So about that little thing called labor……
The first thing I want to say is that no matter HOW much you read, hear stories, and Google different subjects, I can almost guarantee you that labor will be nothing like what you expect.
I’m sure you have heard the common saying, that you can never ‘plan’ your delivery…and to make sure you are open to the idea that it will NOT go according to your ‘plan.’
Of course the whole experience is a WONDERFUL experience because you are welcoming a new little LIFE into the world!
Here is how my labor went….
I knew from the beginning of my pregnancy that I would be induced. The reason for this is because I have Crohn’s disease and apparently if you go past your due date it can effect the disease.
(that’s me at 39 weeks- almost time to go in to be induced…please ignore the toilet paper in the back ground..ha!)
Now I had heard MANY stories of women being induced- the good & the horror stories. To be honest, I feel like I’m a bit odd because I never got nervous about labor/ delivery. I really don’t know WHY, since it’s kind of a big deal…& something that you have never experienced before, but I just never got those nervous feelings. I think I was just SO excited to meet little G that I really didn’t care how she got here, I just wanted to meet her ASAP!
Craig & I went in on November 4th to start the whole process. Lucky for us we were able to watch the Ravens game at 1pm, and then we had to be at the hospital at 5pm. It was a win-win 😉 (& yep, the Ravens did win that game…we figured that was a good sign of things to come)
(yep, Ravens fan from the start!)
Once we got checked in, the nurse went over the whole process & what we should expect. Now this could be a REALLY long post about my labor, but I’m going to try to just cut to the main points.
Around 6pm she said I would be starting the miso pill (misoprostol) to induce labor. This is a little tiny pill (about the size of aspirin) that is inserted UNDER your cervix. All I’m going to say about this pill is OW! Not that the pill itself hurt, but the process of putting it in my body hurt like HELL. Once it was in though there were no side effects, and I would not of even known it was there.
After the pill is inserted they check you every hour to see if you are dialated. I went into the hospital not dialted at all, and about 80% effaced. After three hours if my contractions were not too close together then they would insert another pill. (lucky me 😉 )
Really the time was just a waiting process, so Craig & I were just going to watch the Sunday night game. Welllllll we had some surprise visitors….Craig’s parents!!!! My parents were already down in Orlando just waiting to head to the hospital & Craig’s parents had planned a trip later in November to come & meet her. But as I was speaking to the nurse, they came in to surprise us. 🙂 They didn’t want to miss G’s big entrance into the world! It was an awesome surprise & I’m truly so happy they were there!
(both of our families)
We actually had the BEST pre-delivery experience. It was AWESOME having both of our parents there, we all just sat around in my labor room & watched football, caught up on life, and laughed & laughed. I would not of changed a thing!
Now the fun part, I’m REALLY going to sum this up…because I doubt you want to hear hour by hour details 😉 So I wasn’t dialating AT ALL, but I was having contractions apart 2-3 minutes apart- so I couldn’t have another miso pill & they didn’t want to start the pitocin if I wasn’t dialated.
My doctor decided to go ahead and start the pitocin around 1am November 5th. So that’s what we did….and still NOTHING.
(that would be me…just waiting…and waiting for SOMETHING to happen)
At 9am a new nurse came in to see how things were ‘progressing.’ ….and NOTHING. Not dialated at all. 
At this point I was looking for anything that could help push this labor along- they sat I could try bouncing on a birthing ball. (I just used a regular exercise ball) So I sat there bouncing away & I also did a TON of squats. I swear I got the biggest leg workout in the day of delivery 😉
Around 10am the doctors that were going to do my epidural came into talk to me because that was the part that I was the MOST nervous about. I had heard HORROR stories of epidurals gone wrong…and I kept thinking ‘oh gosh, I’m going to be paralyzed after all of this.’ The doctors were AWESOME & very calming….I knew there was no way in heck I was NOT getting an epidural, I just needed to calm down about it.
Around 10:30am I started getting SUPER painful contractions. I called the nurse in & talked to her…asked if it was too soon for an epidural. She wanted to check me first, and said I was about 1cm. So I was progressing, but they don’t recommend an epidural until about 4-5cm. I just said ok, and figured I would tough out the pain.
At this point I thought I was a HUGE chicken because I was complaining about this pain & I was only 1cm?! Well at 11:30am, we called the nurse in again because I didn’t care I wanted the epidural. I was IN PAIN. & this wasn’t ‘normal pain’…this was real.
The nurse was kind of hesitant about it, only because she was like…you are BARELY dialated & you want to go ahead with the epidural?! (again…felt like a huge chicken) I asked what other options we had…and she mentioned that we could just call it a day & HEAD HOME since there was no progressing & WAIT FOR THINGS TO HAPPEN NATURALLY. I looked up at Craig & he was about to LOSE it.
I calmly asked the nurse to please give us a few minutes to talk alone. Craig & I were both in the same boat….I mean we had already come so far & the thought of ‘packing it up & heading home’ after all of this made me want to cry.
AS we were talking at 11:45am MY WATER BROKE! Naturally!!!!!!!!!
I immediately starting crying because I was somewhat overwhelmed with thoughts- SO excited, but also just overwhelming. Craig was running around the room, kissing me on my head & just saying “Babe, this is what we wanted! This is what we wanted!!”
She was telling us that she was coming out today & there was NO ‘heading home & waiting it out….’ This girl had other plans…
…..I will continue this story in another post as it’s getting pretty long 🙂
I want to leave you with a cute picture, here is a sneak peak at our newborn pictures:
Everyday's a 'Hollyday' 