I was just about 100% convinced I was going to have to be induced, but 3 days before the tentative induction date, I went into labor. I woke up around 2am having painful, painful contractions every 10 minutes or so. I thought to myself "could this really be it?!?" and then began making a mental checklist of what we would need to do should I really be in labor, and did my best to sleep. For the next 4 hours the contractions continued and got closer together and I got about 10 minutes of sleep.
James and I had discussed the "ideal" labor situation. The thing I wanted most was to go into labor during the day, more specifically in the morning. I didn't want to have to wake Zack up in the middle of the night only to drop him off with Alexis in a parking lot.
It appeared as though my "ideal" labor might be happening. We met Alexis at the hospital around 8ish. Sadly, the 15 minute drive to the hospital pretty much stopped my contractions. I was bummed. We still left Zack with Alexis and then headed to the mall to do some walking. Our walking involved a walk to Starbucks where I got a blueberry scone. The barista told me it must be my lucky day, since I got the last one. If only he knew how badly I wanted it to be my "lucky" day. After some walking at the mall, a nap at home, cleaning at home, bouncing on the exercise ball, and just hoping and praying that my contractions would get regular and stay that way, I decided that I needed to go to the hospital. Not because the contractions were regular, but because they hurt so, so badly. I was hoping they would see the strength of the contractions and keep me based on that.
We got to the hospital around 2pm, and I was once again not having very regular contractions, but was definitely progressing. The nurse sent me on a walk. She said to try and go for 30 minutes, and that 45 would be even better. I lasted 25 minutes. I was dying. That painful walk did it though. I dialated another centimeter (in 25 minutes, no wonder I was in so much pain unable to breathe), my contractions were regular, and they were going to keep me.
We got into our room around 4:30, and I finally got an epidural around 5pm. Ahhhhhhh, sweet relief!! At this point things were still moving along, so we just hung out and waited. Around 6:30 I felt a weird contraction, and then I was all kinds of wet. My water broke. Things really started to pick up after that. There was a nurse shift change at 7pm, and around then I started to feel more contractions, so I pushed my epidural button for more meds. The new nurse asked me how I was doing cause she noticed that I was receiving more medicine. She then gave me a list of symptoms to let her know about and would check me again, otherwise she would be back around 8 to check me. It was now 7:15. I told her that maybe she should check me now. She did and said it was time to have a baby. She quickly began getting everything ready and called the doctor in.
When everything was ready they had me push. Apparently Alison was quite ready to be born. I pushed through 2 contractions, and at 7:31 we had a baby girl. Just like when Zack was born, the doctor let James announce to the room what it was. He declared her to be a girl, and we marveled over her. I had happy tears rolling down my cheeks and a huge smile plastered on my face. I could hardly believe we had a daughter. I still can hardly believe I have a daughter. So far we think she is perfect and wonderful and all things lovely.
They let me hold her for a few minutes before taking her to get her cleaned up and get all her stats. When the nurse called out that she was 7lbs 12oz I nearly fell off the bed. She was over a full pound bigger than her brother. I thought for sure if the baby was a girl she would be between 6 and 7 pounds, and that if it was a boy he would be over 7 pounds. I was clearly wrong. I have also decided that if we have another child it will most likely be close to 9 pounds....maybe 2 children will be enough.
I am crazy tired. Crazy, crazy tired. I'm so tired it hurts. I think I could sleep for a week straight if I didn't have any other obligations. But, I have a baby who needs to eat, a 2.5 year old who wants his mama's attention, and a husband who is doing a great job keeping the house running.
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