So my due date was March 24th. I had a doctor's appointment that day which I went to and found out I was 2.5 cm dilated, 80% effaced and her head was down, and further down that a few weeks ago. My doctor said it could be any day but definitely by the following Monday, March 28th, which was my scheduled induction date. I left the doctor's office a little bummed because I was hoping she would say you need to go straight to the hospital. I was so ready to meet my little girl and not be pregnant anymore. I did find comfort in knowing that no matter what in 4 days I would meet her.
That evening was a typical evening at home. Jeremy and I made tacos for dinner which I was sure to put lots of jalapenos on as well as eat a bunch of Jeremy's homemade salsa. I was going to spice her out! We just spent the evening watching tv and hanging out. Later that night as I was getting ready for bed, I felt something that felt like menstrual cramps. I thought that was weird especially since I hadn't felt those in a while. I had in the back of my mind my mom describing contractions as intense menstrual cramps so I wondered if that could be what it was. It happened twice but I just forgot about them and went to bed.
I was woken up at 1am when Jeremy came to bed. Since I was awake, of course I had to use the restroom. So I took care of that and got back in bed. As I was laying there, I had that feeling again of menstrual cramps. I laid there for a few minutes to see if they'd go away. I continued to lay there as they continued to come. I looked over at the clock and it said 2am. Hmm? This has been going on for awhile. They continued to come and I continued to lay there, now pondering what I should do. Is this it? Should we go to the hospital? What if it's not real labor? If we go and it turns out I'm not really in labor, they'll just send me back home and I'll be one of "those girls" who thinks she's in labor when she isn't.
Around 2:30am, I went to the living to read my pamphlet on "real labor vs. false labor". I read through it and decided it was false labor. Even though the contractions continued to come, they weren't getting closer together and they weren't intensifying, which as it clearly stated in the pamphlet, those 2 things = true labor. So I headed back to bed continuing to feel "menstrual cramps".
At 3am I decided that I would start timing these things just to make sure they weren't getting closer together. From 3-3:45am I timed them and they were every 5 minutes with varying intensities. So once again, it's got to be false labor (so I thought). With this conclusion, I decided I had been awake long enough and I should go back to sleep.
I headed back to bed at 3:45am and laid down. Not 10 seconds after I had laid back down I had huge, intense "menstrual cramps". I thought, I can't sleep like this. We should go to the hospital so I can at least get checked out. I got up, went to the bathroom again, and came back to the room to wake up Jeremy. I rubbed his leg and said "honey, I think we need to go to the hospital". His sweet response was "why"? Well dear because I think I'm having contractions.
So he got up, slowly, and started moving around. After about 5 minutes when he was more fully awake he picked up his pace. He started putting his things into a bag while I took a quick shower and got the rest of my stuff together. I already had my bag packed but had to add the things I still needed on a daily basis (i.e. contacts). He seemed to be scrambling around, panic rising as time went on while I moved a little slower, stopping every so often to bend over and try to breathe. We eventually got all of our stuff together, loaded up and headed out.
We left the house around 4:30am and arrived at the hospital about 5am. We checked in on the 1st floor and once a nurse came down to give us our bands, we headed up to the 2nd floor. We were taken back to triage where I had to provide them with a sample, got changed into a lovely gown and then laid down on a bed. The nurse asked me a few questions and then got ready to check me. Before she did, I asked her if I could be sent home. She said there was a possibility (boo) and that the magic number was 5. If I was 5 cm dilated, I would be admitted. So fingers crossed as she checked me (please Lord I do not want to be sent home) and whilst checking me, she asked "do you remember that magic number?" I said, "5. I'm a 5?" She said I was a 5, I would be staying and I would have a baby today. I started laughing, crying, "Oh my goodnessing" and just couldn't believe that today was the day.
Jeremy started calling and messaging people that we were at the hospital getting ready to have a baby. We had already called my parents as we drove to the hospital so they were already on their way.
The nurse did some more paperwork stuff and then I eventually got moved to my delivery room, room 2108. I got all strapped up with heart rate monitors for me and Lainey, got my IV put in (ick) and settled into my bed to wait. The nurse asked me a bunch of questions about family history and then let me know they would be back in an hour to check on my again. The contractions continued to come but I was able to deal with them. They really weren't too bad, just as my Mom had described, intense menstrual cramps. All the while our family and friends began to arrive.
Around 7am, the nurse came back in to check me. I was now 6 cm dilated. Wahoo, further along! I continued to have contractions while family and friends hung out in the room and waited. The nurse came in again (not really sure of the time) and let me know that my doctor was on her way to break my water. I believe the doctor came around 8am to break my water during which time she also checked me and said I was at a 7. She asked me if I wanted an epidural. I was handling the contractions fine but she said that if I wanted one, that was time to get it before it was too late. So I decided to get one.
A while later, the lady came to give me my epdiural and after it had kicked in they checked me again and I was an 8. But a few minutes later I started having pain in my back like the epidural wasn't working quite right. So they had me roll to my side and they gave me an extra hit of epidural juice and it fixed the pain almost instantly. The nurse did some stuff for awhile and checked me again and said, "you're there. You're at 10." I was in disbelief. It didn't seem real that in a few moments I would get to hold my precious baby girl.
The nurse had me do a practice push, which after about a second of that told me to stop because Lainey was right there and the doctor wasn't there yet to catch her. Jeremy and Lori were in there and they could see her head. So I just laid there and waited for the doctor to arrive. Since Lainey was so low, her heart rate started to drop due to the pressure on her head. The nurse had to wiggle her head around as stimulation to get her heart rate back up. About that time my doctor arrived. She got all of her gear on and sat down and asked, "you ready?" Yes I replied. So she said give me a push. I gave a 10 second count push and then started another push and made it about 4 seconds when she told me to stop. I saw her doing something and a few moments later, Lainey was laying on my chest. It was a beautiful moment and she was beautiful. My first thought was that she was so tiny and I couldn't believe she was here. She got to lay on me for a few minutes then they took her off to the side to get wiped off and checked out. I just stared at her. I cried, laughed and cried some more.
After she was all done getting checked out, the nurse handed her to Jeremy to hold. He just smiled at her and talked to her. It was so sweet. I think she's going to be a daddy's girl. After he held her awhile, I got to hold her again, where I cried and laughed some more. I was overwhelmed with all different emotions, mostly with love. I already had so much love for her it was amazing. Eventually all the medical staff cleared out and it was just Jeremy, Lainey and I. Jeremy said a prayer over our family, thanking God for a healthy birth and a healthy baby. We spent some time together just us 3 and then we let the anxious family waiting outside come in.
We had a lot of family there for the special event and had even more come visit throughout the day along with friends. It was a wonderful day. We are so in love with our little Lainey bug and are so thankful to have her in our lives.
The last picture of just us 2!
Precious Lainey Jo
Now a family of 3!
My sweet Lainey bug!
