If you missed Part 1 you can read it here!
August 9th, 4:00pm- We checked into the hospital and I changed into my hospital gown and we waited. The nurse came in around 4:30 and told us she had no idea why the doctor told us to come at 4 because they don’t usually start the process until 8 or 9! And so we waited. Finally the doctor came in and checked my cervix, which of course was not dilated whatsoever. So they gave me medicine overnight to begin dilation. I had my blood pressure checked and got anti-biotics and fluids in my IV.
August 10th!!! In the morning she came back to check me and I was 1 centimeter dilated, which was enough to start the rest of the process. The doctor broke my water (which was pretty gross I’ve got to say!) and they started me on pitocin!
Pretty quickly the contractions started and pretty quickly after that they became SO painful! Andrew was so nice and tried to be helpful and rub my back but it just hurt so much I couldn’t even move or talk. We tried to watch a movie but I barely remember watching it because my contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart and a minute long after about an hour of getting the pitocin!
I asked the nurse when I get my epidural and she said very soon! Then she came back and told us the anesthesiologist had been called to an emergency c-section so I had to wait another hour and a half to get my epidural. I don’t even know how I made it through that time, but I did it and finally got my epidural and it was heaven. I even told the anesthesiologist that I loved her! I then felt like I could relax and get some rest before delivery. Honestly I’m not sure why anyone would NOT get an epidural because it just makes the whole process so much better! It was completely 100% better after I got it!
Around 5:00 I started feeling the pressure so they checked me and I was almost fully dilated! My parents were on their way, but their flight had been delayed so we weren’t sure if they would make it on time. By 6:00 I was SUPER ready to push and 10 centimeters so the doctor came in to get delivery started! Literally the second she said “we’re ready to start!” my parents arrived and were trying to come in the room! My sister let my mom in and told my dad to go wait in the waiting area and then the pushing started!
During the delivery I just kept telling myself “I can do this, I can do this” and that’s how I got through it. At first it wasn’t too bad but then I really started to feel it and it was hard to push for 10 counts 3 times in row! My contractions were slowing down so they were trying to make every one count and get in as many pushes as possible per contraction. The doctor also seemed really nervous because my temperature kept going up and she kept saying “we need to get this baby out” which was making ME really nervous. Finally at 7:29pm he was born! He was 4 pounds and 6 ounces and soooo teeny! Because of his size and being 4 weeks early, Carter was taken to the NICU that night and had to stay there for a week. But, he did really well and was home quickly!
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| Carter getting all cleaned up! |
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| Me recovering! |
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| Our new family! |
Andrew was a great support during the whole thing and did everything perfectly to help me feel comfortable and get through it! The most annoying part was the counting the nurse was doing because I felt like if I didn’t push for 10 counts that I was some sort of delivery failure- but man it is hard to push for that long every time in a row! Overall it seems like the day went by really fast and the whole process was pretty surreal! Immediately after I thought “I am never doing this again!!!” but then a few days later I thought “well maybe it would be fine to do it again!” haha! So that just shows that even though you don’t fully forget, you do end up knowing it’s all worth it in the end!
