We went to TMC, back to a triage room where they check to see if it was amniotic fluid (it wasn't) and monitored my blood pressure and contractions and baby's heart beat. I was a 2 and 80% effaced (up from 1/20 a week before). We hung out then were told to walk around the hospital for 2 hours. This didn't sound too appealing since it was 2:45 am and I was still having contractions. Dave was great... he either held me from behind and massaged my hips or I hugged him from the front. The halls were pretty empty... basically did 2 rounds with some sitting breaks. D' started to get really tired. :)
They ended up sending us back home since I was still only a 2/80. Our nurse, Lynne, told us about her daughter who was looking for a PE teacher job and how hard that was. Lynne told us to come back when the contractions were much more intense - she guessed 12-24 hours. We went home, ate and tried to rest. I took a sleeping pill at TMC but didn't really sleep due to contractions, but these 6 hours are a little hazy for me... know I took a bath at one point. Then D' and I got up, watched some TV and were able to rest a bit more between contractions - napping for 3-4 minutes never felt so good. Around 5:30 pm we went back to the hospital, to triage. I was a 3 and 90%... still progressing slowly.
Thankfully they were eventually able to get us a L&D room! Lisa met us down there in triage. Once in L&D (around 7) it didn't take too long to get an epidural (maybe 8 pm). Dr. Horvath did a phenomenal job putting it in. Katie, our nurse, was good... she really, really warmed up when she heard I taught the head nurse's kids, Terry and Stephanie Place. So, my parents and Uncle Mark and Aunt Karen came to say hi.
Lisa went home to rest and eventually David and I slept too... so nice. They were going to start me on pitocin, but my contractions sped up once on the epidural...nice & relaxed! I was an 8 and my water broke when Katie checked me at 12:30 am. Earlier, Lynne had guessed 5:30 am for d-time. She was pretty darn close. Maybe around 4 (??) we called Lisa to come back.... SQ had been on call and been up all night (poor guy) and had to deal with the kidos in the morning. He'd also had a really tough Monday with his team out and stupid boss requests. Thanks SQ for sharing Lisa with us.
Lisa got there and it wasn't long until I started pushing with Dave, Lisa and Katie. I did 3 pushes (10 secs each) with each contraction. Awhile later Dr. Laird showed up and soon realized that my contractions weren't helping a ton to push out the baby. She suggested starting pitocin and I said "Ok!". I sat out a couple contractions from pushing so she could see how much they helped. She needed to turn the head slightly. As we were waiting, she told stories of women pushing for hours (D' didn't think that her stories were cool). Anyway after sitting out a couple, I felt like pushing and she said I could. Two more pushes and Kaia was out - I was shocked!!
No idea I was that close. They had just started the pitocin... don't think it had kicked in a ton, but it helped my uterus contract afterwards. I don't remember the placenta being delivered. I did have a 2nd degree tear, so she put in a few stitches (just felt tugs) and I remember the nurse "massaging" my uterus for clots... agh. D' wanted to hold Kaia, but I wouldn't let him... if I had to feel that, I at least wanted Kaia in my arms. :)
Kaia's color quickly changed from a little blue (normal) to healthy and pink. Dave cut the umbilical cord and took lots of pics and put on her first diaper. We all took turns holding her and calling family. What a relief to have our perfect little girl here... 6 pounds, 12 ounces, 18.5 inches - Tuesday 4.22.08 @ 4:50 am!
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