Before I start with all the details let me just say it was everything I didn't want but ended up being everything I wanted... if that makes any sense. And thank goodness for my amazing husband. Otherwise I would not have much of a story to tell. 27 hours is a long time and everything kind of blended together in my head the first few days when I thought about how I would even write this down. Since then though we've told the story a few times and with Brian's help I think I can now remember it all in the right order. (warning--this might be long but I want to be able to put it in her baby book so I'm trying not to leave anything out)
Sunday night, January 22nd, while Brian was at work I had my first real contraction around 9:30pm. They were coming about every 20 minutes or so. I had been having braxton hicks for half of my pregnancy and lots more towards the end, so I didn't think much of these contractions but definitely noticed that they were real and not just braxton hicks. But I thought they would end up going away after a bit. I think my body knew better because all of the sudden I just wanted everything around the house picked up and cleaned.
With contractions still around twenty minutes apart Brian came home at 12:30am to find me cleaning the bathroom. I do like to clean but I never clean the bathroom in the middle of the night. I didn't tell him about the contractions because I really thought they would stop. Plus he was sick, had just gotten home from work, and was about to take night time cold meds. So I wanted him to get his rest. Since he had been sick and snoring up a storm and me already not sleeping well he went to bed downstairs on the couch so we could both sleep a little better. As soon as I got in bed the contractions started full force. I waited for a little bit to make sure they were for real and then started timing them on my iphone at 2:15am. They were between 4-6 minutes apart, I was shaking uncontrollably, and they were so intense I could not walk or talk during them. I tried my hardest to last as long as I could upstairs without going to wake up Brian. After an hour or so I realized it was not going to stop and that this was really it! We were having a baby!
In between contractions I managed to make it to Brian downstairs. I felt so bad waking him up. By 4am the contractions were 2-4 minutes apart and lasting about a minute or more. I was afraid to go to the hospital too early so Brian called and asked the nurse when was a good time. They said for first time moms to come in when the contractions are 2-4 minutes apart and you can't talk during them. Well, that was definitely me but I was still thinking it was happening too fast and that it was still too soon. We waited another hour or so at home. Brian got to shower real quick and we finished getting everything together. We finally arrived at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns by 6am on Monday.
We went to triage and checked in. I was 1 cm dilated and 100% effaced. Even though I was only at a one we weren't sent away because my contractions were too close together. They tried to talk to me about pain med options and I told them to not offer me any, I would ask for them if I need them. Meanwhile, I'm still shaking uncontrollably through the contractions and sweating like a pig. We make it up to our delivery room where I have the best nurse ever! I'm sure we all say that, but really! This nurse did more than just her job! She made sure that all of our family that was in and out through the day got all the jello and popsicles they wanted. She was the only one at times that wasn't annoying me and really helped me through the contractions. Brian caught on quick to copy her and realized what she was doing was helping me the most. She even stayed until the end which was hours past her already 12 hour shift.
After being on the birthing ball for a while, sometime before 11am, they checked me again and I was still at 1cm over 12 hours in! My mom's longest labor was 12 hours so I never thought mine would go much past that. They also discovered that I had some scar tissue on my cervix, most likely from my D&C after my second miscarriage. The doc said that the scar tissue could be the reason why I wasn't dilating and also why my contractions/pain was more than what it should be at that point. Since I first came in at 6am they said I was acting like I was in transition (8-10cm). Some of the nurses apparently thought I was being a big baby because I really was just at 1cm but seem to be in a lot more pain than I should at that point. But because I was in so much pain and shaking my body was never able to relax, even in between the contractions when I really tried to. And so the doctor wanted to strip the scar tissue away so that I could be able to finally dilate more but said he wouldn't do it unless I got the epidural. Apparently removing the scar tissue is so painful that he wouldn't do it to anyone without them having the epidural. He was really nice about it, knowing that I really didn't want one, and said too that because my body wasn't able to relax that he thought it would be the best thing if I went ahead and got the epidural... first so that he could remove the scar tissue and second so that my body could get some rest, both hopefully letting me make some progress.
Lets just say it took some convincing and tears to get me to agree. But I knew that if I didn't want to end up with a c-section that that's what had to be done. At 11:20am I got the epidural. I feel bad now but I was not nice about it. I was very disappointed in myself. Eventually I came around and was okay with it. I was able to relax a bit and get some rest, which was much needed not knowing that we had a lot further to go. After having the epidural a while they checked me again and I only had made it to 1.5cm. I was so disappointed again! Since I didn't want any drugs the doctor wanted to break my water to help move me along. I said no at first but with some more convincing and knowing that I already had the epidural I let him do it. Later in the evening, after he broke my water, I had only made it to 3.5cm. At this point with it having been so long with such little progress there was starting to be a concern for infection (which would lead to a c-section). And so with some good convincing again, the nurse suggested pitocin. She knew that was the last thing I wanted, along with the epidural, but she was so nice about it and said that she too isn't one for it and would only give me the smallest amount possible but knew it would be the best thing to get me going if didn't want to end up with a c-section. Since I already had the epidural I knew that I wouldn't feel it make everything stronger and I was not about to let myself keep progressing this slow to only end up having to have a c-section. So with the tiniest amount of pitocin I went from a 3.5 to an 8 in two hours! And within ten minutes was ready to push!
We all thought that miss Quinn would have come by now so all of our family had been waiting around that whole day. They all left late in the evening and just as my mom and grandma (who were going to be in the room for it) were getting into bed we called them to get back to the hospital quick. As my mom and grandma were making their way back to the hospital I started some warm up pushes. I could not have had a more perfect husband to coach me along. He didn't realize until go time that he was to hold one leg while the nurse held the other. He thought that he would be up further away from the grossness. But when it came down to it he was right there in the action, helping me and watching everything! For being so mad about having to get the epidural I must say I had the most perfect one! I could definitely feel everything and was able to really push! I was afraid I'd be totally numb and useless when it came to getting her out. I wanted to feel like I was doing the work to push her out and I sure did! They said I was a pro pusher and because I could still feel a good amount I was able to really lead my own pushing. Pushing was a total of two hours but it definitely didn't seem that long. I think because the beginning part was just kind of practice to get her to move down.
Finally at 12:39am on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 our sweet baby girl was born! Holy cow is pushing out a baby the craziest feeling or what!?! I could feel her whole little body just slide right out! As soon as she was out I said, "I have a baby!", and everyone started laughing and I started bawling. I was so so happy! Her cord was wrapped around her neck... which is very common and they usually can just slide it off. But they said my cord was really short so it was super tight around her neck and they had to cut it off. Because of that they didn't set her on me right away but took her to wake her up a bit. It all happened so fast she was back to me and on my belly in what seemed like seconds. She wasn't crying but had the most alert face and just stared right at me. I couldn't stop crying and staring at her and telling her I loved her! I couldn't believe this precious tiny babe was inside me all these months and now she was with us! It was the most incredible feeling. We stared at each other for so long. It was like she knew exactly who I was and that she knew how long we had been waiting for her.
