R&R and Birth Story

Sunday, March 6, 2011

8:00am(ish) - Ava woke up ready to go for the day (despite not needing to get up for another hour or so)

8:30am - On the way down the stairs for breakfast we took the final link off the countdown chain. "Ava, all the links of the chain are gone! What's going to happen today!?" "Daddy will be here!!!"

11:00am - Church started where Ava played in the toddler room and I sang in the choir.

1:30pm - I drove laps around the North and South Terminals of the airport waiting for Richard to call and tell me where to pick him up.

2:00pm(ish) - He's here! "Look, Ava, there's Daddy!" She ran to give him a hug, a little unsure but super excited at the same time. I cried just watching their reunion. It was so good to hug him and have him hold us all.

2:45pm(ish) - First stop: Waffle House. All Star Special and Cheese n Eggs. Snuggle time.

4:00pm(ish) - We got to Mom's house (she, Kev, and Shane were gone for the night) and Richard got reacquainted with BB and Pancake. EXTREME EXCITEMENT. Like major jumping, squeeking, barking excitement.

8:00pm - Our together-again family of three went out to eat. Mexican. Delicious.

10:30pm(ish) - We were all getting ready for bed... showers, reading books, more snuggle time, and I was having some contractions.

11:32pm - I wrote down the time of a contraction thinking "This might really be it...?"

Monday, March 7, 2011

1:00am(ish) - I called the doctor to tell her that I had been having definite contractions every 6-7 minutes for about an hour and a half. She told me to try walking, resting, drinking water (all the things that would make the timing of the contractions change if it wasn't real labor) and keep timing for another hour. I woke Richard up to tell him to get his stuff ready in case I woke him up again needing to go in a hurry. I got Ava's bag, my bag, etc ready to go. I drank a bunch of water. I walked around the house for a while.

2:30am(ish) - I decided to try sleeping for a while (at least between contractions) since they hadn't yet gotten any closer together than before.

4:02am - I decided I should get up and empty my bladder (as having a full one can slow labor) and when I got out of bed I felt like I was leaking (but was definitely not peeing). I hurried to the bathroom and leaked a lot more fluid and blood. (My water broke with Ava so I knew what that felt like and this was not the same.) I called the doctor again and she said to come on in. My contractions immediately became more intense and closer together especially while walking around getting ready to go. By the time we left they were every 2-3 minutes apart.

5:15am(ish) - We arrived at the hospital and got checked in at labor and delivery. (On the way to the hospital the contractions had slowed down and spaced back out to every 6-7 minutes again.) The nurse said I was about 4.5cm dilated. My contractions were spacing out even more; like not even worth timing anymore.

6:15am(ish) - The nurse started me on Pitocin to strengthen and regulate my contractions. They started coming pretty regular not long after. The doctor came to check me and said it seemed I had had a partial break of the amniotic sac so he finished breaking the waters and wanted to keep me on the Pitocin too. The contractions really became frequent and intense after the complete water breaking and in combination with the Pitocin.

10:00am - I told the nurse I was starting to have pushy kind of pressure with the contractions so she checked me and said I was 7.5cm dilated. The contractions were super strong and about every 2 minutes.

11:00am(ish) - I got an epidural but by the time the contraction pain subsided I had a much lower vaginal pain and pressure. The new feeling was much different from the contraction pain and I had to work through and breathe through the contractions even more than I had before I got the epidural. My nurse checked me again and I was 9+cm, like fully dilated on one side but with a rim left on the other side. She hurried to get the doctor in there and Richard ran out to tell everyone waiting that we were about to be pushing.

11:30am - Raina Renee Ezell was born after 2 (relieving!) pushes. She cried immediately, was very pink, and had a bit of almost strawberry blond hair. 20.5 inches long, 8 lbs 13 oz. The nurse gave Raina back to me after a quick check to make sure that all was well and she nursed right away, latching on easy (yes!).