Last Monday, I had my 39 week checkup. I had never really expected to still be pregnant by then (judging from the past) and was to the point that all pregnant women reach where they are semi hysterical about having the baby. My OB had wanted to induce me at 38.5 weeks, because my heart was acting up, but he couldn't get it approved. These days the government restricts/regulates who gets to be induced and who doesn't. So, I pleaded my case again (namely, that I was done and also that Mark was starting his week on call on my due date) and he was able to get it approved! My cervix had to be in a certain state, and it was...so we set it up for Wednesday morning at 7:30 am.
Of course, that afternoon, I started having contractions. They weren't strong, but they were consistent, and it was way more activity than I'd had up to that point. I contracted all afternoon, but Madelyn had Arts Night that she had to attend. Ugh...so I packed the car for the hospital and then we raced over to the school because heaven forbid she miss Arts Night! Geez. Unfortunately, we were 3 minutes late and missed her class performance by about 30 seconds. Her arts teacher saw how upset Madelyn was, and saw me waddle in, and announced to the gym full of people that the class was going to do their skit all over again. I'm sure the other parents were annoyed, but I was so grateful! Then we picked up her summer reading packet, looked at her art on display, and had a pizza dinner from the PTA. I finally got a hold of Mark and told him that we needed to go to the hospital to get checked.
Long story short: we stayed at the hospital for 2 hours, and they told me I was indeed in early labor, but it was not progressing. So we went home at 10:00 pm. But the nurses kept telling me that they were sure I was not going to last until Wednesday and even told my OB that I'd be back within a few hours, so he stayed at the hospital overnight!
Once we got home and put the kids to bed, I tied up all the loose ends around the house, took a shower, and then went to bed after midnight. Around 1:30 am, I started shaking violently. It was like I was shivering from cold (even though I go to bed with wet hair all the time and that's never happened before). The shaking went on all night and I didn't get any sleep. I think we decided it was from an overabundance of adrenaline. My labor had stopped, though.
I felt like a zombie the next day and decided to cancel the visiting teaching appointments and preschool we had set up for the morning. I put myself on bed rest for the whole day, and my sister Maria and my neighbor Lisa helped entertain the kids. With Mark stuck at work, I didn't want to have the baby that day, and aside from that it was the 13th, and both Mark and I wanted to avoid that date. (Apparently, we are more superstitious than we thought.) I slept for half of the day and was able to make it through that night with no incident.
Wednesday morning dawned! Baby Day! My sister Maria, who just moved here a couple of weeks ago from Kanab and is now our neighbor, came over at 6:45 am to get the kids and help Madelyn get off to school. Mark and I went to the hospital and checked in around 7:30 am and did about an hour of paperwork and prep before they started the pitocin.
Nice blurry cell phone selfie
We hit a snag when it came time to insert the IV....I have an iffy past in regards to IVs, blood draws and such. The nurse did not tell me that she'd be drawing a few vials of blood at the same time, so I was lying there with my eyes closed and it was really hurting...then I realized the tourniquet was still on...WHY IS THE TOURNIQUET STILL ON OMG and I started to get nauseous and hyperventilate...Mark had to get a cold compress for my head and then I spent the next five minutes crying and trying to not panic but it was pretty much beyond my control. I don't know what to say other than it's a phobia that is very strong and always has been....by far it was the worst part of the day.
Anyhoo, the nurse we had was great and very experienced but was soooo chatty and we were about to lose our minds around her 30th personal anecdote. Mark and I didn't have a chance to say two words to each other for the first 3 hours we were there. Around 10:30 am, when I was still only dilated to 3 cm (which was what I had been at for days), they decided to have the epidural put in and have my doc break my water. I told them I didn't feel like I had suffered enough yet to have earned it (we women and our sick minds...) but they pointed out that my contractions were 3 minutes apart and that if I waited too long, then I'd have to have the baby all natural again. No thank you!
We hit another snag during the epidural, when the tube thingy hit a nerve on the way in that twanged a nerve down my right hip and leg. Owwww....but other than that, it was great. I wasn't feeling any abdominal pain, I could still wiggle my legs a little and could feel pressure. Dr. Sanders broke my water and put a heart monitor on the baby's scalp, and then told the nurse to text him with an update the next time she checked me.
When she checked me again, I was at 6 cm, but could "stretch to a 7" and so I texted an update to my mom and sisters who were wanting to know. Then she had me roll over onto my other side so all the anesthesia wouldn't pool on one side. It was about 12:10 pm at that point. I thought I still had a few hours to go.
When I rolled over, all the sudden things started to feel very different. During the next few contractions, I could feel a lot of pressure and that distinct "bowling ball coming down the alley" sensation. I started to get nervous and hit myself up with some more juice from the epidural button. I told Mark to go fetch the nurse (the only five minutes she wasn't in the room...that's when we ended up needing her...) She checked me again, pulled back abruptly and said. "Don't move. Don't sneeze. Keep your legs together and DON'T MOVE." Then she called Dr. Sanders and told him to hustle!
12:29 pm
12:32 pm!
Mark and I were sort of like, "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" and got all emotional. I couldn't believe that after all we'd been through with this pregnancy, she was finally here and it finally became real.
Not bad for only 4 hours of labor! After all that worrying about the big day, I am so grateful that it went as well as it did. **Sigh of relief**
She weighed in at 6 lbs. 6 oz. and was 19 inches long... Luke was my biggest at 6 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 inches, and Madelyn was my smallest at 5 lbs. 4 oz. and 17.5 inches. All runts, I know.
After looking her over, we FINALLY agreed that she was an Isabelle. (More on the baby naming saga some other time..) I had worn Mark down enough that he even let me choose her middle name of Miranda. :)
Because of that last minute surge of anesthesia, I was still numb and immobile by the time the grandparents and other family made their appearance a few hours later. I'd wanted to get cleaned up before they descended with their cameras, but oh well!
Grandma and Grandpa Yoder were the first to arrive. Mark's Aunt Naomi and Uncle Hal happened to be visiting and were coming back from a Fremont Indian museum when they decided to detour and meet the baby on their way home.
This is Kathy and Frank's 29th grandchild (I think). #30 is arriving in November. Great-grandbaby #9 is arriving next month!
Then my folks showed up...this is grandbaby #10 for them.
While they were there, I suddenly remembered that we hadn't told my G-ma Murset that she'd been born yet. So my parents sat back with knowing smiles while I called her and had the conversation about what we'd named the baby. (G-ma is 96 and very opinionated about this.) Luckily, she loved the name Isabelle Miranda, thought it was just beautiful and said, "Well, thank goodness you didn't name her something stupid!!" among other things, haha. My dad said, "Well, now you've gotten the worst part of delivering out of the way. Calling G-ma with the name." (It is so true, though. LOL. I'd been nervous about it for months.)
My dad took a bunch of pictures for us:
At 5:00 pm, the kids finally got to come meet their new sister!
I started crying when we were all together as a family. The kids were SO excited.
Maria and her girls, Emery and Nora. They were a lifesaver to watch the kids for us!
That night, Mark took the kids home and it was just me and Isabelle. We got woken up every hour and a half by the nurses all night long. (Getting rest in a hospital is an oxymoron.) Lots more pokes and prods....they wanted to check her blood sugar every 6 hours because she was on the cusp of being considered small for gestational age (SGA) and were concerned because she couldn't keep her temperature up. At some unholy hour, a nurse came in to hover over me for 40 minutes while I tried to breastfeed. I got woken up again at 5:30 am for another blood draw (hooray) and had to get a Rhogam shot in my hip. I HATE those.
Then I had a lovely encounter with the "eligibility specialist" who basically came to collect money from me, because she "understood that I would be taking care of my deductible that day." They had called to go over my costs a couple of days before, and what insurance would be covering (which was the first time in 9 months that someone had been able to tell me this info with any clarity), but at no point did they say I'd have to cough up $900 the day I delivered!! I about died. I had to tell her that I didn't have the money and would have to work out something later....good grief.
Dr. Dowse (Mark's boss) was on call for the clinic and so came to look her over again before discharging her. He said she looked a little jaundiced but it ended up being at a low enough level that she didn't need further treatment.
Dr. Sanders came to discharge me and I got a pic with him and the baby--he has delivered all three of my kids! Love him!
Mark and Luke came to hang out with us until we could go home. Luke is obsessed with the sinks at the hospital with the foot pedals. He washed his hands constantly.
Part of Mark's job is to come to the hospital and examine newborns, so he is a good guy to have around! He knows his way around a baby! ♥
He loves his Baby QQ!
Luke passed the time by pushing the buttons on the bed 400 times in a row. Up, down. Up, down. Up, down. Disney Jr. on in the background, waving his "A New Little Princess" balloon that he picked out in everyone's face. And my favorite--stealing the bendy straw from my hospital mug and using it as a screechy whistle. I was about to go batty!! He was supposed to be at preschool but didn't want to go. And it turns out, he was coming down with a cold anyway. Super timing.
The nurses (who are all chummy with Mark) wanted to borrow our baby for a video conference call with corporate NICU specialists, and so we went back to the nursery.
They had a lot of technical difficulties getting the computer to cooperate with the special video equipped bed, so we were there for a long time. Eventually, I took Luke back to the room because he was driving us crazy, and let the nurses do their thing. Mark said everyone oohed and ahhed over her once the video kicked in.
And after 32 of the longest hours of my life, we got to take her home!
So happy that she is here!!!
