it started with a trickle and ended with a wail

On Saturday, May 9th, 2009 I woke up around 7:30 and took the dogs outside. Since it was Saturday morning and I was really pregnant I decided that I would just go back to bed for a little while longer. Tommy had worked the night before and would be home around 9:00 so I thought I would just hang out in bed until he got home. I fell asleep watching Nickelodeon cartoons as usual for a Saturday morning and woke again at 8:45. I got out of bed faster than usual and as soon as I put my feet on the ground I felt something. There was something trickling down my compression socked feet. "Hmmm, I wonder if my water just broke?" I thought to myself. I just blew it off thinking I was just wishing that were the case. I went to the bathroom and there was more. (sorry if this is TMI but there will most likely be more of that in this post) Now I was really thinking that something was up. I started to panic a little. I immediately called Kimberly. Josh answered the phone and I told him that I really hated to bother her because I knew she was having a yard sale but I really needed to talk to Kimberly. She got on the phone and I explained what had happened. We talked for a few moments and decided that I should wait to see if I "leaked" more. I walked into the bathroom and there was for sure more fluid. We decided that I should call my Dr.'s office. Before I called the Dr. I called to check in with Tommy. I asked where he was and he said he was not too far away. I told him that was good because I was pretty sure that my water had broken and we were going to have a baby soon. Next, I quickly dialed the number for my Dr. and before I knew it was I explaining to the nurse what had happened. She agreed that my membranes had ruptured and I was going into labor. She said that she would call the hospital and let them know I was on the way. She asked if I had someone to drive me and I just chuckled and said, "Actually my husband is just getting home from working midnights." Perfect timing we agreed. I remember telling her that "this is not supposed to happen." She laughed at me and told me that it would have happened eventually. I agreed with her, but I just did not expect her to make her arrival so soon! I hung up with her and just stood there in the middle of the bathroom rather indisposed leaking. Tommy walked in and kind of laughed at me. I'm sure it was a site.

Tommy quickly jumped in the shower. I decided that I needed to wash my hair but I didn't want to get in the shower because at that moment I could not remember if I was not supposed to take a bath or was it a shower. I just decided that I would lean my head into the shower and he could wash my hair for me. I knew that I would feel so much better with clean hair. Once we were both all cleaned up I finally put some clothes on. That was a process. I had no idea what to put on. I finally opted for some black shorts so that my "problem" was not as obvious as I walked into the hospital. Tommy was flying around the house throwing things into our bags that were already semi-packed and in the car from our trip to the hospital on the 7th. Before I knew it my sister in law, Mindi was there and my mom and niece Clara were not too far behind. We were all just somewhat in shock. I went into the kitchen to grab my bottle of water and said, "I don't know what to do." I think it was my mom who finally said, "I do. You need to be getting in the car and going to the hospital." So, that is pretty much what I did. We put a blanket down on the seat and off we went. We first stopped at the gas station for an energy drink for Tommy and more Fiji water for me. He also grabbed a sandwich since he was just getting home from work.

After our pit stop, we started our almost hour drive to the hospital. At this point I was having contractions but they were more like cramps and tolerable. I remembered that I had downloaded contraction master on my iPod so I pulled it out to start recording. I also started to call just about every number in my phone. It helped me to keep my mind off of what was happening. I think Tommy and I were both in such shock that our little girl was coming that we barely remember the drive to the hospital. Before I knew it we were at the hospital. Tommy dropped me off at the front door and I walked, in leaking the entire way. He went to park the car and I got checked in. While I was standing at the desk a lady standing there said, "Oh, your feet look like mine did." I looked down at my horribly swollen feet. I noticed that even they were getting a little damp. "Please don't look at my feet," I thought to myself. The admitting clerk finally got me a wheelchair and Tommy got there. They took us up to the 3rd floor to the triage room where we had been two days before. The nurse asked me a few questions and gave me a gown to change into. She came with me to the bathroom to check things out. She took one look and said, "Oh, yeah, you are ruptured." Once I was changed they took me right to a room.

We were both very calm and just kind of laughing at the whole situation. Once in room #307 I got into the bed and settled in. My nurse (who was amazing and deserves a post of her own) started to hook up monitors and ask me questions. This was around 11:00 am. Before I knew it there was a MALE resident in my room to check things out. (This was the first time I was check by male throughout the pregnancy, but it actually didn't phase me.) I was 70% effaced and only 1 cm dilated. They put in a call to the on call Dr. Since my membranes had ruptured they would not let me get out of bed. That really sucked. I did not want to labor in bed, but I dealt with it. The contractions were getting stronger, but were still tolerable. The resident came back in and explained that since I was not more dilated the Dr. wanted to start pitocin. I told him that I really did not want to do that and asked if we could wait. He said that would be fine and we could wait a little while to see if I progressed any on my own.

Around noon my nurse, J, started to work on getting my IV started. Ugh, I HATE IVs. I think it goes back to my experience with the lumbar puncture and subsequent IV therapy. I told her that I'm usually a hard stick. She work very hard on finding a good vein to get it on the first try. Like I said, she was amazing. At this point my mom (who we had asked to be in the delivery room with us) and I had convinced Tommy that he really needed to get some sleep before things got too intense. He was happy to oblige and was out and moaning before long. Around 1:00 I had a blue-raspberry Popsicle. My aunt Paula called to check in on me. I told her that we were just waiting things out for a little while. My contractions were around 3 minutes apart at this point and getting stronger. At 1:25 pm the resident checked me again. Not much progress. He said that they wanted to place an internal monitor to see how strong my contractions were. He also said that we really needed to consider starting the pitocin to get things going. I asked if I could think about it. He said that was fine. I really did not want to have pitocin. In my mind I wanted no drugs and I was worried about stronger contractions. On the other hand I knew that since I had been ruptured since earlier that morning the clock was ticking and my baby girl was coming out one way or another. I turned on my side to get a little more comfortable. I talked over starting the pitocin with everyone and decided that it would be best.

Around 1:45 pm J came back with the pitocin. She joked about how some women just need to smell the stuff and they go down. Well, guess what, I'm one of those women. She had barely hung the bag on the pole and my contractions were really intense. By this time I was very quiet and Tommy was helping me to breath through the pain. He was an awesome coach. Around 2:20 pm I started to get really really hot. My mom and Tommy were freezing in the room. My nurse came back in and noticed that my demeanor had changed. The contractions were intense enough to bring tears to my eyes. J checked me around 2:45 pm. My mom's copious notes do not say if I had made any progress at this point. I was getting frustrated with myself and said, "This sucks, I thought I was stronger than this." Tommy was watching the contractions on the monitor. It was great because he was able to watch for a contraction and help me breath through it. At this point I was starting to get back labor. That really SUCKED. I decided that I wanted something to take the edge off the pain but I didn't want an epidural yet. I figured if I had something to give me a little break I would not be as tired later. J gave me some New Bane (sp?) around 3:00 pm. I had some in my IV and some in a shot. Whew, that was some crazy stuff. I felt intoxicated. The pain was still very much there but I just felt very much at ease between them.

They helped me to get comfortable on my left side and changed some of my bedding. By 4:15 pm I was having very strong back labor and steady contractions. J checked me again at 4:30 pm. I was at 4 cm. She asked if I needed anything for pain. I still wanted to hold out. I didn't last as long as I would have liked. J came back in before long and I looked at her and said, "I think I'm going to have to wimp out and get an epidural." She reassured me that I was not wimping out and said that she put in a call. It seemed like things got really intense then. I was having a hard time staying focused through the contractions. Tommy was right there in my face helping me but I still could not focus on staying calm. It just hurt SO BAD. I felt like I was being ripped apart. The Dr. came in to place the epidural and Tommy and my mom had to step out. That was by far the worst part of the day. I was still groggy from the New Bane and I was in so much pain that I was having a hard time sitting up and over the bed. J was right there in my face the entire time helping me to stay focused through the pain. I was all too familiar with needles in my back so that didn't really bother me. I was more worried about holding still so that nothing went wrong and I had to endure another spinal headache!! Before I knew it the torture was over and I was started to feel numb. Oh, how glorious it was indeed. J asked how I was doing at one point. I told her I was fine. She just smiled and informed me that I was having a very strong contraction. I was glad that I had waited though so that I was able to have the experience of labor.

5:00 pm: While my mom and Tommy were out of the room waiting she called a few people to update them. She reported that Casey and Kimberly were going crazy waiting to hear how things were going and that they were proud of me. I felt a little down on myself for getting the epidural but I decided that it was what was best for myself and my little dumpling. By 5:30 p.m. my mom and Tommy were back in the room. My mom's notes say that I was much more at ease. 5:45 pm I was trying to rest. Dr. B came in around then and checked my progress. Still at 4 cm. At this point I started to shake really bad. I could not hold still. I was trying to catch up on Twitter updates on my iPod and listen to music but I was shaking so bad that I thought I would drop it. I finally gave up and just laid there. J kept checking in on me and told me to let them know when I stared to feel pressure. She had told me earlier in the day that I needed to have the baby before 7:00pm because her shift ended then. Well, a few minutes before 7 I started to feel something. I called for J and she came in to check me. She got a big smile on her face and said it was good news. I was at 9 cm!! She kind of laughed and said she guessed she was working over. My mom was on the phone with my sister in law, Mindi at that time. They were trying to decide when to pick up my dad and head to the hospital. When J announced that I was a 9 Mindi decided that was a good time to make the trip.

J told me to let them know if I felt more pressure. Everything happened so quickly after that. According to my mom around 7:20 I felt more pressure and called them. All of the sudden lights and mirrors were coming out of the ceiling and there were a lot more people in the room. Besides Tommy and my mom there was the resident from earlier that day, a med student, my nurse J, and the Dr. I guess there was at least one nurse waiting for dumpling as well but I don't really remember.

At 7:53 pm I started to push. Wow, that was hard. Not that it hurt, it was just really difficult to tell where to focus the pushing. My mom had one leg and held the back of my head and Tommy had the other leg. Everyone kept telling me how great I was doing. I did pretty good through the first two sets of pushes but by the third I was too out of breath most of the time to do much good. They kept encouraging me. Finally dumpling started to show us that she had dark hair. It took me a little while to focus in the mirror and see what they were talking about. Once I could see her head that gave me all that much more to focus on. I was able to better focus my pushing. Finally her head was right there and almost out. I knew that with the next set of contractions I was going to push her out. All of the sudden it was happening. At 8:40 pm there she was, little dumpling was out, Lucy Ella was alive and wailing to let us all know that she was fine.

Someone said, "It's a girl," and I was relieved. Deep down inside I was somewhat worried that she would turn out to be a he. They asked if I wanted her on me before they cleaned her off. Um, of course I do. They my squirmy, crying, goo covered little daughter on my chest. I stroked her little head and told her hello. I expected to cry like you always see women do on TV. I didn't. Honestly I think I was still in shock from the entire day. Sure, I knew that it would happen eventually, like the nurse on the phone said, but I just wasn't ready for it 16 days early. They took her and cleaned her up. She weighed in at 6 lbs 8.8 oz and was 20 inches long. She was a healthy little girl. Her daddy and grandma were right by her side with the cameras to record her first few moments outside the womb. The "team" finished up with me. I only had a small little one stitch tear to take care of. Before I knew it my little Lucy was cleaned up, swaddled and back in my arms. I could not believe it was finally happening, I was holding my daughter. After all the heartbreak of last year I was holding the child we so longed to have. Our family was complete. There are so many more stories to tell about our first few days as parents, but I think I have babbled on long enough. I'm sure that most of you (all 4 people who read my blog) could care less about all the nitty gritty details of my labor and delivery but I wanted to get it down while I could still remember what happened so that I can day share it with Lucy. She is amazing and her daddy and I are sure proud of her. Everyone says that she looks like her daddy and I would have to agree. We can't wait to watch her grow and change. For right now we are soaking in every moment of baby love that we can.