It's Time: Labor & Delivery

Well, it didn't happen.  I did not go into labor on my own.  I wanted to (who doesn't?) but it didn't happen.  I had contractions, but nothing regular and they were barely labor contractions.  At my last appointment I was totally thinned out and dilated 2 cm.  Promising, but not great.  My official due date was March 15th.  But I also had an induction date set for the 18th.

My mother-in-law came into town on the 14th, and we went all over.  We walked around Zorinshy Lake, we went to the zoo, we walked around a shopping center place in Papillion...we tried to get things going.  I had my membranes stripped earlier in the week, hoping that it would do something.  But still nothing.  Apparently I had created such a nice home for the little girl that she decided she didn't want to come out!  =)

Since my mother-in-law was going to take care of Liliana while we were in the hospital, we spent the days going over Lili's routine and things like that.  On Sunday we did a dry run to the hospital (so she would know exactly how to get there).  It was quiet at the hospital, and since we hadn't had our hospital tour yet, they offered to give us one.  So we were able to see the labor and delivery floor, what the rooms looked like, and the procedure when we get there on induction day.

So, the 18th came around and the night before I got zero sleep.  How can you sleep knowing the next day you're going to have a baby?!  I was excited and nervous...I mean, hello, I was about to push a small pumpkin out of my body!  I hadn't been sleeping well the past week, so I knew not sleeping the night before was only going to make it worse. 

Daddy and new daughter

We got to the hospital just before 8am.  We got all checked in and met our nurse.  At the hospital I was at they try to do a one-to-one ratio of nurses to patients.  It is awesome.  Well, it was awesome for me because I had the BEST nurse.  She was so kind and loving (two great qualities needed in a labor and delivery nurse) and she would always explain what she was doing before she did it.  So I got all hooked up, and she checked my cervix...no progress.  Still at a 2.  She started a small amount of pitocin (on a side note: I know there are horror stories about the effect of pitocin, but I found none of them to be true).  At 4 centimeters a doctor (not my doctor--she was busy) came in to break my water.  Labor and the contractions continued to progress.  

Big sister.  Oh how I missed her while I was in the hospital.

She has stork bites every common place babies get them!

The contractions were getting worse and worse...they were painful.  Very painful.  At 7 centimeters I asked for an epidural--and at that point it couldn't come soon enough!  After that, it was beautiful!  While I was in labor the first time around I labored quite a bit at home, and then when I finally got the epidural in the hospital it only took on one side.  I felt a lot of what was going on...and the pain!  Luckily, it was my first child so I didn't really know any better.  I thought that's what it was supposed to be like--painful!  This time my only problem was that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to feel when it was time to push.  Turns out that isn't so much of a problem.  You know that "urge to push" feeling that people talk about?  Yeah, I felt that.  I pushed with the nurse for about 45 minutes, and I didn't feel any real pain (not like with Liliana--at all).  I felt pressure and it was VERY tiring having to push, push, push, but it wasn't painful.  Since everything happened in close proximity of each other, Adam had to be sure not to see anything he didn't want to see.  So he sat in a chair right behind me and put his hand on my shoulder as I pushed.  If he stood up he would have seen everything!  And everyone kept commenting on how much hair she had, and I was almost, almost tempted to have them bring the mirror so I could see it.  It was sort of weird to feel what was going on...I could feel the head being "right there"...then the doctor came in, and we finished the job.  Within 3 rounds of pushes the baby was out.  

The doctor was AMAZING.  I cannot say enough good things about her!  It was a slightly stressful time because as the baby came out the cord was around her neck, the doctor had to cut the cord (which was fine by Adam), and they put the baby right on my chest.  I had been wanting to do skin to skin right away, but when they put her on my chest, she stopped breathing.  Then they took her off for a second to get her to breathe (and she would) then they put her back on me, and she would stop breathing again.  They said it was because she was so used to being inside me and being comfortable that when she was placed on me she would forget to breathe on her own.  I don't know if that's true, but I thought it was sweet.  Needless to say we couldn't do skin to skin right away because they needed to get her to breathe on her own and be evaluated.  Adam said as soon as they took her and did their thing, the baby "pinked" right up.  And she was fine--perfect in every way.  (Just like I had prayed for).  Seconds after I delivered another nurse came in to assist.  She politely asked "what I just had", without even thinking I said, "boy".  Haha.  I was so out of it.  I quickly corrected myself.  Sometimes I think about it now and chuckle to myself on how silly it was.

As they were working on the baby, the doctor helped me "deliver" the placenta (which was incredibly painful with Liliana, but this time around near painless).  Happily, no stitches were needed.  They brought my "big" baby (8lbs 3oz) to me and I just held her.  She did (and does) have a ton of black hair; more than Lili.  With Liliana the first thing I noticed were her big eyebrows.  With this one, it was her HUGE cheeks!  I guess her 8lbs had to go somewhere...so they went to her cheeks!  I think at first Adam and I were a little surprised that she didn't look like either of us.  She looked Mexican, and a lot like my dad (so did Lili...and now look at her, a little Adam).  It was an unusually busy day on the labor and delivery floor of the hospital.  Normally my nurse would have been with me the whole time and taken me to the post-partum room.  But since so many women were in labor she had to go help another patient.  Consequently I had to have another nurse (and tech) come and finish up with me.  I was not thrilled with the fact that this new nurse had to give my newborn baby a shot.  She was nice, but not nearly as nice and gentle as my other nurse.  I kept motioning to Adam to stay with the baby to watch over and protect her.  She was fine and the nurse wasn't bad--I was just more comfortable with the other nurse.  We will wheeled to the post-partum room and spent 2 or 3 nights there...I can't remember now!  =)  All I remember is when we could finally be discharged, we were ready!

Here is my beautiful Rosalyn.

Overall, our whole hospital experience was really great.  I would recommend this hospital to anyone.  Everyone was so nice and helpful, and the food was great--and 24 hours.  I had french toast at 2 in the morning one day!  Everything was great with the baby, and my wonderful mother-in-law took excellent care of Liliana while we were gone.  I was a little tired (as you can imagine) but overall I felt pretty good--all things considered.