Monday, November 21, 2011

Ruth's Birth


I went to my regular appointment on the 2nd and the Dr. stirred things up, but I felt fine. I had a few contractions, but nothing major so I didn't expect to go into labor. I even got scheduled to be induced by the 4th if I didn't have her. I was just so anxious to meet her. I was feeling fine physically, just a little tired. It was kind of a crazy day, I had to get rides from two different people to get to my dr appointment and home, because our 2nd car was in the shop and Sean had to work at a client. So Sarah, my good friend that picked me up, and I went to lunch with Rosalie. After that I came home took a nap and did some laundry and made dinner. Around 8:30 when I was putting Rosalie to bed I started getting contractions around 7 minutes apart. I kept thinking they would go away, because I had been having contractions every evening around that time. They were a little more painful, but not unmanageable, and I could easily talk through them. We went to bed around 10:30, Sean asked how I was doing and I told him I was sure it would go away and I would be fine. I couldn't sleep though, every time I would start to fall asleep I would get a contraction, so I laid on the heating pad for a bit to try and relax, and that didn't help, so I got in the shower and tried to relax. But at that point it was midnight and they were like 3.5 minutes apart and not going away. My contractions weren't regular, some would be 3.5 minutes apart and some would be 5 or 7, so I just kept telling myself it would stop.
Well at 1 I packed things up and woke Sean up and told him it wasn't stopping and we probably needed to go to the hospital. I called Sarah, who I had asked in advance if I went into labor in the middle of the night if I could call her. Amazingly she was still awake because her husband was in California for work and because of the time difference she stayed up late talking to him on the phone. So she was at our house within 10 minutes and we set off for the hospital.
We arrived around 1:40 AM to an obnoxious desk lady who would not get off the phone to admit us, she made me fill out more paperwork (what is the point of pre-registration if you have to fill out the same stuff when you get there in labor?) and once that was finished she showed me to the labor and delivery room. There we waited for the nurses to come and check us in and all of that fun stuff. The contractions weren't terrible, but I was soooooooo tired and they would not let me fall asleep. I did not want to have a baby in the middle of the night because I didn't want to be tired, but I didn't really get to choose. Finally the nurses got everything sorted out and ready, and around 3 I finally got an epidural so that I could get some sleep. This time it worked on both sides, but it was different. I could move my legs still and feel them, but I think he got it too high or something because it made my arms kind of heavy and my chest was really itchy from it. Sean and I got some sleep at that point, maybe around 2 hours, and it wasn't really sleep so much as just some rest.
My mom and sister arrived around 5:30 and were in the waiting room, then my water broke at 5:45, it was so weird. It was a loud popping sound, and made Sean wake up and ask what happened. We got the nurses and they took care of things, then my mom and sister came in and waited with us, since there was no going back to sleep at that point. I think I was only a 7 when my water broke, then things went pretty fast. At that point my epidural was no longer working and I could feel a ton of pressure with every contraction, and by pressure I mean it was really uncomfortable. They came in at 6:15 to check my progress and I was a 10 and then I stared feeling like pushing, but the Dr wasn't there yet, and the on call Dr was no where to be found. This is when the real pain started, and I was told not to push. How can they tell you not to push when your body just wants to push and get the baby out. I waited for like 20 to 25 minutes of "not pushing" in a serious amount of pain. And the Dr. finally arrived and suited up. Once they got me all set up to push the Dr said just go for it don't even wait for a contraction, and I pushed twice and out she came. It HURT! I was shaking and semi-crying at that point. But I managed to do it. And seriously I have no faith in epidurals, that is 2 times now that something didn't work out right.
Anyways, I was so relieved that she was out and after that everything is kind of a blur. It was 6:57 when she was born, so Sean called Sarah to check on Rosalie, and of course she was up early that day. So he left to go pick her up while I tried to feed Ruth. For some reason right after Sean left and before they gave Ruth back to me, I just broke down into uncontrollable tears, I just could not stop crying, I think it was a combination of things, the pain, the emotion of her finally being here, exhaustion, and relief. Then they handed her back to me, and a funny thing, the nurses just unsnapped my gown without asking and handed me the baby, and my mom and sister were trying to take pictures, so if I look naked, I'm not, the gown is on, just unsnapped, and I couldn't really move to fix it because of the blood pressure cuff and the iv and the baby. It was funny.
Then they took Ruth up to the nursery and took me up to my mother baby room. And Ruth stayed in the nursery most of the day waiting for the pediatrician to come check her out and to get her bath. It stunk because my dad was flying through Houston and was able to come to the hospital between flights, but was not able to see Ruth because she was still in the nursery.
It took forever to get out of the hospital on Saturday, but we finally got home, Rosalie stayed with my parents in Austin for the weekend, and we were able to recover a bit. It was really nice and peaceful, and we are so glad Ruth is part of our family.
She weighed in at 6 lbs 2 oz. and was 20.5 inches long born at 6:57 AM, she has brown hair that looks like it has some curl in it, and her eyes look like they will be blue or green, but not brown because they are too light for that. We love her so much already!