Early in the morning on Tuesday March 24th I wrestled with sleep as contractions started to set in. By 8 am I was constantly making trips to the bathroom... I knew this was it!!
At about 12:30pm my contractions were around 5 min apart. They were not the strongest, but seeing that they were getting closer together I wasn't sure how much longer I should put off going to the hospital. After yet another bathroom trip, Spencer asked if I was ready to head there. I thought, might as well! Worse case scenario: they send me home because I am not quite ready yet. When we got there they had done a cervical check. I was only 3 cm, but because my contractions were staying pretty consistent they advise that I stay there and they would check me in about 2 hours.
By 3:30pm they admitted and said I was up to 4 cm!!... Now those that know my labor and delivery story with Micah (which was induced) would have their jaw drop at the fact I was already dialating without pitocin or anything!! With Micah it took about 20 hours of induction to get to 4 cm!
And not knowing if an epidural would slow the progress of labor down I wanted to wait until the contractions became almost intolerable. At 5pm the delivery nurse asked if I wanted it yet, or if I would prefer to wait another 30 min because around that time they would most likely be calling to see if anyone needed an epidural before they went home. So I figured I could hold out another 30 min.
At 5:30 pm the contractions really set in. But bad news, the anesthesiologist was in a case! So I waited.... and waited... and waited...
At 7:15pm he FINALLY arrived! The contractions were becoming so intense, the pain would radiate in my back, hips, and down my legs. (Now to the women that do this without pain medication; props to you!) Once the epidural was in place (7:30 pm) it was almost instant relief! Now it was time for the nurse to do another cervical check... woo hoo 7 cm!! So they asked if I wanted my water broke since it wasn't breaking on its own. Ummm absolutely!! I want this baby out!!
The doc came in (This was the first time I had seen A doctor since we arrived) she broke my water, and almost instantly I was fully dialated and the baby's head was there.
It was a little after 8 pm when all of this happened and the doctor asked if I wanted to start pushing... Again with Micah, I pushed for 3 hours! So this time around I wanted to wait until things felt ready! Not too much later I asked if they were going to give me a catheter since I had an epidural and couldn't get up to go to the bathroom. As the nurse was going to place it I became overwhelmed with nausea. The nurse thought it might be that my blood pressure went to low from them laying me on my back and possibly cutting circulation off with the epidural. But when the doc came in she said it was my body getting ready to push.
By 8:30 pm I was feeling a good amount of pressure down below and felt it was time to start pushing.. 1.. 2... 3 contractions (9 minutes) and our baby girl was born!!
8:39 PM
Piper Amelia Dawn Stillwell
6 lbs. 2 oz. 19.5 inches long
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