How Annabel Arrived!

I had been having contractions on and off for weeks. So when the contractions started Saturday evening, I didn’t take them too seriously. It wasn’t until I woke up at 3 a.m. Sunday morning that I knew these contractions were different. I started to time the contractions and they were exactly 10 minutes apart. Literally every time the clock struck 9… 3:19, 3:29, 3:39… I would contract. This lasted from 3 a.m. to 6 p.m. Finally at six we decided we should get Ethan to my mom’s incase things started to intensify.

Once we were Ethan free I decided that I wanted to go to the hospital to see if I was progressing. I fully expected to be sent home, but I just wanted to make sure that all of this contracting was doing something. The Friday before I had my 40 week appointment and I was dilated to a 3 and 40 % effaced. When I checked in to the hospital on Sunday evening I was still only dilated to a 3 but 80% effaced. After I was checked the doc decided that he would have me wait an hour and then check me again. After an hour I was now dilated to a 4. Since I was making progress the doc decided to keep me at the hospital so we could have the baby. Still at this point I was only contracting every 10 minutes. I had no interest in spending an uncomfortable night at the hospital hooked up to machines. I wanted to head home and finish most of the labor in my own bed. Just as we were about to ask the nurse if we could head home, my water broke. I knew we weren’t going anywhere.

At this point the doctor gave me 24 hours to deliver or I would have to deliver via c-section again. I desperately wanted to avoid having another c-section. Luckily things started to intensify throughout the night. By 4 a.m. my contractions were right on top of each other. Then all of the sudden they stopped. From 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. nothing happened and nothing we were doing was getting the contractions started again. I was getting pretty nervous at this point. Since I had, had a previous c-section I was not allowed to be induced. I only had about 12 hours until c-section time. Even though it wasn’t recommended the doctor suggested trying a teeny bit of Pitocin to try and get things started again. I was more worried about the imminent c-section then I was about the risks of being induced, so I decided to try a little Pitocin. After they administered the Pitocin it didn’t take long for things to start back up. And this round of contractions was unbearable. Two contractions in and I was in tears begging for the epidural. Unfortunately I was not the only one who asked for an epidural at that exact moment. I was fourth in line. So an hour after I asked for the epidural (the most painful hour of my life) I finally got the drugs. When they started the Pitocin I was dilated to a 5. An hour later just before I was given the epidural I was dilated to a 9. I have no idea why at this point they decided to give me the epidural, but I sure am glad that they did. Once the epidural kicked in, I couldn’t feel a thing. I had to ask Aaron if I was still contracting. It was a nice break.

I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours. I was exhausted. The nurse suggested that I take a nap, and then she would wake me up in an hour to start pushing. That’s how the rest of it went. I slept for an hour and then pushed for 15 minutes. Our daughter finally arrived at 12:23 on July 2. She was about 12 hours too late to share her birthday with her dad and her grandpa. We were just so glad that she arrived safely. I’m so glad that the VBAC was a success. Recovery really was so much easier.

My sister was scheduled to deliver the next day via c-section. My mother was scheduled to fly out that evening at 7 p.m. to go be with my sister. At 10 a.m. that morning she went to check in for her flight. Well she realized that she hadn’t booked the 7 p.m. flight but the 10:30 a.m. flight. Well that flight was leaving in 30 minutes. Obviously, she wasn’t going to be able to make the flight in time. So she called to reschedule for the 7 p.m. flight. That flight was booked. They couldn’t get her on a flight until the next morning. – So because of all of this mix up she was able to come to the hospital that night to meet Annabel. And she was still able to make it to be with my sister for her surgery the next day. That was a little happy coincidence :)