The Diva makes her debut

So after my last appointment on December 18th, we were feeling a bit nervous about waiting another week for the inversion.  Christiaan told me he was putting me on bed rest, to try and prevent my water from breaking. Because of all the crazy holiday activities at school that week, I worked more than I had been,and by Thursday night (after a crazy night Wednesday with strong winds causing our barn to shake horribly and the power to go on and off all night long) I was extremely worn out.  We had my work Christmas dinner that night at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, and during dinner I felt really sick to my stomach the whole time.  I kinda just thought I was tired or maybe it was the stomach bug from the weekend before lingering.

Later when I was taking a shower I realized that I thought I was feeling kicks on the left side of my belly up high where her head had been residing all this time.  I laid down on the couch and Christiaan and I tried to figure out if she had actually flipped. We weren't quite sure, but something definitely felt different! Apparently my uneasy stomach during dinner had actually been her flipping over, as every time she did some great gymnastics moves it always seemed to make me nauseous.

The next day school we had movie day and early release and Carter came with me.  By the time we left I was pretty confident that she was head down, so I decided that I was walking all weekend! I started by taking Carter to Build a bear, then we took a much needed nap at home. Christiaan and I had a long to-do list of things to get done at the house over the weekend before Christmas and our scheduled check in at the hospital. I didn't want to tell my OB that I suspected she had flipped, because I knew there was still a very good chance she would flip again. Christiaan got called into work early, which I wasn't too thrilled about. We started working on some laundry, and at 5:30 he was getting ready for work and I was folding clothes when contractions started up. Initially I didn't think too much of it, because after 4+ months of contractions they stopped alarming me. Regardless, I started timing them on the app on my phone.

By 6:00 when Christiaan was about to leave, I realized that the contractions were getting more intense, and according to the app they had been 2 minutes apart from the get go.  I told C that I wasn't feeling quite right, but at the same time I was pretty sure they would fizzle out after a couple hours like they always did. He packed a bag to bring with him, which I actually poked fun at him for. (mistake!!)

My mom and I had plans to take Carter to look at Christmas lights, and I called her to ask her to come get us because I wasn't feeling that great. While she was on her way Brooke called, and by the time I got off the phone with her she demanded that I start packing my bag. I was getting a bit flustered, and concerned that the contractions were getting more intense by the minute, to the point were I was having trouble moving around to gather things and had begun to walk hunched over from the discomfort. When Mom got there she said lets bring your bags and go towards Plano to look at lights, that way if the contractions don't let up we are close to the hospital. But by the time I finally got mine and Carter's things packed, (which consisted towards the end of me tossing random stuff into my bag I.E. 2 pairs of tennis shoes....WTH??) I was a bit panicked and told Mom I thought we needed to skip the lights altogether. I put in the call to my OB once we left, and he agreed that we should head straight to the hospital. I called Christiaan to let him know, he had only been on shift for about 30 minutes at that point! I told him that's what they got for making him work overtime knowing that his wife could go into labor any moment.

I spent the car ride trying not to let panic set in, as having spontaneous contractions was the absolute last way i had expected labor to start. I also tried calling my close friends and getting the text list started. Thank goodness I had made several meticulous lists in the weeks prior, because my brain was definitely not functioning right at that point!

Christiaan and Micah and Aly met us at the hospital.  The first nurse I saw when we walked into labor and delivery was the one I had had the first visit that I had liked so much. "YOU!!!" I practically shouted to her, "I want you! Remember me? You said you'd take care of me!!" Unfortunately she was the charge nurse, but she assigned me a nurse with her same mindset, and they took me to the room they already had waiting. At about 8:30 she finally checked me and I was already dilated to a 4, and the nurse confirmed I was having true contractions. My doctor came at 9:30 and broke my water and I was at a 5 then. At that point I thought things would really progress quickly, since with Carter I came in at a 4 and when they finished breaking my water it moved fast. Oh how wrong was I.

By then my whole family had gathered at the hospital, and Christiaan's mom was on her way from Waco. It took her four hours to get there because of an accident in Waxahachie, and we were initially worried she wouldn't make it in time. But as the night wore on, I labored with very slow progress being made. I was allowed to move around as I wanted so I spent a good deal of time standing next to the bed, sitting on the ball, even sitting with the bed in a chair like position with my legs lower than my hips. Contractions were totally tolerable, although I was having some pretty strong ones at times. The night dragged on and on, and I was disappointed each time she checked me because of the slow progress. By early the next morning I made it to an 8, but Delaney was not sitting in a good position so my cervix was not thinning well. She also was a bit high. The nurse was being awesome about helping me to avoid any meds, specifically pitocin, and eventually suggested some things that would get the oxytocin(natural pitocin) flowing in my body. One of them worked rather well, and contractions kicked up a notch. The nurse told us we could walk the hall a bit too to keep them moving and get her to rotate and drop.

We barely made a round in the L & D floor before I damn near ripped the handle that lined the wall off from bearing down on it.  Hmm, possibly progress, I thought, this is good. Except that a couple more like that had me finally breaking down in tears, and it was all I could do to get back to my room.  At that point the room cleared out except (I think) Christiaan and our moms and maybe my aunts.

Holy mother of pain. And it was shift change, and when the new nurse (that at first seemed a little gruff and had Mom and I uneasy) checked me, she felt as though I was regressed down to a 6 or 7. Umm excuse me??

The next few hours are a bit of a blur of the order of events due to the fact that I was focused so hard on not dying from the pain, but pretty soon after the new nurse came on shift she gave me a half dose of Stadol.  She said it would last an hour, and hopefully my body would relax and the baby go into position.  I'll be darned if after exactly one very drunken hour of slight pain relief it wore off. And to my dismay I had regressed even further to almost a 5.  Good geez.  So the nurse then suggests that I try laying on my left side with my right foot propped up in the stirrup in hopes that she would roll over from that position.  But let me tell you, what I thought was pain before was NOTHING in comparison to what took ahold of my body at that point. I remember shaking and panting/moaning through each contraction, begging my mom to tell me what to do.  The nurse kept telling me that although she completely understood that I did not want an epidural, we were at the point of needing her to come out and that and epidural was my best bet at getting that to happen. I fought and fought with myself mentally over that, and then when I started running a fever I got really scared for Delaney's safety.  Antibiotics were started, and my OB came in shortly after that and said look, you've been at this all night, we should have a baby by now, not be regressing. And with the fever going up, and everyone in the room encouraging me that I wasn't giving up by doing so, I finally broke down and said give me and epidural. Like an hour ago.

Fortunately the nurse anesthetist came quickly, and set up even quicker, and before I knew it she was done.  I felt nothing of her doing the procedure like I had heard people say it felt.  And within 10 minutes my legs were going numb, and I only had about 4 more painful contractions before it really kicked in.  AHA! So THIS is why people get them! Christiaan asked the nurse if I would feel when I was ready to push like I had with Carter, and she said maybe, maybe just pressure. He then asked if she was going to check me more often since I had less feeling, and she said I'll probably check in a couple hours so as to prevent any further possible infection, unless she feels pressure.  I told her well, umm, I kinda feel like I need to poop. (Sorry TMI) She said hmm lets check then. And immediately upon checking said ok, well we are going to have a baby in about 30 minutes! It had literally been less than 30 minutes after the epidural went in! She began frantically preparing everything, even had my mom reach over and shut off the epidural pump while she was breaking down the bed and calling for the doctor. I guess my body and Delaney didn't mess around once I got relaxed!

As soon as my OB came in I started pushing. It was a very odd feeling though, or I guess more like a lack thereof, and if I had not been watching the progress in the mirror I wouldn't have been able to tell if anything was working. Yes, I'm one of those weirdos that watches it. It was clear after pushing through a few contractions that she was going to be stubborn, and also discovered that she was sunny side up. My uterus even stopped contracting so strongly, and the nurse had to massage my stomach to keep it going.  At one point the OB turned her head with his hand so that she was face down, and the second he let go she flipped back face up.  "Are you freaking kidding me??" he literally said to the nurse! I could tell through the eerie silence in the room that the nurse was having trouble finding her heartbeat anymore, and so when she called for the charge nurse and just said "90" I knew that she was referring to the baby's heart rate. I knew I had to figure out how to push hard enough, despite the lack of feeling, to get her out ASAP. The charge nurse came in and place 2 step stools on either side of the foot of the bed, for what purpose we never figured out, but I didn't think it would be a pleasant one.  I was just waiting for my OB to say we were in trouble and needed an emergency c-section.  But lo and behold, on the next contraction I pushed with every ounce of strength I had, and between that and my OB's manuevering, her stubborn little head finally popped out.  One small push later and the rest of her body came out.

It was 11:13 am on December 22.

I was surprised when she was placed directly on my chest, Carter had been taken away first due to the cord being wrapped around his neck 3 times.  She cried some, but then stopped as soon as she snuggled up with me!

So, from start to finish I was in labor for just under 18 hours, 17 of which were without an epidural.  Completely not at all how I had expected the labor and delivery to go with my second child, after having an easy 8 hour labor and delivery the first time around. Although the way my pregnancy went this time, I'm not sure why I expected it to be anything but dramatic! My OB looked at us after she finally was born and said "good luck with this one! Looks like you will have your hands full!" It was much more stressful and tiring and painful and dramatic than I would have liked, but now that she is here she has been a really good baby so far.  And although I was disappointed with myself that I got the epidural, it thankfully wore off very quickly and I had no lasting side effects from it, all 30 minutes of the medicine that I got. :) Besides, the nurse later told me that sunny side up was the most painful way to deliver naturally, and who knows what my body would have done had I not gotten it. I probably would have ended up in an emergency c-section.  I'm also grateful that I decided to trust my OB and not find a midwife at the last minute, as I had been seriously looking into in those last weeks. His patience, calm nature, and what I will just refer to as manuevering during the delivery really was amazing, even the nurse was impressed. I guess this whole pregnancy and delivery were a lesson from God himself in letting go of the control that I always seem to feel I have of what happens in my life, especially with my body!