I woke up early Tuesday morning April 2nd, around 4:00 am. I couldn't sleep because I was having a real sharp pain in my back about every ten minutes. I was having the same pain sporadically throughout the day before. I thought they might have been contractions, but I wasn't sure since most people describe contractions being in your belly and that wasn't so much the case. Turns out I was having back labor and it continued that way the whole time. So I got up and read and started timing the contractions until about 7. At 7:00 am my contractions were about 5 minutes apart so I got up, showered, and put last minute items in my hospital bag. Just as we were getting ready to leave for the hospital my contractions slowed down, and I really didn't want to be sent home from the hospital again (I had already been twice on two different days for various reasons, both times, of course it was nothing). So we sat down and watched some TV while we waited. I had my weekly checkup with my doctor that morning at 9:30 so we decided that we would wait and go to that to see what the doctor said. At the doctor he checked to see if I was dilated, I was. Which was a sign itself because I was completely closed just the day before. He guessed that I was around a 2, I say guessed because I was squirming too much for him to get an accurate reading. Right after the check he said, "You're planning on getting an epidural right?" I assured him I was planning on getting it as soon as possible. Back to the story, the doctor said to go over to the hospital and have them monitor me for an hour to see if I was making progress and really in labor. In that hour I had gone from a 2 to a 4 so they admitted me and we got settled into our room around 12:30 pm.
After about another hour of contractions I said that I was ready for the epidural. The epidural was a piece of cake, and literally did not hurt more than a pinch. I was on cloud 9 now. My Doctor was leaving town right after his appointments that morning, so I was a little discouraged and nervous about having a different doctor that I had never met delivery the baby. The other doctor came in and broke my water to speed things up a little. But things actually slowed down a little bit, they think it was from the epidural. I was at a standstill at a 6. They gave me a little bit of pitocin to get the contractions going a little quicker. And it sure did get things going. I mentioned to my nurse that I was still in a little bit of pain and could feel the contractions pretty strongly. She suggested getting an extra dose of epidural which I was reluctant to at first because I didn't want to be so numb that I couldn't feel anything. Although after being so uncomfortable I opted for the extra dose. The nurse checked to see what I was dilated to so she could tell the anesthesiologist. Surprisingly, she said I was at a 10. There was about a 20 minute time span from when she last checked and I was at a 6. So I dilated really fast. They decided to give me a faster acting medicine since the epidural wasn't keeping up with me. It was what they give girls for c-sections because it is faster acting but doesn't last as long. Then I "rested and descended" (a new thing they are doing for first time mom's, I guess) for an hour. It is supposed to reduce pushing time and tearing. Before my hour was up, I told the nurse that I couldn't stand it any longer and really felt like I needed to push. So at 5:20 they started prepping for delivery and I started pushing. By now my medicine was starting to wear off and I was feeling my contractions. Right around this time, my real doctor called the nurse to check on my progress and she said that I had just started pushing. Turns out the tires on his trailer popped on his way out of town so instead of sitting and waiting at Discount Tire, he decided to come delivery a baby! Not that the other doctor wouldn't have been great, but I was so relieved and happy that he could come! Anyway, after just about an hour of pushing I wasn't making a lot of progress. After every push the baby's head would go back to where it was before the push. I was really hurting and started to think that this baby was NEVER coming out. My doctor came in and did an episiotimy and maybe 3 pushes later baby Lyla was out! She was born at 6:40 pm.
I have never experienced to many emotions at one time. I went from being in the most pain I had ever been in, to complete joy and was overwhelmed with love in a matter of seconds. Watching Rob look at our sweet baby and seeing his love for her made me fall in love with him all over again. She wasn't really breathing great at first and I was being stitched up for what felt like years, so it was a little bit before I got to hold her. But when they finally put her in my arms it was the most amazing feeling/ moment. It is impossible to even try to describe in words what that moment is like. It's a little bit of heaven on earth. Lyla is such a blessing in our lives and we are so grateful that she has made us parents. She has been very patient with us as we have tried to figure this whole parenting thing out. We are slowly but surely learning.
\
