I was set to be induced on March 13, 2013. The day before, I got a call from my doctor’s
office telling me that it would have to be pushed back to Friday, March
15. I was sad and disappointed because I
desperately wanted to meet my little Elizabeth.
However, since it was Spring Break, Mark and Charlotte were home with me,
so we tried to take advantage of a few extra days together as just a family of
three. I guess it was mother’s
intuition, but I had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that even
though I was rescheduled for March 15, if I had to wait to be induced, they
would reschedule again. So, I prayed and
prayed for God to help me to go into natural labor. Plus, I had being feeling a little guilty about
the decision to induce because I had told myself that this time around I wanted
to experience going into labor at home.
Well, God delivered! On Thursday,
March 14 Mark and I crawled into bed about 10:30 pm. Within 15 minutes I had a contraction. That was not completely alarming because I
had been experiencing sporadic contractions at night time all week long. I lay in bed for another 45 minutes and had
about 3 more contractions. I knew at
that time that I wasn’t going to sleep and didn’t want to keep Mark awake. So, I moved to the couch and turned on the TV
to wait it out. I wanted to see if the
contractions would stop, like they had the previous few nights, or if this was
the real deal. I started timing the
contractions to see their spacing and they were coming about 15 minutes
apart. Around 1:00 I realized I had gone
about 40 minutes without a contraction, so I turned off the TV and settled in
to sleep. Right then, I had the most
intense, longest contraction I had experienced to that point. I think it was the moment that I realized
this was going to happen today. I
started timing my contractions again and they were still about 10-12 minutes
apart. I knew that it was too early call
the doctor, so on went the TV and for the next few hours I labored on the
couch. Somewhere around 2:00 Mark woke
up and realized I wasn’t in bed. When he
learned I was having regular contractions, he couldn’t go back to sleep
either. By about 4:30 am my contractions
were regularly 8-10 minutes apart and I decided it was time to call the
doctor. We were told to head to the
hospital. So, we called Mark’s mom to
come over since Charlotte was in bed sleeping and we packed the few last things
we needed in our bags. We headed to the
hospital around 5:00 am. It is about a
20 minute drive and the whole way there I didn’t have a contraction. I started to worry that my labor had
stopped. I did, however, have a
contraction in the hospital parking lot.
When we arrived at labor and delivery, they asked if I happened to be on
the list of inductions for the day. I
told them I had and they said they were happy I went into labor on my own because
they were pausing all inductions. Out of
their 22 L&D rooms, there were only two left! They were very busy that day! We ended up in L&D room 1 at about
5:30. My nurse, Melissa, got me all set
and hooked up to monitors. For about 30
more minutes I still didn’t have any contractions. I once again worried that my labor had
stopped. When the nurse finally checked
me, I was 5 cm dilated. She told me I
was definitely not going home and I would be having my baby today! After that, the contractions really started
again in earnest. They were intense and
coming about 3-5 minutes apart. By the
time I was administered my much desired epidural around 7:30, I could not have
been more ready! After they put in the
epidural, they told me to lay on my back to let gravity work with the
medicine. Not a good idea! My blood pressure immediately dropped to
about 40/60 and I became very light headed and nauseous. For the remainder of my labor, I had to lie
on one side or the either. Elizabeth
seemed to tolerate my right side better, so I spent most of the day in that position. By this point my nurse had switched to a lady
named Caroline, and she was amazing! Dr.
Hartley came to check on me around 10:00 and I was dilated to 8 cm. She said she hoped I would have the baby
within the next hour. When she came to
check again an hour later, I was still an 8 and that is when the waiting
started. Hour after hour, I continued to
have very regular contractions, but no progress was showing. Around 2:00 I was at 9 cm, but was very
disheartened because I was just ready to have this baby! The nurse kept telling me to let her know if I
felt pressure. In an effort to feel
pressure, I let my epidural wear off a little.
However, that didn’t help because I still wasn’t progressing. The nurse checked me again around 3:15 and
said they would be back in 30 minutes. Around
4:00, Dr. Hartley walked in with my nurse, and I knew that meant business. Before she even checked, Dr. Hartley said we
were going to get this baby out! Well,
what do you know? When she went to check
me, Elizabeth had moved down into position and the doctor was literally
touching her head. Everything went into
fast motion after that. Two NICU nurses
were called because there had been a little meconium when my water was broken
and we were ready to go. On my first
push, I realized I had let my epidural wear off too much and I was feeling the
pain of delivery. Talk about motivation
to push with all your might to get it over with! Luckily, Lizzie came out in only 3
contractions! I think I started pushing
around 4:10 and she was born at 4:17 pm!
What an amazing sight to see your child for the first time, followed by
the terror of a mother when you are waiting to hear that first cry. Because of the meconium, they immediately
took her across the room to suction out her mouth. It was probably only seconds, but it felt
like forever before I heard that first cry. When I finally did, I was overcome
with tears of joy. My baby Elizabeth had
been born! About 5 minutes later they
laid that sweet girl on my chest. It was
instant love. I did not want to let her
go. I got to hold her for a good long
while and then I let her Daddy have his turn.
When they weighed her and told me she was 8 lbs. 11 oz., I couldn’t
believe that I had ever been able to hold her inside of me! Lizzie was 20 ½ inches long. My absolute bundle of joy. The name Elizabeth means “gift from God” and
she truly is.
