Reed and I made an unexpected trip to my doctor on Tuesday morning due to a fear that I had that I might be leaking amniotic fluid. I also took a small tumble at the bottom of the stairs on Monday evening, landing only on my knees, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to do a quick check on baby. Once at the doctor, they weren't so sure it was or wasn't amniotic fluid, so they sent me in for an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that the fluid was very low and the placenta was aging, so they sent me straight to the hospital.
Yes, you read that right, straight to the hospital......with my 3 year old in tow. He was super pumped that baby sister was on the way and he even told my mom that she was already here. Oh, how I wish it was that easy sweet boy! We parked, walked in to check in and then Chris met us at registration to grab Reed and take him to my friend Alison's house. It was so emotional for Reed to leave me at the hospital. I, of course, cried thinking of how his world was about to be rocked and it would no longer be just the three of us. Oh, how excited we were to welcome our baby girl, but I was also worried about my baby boy. After the goodbyes, Chris ran home to pick up all our stuff. I had to send Chris approximately 52 text messages to make sure he grabbed everything. We weren't fully prepared, that's for sure.
The nurse came in after I had been in the labor and delivery room for some time and said that the doctor, not my regular one but one I had met before, wanted to do an overnight cervadil induction and then start pitocin in the morning. I was slightly, okay A LOT, annoyed. Why in the world had I rushed over if they weren't even going to start this party today? Once they checked me, the doctor decided to leave it up to me. I went with starting the pitocin ASAP. No need to wait!
On the pitocin, I progressed pretty quickly. I believe we started it around 4pm. I forgot what time it was, but once I hit 5 cm I figured it might be wise to go ahead and request the epidural as the contractions continued to get stronger and stronger. My nurse called for anesthesia. Unfortunately, we didn't see him for almost an hour and a half. Yes, that's right, we waited on my epidural for an HOUR AND A HALF! Seriously. Annoyed. During that wait time, the nurse ended up turning the pitocin down and giving me a shot of painkillers to keep my contractions from being so strong and to also keep me from progressing too far before he arrived. She even said one time "I hope he gets here before you get to 10". Ahhhh......don't say that, I said! LOL! Thankfully he arrived and relieved my pain. And hallelujah, the epidural worked this time. I could seriously tell a difference between this labor and Reed's. I certainly felt these contractions but they were totally manageable. I was so grateful!
The only minor hiccup with the epidural occurred because I had my bag of fluid too far in advance of receiving the epidural. Once the epidural kicked in, my blood pressure plummeted to 84/43. I felt like death. It is in times like those that you wonder if you could have managed the contractions. Thankfully the nurse gave me a shot of epenephrine to get my blood pressure up. I started to feel better almost instantly. Phew!
After receiving the epidural, the nurse cranked the pitocin back up and I was feeling pretty good. Around 9:30pm, I had a contraction and felt something much different. Hmm? What could that be? I requested the nurse check me. I was at a 10! Yay, time to push! The nurse called my doctor to come. He said to not push at all until he got there. Guess when he arrived......10:50pm. What a jerk! I wonder if he has ever tried to hold a baby in. My nurse also had to turn my pitocin down during this wait period.
Once the doctor did arrive, I pushed for approximately 30 minutes and Carson was here! I only got a second to check her out because she had to have some special checks done due to the extra painkillers that I had. I didn't get to hold her for about 20 minutes while they checked her, which was a total bummer, but Chris did get to hang with her. Once I got her, I was overwhelmed with extreme happiness and gratefulness. We had hoped and prayed so much for this baby and she was finally here! We are so very lucky!
We had lots of visitors that evening who were very eager to meet Carson! We were so excited to show her off. Reed ended up being up when we had her and begged Chris to come to the hospital to meet her, but we thought it might be a good idea for him to be well-rested to meet his baby sister for the first time. He got to meet her the following morning....more on that visit later.
We got to our room around 2am. Fed her, ate some dinner and tried to get some sleep. And that's the tale of Carson's birth. We love you so much sweet girl!!
