Here are all the details on Leighton's birth, I will try and keep it PG, but you have been warned. :)
The story actually starts on Feb 14th, Valentine's Day. This is the day I dreamed of having her. Why? Don't ask pregnant women why they want things you just accept it. :) Honestly, I don't even have a good answer. I just thought that would be a fun birthday to have. Now granted I realized that put me at about 38 weeks pregnant, but no one said you couldn't wish for things. Plus, it wasn't until these last few weeks that that desire really set in.
Anyway, it is Valentine's Day, you are suppose to be all ooey gooey romantic, but this two ton beached Beluga whale was feeling anything but sexy. However, that didn't matter, we had a hot date planned with some of our friends. Dinner at Bonefish, followed by the uber romantic movie of Taken. HA! Finishing up with ice cream at Freddy's Frozen Custard. All day I just kept hoping my dumb braxton hick contractions {that I had been having for nearly two weeks, ever gaining in strength} would turn into real labor. Nope. Needless to say I was a little peeved by date time, but I put on my BIG girl panties and game face and went on our date. It was fun and it did take my mind off the fact that Ele was not coming anytime soon.
Side bar: One of the other husbands, Brian, kept saying for weeks that I was NOT to go into labor during dinner because he wanted to enjoy his delicious Bonefish. HA! He said if I went into labor during the movie that would be ok. Oh how I wish I could have "ruined" his night. ;)
Ok back to the story...
Dinner was awesome, the movie was intense, complete with Ele kicking the H-E double hockey sticks out of my ribs the.entire.time. I was pretty sure she was going to be born wearing a gold medal gymnastic medal around her neck. She never stops. Dessert at Freddy's was delish. We all joked that we would be at church tomorrow provided I didn't go into labor. No one really knew how close I was, I kept that info to myself. And to be honest at this point I had given up all hope that she was ever coming.
I go home and crawl into bed. Around 11:30p I get up to tinkle one more time and realize that my hopes for a Valentine's Day baby are over. :(
{Feb 15th}
It is now Sunday and we get around and head to church. On our way there I feel a few more intense contractions, but write them off as nothing per usual. During church I experience a few more, but think nothing of it. By the end of the message I am pacing around the bathroom with the "contractions" coming every 30 minutes and generally feeling sick. I just wanted to go home and lay down. Chad is bummed because he wanted to go out to eat at Pablano.
Once we got home I told Chad
"maybe we should start timing these, they feel more consistent." Of course as soon as we start "timing" them they disappeared, or so I believed. I still had these strong pains in my lower pelvic area, but I was just sure these weren't contractions, because I had asked my OB about them a week before and she said it was just the baby's head and the pelvis opening up getting ready for birth! So I tried to ignore them, which was terribly difficult because they were EXTREMLY painful.
Chad did what Chad likes to do on a Sunday afternoon...play rockband and I did what I like to do which is take a nap and watch Charmed, although due to the severe pain I was feeling it was all futile! We both kept wondering and googling to see if I was in labor and kept finding nothing that matched my symptoms.
However, as the afternoon wore on these sharp pelvic pains kept getting closer together and stronger and now my back was hurting. I tried taking a warm bath, it helped some, but I was still so uncomfortable and once I got out things really picked up. However, I still didn't believe these were contractions. They just weren't like I was "told" contractions should feel. I just felt like my pelvic floor was going to fall out. There was no tighten that I could discern in my abdomen. Chad kept trying to "time" those, I kept yelling that these are NOT contractions, so please stop timing them! After one of my millionth trips to the bathroom I realized that I had started bleeding. This freaked me out and Chad begged me to call the on-call line. I was hesitant because I didn't want to appear dumb and over react, but I finally gave in and called. The RN was less than helpful saying that it was ok and probably nothing! Thanks for nothing is more like it.
Again I tried to rest, but I just couldn't. No matter what I did I was dying. I remember just pacing around upstairs as the pain would race in and out. Finally, I remember reading that if you were in active labor laying down would not help, but if you weren't in labor it would. So I went and laid in my bed. The pain subsided from every 3 minutes to every 5 minutes. This people is why women in labor need a committed, level-headed thinking partner to talk sense into them! Because I thought, "see I am not in labor is slowed down." Good one Michele. Chad came in and said "just call your mom and ask her if we should go in" I felt dumb, but I did because at this point I could no longer sit, stand or walk and was in tears, and the sharp pains were coming at minute intervals, I called my mom to ask her what I should do! She said "honey, if you are hurting that bad you need to go to the hospital and at least get checked out..." I felt dumb because I still didn't believe I was in labor, but we loaded up the car and drove to the hospital.
As we drove there, I just stared out the window holding Chad's hand, he kept timing the "contractions" I was having, even though I kept insisting these are NOT contractions! When we arrived at the hospital we checked in and headed upstairs to the maternity floor (via the elevator...wasn't in the mood for stairs that afternoon :) ). When we arrived on the 4th floor I got changed and they hooked me up to a monitor to watch the contractions and fetal heartbeat. I was relieved to see that the extreme pain I was in WAS IN FACT CONTRACTIONS! I was in labor! I couldn't believe it! It was a little surreal...The resident came in and checked me and said I was at 3cm/80% effaced and -1 station!!! Of course the protcol for perinatal is not to admit before you are at least a 4, if you are under 39 weeks. I was 38 weeks 2 days. Awesome. So he said he would be back in an hour to see if I progressed any. I just laid there squeezing Chad's hand every couple of minutes, trying to breathe through the pain...and praying I wouldn't be sent home! After an hour no change! Grrr... Except that my contractions were closer and stronger; I barely had a moments rest between them...the resident said let's give it 1 more hour, partly because any idiot with a medical degree could see
I was in fact in active labor, no matter what their stupid textbooks say and I was bleeding quite a bit. Obviously, not enough to cause major alarm, but enough that I heard them whispering about it and how they didn't want to send me home like that. Good thing because I was not leaving that hospital without my baby. Just sayin'
Anyway my nurse had me get up and start walking the halls to help things along. I didn't really want to. I just hurt so bad, but she said if I didn't I would risk being sent home the next time. Man was that difficult. Every few steps I was grasping for Chad. There were several moments I didn't think I had the strength to go on! Chad gently reminded me that I did and that I had to, and in the end it would all be worth it!! He was an awesome coach and support person, I definitely couldn't have done it without him!
Well, hour 2 came and went and still NO CHANGE! Seriously?! But my on-call doctor (not Dr. Kindle...the one I worked so hard to have!!) had arrived so they waited to see what he wanted to do...they didn't feel right I suppose about sending home a women who's contractions were 30 seconds apart and still bleeding. Good call. Thirty minutes later Dr. Kuhlmann came in and checked me and I was at 5cm/100% effaced and -1 station!!! Yea! I guess I have a stubborn utereus, but girl once things get going they get going. Just like my momma did.
This meant I could finally be admitted and get that coveted epidural! Once in labor and delivery they hooked up my epidural and 20 minutes later I was feeling "so good", so good in fact I allowed our families to come back in visit me. (That was never part of my original plan, but drugs can make you do funny things :) ) After visiting with our families and sharing the excitement for 30 minutes Dr. Kuhlmann came back to check me, I was at 10cm and ready to push! Unbelievable. I couldn't believe how fast that went. I lucked out and got my mom's genes for fast labors. {Sort of ticked off I spent all my time in that tiny PSU room WITHOUT my epidural, but oh well, we are getting to the good part!}
They let me "labor down" for a bit while they got the room ready and broke my water. My water was stained with meconium. Now they feared she would be a meconium baby and so a NICU team was on stand-by to "catch" her. Dr. K said that the goal was to deliver her and NOT let her cry because that increases her risk to aspirate the meconium, so not to worry if I didn't hear her right away.
Finally it was time to push. I honestly, had no idea what to do. All I knew I learned from television. HA! And that is SO not how it happens. All common decency is lost, nothing is left to the imagination for anyone. But Dr. K was great and really coached me through pushing. I could feel enough of the contractions to know when to push while they counted. Of course most of that hour was spent listening to my Dr and all the bored late night hospital staff chit chat about life. I mean come on! I am trying to give life here, could we focus please! After an hour of intense pushing my beautiful baby girl was born!
I couldn't believe she was finally here, it was amazing. I remember asking "is she a girl?!" HA! I was still worried that she would be a boy in the end. And of course she came out crying, even though she wasn't suppose too. Already has her own mind. The neonate team took her and I didn't get to hold her for at least 30-40 minutes, which felt like an eternity! Chad got to be with her while I just laid there and tried to see her through the crowd of medical professionals in my room and listened to her cry. When I did finally get her in my arms I was so overwhelmed at the miracle Chad and I had created! She was absolutely beautiful and perfect with hair! I didn't know I could love someone so much! I mean you think you know how much you are going to love your baby, but you just have no idea until the millisecond she is placed in your arms. Overwhelming love.
And now we begin our new and wonderful journey into parenthood! While it is tough at times (mostly due to the lack of sleep...) it is totally worth every second. I can not believe how blessed I am to wake up to her every day!
First Family Photo. I am looking HOT y'all.
Going Home! Hip Hip Hooray! I am not a fan of the hospital. Who can get any rest there?!
