By the time I reached the day before my due date I was SO DONE with being pregnant. I had delivered David 2 weeks early so this pregnancy seemed like it was going on forever. I had an appointment on January 3rd and basically begged my doctor, Dr. Stevens, to set a date for induction. Luckily my fluid was a little low and my blood pressure a little high so Dr. Stevens was agreeable. He left the room, then came back a few minutes later and said, "How about tonight?"
We ran home and began getting ready. A huge snow storm was supposed to come that night so we wanted to get to the hospital early. Justin finished working at the bank while I bathed kids, washed my hair and finished packing overnight bags for everyone. We dropped Audrey and David off at my Mom's at 7:00 pm and left telling them they'd hopefully have a new baby sister when they woke up in the morning. Justin and I started the drive over to Twin Falls as the snow started to fall. Even though I'd been so anxious for this to happen I was now suddenly very nervous.
We made it to the hospital and up to labor and delivery on the 3rd floor by 8:00 pm. We were told that every delivery room was in use and they asked us to wait. We went to the waiting room and watched the home shopping network with a nice man who only spoke Spanish. Justin and I did our best to talk with him in our broken Spanish until he was called into the operating room to see his wife and baby. We waited some more and finally changed the channel on the tv. I dug snacks out of my purse. We chatted and I kept worrying that they might send me home. Finally at 10:00 pm a room was ready. We settled in and I changed into a gown. My first nurse came in and told me that they would be inserting half a pill into my cervix to soften it, then 4 hours later the other half of the pill and then 4 hours after that, sometime Wednesday morning, they'd start the pitocin to get labor going. My spirits fell as I realized I was going to just lay there all night without getting much rest and not even get started laboring until the next day. When she left I called my Mom and told her the news "it looks like no baby tonight."
The nurse was back at 11:30 pm and inserted the pill. She left saying she'd be back at 2:30 to check on me. I rather dejectedly laid back and tried to go to sleep anticipating a long day of laboring the next day. But not long after my nurse left I started feeling contractions. At first I ignored them since I'd been having false labor for weeks. But as they became more intense I began to watch the clock. They were happening every 10 minutes. Then every 5. By 1:00 am they were coming so quickly I wasn't watching the clock anymore- I was trying to breathe and hold back the tears. I was so confused because I wasn't supposed to be in labor yet- what was going on? I didn't want to call the nurse and have her tell me nothing was happening. I waited a LONG 40 minutes and then said to Justin "20 more minutes until the nurse comes. I can make it 20 minutes." But Justin gently reminded me that she'd said 2:30 not 2:00 so I pushed the call button. When the nurse came in I told her I was having contractions every 5 minutes and she said, "More like every 2-3. I've been watching on the monitor." I told her they were pretty intense and asked what we could do. She looked at me like I was a little crazy and talked about a hot shower or bath to help relax me but said it was too early to start any pain relief. After my pleading she half heartedly offered to check my cervix. When she did she was surprised and said, "Oh! You're at almost 4 centimeters!"
Hallelujah I wasn't crazy. This was happening. At that point they determined I was in active labor and progressing quickly so I received a new nurse, Shauna, and she recommended an epidural right then. She didn't have to ask me twice. The pain was super intense now and the contractions were coming quick. I asked, "What is going on? I've never had labor come on this quickly. Is this from that pill you gave me?" And Shauna said, "Oh no hunny, this is all you."
The anesthesiaologist was there thirty minutes later. He administered the epidural and as I laid back down I felt my water break. I told Shauna and she helped clean me up. Then she got herself a drink, pulled up a chair next to my bed and said she was going to wait with us for the next 45 minutes while the epidural took effect. I was still in pain but relieved and looking forward to being able to relax after the last few hours of painful contractions. However, only a few minutes after she sat down Shauna noticed the baby's heartbeat had dropped. She apologized to me since the epidural hadn't had time to take full effect yet but made me shift to my right side to see if that would help the baby. Then when that didn't work I shifted to my left side. When neither of those worked she had me shift onto my hands and knees. With each position change we could get the baby's heartbeat back up momentarily but then it would drop back down. Shauna's happy chatter slowed and she got very quiet. The tension in the room grew as we all watched that tiny heartbeat.
Finally Shauna went and called in Dr. Stevens who surmised that when my water broke it put pressure on the umbilical cord. I was getting a little panicked at this point anticipating an emergency c-section but he said they would try an amnioinfusion where they pump saline into the amniotic sac to help buoy up the baby. He said he'd normally be more worried but I was progressing so quickly that they hoped to deliver before there were any major complications. They finally got the heart beat mostly stabilized and then checked my cervix and I was at a 7.
Dr. Stevens said, "Okay, we'll wait." I expected him to leave the room but to my surprise he just stood there and did just that- he waited. I said, "Really, you're just going to wait here?" Shauna said "It won't be very long." In fact she was already getting the room ready for delivery and told us at the rate I was going we needed to be ready to go. I was still in awe that my body was doing this all on its own and so fast! How was this happening?
They were right- it didn't take long. I was still feeling contractions through the epidural although they weren't as intense and suddenly could feel an enormous pressure between my legs. Like a bowling ball was lodged between my hips. I was frightened because I was feeling so much more pain and pressure than I had with my previous delivery but there wasn't time to do anything about it. As soon as I told them I felt pressure Shauna checked me and said, "Yep, she's complete."
Dr. Stevens was upbeat and positive: "Alright let's get this baby out of there!" I pushed through one contraction- there was her head with tons of dark hair! We paused for a second and then the next contraction came. Dr. Stevens said, "Wait! Wait! Don't push!" And I said, "I'm not!" I wasn't pushing but my body certainly was and out came Judy ready or not. She was born at 4:39 am. I'd started having contractions at midnight. What a wild four and a half hours! I was amazed and honestly, so proud of myself and my body.
Our darling baby Judy had a thick head of dark hair and a loud healthy cry. Justin cut the umbilical cord and they laid her on my chest and let me hold her for a few minutes before they took her to clean her up. Three NICU nurses had been called into the room as a precaution and they helped Judy clear some fluid that she had in her lungs because of the amnioinfusion but thankfully it wasn't necessary to take her to the NICU. Before I knew it Judy was back in my arms staring at me with her tiny dark eyes.
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