Labor and Delivery

Well I've had several people ask how my labor and delivery went and so I thought I would type it out! After having Olivia, people would ask how everything went and I couldn't remember anything, so this time I wrote things down as I went so I would always have those memories!

I'll start by saying that for various reasons we decided that I would be induced at 6am on Thurs. Feb. 28th. I wasn't actually due until that Monday, March 3rd. I honestly didn't think I would even make it to that date because Olivia came a week early, so as the day grew closer, I got more and more nervous! I was actually feeling really good though and never really got to that "miserable pregnant" phase like I did with Olivia, so that was definitely a plus! The night before I was scheduled to be induced, my parents got here so that they could take care of Olivia while I was in labor. It could not have worked out better!

Morning came very quickly! I set my alarm for 4:15 and the minute it went off I literally jumped out of bed. No snoozing! Can't remember the last time that happened! Last time I remember being this anxious/excited about something was my wedding day and even before that was when my mom and I would take train trips to Chicago...anyways... :) I probably took a 30 minute shower just kind of standing there, half asleep, realizing that this would be the last day I would be pregnant. A very bittersweet moment for me. I was able to actually get ready, do my hair & make-up, and then we were out the door and in the car by 5:15.

We arrived at the hospital a little early and got checked in. The lady at the front desk was pretty awesome! She was pretty excited that I was in a good mood! (I'm assuming most pregnant women in labor are not!) After we got the paperwork filled out, we had to sit and wait in the waiting room.... maybe my least favorite part. I HATE waiting in anticipation!!! I think that's why I'm always late... anyways... Finally at 6:20 they took us back! My labor nurse, Kim, was awesome and was with me the whole time. No shift changes or anything. The labor and delivery rooms at Baptist are absolutely huge and so nice! It was like my own little hotel suite! They had me put on my beautiful hospital gown and hooked me up to the fetal & contraction monitors and blood pressure machine.

Ok so finally at 7:30 they started my IV and Pitocin. I was already dilated 1 1/2 and 50% effaced. I felt my first contraction at about 7:50 but it was just a small one. After having Braxton Hicks for the past 4 weeks, it was almost refreshing to have a normal contraction. Just knowing that it served a purpose was helpful!! At 8:10 my doctor, Dr. Kyzer, came in and I had already progressed to 3-4 cms. She decided to go ahead and break my water. She used a little "finger condom" (I'm sure that's the technical word) with a little hook at the end of it and basically just performed an exam and broke my water that way. It was the most bizarre feeling! I KNEW that she had just broke my water, yet I literally thought I was peeing the bed! It made me laugh. :)

Alright so I would say this is when Phase 2 of my labor began. I still felt good and was pretty much just laying there watching TV and reading a magazine. My contractions were not painful at this point. I was also on and off the phone with my friend Stacy too!

At about 9 o'clock, my contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart. I was still feeling pretty good at this point. I didn't remember them being that close together with Olivia, so it was a little bizarre. After hearing various stories from people that epidurals didn't work with pitocin, I was starting to wonder if I should go ahead and order it since it took about 45 minutes for it to arrive the last time. I still wasn't in that much pain, but I didn't want to wait too long, so at about 9:20 I went ahead and ordered it. Well, at 9:30 the anesthesioligist arrived! How bout that! Must've been a slow day at Baptist! haha I don't think Baptist ever has a slow day in the baby factory! So with Olivia, I had an intern perform my epidural and I was sitting straight up on the side of the bed. This time, there was no intern, and they had me curl up in the fetal position. Ever try to do that when you're 9 months pregnant? Not so easy! haha So that procedure went really well and I was dilated to 5-6 by 10 o'clock!

At this point, I'm pretty much just watching the clock. My friend Leah stopped by which was so sweet, and we were both in tears by the time she left -- we were so excited! Pastor Tom from Cross Point also stopped by with Pastor Chad from the Dickson campus and prayed over us for a healthy delivery. :) The next hour went by pretty fast and I was dilated to 7 by 11 o'clock. By 11:45 I was at 8. I was starting to feel my contractions again at this point, so I got an extra dose of my epidural and they soon disappeared.

Dr. Kyzer came over on her lunch break at 1 o'clock assuming she would just check in on me and leave, but when she checked me, I was complete!!! Oh my gosh! I was SO EXCITED!!! It was time! SO, she and the nurse asked me to do a test push and frantically had me stop because she was coming out so quickly! They got everything ready, QUICKLY, and told me it was time to push! It all happened so fast, I was so caught off guard! So anyways, I pushed once, I pushed again and on the 3rd push, she was out! They warned me that if I ever got pregnant again, to get to the hospital FAST!! She was finally here!!! Born at 1:08pm and weighing in at just shy of 8 lbs. Little Madi had quite a set of lungs on her and was letting the world know she was here!

After they did all the tests and weighed her, I was able to nurse her and it went pretty well. It was a little unfamiliar at first, but it all came back after a few minutes. My mom, dad, & Olivia got there soon after and they went down with Matt to the nursery to watch them give Madi a bath. I remember feeling completely exhausted at this point which was a little surprising to me because I didn't really feel like I had done much! But I had, obviously! My dad stayed with me until they got back and then they all went down and got some lunch while I waited for my epidural to wear off. I was able to get up and walk pretty quickly and then they wheeled me up to the 7th floor to my recovery room.

SO there you have it! Pretty unbelievable if you ask me. It was such an amazing experience and I literally loved every minute of it, even the painful stuff. (BTW- the IV was probably the worst part. I hate them!) Some people are good at managing money, (eh hem) some people are wonderful teachers and some people are good at running (definitely not me). I am just assuming that this is my gift and that God has blessed me with this. I don't know if we will have any more kids or not, but I do know that if we do, my experiences in the past have shown that things will go smoothly and that is very reassuring!