Birth Story

Disclaimer** this is probably way more info than anyone wants or needs to know but I want it written down somewhere before I forget.

I was due on Monday June 14th. I went in to my weekly checkup on Tuesday the 8th in which my dr told me I was 1 cm dilated but my cervix was still really thick and far back. He didn't want to induce me for another week, so he had me schedule an appt and said he'd be surprised not to see me at my appt the next week. He did strip my membranes though just to see if that would get things started. Ouch! I hadn't had that done with Reagan, not a good feeling. 2 days passed and I hadn't had any affects from the membrane stripping- no blood, no contractions, so we didn't think anything would happen. About 3:00 pm I noticed that I was losing my mucus plug but this didn't really mean much since you can lose it weeks before delivery. Jared had dive class that night and about 20 minutes before he left I had a contraction at 5:40pm. He got all excited but it was my first real contraction so I wasn't too sure it was really real or just wishful thinking. I sent him to dive class and he sent our friend Sarah over who is a massage goddess with some weird oil that's supposed to soften the cervix. We did the oil a few times and Sarah left. I had another contraction about 8:40 which got me a little more excited. Jared came home about 10:00 and I had had 3 real contractions by then. After we went to bed they started coming about every hour and getting stronger. At 2:00 am they started getting about 20 minutes apart and getting quite uncomfortable. I walked around the dark house for an hour and a half until they were about 5 minutes apart. I called L&D and they told me to take a bath and if the contractions got worse or stayed the same to come on in. I woke J up and told him that I was in labor and would be taking a bath. My nice relaxing bath lasted about 10 minutes because I started having really painful contractions about 2-3 min apart. Freaking out commences. I worry that I've waited too long and I'm going to not get to the hospital on time. We call the hospital and tell them we're on our way and call Lance, Jared's dad, to come over and stay with Reagan. This was about 4:00 am, I think? Still having contractions about 3 min apart and silently in my head freaking out about the strength that these contractions are getting. We hop in the car and head to the hospital. Jared uses the "my wife is in labor" excuse and runs red lights and speeds through town to the freeway. By now, I couldn't care less- just get me there. We valet park *awesome* and sign in and head on up to L&D.

Luckily for us it was a quiet morning in the hospital so we got checked in and hooked up pretty quickly. I was checked and was 5 cm dilated and ready for my epidural. Props to all those ladies who go natural, but I am not that brave and I'm kind of a wimp. The anesthesiologist (sp?) was with someone so we waited for him. And waited. And waited. And freaked out a little more with my contractions getting stronger and me getting wimpier. Before the epi, they checked me again and I was at 7 cm. The drug dude (easier than trying to spell that word again) finally got there and hooked me up. He was way worse than the awesome lady I had with Reagan. Now I know why some people are afraid of needles in the spine, they can hurt. He said that I would be "real comfortable" which kinda made me nervous. How much are you drugging me?? I did get pretty comfie to where I wasn't feel much of anything. Napped a bit and called all the parents to get to the hospital soon. And then I stalled. I stayed at 7 cm for a few hours and my dr decided to give me a little something to get me started again. By the time he was all prepped and ready to administer he checked me and I was suddenly at a 10 and ready to go.

Only problem was I was still "real comfortable" and felt absolutely no need to push. This was way different than with Reagan where the epi had worn off a bit by labor time and I HAD to push. This was about 11:00 am. So, I pushed and pushed. I thought it would go a little quicker being my 2nd but apparently I wasn't pushing hard enough. Stupid drug dude!! My nurse was awesome though and helped me push harder and even said that if I kept pushing that hard, the baby would be out by noon. That was so cool because I was using the clock as my focal point and noon was only about 30 min away. I could do this. So, I pushed through the non pain and had Elisabeth at 12:04 pm. It was so weird pushing and not feeling much. They even had me wait through some contractions to let them build and I was able to do it. I remember with Reagan that there was no way I could not push when contractions hit.

Jared got to deliver once again. He delivered Reagan so our dr was really comfortable with him doing it again. J did AWESOME and I had zero tears and didn't need an episiotomy. After the baby came out our dr just let him keep going. He massaged the placenta out and got to kind of play with it. Its actually really interesting. Me, being in very little pain actually got to pay attention this time to what happens after baby.

The whole experience was great, except for the epi being too high- I would've liked to feel a little but we got a sweet baby girl out of it. We named her Elisabeth after my middle name and a bunch of Elizabeths on my moms side and Paige after Jared's grandpa's middle name Page. She's super cute and is so tiny- you really do forget how little they are when they come out. She had a little jaundice but fought it on her own and we didn't have to do the light bed again. She's been a pretty good baby and we're loving her like crazy.

Here's some more recent pics of our little jelly bean!!