Jill on the Journey: Maryclaire's Arrival

I was so over being pregnant. At 39 wks, I felt pretty good, but with Christmas fast approaching, I was ready to get the show on the road. There was no way I was spending any time in the hospital so close to Christmas...and it was getting close. On Monday, Dec. 13th, I was determined (again) I was going to try to get labor started. I started the day walking on the treadmill for an hour and a half. Then, Asher and I did some Christmas crafts where I spent a lot of time squatting down on his level. I had read squatting puts pressure on your cervix and helps dilaltion. Lastly, I was using a pressure point in between my thumb and index finger that is also supposed to induce labor. I was clearly desperate and pulling at straws! I stayed up late Monday night and kept thinking I was feeling some tightening in my belly, which I assumed were MORE braxton hicks contractions. I've had these pretty strongly since about 31 wks.

I went to bed late...around 11:30 and woke up to use the bathroom at 1:30. As soon as I got back in bed I felt a contraction. I debated waking Vaughn up, I mean it was only one, but I was a little excited so I quickly woke Vaughn up and told him to look at the clock so we could start timing them. FOUR minutes later I had another one! We both jumped up and started getting things ready. Vaughn cracked me up because the first thing he did was run into the kitchen to make coffee. I called my mom to give her a heads up so they could be on call to come sit at the house while Asher slept. I told her NOT to come just yet, that Vaughn and I were going to time them and make sure this was the real deal. Four minutes later I had another contraction, so I called my mom and told her to hurry over. It's a 20 min. drive to my house from her's and then another 30 minutes to the hospital.

Vaughn and I got to the hospital at 2:30 and my contractions were still 4 min. apart and I was dilated a 4-5. It took forever to get checked in and I immediately requested my epidural about 3:15. The nurses had a difficult time getting my IV's in and my contractions were getting much more intense. After several attempts finally got me hooked up so I could get my liter of fluid before I could get my epidural. My midwife arrived on the scene about 3:30. The first thing she did was give me a check and I was dilated to 7 cm. Yikes! I was still waiting for my fluids to complete. At this point my nurse began squeezing the Iv bag into me as fast as she could and the midwife said to get the epidural moving. This was happening fast! My contractions were about 2 minutes apart now and I was in serious pain. Once my nurse squeezed the fluids out she called for the anesthesiologist. I was so grateful thinking I would get some relief quickly. Wrong! I waited for him for a long time and I'm not just saying that b/c I was in such pain...even Vaughn said it took him a long time. Finally, a little after 4:00 the anesthesiologist came to help me out. I was so grateful!

Once I was settled I was still feeling alot... not quite the back pain I that was so terrible, but lots of pressure. I could still move my legs perfectly which tells you my epidural wasn't really kicked in yet. Right after the anesthesiologist left my midwife came in and I was at 9cm. Whoa! She said she was going to break my water which was so painful. As she broke my water I felt immense pressure and pain and told her this baby was coming now! A team quickly prepped the room and in minutes I was pushing. Three contractions and 5 minutes later at 4:34am Maryclaire entered this world with as much as a crying as her mama was doing! She was a perfectly healthy 6.9lbs and almost 19 inches long! She was also surprisingly sporting a headful of dark hair. Who knew? Vaughn supervised her cleanup as I got taken care of.

My mama arrived at the hospital right before push time so she was able to come in soon after Maryclaire was born. My sister and her 3 yr old daughter about half an hour after she was born. It was so sweet to have them there, My poor niece looked like a deer in the headlights....she was so sleepy! We had several visitors and were discharged around noon on the 15th. We were anxious to get home to Asher and start living as a fabulous family of FOUR!

And, if we EVER decide to do this again, I think we just might camp out at the hospital! A three hour labor is cutting it a little close!