I spoke to soon... I had a baby!

Can I start by saying how amazing it is to finally have my own birth story?? I've waited for this for so long and we feel so blessed!

Ok, so Thursday the 15th was my last doctor appt. He couldn't even complete my internal because my cervix was so high and back. It was incredibly uncomfortable. We scheduled my next appt and he said we would discuss induction. Because anatomically I am so small down there, a big baby just wouldn't come out. That night I bounced on my ball FOREVER and ate spicy wings.

Friday night the 16th Jason and I were finally eating dinner around 8. I felt pretty decent all day... we spent a lot of time together, I cleaned the house, and we relaxed. After we finished I was cleaning up and feeling crampy. I had been having contractions forever so I didn't think too much of it. They started to pick up and at 9:30 I told Jason I needed to go to bed while he went to play video games. The cramping continued but I felt fine in between. Laying down was really bothering me. Shortly after I started timing things... I was surprised the contractions were coming 45- 55 seconds 5 minutes apart. It was quick.

At 11 I told Jason to come upstairs. He called our friend who is a L&D nurse and described what was going on. She said I was probably in early labor but I shouldn't go to the hospital. I could try to relax and make it stop or I could walk to get things progressing. While he was talking to her I jumped in the shower then the bath. Fortunately I shaved by legs haha I was still cramping and getting nervous.

I got out and we kept timing. Jason could feel how hard my stomach was. By 2:15 I was getting so anxious and started crying. At that point Jason put on jeans, grabbed my bags, and told me to go to the car. I only had one contraction on the 5 minute drive to the hospital. I really thought they would send me home. The nurses in triage checked me and I was 2-3 cm and 80% effaced. I also had my bloody show. They wanted me to walk for an hour to see if I would progress. An hour later I was 3-4 so they admitted me.

We got our room but I wanted to keep walking around the ward. It felt AWFUL being on my back because I was having back labor AND front labor. So Jason and I walked, he gave me water, and we just roamed until he needed to sit down and I needed to be checked. Each time I was checked I progressed. I signed the consent for the epidural, but said I didn't need it yet.

I labored in a bunch of positions... the rocking chair, the ball, the upright bed. Probably around 8 I was sick of the pain in my back. I talked to my nurse about IV pain medicine to tide me over till the epidural so she gave me fentanyl... I LOVED it. I was able to move around and it didn't stall my labor. I felt my contractions but they were manageable.

The on call doctor (who wasn't my OB) showed up when I was 8-9 cm (along with our photographer and family) and he broke my water. I was stuck at 9 cm for a while so the doctor wanted to start me on pitocin. The pitocin SUCKED. It made my contractions so strong and close and the back labor became MISERABLE. Before this my contractions were still 5-7 minutes apart. I don't know that I ever made it to a full 10. There was still a little lip of cervix left but the doctor told me to try and push through it. Jason and the labor nurse were AMAZING.. they cheered me on when I was ready to beg for a c section. I pushed for 2 1/2 hours. They could see her hair the whole time! But she just wasn't coming down any lower. I was falling asleep between pushes. The doctor came in and said I could either rest, keep pushing, or we could use the vacuum to get her out. I don't care what anyone says, pushing does NOT feel good. It hurt a lot! I started crying, but Jason and I chose to vacuum her out.

The doctor warned me he would have to cut me. I ended with a 4th degree epesiotomy.... that means cut fully from hole to hole. Jason watched the whole time to make sure I was ok. The lidocane they injected first SUCKED. Pushing into a giant needle... no thanks. It felt like thousands of bee stings. The vacuum created a lot of pressure and I was sobbing, but knew I had to push. About three pushes with the vacuum (and a lot of tugging), Natalie came out at 3:38 PM. We could see why she needed to be vacuumed-- she came down super crooked so the side of her head is what actually was being vacuumed.

She was absolutely perfect though. We did skin to skin for an hour, I got stitched up, and we were in total awe. She cried for 2 seconds but then was so calm and alert! It was a greater love than I can ever describe. She was 6 pounds 8 ounces and 18.5 inches long. They told me there was no way she would've come out on her own and if I had gotten the epi then it would've ended in a c section. Thank god it didn't come to that. My family came in afterwards and everything was perfect. She fed right away and we were moved to our postpartum room. The pediatrician came in and told us she had a 9/9 on her APGAR.

We had to stay an extra day in the hospital because her biliruben went up a little bit and she had a bad time latching... aka I had open sores all over my nipples. So we've been working with the lactation consultant all week on how to feed her. She's struggling, but I'm not giving up! We are also having issues getting her to sleep through the night. Jason has been such a trooper. God, I couldn't do this without him. We have a weight check tomorrow and then her newborn pictures. I'm recovering alright I guess. By the end of the day I'm incredibly sore and tired. It doesn't even matter though... I'm so, so, SO in love. We've had so much help from my mom and sister... so many people have brought us food which has been very helpful.

This week has been a blur of biliruben tests, doctors appointments, resting, and a million baby kisses! I've never been happier in my entire life.