Warning! This is a very long post. I wanted to write every detail that I could remember. This is more for me for the future. I know the memory fades...but this is something that I never want to forget. (By the way...Today, November 11th, was my due date. Audrey is now 2 weeks old!)
Let me first start by saying that I was 100% positive that I was going to be 1 to 2 weeks late. I felt so good the whole pregnancy, especially towards the end. As I posted in my 37 week update, I had been having some braxton hicks contractions, but didn't even know that I was having them. So here is Audrey's birth story...
We had a super busy weekend...we spent all day Saturday at the hospital in infant care classes. We had already done the weekly Child Birth Classes, but we liked our instructor, Chantal, a lot and decided that it might be a good idea to take the Infant Care Class and the Infant CPR Class. From there we went straight to a wedding shower for our good friends Rob & Robin, and then from there went to a Halloween costume party for Bryan's softball team. (By the way, we had to stop at HEB to get a veggie tray, so I ran into the bathroom and changed into my Pregnant Hippie costume there! Great memory!) Sunday we had our little baby shower at Lupe Tortilla and invited everyone back to our house afterward. It was such a packed weekend that we didn't even get to finish up Audrey's nursery or mark off those last minute items off our To-Do List...like packing our hospital bags.
So Monday, I went to work as usual...feeling great! I worked till almost 6pm and knowing that Bryan was going to be at softball till 9:30, I called my mom and asked her if she would meet me at Target for a little shopping for items that I would need for my hospital bag. So we walked around Target till 7:30. I stopped on the way home at Lenny's and picked up some sandwiches for dinner, and thankfully walked in the door just in time to hit record on our DVR to record Monday Night Football for Bryan. I ate my sandwich and then got up to get ready for bed. I went to the bathroom and noticed that I was spotting a little. I called Bryan (as he was just finishing up at the fields) and told him. He said for me to go ahead and call my doctor's answering service and see what they say. I hung up with him and called, they connected me with my doctor and she told me to stay off my feet for the rest of the night and that she would see me at my appointment the next morning at 8:45. So I decided to go and lay in bed and catch up on some Desperate Housewives. After laying there for less than an hour (that's about as long as I can sit still) I realized that I needed to shave my legs. I had not shaved in a week and the thought of me even just going to the doctor and letting anyone see them grossed me out. So I showered and shaved. As I was doing this I started thinking "What if they keep me tomorrow...good thing my legs will be smooth. But I still have my black toe nail polish that I decided to get for Halloween. I had planned on painting them a pretty color right after Halloween for when I went into labor so when my legs are up in the stir-rups I wouldn't be staring at my Gothic toe nails. Oh well, there is no way they are going to keep me. They send everyone home the first time they go in there with contractions, and I'm not even having any." I decided to go ahead and pack my hospital bag, just in case. I just threw a couple things in a bag and thought, "Oh well, this is a good practice run." So we went to bed a little after midnight.
At 3:30am I woke up with a pretty good cramp. It started in my stomach and wrapped around to my lower back. I was like..."What is this? Is this a 'real' contraction?" I laid there and pretty soon I had another one. So this time I timed it. They were 8 minutes apart. I thought, that's too far apart, but they kept coming. Finally at almost 5am I woke Bryan up and told him. We laid there together and timed them. They were like clock work. We laid there in the dark and talked about the "What ifs" and we both could feel the excitement. It was a morning that I will never forget.
Finally 7:00am rolled around, so I got up and got ready. As I was getting ready I noticed that the contractions seemed to be getting a little closer together. We ran out the door with our bags and the car seat...just in case. (I still was certain that she was going to send me home and put me on bed rest.)
In the car we timed them as we drove out to The Woodlands. They were now 6 minutes apart. When we got to the doctor we waited in the waiting room until they took us back. I told them that I had been having steady contractions so they put me on the monitor. I laid there for 45 minutes or so. Little Audrey was not very active...but the contractions were still there. As I was laying there my blood pressure dropped, I started sweating, felt like I had to throw up, and got really light headed, so I sat up and pulled off my shirt and waited for the nurse to come in. She came in and said that my blood pressure had dropped and at the same time Audrey's heart rate dropped. My doctor came in and said that it definitely looked like I was in labor, she did a pelvic exam and said that I was 2 to 3 cm dilated. She took a step back, looked at Bryan and me and said..."It looks like we are going to have a baby today!" I think I just repeated what she had said..."TODAY?" She said "Yes, I'm going to send you over to Labor and Delivery and they are going to admit you." I was in shock. I was excited, but also very nervous. I got dressed and gave Bryan a hug. As we walked across the hospital we got on the phone and called our parents to tell them the shocking news. My voice was not my own when I called my mom to tell her that Audrey was coming today. It was shaking and so full of emotion. My mom was excited and started crying in disbelief. I told her we would call after we were admitted and let her know how things were going. It didn't make a whole bunch of sense to have everyone rush up there yet, since I was guessing that I was going to be in labor for a long time. When we got upstairs we found out that labor and delivery was full, and that they didn't have a room for me...they were going to have to "temporarily" put me in the observation room where I could be sharing a room with 3 other people. I changed into the hospital gown, got my IV, and laid back and "enjoyed" the contractions. After a about an hour they came in and told me to go and walk around the L&D floor for 45 minutes. When I first started I could make it almost a full circle with one contraction, but towards the end I was having almost three contractions in one lap. With each contraction I would stop, hold on to the hand rail and rock back and forth until the pain faded. I ran into my doctor in the hall and she told me to go back to my bed (which later I found out was a stretcher) and she would come in and break my water. After my water broke the contractions really increased in time and strength. Each one got tougher and tougher. I kept telling myself...one more, you can make it through one more. But as each one came my "goal" of doing it natural became harder and harder to imagine achieving, and that epidural started sounding really good. They came in and checked my progress...after finding out that I was only four and a half cm, the epidural became a very good idea. During my next contraction (which by the way now were almost less than 2 minutes apart) I gave in and asked for the anesthesiologist. At that point 10 cm seemed like a long way to go from almost 5cm. My mom and Bryan's mom were both in there and I just remember hearing my mom say, "She better ask for the epidural soon if she wants it. It takes them time to get in here and do it." Well, she was wrong. Within minutes of me giving in, the anesthesiologist was there and I was feeling good before I knew it. As soon as I got my epidural a room became available and they moved me into room 202 where I would be in labor, deliver and recover. I remember once I got settled, looking up at the clock and realizing that it was already 4:40pm. Where did the day go? Labor progressed as I laid there and tried to catch up on a little sleep. Around 7pm they checked me and said that I was at nine and a half cm, and that we would start pushing in about an hour. Wow, what a feeling...with an epidural you can doze off and wake up ready to push! We sent our family (My mom and dad, and Bryan's mom and Craig and Arianne) out of the room. (BTW- My mom left the room peacefully, even though she wanted to be in there more than anything. But she didn't make it far. She hung out right outside the door, even though she was warned multiple times by the nurses that she had to go to the waiting area. That's Grandma Weenie for you!)
(Our little family)
(Baba & Grandma Weenie)
(Grandpa Craig, Grandma Marcia & Aunt Arianne)
Audrey Marie was born after about 30 minutes of pushing at 8:33pm. She came out crying (like mommy wished for) and with huge chubby cheeks (also like mommy wished for). She had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice, so when Daddy got to cut the cord, it was more of a pretend cut since the doctor had already cut it to free our little angel.
I absolutely loved everything about being pregnant and having a baby. If anything I feel like I got cheated out of two weeks from the whole experience. Now I love our little girl so much and can't put into words all the emotions involved. It was definitely the best experience of my life!
(Leaving the hospital on Thursday, October 30th)
(First Car Ride Home)
