On the morning of February 21st we woke up at 3:00 a.m. to begin getting ready to head to the hospital for my scheduled induction. We live an hour away from the hospital and with an induction scheduled for 6 a.m. and being highly anxious to finally get this show on the road we wanted to give ourselves an hour and a half to get there. We left the house around 4:30, filled the car up with gas and were off to Columbus. About halfway there I looked at my phone and saw I had a missed call from the hospital. Upon returning the call they informed me that Dr. Aurora was in the middle of delivering babies for 3 different women and that they needed to put my induction on hold. They said we should go home and wait for them to call, they would call between the hours of 6:00 and 7:00 to let us know the plan but if I had not heard from them by 8:00 that I should call. I was still not allowed to eat or drink but took it upon myself to eat half a banana and take a couple sips of water. We got back home, laid down in bed to get some more sleep. Dozed off around 6:00 and my phone rang at 6:15. The nurse told us to head that way so we hopped out of bed and were on the road again. At 40 weeks 5 days I was so nervous that they were going to push my induction out another day and I was just ready to finally meet our daughter.
We arrived at the hospital around 7:30, filled out some paperwork and the charge nurse walked us into our labor room. All my emotions finally hit me at once that this was really happening and I started crying. Anthony hugged me and assured me it was all going to be okay. I don't think I have ever seen him so excited in all the time we have been together. Once I had my gown on my nurse came in and started getting me all hooked up to the machines and started on my IV. I was nervous about getting this put in. While she was putting my IV bag of fluids up she got a phone call from the front desk and just as she was getting off the phone my Doctor along with two other doctors came rushing into the room. I asked him what was going on he said that I was actually already having contractions but Rowan's heartbeat was dropping really low after every contraction so they really wanted to observe me for a while. He ordered the nurse to observe for an hour or so before they put the foley catheter in. They went ahead and checked to see how dialated I was and I was still at a 2, I needed to be at a 3 to get induced so a foley was still in the future and I was not looking forward to it.
An hour or so went by, Rowan was kicking around like crazy and her heart rate was back to normal before, during and after contractions. My nurse called for the attending dr to come in and insert the foley. The dr ended up checking me again and I was dilated to a 4, so no foley! If I could have danced right there in my room I totally would have. So now that I was dilating on my own and having contractions I no longer needed to be induced I was doing this all naturally. At this point it was probably 9:30 or 10:00 a.m. My contractions were showing up on the monitor but they really weren't that noticeable to me. I kept laughing because I had no idea I was actually in labor.
Around 11:00 they broke my water and that was when the contractions really started coming on. I labored through the contractions until 1:30 p.m. and I called for my epidural. The contractions were getting pretty intense and I knew that it would make for a very long day if I was going to try to make it any further without the epidural. I was very nervous about getting it but the anesteologist who did it was amazing and it was seriously done in less than 3 minutes or so. Now I could relax and take a nap. I believe at this point I was dilated to a 4.
For most of the afternoon I tried to take a nap and just wait for updates on my progress. My Mom ended up stopping by my room before she had to go into work. She works in the ER at the same hospital I was delivering in. Since we requested that it just be Anthony in the room with me she ended up taking a shift for that night. Megan got there around 3:30 p.m. and I was dilated to a 5 at this point. The rest of the evening was kind of just a waiting game. The nurses switched shifts and my night nurse had me get into a sitting frog like position on my bed to try to get things moving along.
Around 9:30 I decided to take a nap before it was too late. I slept with a peanut ball between my legs to hopefully speed up the dilating. Around this time they also started me on pitocin just so that when it was time to start pushing my contractions would have enough umph behind them. Just before 11:00 p.m. I woke up and just had a feeling that my nurse was going to come in and tell me it was push time. Five minutes later she walked in the room checked my monitors and then checked me and sure enough it was push time.
My nurse was amazing and after getting everything set up in the room she worked with me on my pushing and trying to find what would be most effective and assisted me with my breathing techniques. After maybe 12-15 pushes she had me hold off and called Dr. Arora. At this point it was 11:55 p.m. and he lives ten minutes from the hospital. He was headed his way to deliver as soon as she called him. He walked in the door around 12:05, I asked if I could push because I just had this urge while the nurse was still helping him get his gown on and he said "I am in the room, go ahead". At this point I noticed the speed of everything in the room increase and he was at tht foot of my bed. He encouraged me to have them drop this mirror from the ceiling so I could watch her while I was pushing her out. I was a little reluctant but in the end agreed because he said it would be great motivation for me and it really was! After six pushes with the doctor in there her head was locked into place and three more pushes and she was out. 12:23 a.m.
They immediately put her on my chest. Everything after that was a blur because I had my baby girl in my arms and nothing else really mattered. Anthony cut the cord at some point, she latched on immediately which was the most amazing feeling. They gave us an hour and half for skin to skin and then it was time to weigh our little lady.
The guess was that she was around 7 lbs. so we were slightly shocked when she weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs and 20 inches long!!! I was shocked that I had just delivered a 9lb baby.
The nurse unhooked my epidural and helped me transfer to the wheelchair so we could move to my postpartum room. Anthony carried our bags and the nurse pushed me while I was holding Rowan in my arms.
Once they got us all adjusted in my room, my Dad, my brother and Shalene and Anthony's Dad were practically busting down the door to finally meet this little lady. At this point it was nearing 2:30 a.m. and my Mom was off at 3:00. She came straight upstairs after changing her clothes from working in the ER. Everyone else, except Mom, ended up leaving and Mom stayed with us and held Rowan. My blood pressure was extremely low and I nearly passed out when they got me up to go to the bathroom. By 5:30 a.m. I was able to get into the bathroom and went for the first time.
Wednesday we took it slow and relaxed all morning with our precious angel. Wednesday evening we had lots of visitors and we were so excited for everyone to meet Rowan. Later on Wednesday night I decided to walk the halls so I would be confident enough to get discharged on Thursday morning. We ran into the lactation consultant while walking and she came in my room to work with us on breastfeeding. She was so so helpful and spent nearly an hour and a half helping us out.
Thursday morning our nurse started the discharge process and we were ready to leave the hospital by 12:45 p.m. It was kind of an unreal feeling that we were getting set loose into the real world with this tiny human being. I ended up walking myself out of the hospital and when we got down stairs there were a handful of other moms heading home and they were all seated in wheelchairs waiting for their Daddies to come pick them up and here I stood walking myself out. I was feeling great though and didn't want to have myself laying down all the time and take longer to feel really good.
We took our baby straight home where she met her furbaby Tyson and he was more excited to see me than Anthony or Rowan. He loves his Momma. We ended up falling asleep once we got home and just relaxed. Anthony sat outside on the porch with his brother Travis because the weather was an amazing 80 degrees and sunny. Our new adventure was just beginning and we would not trade parenthood for anything else in this world.
Birth Photography by Anchor Images Photography
Aww this story brought chills to my body and tears to my eyes. You are a rockstar, Mama! Way to go! Welcome to the world Rowan Christine! I can't wait to meet her!
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