off of what Brian told me. After they gave me the medication in the IV Elizabeth's heart rate had dropped just a little bit, but nothing to concerning. After a while they had turned me over to one side, and her heart rate dropped significantly, and didn't come back up so they had me switch sides again(to the side that hurt whenever I had a contraction), and put me on oxygen. Thankfully, this was what Elizabeth needed and her heart rate went back up.
At about seven o'clock that night Elizabeth was getting ready to be born. I started pushing just after seven. This was really hard for me because the drug was still making me extremely drowsy and I just wanted to be able to sleep it off.
Elizabeth Adelaide was born thirty-seven minutes later, at 7:40 PM(everyone said that for a first baby I pushed her out really fast). She decided that she didn't want to come out the usual way, and came out looking straight up(posterior). She had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck(like her mommy, but only once instead of twice), and probably around her arm too.
Elizabeth was born healthy and strong. Brian and I love her completely and are grateful she is finally here. She has already brought us such happiness.
