Well it all started friday night around 9:30pm. Chris and I were just leaving Don and Danielle's hotel room after visiting. Lavender had just left. We had just started getting our shoes on when the phone rang. Danielle picked it up then handed it to me saying it was the hospital. It was the hospital wanting me to come in and spend the night so they could start my induction. So Chris and I race home to grab my hospital bag, and Don and Danielle go and pick up Lavender, and we meet at the hospital. They put me in a room, but its not a labor and delivery room. At about 11:00pm the nurse comes in and puts the cervadil in. She then tells me to get some rest. Don, Danielle, and Lavender leave to go to the family room to let me try and rest. I toss and turn for awhile, and finally at about 1:00am I phone Chris and ask him if he will bring my blanket and pillows hoping that they will help me sleep. So he brings them up to me, gives me a hug and kiss and tells me he will come and see me in the morning. Well I still toss and turn for awhile and finally around 2:30 I fell asleep. Don came in to check on me at 4am and then went back to the family room. I then started having contractions, and finally at 5:00am I went out to the nurses station and told them I was having contractions. The nurse told me to go and lay down. So I go back to my room, and lay down. The nurse comes in, and hooks me up to the non stress test. I am hooked up to it for about an hour. It was picking up the contractions. The nurse came back in and said baby looked good. She said to try and rest for a bit. So I try and rest between the contractions. Around 9:00 Don, Danielle, and Lavender come into the room to see how I am doing. We visit for a bit. About 10:00 the nurse comes in again and said they still didn’t have a labor room for me but that they were going to move me into a bigger room in case they were not able to get me into a labor and delivery room and she said I could deliver in this other room if it was a necessity. The contractions at this point were starting to hurt a bit. The nurse checked me and said I was still only at 1cm She gave me the gas. At about 10:30-11:00 the dr came in and he checked me. No difference. He shut the mask off. He tried to break my water but was unable to because Elizabeth’s head was to far down on the cervix. The nurse gave me a shot of demoral and I slept for a bit. I was sooooo tired. When I woke up I was hooked up again to the NST. Baby was still doing great. At 12:00 they came with some lunch. Beef broth and jello…gotta love a clear fluid diet. So I ate the beef broth but left the jello, because I hate jello. I decided to walk for a bit. So we do the rounds of the maternity floor. We just kept walking around, taking breaks, and visiting until 3:00pm. At 3:00 the nurse came in to check me and I am at 3 cm’s. So now that I am at 3 cm’s I can be moved to a labor and delivery room. So we move all my things over to the other room and get me settled. They do another NST. The dr comes in to try and break my water again to see if that would help regulate my contractions. My water breaks with success. Chris came up to the hospital to see how I was doing. He walked with me for a bit. At 5:30pm the nurse came in to hook up my IV so they could start me on the pitocin. They tried 3 times and were unable to get the IV in. By the 3rd time I was in tears, so they left it for a bit. I told Chris to go to him moms for awhile and have some supper and we would call him later. The nurses then got a pediatrician to come in and try my IV, and he got it in successfully this time. By this time its about 6:00. It doesn’t take long at all for the pitocin to start to kick in. At 6:30 the nurse comes in and ups the pitocin. Then at 7:00 she ups it again. They kept uping the pitocin every half hour. By this time the contractions are really painful. Around this time I start to suck the gas back quite good. The contractions are very close together. At one point I can remember crying and Danielle and Lavender kept talking to me. So I just kept trying to breath through contractions. At about 8:30 the nurst came in and we asked if she would check me to see if I made any progress. So she does and says I am only at 4 cm’s. Danielle and Lavender had just left the room to go eat. I remember crying my eyes out and saying to the nurse that I couldn’t do it anymore. She was telling me that yes I could. She gave me a shot of demoral and kept telling me to suck on the gas. The nurse was just getting ready to leave my room, and all of a sudden I get this dire urge to push. I yell at the nurse “ I gotta push”. She lays me down and checks me and sure enough I am at 10 cm’s. I went from 4 to 10cm’s in literally 5 minutes. The nurse is telling me not to push. I told her I couldn’t stop. She runs around the side of my bed and pushes a button that sounds an alarm. A bunch of nurses come running in. they start to pull the delivery carts out. I say to the nurses “where’s my people”. Not even a minute after I ask Don, Danielle and Lavender came running into the room. Danielle stands by my head, and Don and Lavender were down more. I rub my face against Danielle’s arm and shes stroking my head telling me what a great job I was doing. I could feel Elizabeth crowning. And I was pushing and grunting and just staring at Donny. I pushed once more, and the nurse was twisting Elizabeth’s head, and I felt her head come out. Then the rest of her body just slid out. They place Elizabeth on my stomach and I looked at her. I look up at Danielle and she is crying so I start to cry. The nurse asks who is going to cut the cord. Don cuts it. They then take Elizabeth to clean her up. Danielle gave me a big hug telling me what a great job I did. I learn that I have to go to the OR to have a d&c. Chris came up. Danielle, Don, and Lavender gave Chris and I some time alone. I then get wheeled down to the OR. I told them once in the OR that I was feeling scared. The nurse tried to reassure me. They were just waiting for my dr. He came and they put the mask over my face to make me go to sleep. I breathe in deep 3 times and I tell the nurse its not working. The nurse tells me to breathe deep again. I remember breathing in, and then remember waking up in the recovery room. The nurse noticed I was awake, and asked me how I felt. I was still groggy but I told her I was quite sore. She gave me some Tylenol. I lay and rest for an hour and they wheel me back up to the maternity floor, and into my room. Danielle, Don, and Lavender come in and see how I am doing. Danielle puts Elizabeth in my arms, and all I could say was “wow does she ever look like Don!” We then laugh. Chris comes into the room and gives me a hug and tells me how proud of me he is.. Danielle gives me a hug and tells me they were going to go back to their hotel for the night. Chris stays with me for a bit and then goes home. I layed there for a bit thinking about the day and finally went to sleep. I ended up sleeping in till 11:00 the next morning. Throughout my hospital stay Danielle Don and I visited lots and I got to hold Elizabeth lots. It was quite an adventure. One that I will never forget.
As I sit here writing this it brings tears to my eyes. All of that pain I went through was so worth it. I love what I did and I feel very proud. I also couldn’t have picked a more loving couple to have a baby for. Danielle I love you guys and I appreciate all that you did for me during my pregnancy.
Lavender. I know I have said it before, but thank you so much for all that you and your DH did for us. Chris and I appreciate it so much.