The Day of Her Birth...

Disclaimer... some of this might be slightly non-man-friendly and it's VERY long :)  You might want to grab a cup of coffee and cuddle down in your comfy chair.

5 AM...

We arrived bright and early Monday morning at the hospital.  Our first nurse, Megan, was a doll, but we tried not getting too attached because we knew the nurse's shift change was coming at 7 AM.  Megan led us to our labor and delivery room and promptly asked me to change into a hospital gown and hop in bed.  While Tyler was helping me snap my gown together in the bathroom... it hit me... "we are here to have a baby."  At the hospital... no turning back.  Tears welled up and adrenaline started racing through my body.  I finished up with the gown, and hopped... or rolled myself into the bed.  Megan administered my IV and hooked a heart monitor around my tummy to track the baby's heart rate and another monitor to help track my contractions.  Shortly after that, a woman came from the lab to take about a million viles of my blood.  While she was taking blood, Megan asked me a plethora of questions about my pregnancy, etc... some of them were really funny... and there were so many!!

7 AM... 

Dilated to a 3.  Megan administered a gel to help soften the cervix before we started the Pitocin.  She told me I had to lay flat for 30 minutes and just rest and let the gel do it's job!  She left the room, Tyler shut all of the lights out, and we did just that... we rested.  

7:30 AM...

We met our new nurses.  I felt by the end of the day like they were my new best friends and I felt so blessed to have Sara and Jaymie!  I loved them.  They soothed me with their kindness and professionalism.  Sara informed me immediately that there was a bit of a problem with my blood work and that my platelet level was very low and they were extremely concerned.  My doctor came in about then to explain to me what having a low platelet level meant (apparently this is slightly common during labor).  And someone else from the lab came in to take more blood to re-do the tests.  Basically he explained that if the blood work was accurate, my blood would have a very hard time clotting and so they could not "poke" me anywhere.  He bluntly stated that I would not be able to have my epidural and he advised me to start preparing mentally for a very long... very hard labor.  He said some other things after that... but I'm not sure what... something about other pain meds to take the "edge" off of my pain, and further tests we would need to do after delivery since my platelets were sitting at leukemia level.  No epidural... no epidural... no epidural kept rolling around in my mind.  After the doctor left, and the next round of blood was taken, the nurses helped me out of bed and told us they wanted us to walk for about 45 minutes to "get things going" before Dr. Welsh came back to break my water.  I went into the bathroom for a second and Tyler followed me.  My teeth were chattered and I was crying.   He prayed over my body, and that no matter what... the Lord would be glorified.  Then he texted our parents to have them be praying as well.  We walked around the 2nd floor of the hospital for 45 minutes (well I walked... Tyler more or less dragged my IV machine since only 1 of the 5 wheels were in working condition... it was pretty hilarious) and my contractions began.  They were mild... but they made me even more anxious about the no epidural thing.  By the time we came back to our hospital room at 8:30AM, I was better, Tyler had been so sweet and encouraging... and I was totally fine with having to be she-woman.  I went to the bathroom and when I came out my sweet nurses were waiting for me.

8:30 AM...

Nurse Sara smiled and said "I have news."  WHAT IS IT!!!!! I wanted to shout... but instead politely said, "yes?"  She shared that my blood work looked great and that someone messed up on the first batch and that the low platelet level was a mistake.  I felt SOOOO relieved that I teared up again.  I didn't even care that they messed up the first time, just so happy they got it right the second!  I was giggling as I got back into bed.  We rested for another 30 minutes with the lights low, contractions coming regularly, and Phil Whickam singing his live album quietly in the back ground.  The words of the song "Beautiful" were filling every corner of the room and my heart was shouting... YES LORD... YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!  More tears.  More excitement.  

9 AM...

Dr. Welsh came in to break my water.  Odd experience.  At this point they did not start the pitocin, because they wanted to see how I did on my own.  I appreciated that!  They said it could be slow... or fast... who knows!  Between 9 and 9:45 my contractions got VERY strong... and were coming much closer together.  My mom arrived at about 9:15 and helped me through them.  I felt so nauseated and so she spent her time putting cold wet cloths on my face.  My Dad and Nana also popped in to say hello at some point, I was just trying not to throw up, or pass out, or die, so I don't remember much about that first hour.  

9:45 AM...

The nurses came in to check me.  I was dilated to a 5 and immediately asked for my epidural.  The nurses said I would get it rather quickly because I was only one of two patients there that morning that had requested an epidural.  Praise the Lord.  

10 AM...

Tyler is afraid of needles (and I mean really who isn't), but I had released him from his responsibility of sitting and holding my hand during the epidural.  So he left with my Dad and Nana to grab some breakfast.  

10:15 AM...

The anesthesiologist came in to administer the epidural.  I was so nervous that my teeth were chattering and my palms were sweaty.  He was fantastic.  Quite the motor mouth, which actually put me so at ease.  The epidural WAS NOT scary.  It did not hurt at all.  Maybe I just had a really good experience.  Almost immediately it started to work and I started feeling SO great.  The nurses started my pitocin.  They started with a very very low dosage, and if it didn't work they would increase it later.

11 AM... 

Tyler came back... I was still feeling really good.  The monitor was showing I was having contractions about 4-5 minutes apart but I of course wasn't feeling them.  It was awesome.  The only down side was that I was very shaky.  Part of labor... the nurses said.  My muscles would just twitch all over my body... kind of like having a twitch in your eye.  It was so very weird.  Dr. Welsh came in to say hi.  At this point he said they would check me at about 11:30, and reminded me that it could be a very long day... that first babies go slowly.  Famous last words!

11:40 AM...

My two fav. nurses came in to do their routine check and were shocked to find that I was dilated to a 10 and I was ready to push.  Sara even said she saw hair on the baby's head.  OH MY WORD!!  We were all shocked.  I kind of freaked out... wanted to throw up.  I think my adrenaline just started rushing and I got really nervous.  They threw up the stirrups and called Dr. Welsh.  With Tyler and my Mom on either side of me... I started pushing.  Still couldn't really feel anything.  It was difficult... but I was too excited to care.  At some point Dr. Welsh came in.

12:25 PM...

Baby Girl... Sweet Aubrey Grace... was born.  It was the most amazing thing EVER.  Overwhelming joy... lots of tears... sheer bliss.  Tyler looked at me and said... Wow that was easy, let's do it again soon!!  I quickly agreed.  I still had my epidural and I didn't really know what kind of pain I would be in later.  

By 2:30 PM we were in our post partum room and everything was going really really well.  I felt good... Tyler felt good... little Aubrey was healthy and gorgeous... and my Mom was on her way to Chick fil a to get us lunch... and me a much earned peach milk shake.

Hope you are still with me... If you need some IB Profren for your head ache...  I completely understand.  I'll post about the rest of our hospital stay later!! Baby Girl is stirring in her swing and is probably hungry!  Love you all!!