6 lbs 8 ozs of Pure Sweetness (Delivery Story)

This is the continuation of the birth story of our little Miss Emma Jean. If you missed the first part, you can read it here.

When we last left off our families had gone home to get some rest before I was to start pushing. I had received the epidural and was advised to rest. Due to the fact that my legs were warm and completely numb, resting seemed a little unlikely. D pulled out his bed and lied down to Facebook for a bit. I tried to close my eyes and sleep but many thoughts were running through my mind. About 15 minutes later the nurse came in to do an cervical exam. She said I was between a 4 and a 5 cm dilated. She then left the room, I guess to call my doctor to advise him of my progress. She had come back in and informed me that my doctor wished to start me on Pitocin. I was very uneasy about the Pitocin, considering how much progress I had already made and told her that I would rather wait. She said she would call the doctor back and ask if we could wait an hour and see what happens. When she came back in the room she told me that he was highly advising the pitocin because my contractions were becoming sporadic, from every one minute to every four minutes and back. The medication would keep me on track so that my labor would not stall. After a mini pow wow with D we decided that it was the best course of action to take. She left the room to get the medication, and within 15 minutes I was hooked up to an iv drip of Pitocin and advised to sleep. This was at 11:15PM.

Over the course of the next 30 minutes lots was apparently happening un-benouced to me, remember I am completely numb from the chest down. Side note: I had asked the nurse at what point they turn down the epidural, and she told me that they don't turn it down. Um, yea. I know you do.....every nurse has said that they do! Alarms started to go off on the baby's heart rate monitor. Darin came over to watch it, and it was fluctuating a lot, which had been doing all afternoon and evening. He had a look of concern and stood there for 10 minutes watching it. I eventually looked at him and said, "They are watching the monitors, if there is a cause for concern they will come in here." He agreed and went to lie back down. His head barely hit the pillow before two nurses came in and started looking at the monitors. My L&D nurse checked me and said "I don't feel a cervix." I looked at her wide eyed, then at the clock and said "Are you serious?" I was only halfway less than 30 minutes prior, and now I am completely dilated and it's go time?!?! D jumped from the bed and made phone calls to his mom and my mom to come back to the hospital. He mentioned to the nurse that the pitocin must work fast and she told him that I couldn't have gotten two drops yet. I guess my body was ready for baby to come. She left to call the doctor and prepped me and the bed for pushing. We started "practice pushing" at 12AM.

Even though I couldn't feel anything, I remembered what muscles to use. I still felt like nothing was happening and I kept asking her if I was doing it correctly. She said that I was doing great and D cheered me on, while holding my leg up. At around 1AM my doctor came into the room. There was two L&D nurses as well as a baby nurse, D, and myself. Lots of things were going on around me. All the nurses commented on D's "Dad to Be" shirt and he told them he had a "New Dad" shirt as well. Once everyone was situated we started the real pushing. The monitors were no longer registering my contractions so the nurse had to push on my belly until she felt one coming on and then I would push. At the beginning of pushing I couldn't feel anyone touching my legs, by the time she was crowning I could feel my chest, stomach and legs as well as her head crowning. At one point I remember feeling so tired and I asked the doctor how much longer he thought. He told me thirty minutes and I thought to myself....."oh no, this baby is coming out now!" Three pushes later and she was here, on my stomach purple and screaming. I remember thinking "Oh my god shes here! Wow! She's bigger than I thought she'd be!" The cord was wrapped around her neck one time and being in the birth canal for so long she had a conehead. Her color wasn't returning as fast as they'd like so once D cut the umbilical cord they took her to the warmer to take her measurements and to give her some oxygen. At 2:02AM we welcomed Emma Jean into the world. 6lbs8ozs of pure sweetness, blue eyes and maybe strawberry blonde hair (jury is still out on this one because it changes daily!) Once everything checked out with her, she was placed on my chest for our first skin to skin. Our families came in to meet her and everyone was ecstatic to meet her! So now that I have fully described the entire event, here's little Emma's first photoshoot!

She wasn't very happy with the hat!

Skin to skin, exhausted but elated!

There's the "New Dad" shirt....you can't read it though! Hehe

Sucking our thumb 30 minutes later.

Dad and Emma skin to skin time!

I am grateful that everything went smoothly. I would have liked the opportunity to go into labor naturally, but this was the easiest induction I have ever heard of! She was ready to meet the world! Thank you so much for all the support over the last 10 months! I will continue to update you all on all things related to baby and of course our lives! Thanks for reading and supporting us!