A Baby Story

Poor Jared... On Monday (June 24th) morning at about 6:30 I called to Jared from the bathroom, "uh... Jared..... I'm bleeding.  I don't know what to do."   (he was already up and working on the computer) The bleeding was heavy enough to be concerned, but not so heavy that I felt like we needed to rush to the hospital.  We called the doctor and he said we could go to the emergency room or just wait until the office opened at 8:30.   By then the bleeding had stopped so we opted to just go to the office and not incur a bill from the emergency room.  After a little examination he said that everything was alright and that I had dilated to about 3 cm.  He really couldn't draw any conclusive information from this because I could have been a 3 for days.  His parting counsel was to take it easy and that we could have this baby tonight or it could be weeks.  Thanks doc.
So, Monday I was really good.  I babysat the couch pretty much all day long, getting up only long enough to make some chicken pot pie- Jared's fav.  I had had some mild and irregular contractions periodically throughout the day, but I chalked them up to Braxton Hicks.
Monday night as soon as we went to bed I started having some mild contractions, of course I didn't really know they were contractions at the time, but I did start timing them and realized that they were coming about every 4 1/2 minutes and lasting 30-60 seconds.  I counted from about 10:00 to 11:00 and then fell asleep and woke up again at about 1:00 am when they started again.  I counted from about 1:00-2:00 and fell asleep again.  (Must not have been too intense, huh?)
Then I woke up at 4:00.  I felt the need to rush to the bathroom and thankfully my water didn't break- or at least didn't reach the floor til I was in the bathroom.  That would have been a serious mess if I hadn't made it to the tile floor.  Anyhow, even though I've been rushing to the bathroom for the last few months, I really couldn't explain the sudden gush any other way so once again I called to Jared obscenely early in the morning, "Jared, I'm pretty sure my water just broke."  He climbed out of bed and got dressed, while I gathered a few things to take to the hospital.  As we were driving to the hospital we both remarked that this wasn't how we'd pictured things at all.  I was really not in any pain and wasn't even having regular contractions at that point- we'd both anticipated that I would be hunched over in agony and pain from contractions on the way to the hospital.  I was okay with the the reality :)
We got to the hospital- which was pleasantly empty and quiet- got admitted- and then waited- and waited- and waited some more.

Waiting... and waiting some more.

The contractions started coming again still around 4-5 minutes apart so they decided to do a very low dosage of pitocin- I would say it worked as the contractions definitely got stronger.  At some point- I don't remember what time- the nurse checked me and said, "I'd say you were a 5." to which I responded "I'd say I was ready for an epidural."  What a wonderful wonderful thing!  It was effective almost immediately and while it wasn't exactly pleasant to have them put it in, it sure did dull erase the pain at least for a little while- then they had to bring in a different guy who really made it work.  I couldn't move my legs at all.  In fact the epidural worked so well that I fell asleep when I was about 7 cm and woke up when the doctor was checking me and said- you're there! Time to push!  Wha!?!  I just woke up!
I started pushing a little after 11:00 am and she popped out at 11:48.  Jared cut the umbilical cord- against his wishes.  In between pushes I asked him if he was going to cut the cord to which he responded something like, "nothin' doin'! not happening!"  To which the nurses and doctor all replied, "oh yes, you are!"  After realizing that he was seriously out-voted he reluctantly agreed and apparently was successful since she is no longer attached to me by a cord.
After she was born there was a team of nurses and the doctor who checked her out and cleaned her up.

Getting cleaned up.

She was 5 lbs 2 oz, 17 1/2 inches and born exactly one month before her due date so they were a little concerned about lungs, heart, etc.  They did let me say hello before they whisked her away to the nursery/NICU.

After the doctor sewed me up I actually slept some more and finally that afternoon the nurses rolled me into the nursery to see her.  She was hooked up to a heart monitor, respiration monitor, oxygen saturation monitor, temperature monitor and an IV for nutrition and antibiotics.  

Although the monitors were a bit of a mess to tangle with- it was so nice to be able to hold her and see how precious she is.  It really is overwhelming how quickly your life can change and how completely you can love someone you just met.  Welcome to the family Caroline Rose Ridges!