Monday night Kurt went to a friends house to play some yuker (sp?) and I went to bed around 10pm. I woke up at midnight becuase I thought I tinkled my pants a bit so I went to the bathroom, changed my undies, and realized I still had to go potty. I sat, in my sleepy stupor, on the toilet for a few minutes and realized Kurt wasn't home yet. I text him and he said he was already on his way and asked if I was ok. Was I ok, of course I was, except for the fact that I thought I wet the bed a little. Kurt got home a few minutes later and I fell fast asleep. I woke up a few more times thinking I had to go to the bathroom but only a few drops would come out. At about 2:00am I was woken up by a small contraction. Everyone always said that I'd know a contraction when I felt one and man were they right! I layed there while it passed and went to the bathroom again. While sitting there I realized that maybe my 'tinkling in my pants' was really my water breaking and all those 'potty breaks' was my water still leaking! Then it hit me, I might be in labor! I was excited and skeptical. I went back to bed and was woken up 25 min later, then 20 min after that!
At about 3:00am the contractions were coming every 7-10 minutes. I'd sleep between each contraction and check the time on my phone every time I was woken up. I got out of bed at 4:30am and went to the computer to use The Bump's contraction timer and read up on signs of labor b/c I still didn't really believe I was in labor (yes, it sounds silly, I know). At 5:00am I called the hospital triage and they said that I should shower and head on in. I was beyond excited. I walked into the room and tried to slowly wake Kurt to tell him that we were in labor but ended up crying and telling him we had to go to labor & delivery (L&D) now. He was so startled and in total disbelief. He tried to rest a few more minutes while I showered but there was no way he could fall back to sleep. So there we were, running around the house at 5am, excited, sleepy, unsure, semi-freaking out and getting ready to meet our little girl.
We got to the hospital around 6:30am and after some tests were admitted at 7:00am on 7/20/10. We were ecstatic! After we got into our room we had a few more tests done then were left to enjoy time together and to labor for awhile. I always planned on getting an epidural and around 11am the intensity of some of the contractions picked up to the point that I was ready for the pain meds. Unfortunately the hospital had other plans. The anestesiologist was in with a c-section/tubal until around 2:00pm! That last hour waiting for the epidural was pure torture for me and I couldn't help but let some tears flow. Kurt was amazing this whole time, just letting me get through a contraction and providing whatever support I needed. Thank goodness he knew me so well that he could just read when I needed him to rub my lower back or not touch me at all. Finally the anestesiologist came and hooked me up to the pain meds around 2:45pm and the smile was instantly back on my face!
At this point it was a waiting game. The doctors had a hard time finding out how dilated I was earlier in the morning because my cervix was so thin but figured out I was 3-4cm. I think I started getting checked out again early evening and the results were not what we were expecting. I ended up hitting 5cm and not moving from there forever. The doctors decided to administer pitocen to increase the intensity of the contractions to get me moving. I honestly stayed at 5cm from early evening on 7/20 to about 4am on 7/21. It was extremely difficult b/c at some point the epidural was becoming less effective and I was feeling back labor. I got 2 epidural boosters from the doc and was self administering small boosts of it to myself when things got bad. Sometime throughout the morning I had dilated more and around 9am I was dilated to 9cm! I was ready and excited again (albeit tired and extremely week from hunger). The doc checked again at 10am and I was dilated to 9cm on one side of my cervix and 10cm on the other. The only problem was that my cervix was now swelling from being in labor so long. At 11am the doc checked again and there was no change. She said she'd give it one more hour then we'd need to discuss alternatives. I was devastated. After all this time I'd have to get a c-section and that was NOT what I wanted.
With the final hour upon us the doctor came in and checked one final time. I was 10cm dilated all around but the top of my cervix was still swollen. I almost started to cry when the doctor said, "Wait, I pushed the cervix over her head and it won't come back. Looks like it's time to start pushing." I think the heavens opened and angels started singing and my energy was back. They warned it could still be a couple hours and to call when I was close. My UNBELIEVABLE nurse Steph told me how to push and both she and Kurt picked up one of my noodle legs (they had lost all functionality at this point) and I pushed 3 times through one contraction. The nurse Steph looked at me and smiled so big and said "I don't think the doctor will have time for lunch like she planned. Your daughter is already crowning!" I cried I was so happy. So Steph called the doctor back in and started crazily pulling all of the equipment into the room for delivery.
Less than 10 contractions and 28 minutes later our daughter, Riglee Rose Reuland, was born at 12:44pm (after 36 hours of labor). She weighed 7lbs 7oz and was 19 inches long, pure perfection! Kurt and I both cried at this little miracle we just created (I'm crying now just remembering it). I've never seen a more proud daddy than Kurt was in that moment. And I've never felt more love in my entire life than I had that day. Since then we have been enjoying every smile, cry, poopy diaper, and moment we get to share together as a family.
Congrats!!! I'm jealous your little one is already here...we're still waiting for ours to debut!
ReplyDeleteOk, now I'm crying !!!
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