Throughout my pregnancy I was determined to be mentally prepared to go late. I was so sure I would go early with Jack and those last few weeks of pregnancy were so hard. But at my 37 week appointment my OB told me there was no way I was going to make it another three weeks. In fact she told me she was betting on the baby coming over conference weekend.
That is when I started to worry about Jacks birthday. I really wanted to be able to celebrate Jack turning two... and I wanted both of my kids to have their own birthday. Even though I still wasn't positive that I would go into labor we decided to pretend it was Jacks birthday on Monday. Jack and I both had doctors appointments on his real birthday and Parker was worried he would have to work late. I am so glad we celebrated early!
Here we are at the movies on Jacks pretend birthday. Look at him awkwardly sitting on my lap with my bump in the way. One of the last times that happened!
On Wednesday September 30th I just felt off. I was super sick and having a hard time staying hydrated. My OB wasn't in her office until the next day and I had my appointment early in the morning so I was going to try to wait it out. But I was having inconsistent contractions and getting more and more miserable. Because my OB is also a family friend and neighbor Sarah kept telling me to call her. I didn't want to bug her when she wasn't in the office. My protective older sister finally called my OB herself. My family has no boundaries. My OB thought I should head over to Labor and Delivery. Because I had been measuring small the last thing we wanted was for me to have a stomach bug. Even though my contractions were inconsistent she told me if I progressed even the slightest bit they would admit me. So off to Labor and Delivery I went. After an hour of monitoring I was still sick but very obviously not in active labor. It was time for the walk of shame out of the hospital still pregnant. All I could think was,
ok this is ok but I can not go into labor tomorrow.
Thursday October 1st I woke up and went to my appointment. My belly hadn't grown in the last week. We did an ultrasound. My fluid level looked good. Cora looked good. But with such little growth it was time to get things moving. I had made some progress over night and my OB stripped my membranes. I had my membranes stripped three times with Jack and it didn't do a thing. I was pretty surprised when I started having contractions before I even left the office.
I picked up Jack and took him to his two year old appointment. Little man had a melt down because he saw the bucket of suckers on our way in. He did not understand that he had to wait until after he had seen the doctor before he got one. I ended up bouncing and pacing with a squirmy upset two year old sitting on my belly through the whole appointment. My contractions really started to pick up at this point.
I started timing contractions when we got home. All afternoon they would get down to five to six minutes apart but if I sat down they would start to slow. I was determined to not go back to the hospital only to be sent home again. Parker kept saying we should go but I was feeling like it was a false alarm. Around 6 my parents, who were ready to watch Jack whenever we decided to go to the hospital, asked if they had enough time to run to Best Buy. I told them to go ahead and go. They had been gone all of five minutes when my contractions started to really pick up. They got intense really fast. After a few minutes we called and told my parents they needed to come back.
We gave our birthday boy big hugs and headed to the hospital. In the car Parker was having a really hard time not saying "I told you so" but I think he felt too bad for me. My contractions were right on top of each other about two minutes apart and I could barely talk through them.
The walk across the parking lot into the hospital was miserable. Because it was 7:30 p.m. there was no one at the main desk and we had to check in at the ER. The woman working out front of the ER was extremely chatty and really slow at inputting information into the computer. The contractions were really getting painful. Parker was helping hold me up. This woman preceded to make small talk and seemed in no hurry to help me out. Through gritted teeth I tried to explain to her that not only was I preregistered but I had been in the day before. All of my information was in the computer. She continued to shoot the breeze. I kept thinking, be patient she has obviously never been in labor. Then she mentioned her three kids and I about lost it. Twenty minutes later we walked into Labor and Delivery.
The L&D nurses knew what was up. They got me into a bed instantly. A nurse checked me and I had only progressed a little since my appointment that morning. I wanted to cry. She said she was going to call my doctor and come right back. When she came back my contractions were so bad she decided to check me again. More progression and now it was happening fast. I was officially being admitted and it was time to have a baby! Parker texted our parents to let them know this was it! The nurse asked if I wanted an epidural and I almost screamed yes.
Getting the epidural was a little rough. I had two bad contractions while they were trying to place it. Parker kept me distracted by talking fantasy football. I got killed that week by the way. So apparently I didn't make a great lineup. However once the epidural was in, it was awesome. It was a much better experience than my epidural with Jack. I could still move and feel my legs. I could tell when I was having a contraction but I wasn't in pain. I think this made a huge difference when it was time to push.
Once I was comfortable it was about 9 p.m. I was starting to wonder if this baby was going to come before or after midnight. Parker ran to get something to eat and while he was gone they checked me again. Things were still moving fast! By the time Parker got back it was really looking like our kids would share a birthday. But by 11 p.m. things had stalled out a bit. Obviously all I really wanted was for her to get here safely. But I was a little excited they would have their own birthdays. (Plus I think it is so cool our first was born on the first and our second on the second.)
Parker and I had been hanging out watching House and drinking slurpees. Because my awesome hospital had an awesome slurpee machine for mamas in labor... and their husbands too. Parker was able to sleep for awhile and I am glad that he did. I couldn't. I was too excited and nervous. Giving birth is such a sacred and amazing experience. It was nice to have some quiet time to really process what was happening. Around 12:30 a.m. they started me on a low dose of pitocin. I was still comfortable but could feel the contractions starting to pick up again.
Around 1:30 a.m. I woke Parker up and told him I was pretty sure we were close. I was starting to feel a lot of pressure. Not too long after the nurse came in to check me. I wasn't even surprised when she said "Wow baby has lots of hair, I'll go get the doctor!"
With Jack I pushed for 90 minutes. But everything was so different this time. Because I could feel when the contractions where happening I knew exactly when and how to push. I pushed about 12 time over four contractions. Cora came into the world at 2:18 a.m.
When they placed her on my chest I noticed she was really blue. Parker cut the cord. Cora opened her mouth really wide but no cry came out. A team of amazing doctors suctioned out the fluid that was making it hard for her to breathe right there in our room. Parker was right with her the whole time. I was watching from across the room. Every doctor, nurse, and even Parker was assuring me that she was fine. But when she finally started crying it was the best sound I had ever heard. Then they handed her to Parker and the gushing and kissing began. We spent the next several minutes loving on her and watching as each cry turned her more and more pink.
We love her so much. So so much.
You can see her blue hand.
The next morning.
