Short version: Grace Catherine was born on Monday, March 9 at 9:35 a.m. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. She scored 8/9 on her Apgars.
Long version: The plan was to wake up at 4:30 on Monday morning for a 6 a.m. induction. But since we all know babies don't always follow the plan, I woke up at 3 a.m. in labor!!! (Thanks for the prayers Patty!) The contractions were still not very strong, but they were getting stronger and were 6 minutes apart. Since I hadn't felt much movement the day before and hadn't felt her since I woke up, we left early to go to the hospital, getting there at 4:30.
After they got me hooked up to the monitors, they checked me and I was still only a 2 maybe a 3 (I was a 2 at my last appointment) and my cervix was still really high, so they decided to go ahead and put me on a slow drip of pitocin. The contractions intensified a little and I labored without any pain meds for the next couple of hours. Somewhere around 7 a.m. (I think) I asked for some kind of pain med and they gave me Nubain, which did absolutely nothing for the pain. All it did was make me stupid and feel like I would fall off the bed if I lifted my head. After that the contractions were getting much more intense and were one right after the other without any time to rest between. I was considering an epidural at this point but couldn't manage to tell Eric to get the nurse. I was feeling like such a failure at that point because I had made it to 8 cm without an epidural with Abby and just couldn't manage this time and wanted the epi sooner.
Around 9 a.m. the contrations were getting so bad that I started sweating and was finally able to get Eric's attention that things were getting more intense and I wanted drugs! I started moving around and got on my hands and knees for one contraction and my water broke! Two contractions later and I was telling Eric that I needed to push!!! At this point, I was so sweaty that I had pulled off my hospital gown and was on my hands and knees butt naked!
The nurse came in and said it was probably too early to push and got me to lie back so she could check me. That's when I really had to push!! She buzzed for the doctor to come in, yelling for me to stop pushing until the doctor got there! I kept my eyes closed most of the time because I was still dizzy from the Nubain (which was still doing nothing for the pain! Yikes!!!). But at one point I opened my eyes and there were like 8 or 9 people in the room. Apparently when a baby is born within 4 hours of the mom getting a narcotic a NICU doctor needs to be there as well as someone from respiratory. Anyway, I pushed for 11 minutes and out she came!!! No time for an epi at all. My total labor was only 6 hours and 20 minutes!!!!
Gracie has been perfect. She had absolutely no effects from the Nubain and started nursing like a champ right from the beginning. She hardly ever cries and when she does it just this little pitiful whimper. We are all totally in love with her. Abby is playing the little mommy and doesn't want anyone else to hold her and thinks she knows best how to take care of her. Between her and Eric, I barely get to hold her except while I'm nursing. I'm in a lot of pain from tearing (3rd degree!) and have a hard time moving around, but it's getting better. The doctor sent me home with good drugs!
We hadn't picked a name out for her and I was waiting until I saw her to choose from one of the three we liked best (Megan, Lilly, or Emily). We had decided that her middle name would be Grace. Well, when she got here, I looked at her face and realized that none of those three names were who she was! I asked her, "is your name Grace?" and then started bawling like a little baby, so I guess it was the right name! It was the next day that we settled on her middle name.
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